Any good aftermarket P4 battery chargers with storage feature?

[scubaddictions]

As the subject line says: Any good aftermarket P4 battery chargers with storage feature?

I've got a well reviewed charger for my Mavic 2 from Hanatora, and one of the nice features is a storage mode that will automatically brings the battery up or down to mid-charge for storage. As far as I can tell none of the aftermarket Phantom 4 chargers have that feature, even from Hanatora. The DJI charging hub has that feature, but it's between two to four times the price of well rated aftermarket units.

Have I missed a charger or hub that I should be considering?

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Me cant afford these chargers so I'm the charger,I never let any of my batterys go past 2 lights, I had battery go dead in past so now I just keep on to them and try remember

 

[Starz]

One on eBay right now for 50.00. Original DJI, not an off brand.
If that doesn’t work for you, I have one that I don’t need for 45.00 shipped in USA. And yes, the one I have is a DJI brand.

 

[scubaddictions]

One on eBay right now for 50.00. Original DJI, not an off brand.
If that doesn’t work for you, I have one that I don’t need for 45.00 shipped in USA. And yes, the one I have is a DJI brand.

Thanks for the advice, and the offer. I don't know why I hadn't considered looking on eBay. I'm poking around on there now, there are a few options in that price range.

 

[msinger]

The Smart PowerCharge battery charger can charge batteries to the storage level. However, that's even more expensive than the DJI charging hub.

If you decide to buy the DJI charging hub, it's a little cheaper here on Amazon.

 

[JeffreyS]

You don't need it. The Go4 app will do it for you.

 

[msinger]

The Go4 app will do it for you.

I think you are trying to say the batteries are programmed to automatically discharge down to the storage level when not used. Can you clarify?

 

[Starz]

I'm poking around on there now, there are a few options

Look closely at the ads you see. Most of them will be other than genuine DJI products. DJI compatible is not DJI.

 

[JeffreyS]

I think you are trying to say the batteries are programmed to automatically discharge down to the storage level when not used. Can you clarify?

Yes, I believe there is an option in the battery menu as to how long the wait will be before automatic discharge. You can set it to one day.

 

[milo_r]

The weird but also the great thing about DJI batteries, is that they each have their own cell balancing and discharging functions inside each battery. I'm not saying that they are great examples of those functions, but they are there. You can go into DJI GO4>Aircraft Battery>Time to Discharge and set whatever battery is in the drone to self-discharge from 1 to 10 days after the last charge. See photo. This setting gets saved in each battery, not the drone it's in, so you'll need to set each battery separately. However, after you have charged, the time until discharge will get reset if you press the button on the battery, to check how many green lights for example, before it starts to discharge. So if you have it set to 2 days and waited 1 day and press the button, it will now take a total of 3 days before it starts to discharge. You'll know if your battery is self-discharging when you pick it up and it is warm. Each battery has what I'm guessing is a small induction heater inside which bleeds off voltage until it reaches a safe storage level. This may take up to a couple days. I believe that DJI wisely put this function into each battery because storage at full charge even for just several days repeatedly can be quite damaging to lithium cells and most consumers don't want to be bothered by lithium battery care.
Attached is a picture of a puffed up/bloated lithium DJI battery. My guess is it was either left at full charge for weeks or charged when it was still hot from a previous flight.
Most DJI aftermarket chargers don't include balance or discharge functions as the DJI batteries already have those built in. It certainly adds to the cost of each battery. For example, HobbyKing sells a 15.2V 4cell 5200mah 50C lithium pack for $52. DJI sells their Phantom 4 15.2V 4 cell 5870mah batteries for, what, about $185 now? Even after having said that, I'm much more comfortable buying a DJI battery for way-too-much money than an aftermarket Phantom 4 battery for too-much money.