New Phantom 3 Standard - battery question on discharging

[Kanjigirl]

I *have* googled and seen many posts on battery care, but I'm confused on what to do here. I have the stock charger and the 100W charger too, but being in Colorado where the weather can change in a 5-minute period, I'd like to know the best way to discharge batteries in the event I can't get outside.

Is it just to set the discharge time in the remote for 2-3 days? Or is there a charger/discharger that would be a good choice for a new pilot - or is that overkill for now?

I just got my Part 107 certification, so do plan to be logging my battery usage carefully.

Thanks!

 

[ArJay]

There are dischargers available through many distributors online. I plan on getting one as they not only discharge batteries, but can also be used as a charging device through a USB cable. Very inexpensive as well.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[msinger]

Is it just to set the discharge time in the remote for 2-3 days?

This is what I would recommend. You could use a battery discharger (like this one), but I don't think it'll be worth your time.

 

[Kanjigirl]

This is what I would recommend. You could use a battery discharger (like this one), but I don't think it'll be worth your time.

Thanks! I'll stick with the remote discharge option for now, and maybe go to something else as I get more comfortable with the Phantom.

 

[solentlife]

eBay have many sellers that provide the TELESIN discharger. It costs anywhere from about $3 to $10 ...

Phantom 3 Flight LiPo Battery Smart Battery Control Charger Discharger Equipment | eBay

It has switch to decide discharge to 15.4 storage or to much lower (which I do not recc'd) but some use. It can use the discharged energy to charge any USB suitable item such as phone / tablet / Soloshot .... etc. or just put the lamp in it.

I have this and its a good field unit as well ... if you have spare DJI P3 battery that you will not be using that day - you can top up your phone / tablet etc.

But of course setting the auto discharge of the battery is good and I have 3 days as my setting. I would set for 1 day but there are times when I want to grab and go. So I try to stagger my batterys so they do not start auto discharge same day. I also want to be able to top-up charge quickly before going out door.

Nigel

 

[Kanjigirl]

But of course setting the auto discharge of the battery is good and I have 3 days as my setting. I would set for 1 day but there are times when I want to grab and go. So I try to stagger my batterys so they do not start auto discharge same day. I also want to be able to top-up charge quickly before going out door.

Thanks - all good information.

 

[solentlife]

Many people ask about manual discharge of the P3 battery ... and I always quote the Telesin Battery Discharger .... this of course does not mean the auto discharge routine DJI has created in the battery board should be ignored - far from it.

But here is a picture that shows what you can do with the Telesin and a DJI battery.



The picture is of one of my DJI P3 batterys with Telesin discharger, (switch set at 15.2V cut-off), plugged into it ... battery switched on ... and then USB lead to my Soloshot 3 Robot Camera. The DJI battery then is not just discharging and wasting that energy - but energy is recycled to charge up my SS3 system.

The Telesin will auto cut-off at 15.2V .... leaving the DJI battery at storage level.

Nigel

 

[Kanjigirl]

The picture is of one of my DJI P3 batterys with Telesin discharger, (switch set at 15.2V cut-off), plugged into it ... battery switched on ... and then USB lead to my Soloshot 3 Robot Camera. The DJI battery then is not just discharging and wasting that energy - but energy is recycled to charge up my SS3 system.

The Telesin will auto cut-off at 15.2V .... leaving the DJI battery at storage level.

Nigel

Okay, I see, that looks really useful...