draining battery vs wearing down engine

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P4P+ new 2016;
lightly used throughout;
but kept battery charged all the time;
up to take aerial photos, then landing;
DJI battery started swelling 2018;
pin pricked in 2019, continued using;
battery finally gave "bad" message month ago;
now with new DJI battery, wondering whether to
drain after each use via leaving P4P+ on + no propellers...?
how long does drain from, say, 50% to 0% take when
P4P+ not flying? Isn't this wearing out drone engine...?
Thanks in advance.
 
Nothing's being worn out by leaving your drone turned on. The battery level drops quickly. But why do this? You should be leaving some charge in your battery, not deliberately running it down to zero. Plus, your 'smart' battery will discharge itself to 50% (you can set the time-frame for the discharge) - so you don't even need to trouble yourself with a manual discharge.
 
Hi ribjig, The above response from Pygar70 really nails it. The only thing that I would add is that if you use the bird to discharge the battery then there is a real risk of over heating in the aircraft and the camera due to the lack of normal airflow. So trust in the technology that DJI built in and let the battery be automatically discharged slowly. Only fully charge the battery just before flights (or occasionally if the Phantom is in long-term storage).
All the best, Martin
 
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Good morning. I have a little thing to add to Pygar70 and Martin's comments. This automatic discharge function has to be configured on each battery via the GO 4 App. In YouTube you can find good tutorials about DJI Smart Batteries Maintenance and care.
Here's a link to DJI Enterprise Tips to keep batteries Healthy and Safe.
Here's another DJI Guide.
 
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I would recommend the Phantom Angel for battery conditioning if you have the money. I have 15 sets of TB50 batteries that were all around 20 something cycles. Bought one. Its is well made and works great. You can quickly drain batteries down to 50% for storage and deep cycle every 20 charges for max life on your batteries. It does take about a month for them to build and ship but well worth it if you have the money and lots of batteries
 
Link for Phantom Angel
Link for Phantom Angel?
Link for Phantom Angel. Phantom Angel. Check the bottom of the site for some YouTube links on how it works. Again the only complaint you will probably ever see is the time it takes for them to arrive. It's not some big commercial outfit. John the owner builds them per order. Part time. Also comes from over the pond somewhere.
 

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