Best way to use batteries

[Moonfox]

I have 3 batts and never really paid much attention to anything and not had problems. Although i usually put in a fresh one if I am under about 50%. And I only fly with a less than full chatge if I know it will be a quick flight.

My thought is that when I launch i want a fresh battery for longest flight time because sometimes I discover things at altitude that make me want to stay up as along as possible.

 

[Matchlock]

There is absolutely no reason why you cannot take off, fly around for five or ten minutes, land, and then take off again with the same battery. If you are using a fresh, fully charged battery if you land after five or ten minutes, then all you're doing is wasting good battery life.

Bud

I have 4 batteries for my P3S. I always fly every flight on a fully charged battery and never launch with a partially charged battery regardless of how long its been. I usually press the button to check I have 4 bars. When I launch, I hover for about a minute and check my battery status to make sure everything is ok before flying off.

 

[solentlife]

There is absolutely no reason why you cannot take off, fly around for five or ten minutes, land, and then take off again with the same battery. If you are using a fresh, fully charged battery if you land after five or ten minutes, then all you're doing is wasting good battery life.

Bud

The difference is if you power down or not.

If you land and stay powered up - then I agree - you still are in relatively safe situation - just don't exceed total flight time.

But if you power down and then power up again ... that's a different matter as the Battery sense is now out of kilter and leads to the events that many have experienced ...

Nigel

 

[Matchlock]

Ok, fair enough. Although I've never had anything happen after powering down, so I can't speak to that at all, but Im sure others have had bad experiences after powering down and starting back up again.

Thanks for the kind reply though, Nigel, I appreciate that.

Bud

The difference is if you power down or not.

If you land and stay powered up - then I agree - you still are in relatively safe situation - just don't exceed total flight time.

But if you power down and then power up again ... that's a different matter as the Battery sense is now out of kilter and leads to the events that many have experienced ...

Nigel

 

[Rottweiler]

I bought the Phantom 4 Series Battery Charging Hub in order to ease the correct way to store the batteries. I wanted it especially for the Storage possibility of the Hub. Now, what would be the correct way to store the batteries (1) to have them on the Hub all the time, with Hub powered on, or (2) to let the Hub settle the batteries to right storage voltage and then take these off the Hub and shut the Hub off?

 

[Matchlock]

Once your three batteries on the hub have discharged to the level you're looking for, just take them off the hub and put them away as you normally would. I don't believe there's any advantage to leaving on a "live" hub.

Bud

I bought the Phantom 4 Series Battery Charging Hub in order to ease the correct way to store the batteries. I wanted it especially for the Storage possibility of the Hub. Now, what would be the correct way to store the batteries (1) to have them on the Hub all the time, with Hub powered on, or (2) to let the Hub settle the batteries to right storage voltage and then take these off the Hub and shut the Hub off?

 

[Rottweiler]

Once your three batteries on the hub have discharged to the level you're looking for, just take them off the hub and put them away as you normally would. I don't believe there's any advantage to leaving on a "live" hub.

Bud

Thanks. I guessed right, then.

 

[Matchlock]

I guess you did.

Bud

Thanks. I guessed right, then.

 

[Russ43Phantom]

I use auto discharge for long storage, but when I go to fly, there is always the situation where you have completed a flight and think you want to do another. Batteries are cheap (relative to lost drones) so I always have several fully charged batteries with me. The other procedure I use is to number my batteries so that I can use them in rotation vs. using and topping of one of them while never using the others.

 

[Matchlock]

I also number my batteries. It helps in keeping track of their history etc..

Bud

I use auto discharge for long storage, but when I go to fly, there is always the situation where you have completed a flight and think you want to do another. Batteries are cheap (relative to lost drones) so I always have several fully charged batteries with me. The other procedure I use is to number my batteries so that I can use them in rotation vs. using and topping of one of them while never using the others.

 

[deltamike]

How accurate are the displayed battery percentage values on the Go App please

 

[mbb3sfnm]

Battery cycle count - battery life...
Since you allow your batteries to discharge to ~50% for weekly storage, (with a flight or not) then when you next 'top them off' to 100% for flight does that count as a battery cycle? Is the battery life indicator based solely on the number of cycles, or the actual capacity remaining in the battery?

 

[solentlife]

Battery cycle count - battery life...
Since you allow your batteries to discharge to ~50% for weekly storage, (with a flight or not) then when you next 'top them off' to 100% for flight does that count as a battery cycle? Is the battery life indicator based solely on the number of cycles, or the actual capacity remaining in the battery?

It increments based on % partial charge.

So in effect you could charge up 400x and only show maybe 200 cycles as example.

Nigel

 

[Quest-So]

Just to add about Topping Up ....

Just connecting charger is not sufficient ... you need to Switch ON battery before connecting charger. Reason is - battery control board refuses to top-up if battery is about 90 - 94% charged level. But switching on - bypasses that limitation and allows full charge.

Nigel

Hi Nigel.
Switching ON batteries before placing them to charge applies too if we use the DJI 4x batteries charger ? I have such a charger.

 

[solentlife]

Hi Nigel.
Switching ON batteries before placing them to charge applies too if we use the DJI 4x batteries charger ?

Sorry I do not know .... but I would assume so - cannot see DJI changing the set-ups too much.

Is there no P4 battery manual to tell you ... P3 battery manual does.

Nigel

 

[Dts_Dimensions]

Hi to all the members! I am a new member i just bought yesterday a brand new P3A and i would like to know what is the best way to store your batteries until next flight, fully charged or empty? Which of the 2 ways will help preserve my battery's life? Everyone told me that before every flight, battery must be charged at 100% because, maybe sometimes the drone will not get a good reading of the remaining percentage and that may be fatal for the drone.

 

[Loz]

Hi to all the members! I am a new member i just bought yesterday a brand new P3A and i would like to know what is the best way to store your batteries until next flight, fully charged or empty? Which of the 2 ways will help preserve my battery's life? Everyone told me that before every flight, battery must be charged at 100% because, maybe sometimes the drone will not get a good reading of the remaining percentage and that may be fatal for the drone.

Welcome. Since we (and perhaps you) don’t know how long between flights, let’s revert to general guidelines. All these batteries are best stored at between 40-60% of full charge.

The app will enable you to set the built in battery management how many days after fully charged, that it should start self discharging to get charge down to target storage %. I personally set mine to 2 days - plenty of views on this.

So, after a flight, if you have discharged a battery substantially, say to between 10-30% of charge, I’d charge, once battery cools (repeat don’t charge till battery is cool!) to either 100%, or, if battery not going to be used for a while, just charge to above 50% as that’s the ideal storage charge for these batteries.

As you summarised correctly - charge battery to 100% before you fly.

Much more reading available on this, some very well educated battery technicians contribute to this subject from time to time, I’m not one of them, just summarising best practice..

 

[Dts_Dimensions]

Welcome. Since we (and perhaps you) don’t know how long between flights, let’s revert to general guidelines. All these batteries are best stored at between 40-60% of full charge.

The app will enable you to set the built in battery management how many days after fully charged, that it should start self discharging to get charge down to target storage %. I personally set mine to 2 days - plenty of views on this.

So, after a flight, if you have discharged a battery substantially, say to between 10-30% of charge, I’d charge, once battery cools (repeat don’t charge till battery is cool!) to either 100%, or, if battery not going to be used for a while, just charge to above 50% as that’s the ideal storage charge for these batteries.

As you summarised correctly - charge battery to 100% before you fly.

Much more reading available on this, some very well educated battery technicians contribute to this subject from time to time, I’m not one of them, just summarising best practice..

Thank you very much for your time.. Greetings to Melbourne!

 

[RunningWithScissors]

Always charge before a flight in this case. Always have a fully charged battery to start flights.
There is no degradation by ‘topping-off’ before flights.
Storage should always be in the 60-40% SOC range long term.
Use the built-in self-discharge feature to be sure your batts are stored properly.

Good recommendations that should help to ensure good battery life and that your Phantom does make it all the way home. The point about lifting off with substantially less than a fully charged battery should not be overlooked. It's so easy to think that you'll just do a short flight to drain off the battery, get wrapped up in the moment, and then find yourself out there with less battery than you need to get all the way home. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Personally, I monitor battery status regularly during the flight. Once the battery reaches 50%, I start to think about returning to home. At 40%, I'd better be on my way home. Then again, that's just me. For more insight into the overall health and status of your batteries, sign up for Air Data UAV, if you haven't already done so. Lots of good flight data available with that tool. Good luck.

 

[matti]

battery control board refuses to top-up if battery is about 90 - 94% charged level. But switching on - bypasses that limitation and allows full charge.

Thanks for the tip.

What is your max time before topping-up? I.e. the battery was fully charged and the auto-discharge has not yet kicked in. How many hours or days until you top-up before flight? 12 hours? 1day? 10 days?