Is that decrease in mAh too big for 6 cycles?

Dimitar · Nov 30, 2016

I recently got a new phantom 3 battery. It is my first battery ever and this is my first drone as well. I watched a lot of YouTube videos about maintenance of the battery and I have looked after mine very well and carefully. I have, by now, charged it 6 times to max capacity and flown it down to about 20% every single time. I have never charged the battery immediately after flight, never left it at 100% for more than 1 day and always kept it in a room with a temperature between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius. Today, after I flew my p3p in a fairly cold weather (3-4 degrees Celsius) I noticed that in dji go battery settings says: Total capacity: 4304 mah. Now, I know that total mah decreases with cycles but I want to ask if that too much of a decrease for 5 charges.

Trackman1 · Nov 30, 2016

Both of my batterys went up at first. To 4515mah. Then they started down. I think going up at first is normal.
But experiences vary. I never fly below 50% on the first 8-10 charges.

Dimitar · Nov 30, 2016

Trackman1 said:
Both of my batterys went up at first. To 4515mah. Then they started down. I think going up at first is normal.
But experiences vary. I never fly below 50% on the first 8-10 charges.

I have never heard that I shouldn't fly below 50% on the first charges. So that might be the case? Have I ruined the battery?

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Trackman1 · Nov 30, 2016

There use to be a battery guide. Don't know if that exists any more or not.
Here is the summary guide. Lot of useful info here.
Download and look at page 38 BATTERY.
Dropbox - DJI Phantom P3 Summary Guide.pdf

mdowney58 · Nov 30, 2016

Far from a very knowledgeable person here, but I wonder if that lowered capacity reading could have been due to the cold.....

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Trackman1 · Dec 1, 2016

Started flying in Feb. in Canada. It was cold. That is likely the biggest reason I stopped at 50% battery. Hands were frozen.
If the OP does a deep cycle, he may find the MAH's come back up.
Here was my original battery at 35 charges.
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Dimitar · Dec 1, 2016

Trackman1 said:
Started flying in Feb. in Canada. It was cold. That is likely the biggest reason I stopped at 50% battery. Hands were frozen.
If the OP does a deep cycle, he may find the MAH's come back up.
Here was my original battery at 35 charges.
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Ok I forgot to mention something. The last time I flew (in the cold) I got the battery down to 45%. THEN I noticed the decrease in mAh. So when I charge it up to a 100% the next time and drain it down to abot 15% the mAh should go up again? Is that what you are saying?

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Trackman1 · Dec 1, 2016

No. What I am saying is my only flying it down to 50% was not because I knew that I should, But because my hands were getting cold.
I the cold weather I charged my batterys inside. Put it in the AC and flew right away. They did not show less MHA. Now if you let the battery sit there and get cold it might.
Look at the deep cycle proceedure and try that with one of you batterys. When I do deep cycle I fly the AC down to 10%, So do a normal flight and bring the AC back to you at 25%, Then just let it hover and it will land at 10%. Then take in door and remove props. Then turn everything back on like you were going to fly. But just let it sit there. Just being powered up will slowly drain the battery to 8%. Watch the cell voltages. They should come down nice and even as you have a low load on the battery by doing it this method. Some people will fly it down to 8% but it can be a less even battery load between cells. When it hits 7 - 8% shut every thing down and wait half hour for battery to cool right down. Now recharge it as you normally would. See how many MHA you have now.

Dimitar · Dec 2, 2016

Trackman1 said:
No. What I am saying is my only flying it down to 50% was not because I knew that I should, But because my hands were getting cold.
I the cold weather I charged my batterys inside. Put it in the AC and flew right away. They did not show less MHA. Now if you let the battery sit there and get cold it might.
Look at the deep cycle proceedure and try that with one of you batterys. When I do deep cycle I fly the AC down to 10%, So do a normal flight and bring the AC back to you at 25%, Then just let it hover and it will land at 10%. Then take in door and remove props. Then turn everything back on like you were going to fly. But just let it sit there. Just being powered up will slowly drain the battery to 8%. Watch the cell voltages. They should come down nice and even as you have a low load on the battery by doing it this method. Some people will fly it down to 8% but it can be a less even battery load between cells. When it hits 7 - 8% shut every thing down and wait half hour for battery to cool right down. Now recharge it as you normally would. See how many MHA you have now.

I did exactly what you said. Now I have 4290 mAh. It has gotten down a bit. The weather today, when I flew it, was 8-11 degrees Celsius. I got 21 min of flight time. Why is the mAh continuing to go down so much?

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