P3P Battery Discharge Question

Joined
Jun 8, 2016
Messages
328
Reaction score
77
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
I realize a fully charged battery will discharge to around 65% after 10 days (depends on time to discharge setting) if not being used. I make it a point to discharge to around 50%. Recently I haven't got the chance to run the motors and 2 of my batteries are at 100% for the last 3 days. Just wondering if there is any negative effect on the battery within those 10 days before discharging. Will it decrease battery performance?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
That's personal opinion and it also depends on the environment the batteries are stored in. A cooler environment is easier on the batteries for storage.

I have mine set to start the discharge at 3 days and it usually takes 2 days from full to "Storage" which is 50-60% IIRC. My only "support" to this reasoning is my batteries have hundreds of cycles on them and all are still showing a 98% - 100% and still have good "punch" to them.
 
Thanks BigAl. I have never changed the discharge setting but I will change it to 3 days as well. I do store it in a cool place. Don't see in the manual the effects if left to full charge for a while.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
Flipsonic- I have gone a max of 3 days between flights, 3 days seems to have no ill effects, further reading & Big Al's advise, I think I;m going to change factory discharge timing from 10 days to 4 days too.
I just did the discharge to 8% thing with my 2 oldest batteries(20 flights) & then fully charged em up.
If you do the 8% discharge thing, be prepared to fight off the failsafe landing features, which you can cancel,
2nd warning though bird was **** determined to land, so hover low over landing point, bit of a nail biter!
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigAl07
Flipsonic- I have gone a max of 3 days between flights, 3 days seems to have no ill effects, further reading & Big Al's advise, I think I;m going to change factory discharge timing from 10 days to 4 days too.
I just did the discharge to 8% thing with my 2 oldest batteries(20 flights) & then fully charged em up.
If you do the 8% discharge thing, be prepared to fight off the failsafe landing features, which you can cancel,
2nd warning though bird was **** determined to land, so hover low over landing point, bit of a nail biter!

Thanks royster. Do you really need to do the 8% discharge procedure? I did read about that in the old manual. However it doesn't talk about it in the most recent manual. I think due to the new battery FW, it is no longer required. Anyone correct me if I'm wrong.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
If you do the 8% discharge thing, be prepared to fight off the failsafe landing features, which you can cancel,
2nd warning though bird was **** determined to land, so hover low over landing point, bit of a nail biter!

The other option is to grab it then try to move it some, the motors fire up and suck down the juice.
 
I;m following advise of those much more expierenced than I, spent allot of time looking over Battery posts here & at Toms u-tube site. What I did learn & correct if this is now changed is- After 20 odd flights its wise to deep discharge those batteries to 8%, no lower tho. There are many ways to do this, I elected to Fly my bird, close to take off point, I did cancel the "critical battery i'm gonna land warning" at approx. 11%, at 8% she was landing no matter what I did!
Its a bit of a nail biter, but, no biggie if your careful.
I wanted to add, This Phantom 3 advanced of mine is flying like the machine it is advertisied as being, everytime I take her up I;m just so impressed & still in awe of what she can & does do.
I;m so taken with this hobby & look forward to flying as soon as I wake each morning, Touch wood!
 
Last edited:
I do the "Deep Discharge" every 20th flight. Healthy Drones even has a built in reminder to "alert you" to do this if you go the paid service route. Before HD I relied upon my hand made logs (which I still do and keep on hand for reference) to remind me.

In theory this "Deep Discharge" calibrates the Smartness of the battery and somehow balances the cells internally.
 
Yes but if you read the latest battery manual, it doesn't talk about the 8% discharge anymore. I guess it is up to you if you still want to do it. Here is a thread with comments from experienced flyers.

Battery Usage History



Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots


Let me start off by saying msinger is amazing and a wealth of valuable and very accurate information. I think very highly of him and hold his suggestions with very high regards.

With that being said you stated: "comments from experienced flyers". That thread has input from a total of (3) people and one of them is you asking the question. I'd probably try to get a whole big heaping of input from many many people. With batteries you just don't get many 2nd chances.

While I'll admit I've not read the latest manual on the batteries, my last 2 batteries (purchased July 2016 from Best Buy here locally) both apparently had the old literature in them (makes me wonder how long they were sitting on a shelf somewhere) because both had the same suggested procedure for deep discharge after 20 flights. My (4) main flight batteries have literally hundreds of flights and I am a stickler for the 20 flight deep discharge and my worst battery is at 99%. I have to think this is due to following the manufacturers suggestions even if they have been updated they have to be working. Wouldn't you agree to this?

Of course this is another area where what works great for one person may or may not work the same for another but the 20 flight DD rules seems to work wonders with my batteries. As always YMMV.
 
Last edited:

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,359
Members
104,936
Latest member
hirehackers