- Joined
- Mar 14, 2016
- Messages
- 310
- Reaction score
- 39
- Age
- 36
what's your take on that comment from that flyer?
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
How bad is it really to store battery at 100%?
- Thread starter Saudio
- Start date
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
I dont have a take/opinion as I am not an expert on battery chemistry. I can draw a simple conclusion based on the stated numbers being that It would seem to agree with the battery university numbers, i.e. storage at full charge averages a loss of a couple of percent/month in usable capacity. Over 12 months that would be about the 25% mark of cumulative capacity lost.
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2015
- Messages
- 1,617
- Reaction score
- 747
- Age
- 71
Here's another question that I've often wondered about. With NiMH and Lithium Ion batteries, they are manufactured in one of a few standard cell types. Several companies make some sort of living replacing the bad cells with new ones at a significant discount compared to buying a new pack.
Are LiPo's manufactured similarly? If so, it would seem that someone could make some money replacing wonky cells or that DIYer's could upgrade their packs at a more reasonable cost.
To me, replacing battery packs isn't such a big deal - most things I own tend to need something replaced now and again, my boat seems to need something replaced all of the time. I'd rather be ready to fly than save even 25% of battery life, but that is a personal point of view that you may or may not share.
Are LiPo's manufactured similarly? If so, it would seem that someone could make some money replacing wonky cells or that DIYer's could upgrade their packs at a more reasonable cost.
To me, replacing battery packs isn't such a big deal - most things I own tend to need something replaced now and again, my boat seems to need something replaced all of the time. I'd rather be ready to fly than save even 25% of battery life, but that is a personal point of view that you may or may not share.
I think most people with experience with Lipos wouldn't subscribe to this strategy.
I can 100% guarantee you that you're robbing yourself of capacity maintaining 100% full charge all the time. It may not be a large amount per month but you are hurting them none the less. Due to the nature of our aircraft we want/need every mAh we can salvage from our power source.
Losing capacity and puffing (puffing is from over discharging routinely or they will puff with an extreme partial discharge such a short circuit) are entirely 2 different situations. Routinely discharging a LiPo down to 20% - 30% in no way puts the battery in danger of "puffing" as this has been the standard "minimum normal discharge" on LiPo for many many years now. Keep in mind that the DJI software is designed to protect the battery for you so in a sense you're circumventing the process when you don't need to. Also take note that DJI has also suggested a "Maintenance Discharge" level of less than 10% every 10 - 20 flights to "Reset" the battery to it's optimum performance levels. Some "suggest" this might be a way to re-calibrate the on-board software with the batteries chemistry so that telemetry etc remains accurate.
With all of this being said we all do things differently and at the end of the day we each have to weigh the pros and cons to decide what is more important to us and how we fly. Personally I'm on-call for work as well as always Mission Ready for Search&Rescue so I have a means to be able to fly within minutes as well as charge 3 more packs while enroute or on-scene. This is what I have found works best for me and how I conduct my flights and maintenance. YMMV of course.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2016
- Messages
- 112
- Reaction score
- 53
- Age
- 80
Until recently I flew several fixed wing electric planes. I made the mistake of leaving 5 batteries fully charged over the winter. Every one of them puffed and are now ruined. For those of you that have not performed this stupid move, "puffed" means they swelled up became unsafe and I had to dispose of them. They were only $20 each, not the $150 for each of the P3 batteries. Anyway, DON'T leave them fully charged for any extended period of time.
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2016
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 4
Thanks for this thread. I've had this same question for a while now and been too embarrassed to ask. It seems like something I should know without asking, which seems silly now, but I digress. OP and all the helpful posters that followed, thank you.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2016
- Messages
- 558
- Reaction score
- 114
- Age
- 56
Great article about LIPO batteries.
Understanding RC LiPo Batteries
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Understanding RC LiPo Batteries
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2016
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 4
I don't have any great insights to add beyond what's already been said, but fwiw here is my limited experience: For about a year now I've been flying a P3P with 3 batteries. I try to store them at or close to 50% whenever I know I won't be flying in the next day or two but there have been times where I stored a fully charged battery for a week or so. How many times? I really don't know exactly, maybe once each battery, twice at the most. Thankfully I have not seen a drop in battery performance but it's quite possible I have slowly lost performance and simply not noticed. Either way, after reading this thread I'm going to be a lot better about charging up/down to 50%, rotating, keeping records, etc. Oh and I'll be getting a 3x charger...is there ever a point where one has everything needed to operate a drone?! Every time I think I've finally reached that point a thread like this pops up and, yep, more stuff to buy!
I dont know if you have had a play with uploading your flight records to healthy drones. It will tell you how many mah was put into a battery when last charged, very useful as you can see how far off you are from the initial caoacity when new. More accurate than the lifetime %.
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2016
- Messages
- 310
- Reaction score
- 39
- Age
- 36
don't be embarrassed to ask cause everyone had to start off a beginner everyone here that is a pilot,everyone makes mistakes even the pros that's how we all become pros or become better at flying by not only making but also learning from our mistakes and not everyone has the right answer about everything, like me... i let my pride get in the way and i give out my dumb opinions thinkin im right in what i say, there's too much pride on here this phantom pilot forum. for a lot of us
i think it's best we stop priding ourselves behind our screens when we may not have the correct answer and just say "i don't know" and do our research and listen to the true vets/pros that have been flying for years. as far as the other side of pride goes we can't be afraid of asking about things we don't fully understand cause we'll never get better we'll never learn. that being said don't let your guards down there are still trolls out there that don't contribute because even if they they have the right answer they will publicly shame you just to get attention but those people know who they are. don't give up flying God Bless
Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2016
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 4
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2016
- Messages
- 42
- Reaction score
- 4
Is there a good way to discharge a battery without the phantom? I normally discharge my batteries to 50% if I don't plan to fly the next day but I have one still fully charged after a crash and the P3 is now on its way to DJI in California. The auto discharge was left at the default 10days.
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Yep. Here's the discharger I got.. Works great.
http://www.amazon.com/Crazepony®-In...60041709&sr=8-3&keywords=phantom+3+discharger
http://www.amazon.com/Crazepony®-In...60041709&sr=8-3&keywords=phantom+3+discharger
Similar threads
