So how do you guys set and treat your batteries?

[Opfor]

Curious to know how many days most folks set their battery discharge rates to? I'm starting off with 2 days for now. Do most leave the low battery at 30% and critical at 10%? I find myself coming back to home station at 30% but still fly around close and usually land around 12-15%. Is this a bad habit to start, perhaps over draining the batteries?

Have not tried it but curious to know what happens at 10%, does the quad automatically land itself no matter where it is or can you override that perhaps once? If so exactly how low can you go, all the way down to 0% or is the 10% there so you don't destroy the battery?

 

[With The Birds]

I have Auto discharge at 1 day, bring back to 50% after flight with charge within hours of flight if possible.

If your heading home at 30% continued hovering around before landing is just wasting battery life. Ultimate number of charge cycles is finite, if your landing just over 10 and your home at 25% every 6 or so flights you have burnt a charge cycle.

Yes, auto land will kick in at 10%. If you get caught out you can hold altitude with full stick up and fly around. You will get ongoing propulsion limited warnings though.

 

[Opfor]

Great info, thanks for sharing. Had not really considered bringing them back up to 50% but that does make good sense. So is it safe to say that the auto discharge only drains them down to 50%?

Another question I have is on returning home and what is the best mode to be in if battery % is of concern? Is it better to fly in P mode with maximum of 22mph which will have a slower discharge rate or S mode which can double your speed but deplete your battery faster? I'm guessing better to be in P mode as I've seen how quick my % drops when I'm zooming around in S or A mode.

 

[msinger]

is it safe to say that the auto discharge only drains them down to 50%?

It'll only discharge them down to 65%.

 

[snowghost]

It'll only discharge them down to 65%.

Do you have a discharger for the P4 batteries?

 

[Opfor]

Believe it is built in isn't it?

 

[msinger]

Do you have a discharger for the P4 batteries?

I do have the DJI battery charging hub -- which can also be used to charge them up to 50% or discharge them down to 50%. It takes forever to discharge them though, so I don't do it.

 

[With The Birds]

Great info, thanks for sharing. Had not really considered bringing them back up to 50% but that does make good sense. So is it safe to say that the auto discharge only drains them down to 50%?

Another question I have is on returning home and what is the best mode to be in if battery % is of concern? Is it better to fly in P mode with maximum of 22mph which will have a slower discharge rate or S mode which can double your speed but deplete your battery faster? I'm guessing better to be in P mode as I've seen how quick my % drops when I'm zooming around in S or A mode.

Best distance for given discharge is close to flat stick. For the phantom 3 that was around 14ms.

 

[snowghost]

I do have the DJI battery charging hub -- which can also be used to charge them up to 65% or discharge them down to 65%. It takes forever to discharge them though, so I don't do it.

I have the discharger for the P3 that you recommended. It's awesome. I was hoping there was something similar for the P4 batteries.

 

[msinger]

The only thing I've really seen for the Phantom 4 is this discharger -- which is just a generic version of the DJI USB charger + battery to DC power cable.

 

[Erised]

I try to land around 20% ( I have 4 batteries). The 10 and 30 works for me, warning at 30% better be close to home and 10% warning kicks in you have the option to cancel in GO and hopefully get home for a safe landing. Get to 0 and it will try to land or crash. The amount of energy a battery can generate is finite, it can only do so many chemical changes to product electricity. DJI set the auto discharge to 10 days, this is programmable in GO. After a flight I let my batteries totally cool down and charge them with the dji 3 up charger to storage level (65%). The day of flight I charge to 100% at least one houre before and give them a chance to chemically equalize. If I don't use all my batteries I do not discharge them because I do not want to use up long term battery life. If you discharge them often you are just using up the batteries chemical capacity to generate power. Discharging them more often is harder on the battery than keeping them charged for the 10 days. I have over 40 charges on my batteries with 96% life remaining in the batteries. I have never discharged my batteries because I am not going to fly for a week, when I put them in the bird after a week they are usually 99%. You will have many opinions on this, do you discharge your phone or laptop when not in use? For long term storage bring them down, but if your going to fly in the next 10 days I wouldn't. IMO. I still get 17 to 20 minutes flights with 20% left (s mode) many are over 40,000 feet total distance.

 

[jogforfitness]

I do have the DJI battery charging hub -- which can also be used to charge them up to 65% or discharge them down to 65%. It takes forever to discharge them though, so I don't do it.

I think the DJI hub discharges to 50% or charges up to 50% while in storage mode.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[msinger]

I think the DJI hub discharges to 50% or charges up to 50% while in storage mode.

Yep -- it's definitely 50% per the manual. Both are okay levels to store the battery.

 

[Skyline Media]

I would like to know are battery same the phanthom 3 stranded & phantom 3 professional & advance?

 

[With The Birds]

I try to land around 20% ( I have 4 batteries). The 10 and 30 works for me, warning at 30% better be close to home and 10% warning kicks in you have the option to cancel in GO and hopefully get home for a safe landing. Get to 0 and it will try to land or crash. The amount of energy a battery can generate is finite, it can only do so many chemical changes to product electricity. DJI set the auto discharge to 10 days, this is programmable in GO. After a flight I let my batteries totally cool down and charge them with the dji 3 up charger to storage level (65%). The day of flight I charge to 100% at least one houre before and give them a chance to chemically equalize. If I don't use all my batteries I do not discharge them because I do not want to use up long term battery life. If you discharge them often you are just using up the batteries chemical capacity to generate power. Discharging them more often is harder on the battery than keeping them charged for the 10 days. I have over 40 charges on my batteries with 96% life remaining in the batteries. I have never discharged my batteries because I am not going to fly for a week, when I put them in the bird after a week they are usually 99%. You will have many opinions on this, do you discharge your phone or laptop when not in use? For long term storage bring them down, but if your going to fly in the next 10 days I wouldn't. IMO. I still get 17 to 20 minutes flights with 20% left (s mode) many are over 40,000 feet total distance.

This is a convenience vs lifespan & performance decision. There is no free lunch. I try not to leave packs at 100% for a week if I can avoid it. I'm not keen on using them to power a discharge either, I like to fly.

Phones and laptops are a different proposition. Discharge rates in service are low compared to the phantom where we see 2C+ (C rating = current draw/ Ah * V) in a hover. The higher the current draw the harder it is for a battery in less than optimum condition to function.

 

[Erised]

This is a convenience vs lifespan & performance decision. There is no free lunch. I try not to leave packs at 100% for a week if I can avoid it. I'm not keen on using them to power a discharge either, I like to fly.

Phones and laptops are a different proposition. Discharge rates in service are low compared to the phantom where we see 2C+ (C rating = current draw/ Ah * V) in a hover. The higher the current draw the harder it is for a battery in less than optimum condition to function.

I agree that leaving it for a week will have a small effect on long term, I also like to fly them down. One thing I don't do(yet) is to store them in the fridge(not freezer) If you would store them at 40% in the fridge in a sealed bag and let them get back to room temperature in the bag to avoid condensation you would only get 2% life loss due to storage per year, a 40% charge at room temp is 4% per year (data from battery university). At 100% charge in the fridge 6% per year and at room temperature 20% loss per year. I am going to try in a sealed container (amo type, metal, not insulated for a faster cool down and warm up) with silica absorbant at 50%+ (dji charger) in the beer fridge this week. To get a inside temperature reading before opening the container I have one of those cheap wifi outdoor temp monitors that may work, I may have data on cooling and warming times to share early next week. Check out some data at uterc.org/files/LipoStorageTips.pdf

 

[David Kraft]

I agree that leaving it for a week will have a small effect on long term, I also like to fly them down. One thing I don't do(yet) is to store them in the fridge(not freezer) If you would store them at 40% in the fridge in a sealed bag and let them get back to room temperature in the bag to avoid condensation you would only get 2% life loss due to storage per year, a 40% charge at room temp is 4% per year (data from battery university). At 100% charge in the fridge 6% per year and at room temperature 20% loss per year. I am going to try in a sealed container (amo type, metal, not insulated for a faster cool down and warm up) with silica absorbant at 50%+ (dji charger) in the beer fridge this week. To get a inside temperature reading before opening the container I have one of those cheap wifi outdoor temp monitors that may work, I may have data on cooling and warming times to share early next week. Check out some data at uterc.org/files/LipoStorageTips.pdf

I bought my drone to fly, so unless I'm going somewhere like Washington DC for a month, they get flown every day, or worst case every three days if I only get one mission in.

Also the P4 Intelligent battery self discharges, I have mine set to 10 days, and the ones I bought were all set to 3 days from factory. so it's moot point.

 

[Erised]

I bought my drone to fly, so unless I'm going somewhere like Washington DC for a month, they get flown every day, or worst case every three days if I only get one mission in.

Also the P4 Intelligent battery self discharges, I have mine set to 10 days, and the ones I bought were all set to 3 days from factory. so it's moot point.

A few weeks ago comming back from a small trip which I took the bird along, in case I could fly, no time to fly, comming back one hour left in a 4 hour drive I told my wife I gotta stop soon to fly to get my batteries down around 30 or 40% to put them on the charger to get a storage % zone for the batteries. She replied " YOU have 4 batteries!" I said "YEA ain't that great! " So we stopped for about one hour, Gotta get that % down and the best and most fun way to do it is fly fly fly fly. (4 bats)

 

[Jussaguy]

I agree that leaving it for a week will have a small effect on long term, I also like to fly them down. One thing I don't do(yet) is to store them in the fridge(not freezer) If you would store them at 40% in the fridge in a sealed bag and let them get back to room temperature in the bag to avoid condensation you would only get 2% life loss due to storage per year, a 40% charge at room temp is 4% per year (data from battery university). At 100% charge in the fridge 6% per year and at room temperature 20% loss per year. I am going to try in a sealed container (amo type, metal, not insulated for a faster cool down and warm up) with silica absorbant at 50%+ (dji charger) in the beer fridge this week. To get a inside temperature reading before opening the container I have one of those cheap wifi outdoor temp monitors that may work, I may have data on cooling and warming times to share early next week. Check out some data at uterc.org/files/LipoStorageTips.pdf

Don't forget to carry the one.

Seriously guys, it's a battery. Take general care of it and by the time you are ready to buy batteries for the next big thing, your bats will be fine!

 

[Erised]

Don't forget to carry the one.

Seriously guys, it's a battery. Take general care of it and by the time you are ready to buy batteries for the next big thing, your bats will be fine!

Yep! and thats why I will still keep them charged up if they are for the week or so. The long term cool storage will be for the long Canadian winter, I live way up north in Ontario and the temp will drop in the -30 c and -40c for weeks and weeks and never go above the -20c for a couple of months so as these sad days are comming long term storage will be necessary. I will fly my syma indoors for fun and go snowmobilling instead.