Phantom 3 battery life issue

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Hello guys just needed to ask if my battery is at 94% health status in app after 11cycle charge and 32 flights does it mean something is wrong with my battery? Or the way i am charging and using it? I have followed the recommended ways of maximising the smart battery life storing it at 50% charge and charging it at room temperature and stuff? Can it be a problem with the battery it self? And what to do next to prevent further decrease... I didn't even reach the 20cycles to drain it at 8% and then recharge it to train the cells... Any help would be appreciated thx
 
This is yet another example of why you must break in your LiPo's. The chances of it being a bad battery are a lot less likely. Unfortunately, the damage is irreparable once you've passed the break in period. It will still work, however, just not for as many cycles.

To break in a new LiPo, you need to discharge it no lower than 50% for the first 10 flights. You may want to end the flight even earlier if you live in a warmer climate, perhaps at 60-65%.

Heat is a LiPo's worst enemy. The longer it spends at a warm temperature, the faster it will degrade. Completing a thorough break in will keep the LiPo healthy by reducing the time it spends at peak operating temps and it will leave less opportunity for the cells to become too imbalanced.
 
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This is yet another example of why you must break in your LiPo's. The chances of it being a bad battery are a lot less likely. Unfortunately, the damage is irreparable once you've passed the break in period. It will still work, however, just not for as many cycles.

To break in a new LiPo, you need to discharge it no lower than 50% for the first 10 flights. You may want to end the flight even earlier if you live in a warmer climate, perhaps at 60-65%.

Heat is a LiPo's worst enemy. The longer it spends at a warm temperature, the faster it will degrade. Completing a thorough break in will keep the LiPo healthy by reducing the time it spends at peak operating temps and it will leave less opportunity for the cells to become too imbalanced.
thank you for your reply, well i have to say that yes i didnt follow up that break in method for my first 20flights, and i think i have caused this issue because i wasnt aware of it until now, i just tried now to discharge my batter to 8% to perform the cell calibration i read on forums.. and guess what at 10% i was hovering just above the ground arround 10cm and my phantom dropped dead suddenly, i left my battery for 30min to cool down and now im charging it back.... hope i can perform at least for 5 flights not to break the 50% and trying to balance my cells back in hopes that this might fix it... i learned it the hard way but honeslty if i didnt dig for an answer i never knew that.. thank you and one more Question do you think that i can balance them back using ur method after this? or what do u suggest for maintaining use of this battery for the longest period possible and is it safe to still use it before i get a new one... thx again
 
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I would take it easy on the battery that's giving you trouble and drain it to 50% only for the next few flights. Doing this should help rebalance the cells. Keep an eye on the cells using the battery monitor page in the pilot app to see how well they stay balanced throughout the flight while under load and note any cells that are out of balance more than .05v. It sounds like you could have one cell that has started to degrade further than the rest, making the battery shut off prior to when it was supposed to.
 
I would take it easy on the battery that's giving you trouble and drain it to 50% only for the next few flights. Doing this should help rebalance the cells. Keep an eye on the cells using the battery monitor page in the pilot app to see how well they stay balanced throughout the flight while under load and note any cells that are out of balance more than .05v. It sounds like you could have one cell that has started to degrade further than the rest, making the battery shut off prior to when it was supposed to.
fine will do, i will test flight it and maintain the 50% mark when i land and proceed with this method at least 5 to 10 flights in hope to re-calibrate the cells... and will post later updates thank you...
 
I just got my Phantom 3 and have only flown my batteries a few times each, and just discovered that this break-in period was recommended. I'll start conditioning them now. Hopefully no damage. Did I miss something in the manuals?
 
It's not in the manual, just like all of the other known facts about what LiPo's like and don't like.
Any thoughts on the chinese multi-battery charging adapters from Skyreat? Should I trust them with my LiPo's ?
 
Just like alot of other info that was missing... even their post about the firmware upgrade is wrong saying the lights and beeps will stop flashing when it's done... I read about it on the net and it's a different series of beeps that tells you when it's done
 
Any thoughts on the chinese multi-battery charging adapters from Skyreat? Should I trust them with my LiPo's ?

I see nothing wrong with them, but I also see little benefit. I would rather buy multiple DJI chargers so they charge simultaneously. The multi chargers only charge one at a time.. So the only time saved is whatever time is lost between swapping batteries on the charger. For me, that's maybe 5 minutes since I can predict when the battery will be finished pretty accurately.
 
1436388552188.jpg
I would take it easy on the battery that's giving you trouble and drain it to 50% only for the next few flights. Doing this should help rebalance the cells. Keep an eye on the cells using the battery monitor page in the pilot app to see how well they stay balanced throughout the flight while under load and note any cells that are out of balance more than .05v. It sounds like you could have one cell that has started to degrade further than the rest, making the battery shut off prior to when it was supposed to.
This is my flight test after recharging the battery and ending flight at 50% mark:
Cell number 3 seems to be the one degrading first with a 0.6 ~ 0.8 difference mark the rest of cells were too close 0.1 ~ 0.2 difference and sometimes equal, i suppose that i should keep on flying for 10min only for a while in hopes to get it back in balance. This picture was taken after i landed directly, it shows a 0.5 difference on the third cell, but when im flight in increases to 0.8 max.... Should explain everything. Open for suggestions and help maintain the battery health for longer thx
 
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View attachment 24302
This is my flight test after recharging the battery and ending flight at 50% mark:
Cell number 3 seems to be the one degrading first with a 0.6 ~ 0.8 difference mark the rest of cells were too close 0.1 ~ 0.2 difference and sometimes equal, i suppose that i should keep on flying for 10min only for a while in hopes to get it back in balance. This picture was taken after i landed directly, it shows a 0.5 difference on the third cell, but when im flight in increases to 0.8 max.... Should explain everything. Open for suggestions and help maintain the battery health for longer thx

You missed a zero in the voltage difference, I think you meant 0.08v.

This is exactly what I would do if I were you. With any luck, you may get that cell's IR to drop, allowing it to stay more balanced with the rest. However, I don't expect it to last as long as a battery that has never been in an unhealthy state.

I honestly believe this kind of attention to detail is extremely important IF you want to get the most out of your investment, especially when the LiPo is brand new.
 
Unfortunately my battery is now at 87%... I think its dying slowly and still a new one... 14cycles, i did discharge it to 50% each time for 4 flights now but it keeps degrading, still cant beleive its dying that fast... Anw i think ill get rid of it soon cz im afraid to shut down in air.
 
This is yet another example of why you must break in your LiPo's. The chances of it being a bad battery are a lot less likely. Unfortunately, the damage is irreparable once you've passed the break in period. It will still work, however, just not for as many cycles.

Hard for DJI to not say it's not a warranty issue if it's in the manual. I agree that maybe this applies to a standard lipo, but these are "smart" batteries, with a 'brain' connected to the cells. If this process is required to get the advertised life out of a battery, then it should be in the manual.
 
Hard for DJI to not say it's not a warranty issue if it's in the manual. I agree that maybe this applies to a standard lipo, but these are "smart" batteries, with a 'brain' connected to the cells. If this process is required to get the advertised life out of a battery, then it should be in the manual.

I honestly believe that while these intelligent batteries have functions that are useful, they do not protect themselves from everything. DJI has done everything they can to convince customers that their new battery does everything for you, requiring no effort on your part besides charging it... This simply is not true.

It's clever marketing tactics to make it seem that you don't have to baby these things in order to get the most out of them. If they emphasized LiPo care as much as I do, it would most certainly deter potential customers from wanting one.

Some of the most well known and high end laptop manufacturers don't even say a word about what not to do if you want to get the most amount of cycles out of the battery. This is why people always wonder why their laptop battery failed and can't hold a charge anymore when they haven't even cycled it hardly, but it has been plugged in for an extended period of time. Happens all the time.
 

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