Battery Discharge

brusca · Sep 28, 2016

I have only had my phantom 4 just over a month and one of my batteries is allready showing signs of discharging by itself only after about 4 days of no flights. My phantom 2 fell out of the sky due to what i suspect was a faulty battery showing the same discharge issues and I don't want the same to happen to my phantom 4. What can I do, is it a problem? Can i fix it or test it to see if it really is starting to fail?

Cheers Bruce

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msinger · Sep 28, 2016

The batteries auto discharge down to 65% by themselves when not used. That's as designed.

Kevin Donoghoe · Sep 28, 2016

brusca said:
I have only had my phantom 4 just over a month and one of my batteries is allready showing signs of discharging by itself only after about 4 days of no flights. My phantom 2 fell out of the sky due to what i suspect was a faulty battery showing the same discharge issues and I don't want the same to happen to my phantom 4. What can I do, is it a problem? Can i fix it or test it to see if it really is starting to fail?

cheers Bruce

Sent from my SM-T815Y using PhantomPilots mobile app

As msinger said, the batteries self discharge. You can also set the TIME TO DISCHARGE to a longer period if you want. I have mine set to three days and I checked my three batts this morning and two are discharging as we speak, The other isn't due to a full charge up the day before.

= Kev =

msinger · Sep 28, 2016

Kevin Donoghoe said:
I have mine set to three days and I checked my three batts this morning and two are discharging as we speak

FYI, if you're checking them by pressing the battery power button, the discharge process will stop and it won't restart for 3 additional days (per your selected setting).

Kevin Donoghoe · Sep 29, 2016

msinger said:
FYI, if you're checking them by pressing the battery power button, the discharge process will stop and it won't restart for 3 additional days (per your selected setting).

OK, I didn't know that. We're still in the tail end of winter with unsettled weather so I have few useful days flying.

With The Birds · Sep 29, 2016

Choose your compromise and go for it. Set discharge time to max, keep the packs full and you are ready to deploy at short notice. The alternative is to bring your packs up to 50% after flying and charge close to when you fly. Option 1 will give you reduced pack capacity and shorter overall service life. Option 2 you will get the most out of the packs with reduced convenience. There is no free lunch.

brusca · Sep 29, 2016

Ok interesting answers and thank you. Here I have two batteries and both had been sitting for the same amount of time but only one had discharged and the other still full.
I do remember setting a discharge time in my settings but forgot how long and do I have to adjust the settings for each individual battery? Essentially I remember setting one battery a shorter discharge time but did not do that for the other battery if that is how it works?. Would that be why one is discharging quicker?
Lastly on my last flight I noticed the battery jumped from 69% to 50% and back up again. This gave me a mini heart attack. Is it a software glitch reporting this? Is there an official way to test the battery?

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With The Birds · Sep 29, 2016

brusca said:
Ok interesting answers and thank you. Here I have two batteries and both had been sitting for the same amount of time but only one had discharged and the other still full.
I do remember setting a discharge time in my settings but forgot how long and do I have to adjust the settings for each individual battery? Essentially I remember setting one battery a shorter discharge time but did not do that for the other battery if that is how it works?. Would that be why one is discharging quicker?
Lastly on my last flight I noticed the battery jumped from 69% to 50% and back up again. This gave me a mini heart attack. Is it a software glitch reporting this? Is there an official way to test the battery?

Sent from my SM-T815Y using PhantomPilots mobile app

The days to discharge needs to be individually set for each battery.

msinger · Sep 29, 2016

brusca said:
Here I have two batteries and both had been sitting for the same amount of time but only one had discharged and the other still full.

See my comment above about the battery button. If you're pressing the battery button to check them, then you are extending the time it'll take to auto discharge the batteries.

Also, keep in mind that the batteries will start discharging after the number of days you set in DJI GO. It'll take an additional 2-3 days for them to discharge down to 65%.

brusca · Sep 29, 2016

msinger said:
See my comment above about the battery button. If you're pressing the battery button to check them, then you are extending the time it'll take to auto discharge the batteries.

Also, keep in mind that the batteries will start discharging after the number of days you set in DJI GO. It'll take an additional 2-3 days for them to discharge down to 65%.

I never mentioned that because I never touched both the batteries for the same period. But now I understand that each battery is individually set. So all good. Hopefully I won't keep seeing the battery jump up and down while in flight.

brusca · Sep 29, 2016

With The Birds said:
The days to discharge needs to be individually set for each battery.

Got it!! Now I am on the same page. Thank you.

RémyHeli · Oct 2, 2016

This is mention in battery user manual, Notice section, useful infos you might want read.

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/pha...igent_Flight_Battery_Safety_Guidelines_en.pdf

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SoCalDude · Nov 2, 2016

Many pilots suggest--after a period of time, like every 20 flights or so--to deep discharge the P4 batteries and then bring them back up to full charge. One of the recommended discharge methods is to fly the batteries to around 30% and then (at home with the props off) turn on the P4's motors and let it run until the battery gives out.

My question is, approximately how long does the P4 (when running w/o props) take to completely discharge a battery from 30%?

Is it 5 minutes, 2 hours? (??)

msinger · Nov 2, 2016

SoCalDude said:
Many pilots suggest--after a period of time, like every 20 flights or so--to deep discharge the P4 batteries and then bring them back up to full charge.

I don't think there is any benefit to doing this with DJI batteries unless the cells are out of balance.

SoCalDude · Nov 2, 2016

msinger said:
I don't think there is any benefit to doing this with DJI batteries unless the cells are out of balance.

Interesting. I was just looking at the "Basic Battery Service" for my Phantom 4 over on HealthyDrones.com. Could it be that this is old information, or for non-DJI Intelligent batteries? ...

msinger · Nov 2, 2016

SoCalDude said:
I was just looking at the "Basic Battery Service" for my Phantom 4 over on HealthyDrones.com. Could it be that this is old information, or for non-DJI Intelligent batteries?

Healthy Drones is not owned by DJI. I guess they are recommending it because they feel it's important for some reason. The founder hasn't been here for quite some time, so it'll probably be tough to get an explanation from him.

SoCalDude · Nov 2, 2016

msinger said:
Healthy Drones is not owned by DJI.

I know. Understood.

msinger said:
I guess they are recommending it because they feel it's important for some reason.

They only cater to DJI drones, correct? Not 3DR or others, right?

msinger · Nov 2, 2016

Correct. You can see the aircraft they support here on their homepage.

JWH · Nov 5, 2016

SoCalDude said:
Many pilots suggest--after a period of time, like every 20 flights or so--to deep discharge the P4 batteries and then bring them back up to full charge. One of the recommended discharge methods is to fly the batteries to around 30% and then (at home with the props off) turn on the P4's motors and let it run until the battery gives out.

My question is, approximately how long does the P4 (when running w/o props) take to completely discharge a battery from 30%?

Is it 5 minutes, 2 hours? (??)

I read somewhere, but I don't remember where, that you shouldn't run the motors without props due to damage to the motor. I have no idea about the validity of this information. I have never done this.