I believe they recommend long term storage at 40-50% charge. Full charge does damage the batteries in long term storage, I have ruined a new P2 battery doing this. That is why they added the auto discharge to the P3 batteries. I don't know whether it would harm the batteries storing with less than 40%.
Phantom smart battery life span
- Thread starter rcfanatics
- Start date
N017RW
Premium Pilot
I thought the risk was a gradual discharge to near zero (< than 3.0vdc/cell) if stored less than 40-50 but I cannot find a link to verify my memory. I guess the same could happen no matter where you start but definitely 100% is bad.
That's a personal call. How long until you plan to fly again?
With my current schedule I fly almost every day (weather permitting) and I carefully track each battery and cycle through them so that no one battery gets used over and over. I put mine on a FULL charge every evening in preparation for the next day (4 batteries right now). If I don't fly in 5 days I have the packs programmed to start Auto Discharge (and I do not store them in my GoProfessional case because when they auto discharge they get pretty dang warm and HEAT is an ENEMY of Lipo) to storage levels.
I keep my "generic" LiPo packs at a storage charge of around 30% - 40% except I always keep one for my other quad at 100%. I cycle this through the (9) batteries I have and each one only stays at 100% for about 5 days before I put it into Storage levels and bring another one up to 100%. The reason for this is I always have a pack Flight Ready for SAR work here locally. While I'm traveling to and/or setting up at the SAR scene I charge additional packs up to 100%.
So no I don't think you need to worry about charging them up to the 50% mark but that's just my own personal opinion and you know what they say around opinions LOL
Oso
Premium Pilot
The battery that came with my P3 began to show a bad cell (cell 1) after only 22 cycles. I care for my batteries well, so considering 22 cycles was far less than advertised by DJI I tried to get a replacement. So far they have closed out three of my service tickets, marking them as resolved with no reason given and no indication that they will replace my battery.
Of course I can no longer fly with that battery, so it is reserved for bench testing activities only.
I suppose this also anecdotal but here we go:
One of my batteries recently suddenly reported a drop to 84% battery life, and HealthyDrones reported lots of major deviations on cell 1.
I recharged and flew that battery down to 8% and recharged back to 100%. DJI GO reported 94% battery life, and the next flight HealthyDrones reported NO major deviations.
I did the whole cycle again and then GO reported 99% life, and HealthyDrones still reported no major deviations.
Today I flew it to my normal 20% and GO is now reporting 100% life.
It is almost as if that deep discharge cycle does a reconditioning similar to the recon cycle which my CTEK charger does for my lead/acid batteries. Is that at all possible with LIPOs?
One of my batteries recently suddenly reported a drop to 84% battery life, and HealthyDrones reported lots of major deviations on cell 1.
I recharged and flew that battery down to 8% and recharged back to 100%. DJI GO reported 94% battery life, and the next flight HealthyDrones reported NO major deviations.
I did the whole cycle again and then GO reported 99% life, and HealthyDrones still reported no major deviations.
Today I flew it to my normal 20% and GO is now reporting 100% life.
It is almost as if that deep discharge cycle does a reconditioning similar to the recon cycle which my CTEK charger does for my lead/acid batteries. Is that at all possible with LIPOs?
N017RW
Premium Pilot
The only recovery (I won't use recondition) I've heard of is for overdischarge. This is due to the fact that LiPo [proper] chargers won't recognize packs that are too low [voltage] per cell count. They are charged using a NiCd or Pb setting to push some power into them so the LiPo algorithm can see enough voltage allow the charge cycle to start. LiPo damage is often one of a chemical nature and thus the bell cannot be 'un-rung'.
As far as the reported %s... the deep cycling seems to be one of just helping 'reset' the means for DJI's reporting method as opposed to any change within the battery itself.
I'm all ears if someone can cite or link to information to the contrary.
As far as the reported %s... the deep cycling seems to be one of just helping 'reset' the means for DJI's reporting method as opposed to any change within the battery itself.
I'm all ears if someone can cite or link to information to the contrary.
N017RW
Premium Pilot
True, dat. I suspect all the so-called inteligence in the battery is not helping.
I have been using regular 3 cell LiPos with my Blade QX 350 quad for a long time and have never had one fail on me!
I did pose the question elsewhere on the site before: What exactly does the % life represent?
I have been using regular 3 cell LiPos with my Blade QX 350 quad for a long time and have never had one fail on me!
I did pose the question elsewhere on the site before: What exactly does the % life represent?
N017RW
Premium Pilot
"What exactly does the % life represent?"... (and how is it determined) GOOD QUESTION!
I pay no mind to it and go by the batt. voltage telemetry.
I pay no mind to it and go by the batt. voltage telemetry.
Personal I will not recommend doing it my self. even if others do. BUT so far I have found no real credible reason why some one should do the discharge down to 8% every 20 cycles. and even any ones guess as to why are also just guesses such as how it some how resets some thing in the battery's smart circuit is just peoples guesses with nothing solid to back up the claim that it really does reset any thing in the smart circuit. So to me even if there is just a small chance that it will damage a battery thats still more of a risk of not doing it causing any sort of harm to a battery.
Tho when I dissected the p3 battery that went super wonky on me after discharge to 8% and then it not ever working after trying to do the recharge it would never go past the 50% range and was takeing for ever to get there. It also was getting hot up near the top of the battery near were the leds are. BUT after dissecting it I was not so much the discharge its self that seemed to do any damage and instead it seems that the componit on the smart board that was getting real hot has some thing to do with the smart chargers charge circuit. and when the battery was real low and the first part of the charge takeing the most amps and causing the part to heat up. Infact it got so hot it was causing the solder to re flow and the part shifted on the board and shorting its self out. and it was just burning off power to the point that after the battery would get up to around 57% it just would not take a charge any faster then it was burning off power.
So if it was caused by a discharge and then a recharge its looking like it was the beginning end of the recharge after the deep discharge that did the damage.
Thats also the stated reason why most of the after market 3 battery charge boards have the currant limit switches on them. Which is for if a battery is over discharged its supposed to help prevent the recharge from harming the battery from it takeing a charge at the full max amp rate for the first part of the charge. So for me if I ever do do a deep discharge and then try to recharge them I think Id rather go with a charge that takes a few mins longer but would be less risk of damage to make sure to set my switches so it reduces the power to the battery.
I would think it would some how be based on the internal resistance for the life % count on the p3s batterys.. BUT what ever it is that they use on the p3 its not at all like the useless life or health count that all the p2 batterys have... on the p2s the count has nothing to do with any thing but the number of charges and is just a redundant charge/discharge cycle count. It just counts off 1% every 3 charges. regardless of if the battery is in perfect health or a completely trashed pcs of toast. Then only thing that changes the remaining health number is the charge count. and when it gets to 300 its then down to 0% remaining health then it will lock the battery and is supposed to tell you its time to get a new battery.. Even people that have hacked the p2 battery's to use other battery cells. Still have them lock out once they get a total of 300 charges on the smart board. So they came up with a way to put a resister on the circuit that counts the charges and the health which are just 2 different numbers that are counting the same thing. but the resister makes it count every 2 charges as just 1. or 3 if they use a different value resister. That way they can use a board up to 600 or 900 charges before its locked and no good any more.
BUT the p3s health what ever it is is not just another way to count some thing that the charge count already does any way. So what ever it is looking at for the health is probably some thing more indicative to the battery's real health in some way shape or form. BUT it still did not show any thing at all wrong with my battery that got toasted. and all the cells were perfect even when I checked them all with my volt meter. so what ever its checking for the health % number is not any thing in the charge and discharge circuit of the smart battery and must just be the cells and there internal resistance. Or thats my biggest hunch/guess as to what it should be reading to know the true "health" in any way.
N017RW
Premium Pilot
With regards to Lithium Ion batteries... Internal Resistance (Ri) is not a good indicator of battery health as it remains fairly flat during it's lifetime. Having said that it does vary slightly depending on the State-of-Charge.
If you have an initial Ri measurement (control sample) and you have a suspicion or observations that suggest damage may have occurred you can remeasure and make a comparison but you cannot make prediction of battery lifetime or similar with this method alone.
If you have an initial Ri measurement (control sample) and you have a suspicion or observations that suggest damage may have occurred you can remeasure and make a comparison but you cannot make prediction of battery lifetime or similar with this method alone.
