P3s Battery Planning

[pandora]

Would be grateful for advice on P3 battery:
I probably fly once a week
I usually leave the batt on the machine until next flight in (say) 7 days, could be longer
If 3 bars are showing when next flight is due, what to do, and can I get better info from Go App here on charge situation or volt meter otl.
Do I need to discharge at any time, if so when do I re-charge (eg..the night before next flight)
Am willing to get gear necessary to discharge or (maybe) second battery.

 

[ServiceCall]

I wouldn’t leave the battery in the drone. Store it in a conditioned space.

Battery should be stored at 50%. This can be done by you or the discharge setting in the app.

Don’t fly with a partially charged battery. It will not read battery level correctly and could cause issues.

 

[pandora]

Thanks for that, it seems such a tedious method having to load the battery into the drone, turn everything on, read the app setting.
Can't this be done with a simple power test otl outside the drone?

 

[solentlife]

Sorry Pandora but 'tedious' ??

Simply :

1. Not advised to leave battery in drone between flights.
2. If you fly average 1x a week ... I suggest you set auto-discharge in GO to 2days. What happens then is your battery will automatically after being idle for 2days start discharging to storage. Approx. 2 days later, battery will be at storage level.
3. Charge as close as possible to when required for flight.... ie in the morning for an afternoon flight etc.
4. Do not fly with partial charge battery.

There is no need for any additional gear - DJI have given you the 'tools' to maintain your batterys ... the question is whether you have the full manual and read it to know how to use those tools ?

 

[David_Cambridge]

If you want just basic info, just press the battery button once either with the battery in the bird or loose. Note how many green lights light, and use the battery light chart in the manual.

 

[pandora]

Many thanks S & DC.
Have just remembered about the green lights, very useful.
"Tedious" might have been a bit strong but am used to simplifying things, thanks again.

 

[solentlife]

CAUTION ....

The LED lights on front of battery are very innaccurate. You can have all 4 full lit but still only have about 90% charge.

They indicate in steps of 25% and 12.5% flashing ... they are a rough indicator only.

Best practice is before use : Switch on battery - then plug in charger ... you will see even if all 4 LED's lit - that battery will start charging !!

 

[pandora]

Thanks again S, was wondering if it's OK to use the green bars, before laying up, to ensure the battery is safe to "sleep" (ie: 2 bars)

 

[solentlife]

I work on the principle that as long as I have 30% or more in my battery after a flight - its good to sit on shelf. If its over 55% - the self discharge function I have set to 2 days kicks in and saves me worrying about storage.

Some will advise you to charge up to 50% before storage ... sorry but that's just wasted time. There is no need for it. Cell voltage for storage is 3.7 to 3.85V ... which equates to under 30% up to about 55%. So most people I think do not fly longer than 30% level ... so storage is fine at that as the battery once rested will recover to about 33 - 35%.

All you need to do periodically is check you have at least 1 full + 1 flashing LED as minimum .. if you have that or less - then I suggest instead of 'gauging when to stop charging' - just charge up full or near full and let auto-discharge do its thing.

I attach the summary sheet that I produced for club guys ... I know some may not agree with all of it - that's life. I can live with that and I say - for myself and others who use it - it works.

 

[pandora]

Very many thanks S, exactly what I was after!