Battery longevity?

[FlyingUser]

I am thinking on buying additional batteries, but the question is how many should I buy? In theory I could live on 2, but 3 would make life more comfortable. Of course, that additional battery is aging together with the rest of the gear, getting not just cycles but temperature/storage effects.

What's the shelf life for DJI's batteries? Would it be wiser to add the third battery in a year? (I don't intend to swap drones every year...) Also, battery tech is progressing, maybe in a year we'll get something better/more reliable under the hood...

 

[tcope]

Shelf life depends on a lot of factors, mainly the way that they are stored and the number of cycles that they have gone through. If stored and used correctly they should last 300 cycles and probably outlive your drone. As you mentioned, flight time will go down slightly over this time. I've had some P4 batteries that are probably 2 years old now. I've not noticed any difference.

 

[Erised]

Same here over 2 years old and about 100 cycles each on my 4 batteries and I still get the same flight time and all 4 lights on for battery life. I take care of them, use dji hub to store charge and store in a cool room, try to land around 20%, sometimes way less but I don't make it a habit and charge on fly day. I would get 3 batteries now as this will reduce the cycles per battery, with 2, one battery will die sooner and when you replace it you still only have 2 batteries.

 

[John1960]

162 flights on my one battery and now down to 88% power

 

[FlyingUser]

Thank you all for the feedback! Cycle wear is obvious, but nothing to loose or gain here, because I'd fly just the same time on 2 batteries as on 3. What makes a difference is the decay during storage, or maybe "having a bit more rest" between flights have an advantage too... But 2 years sound definitely good!