Taking Care of my Battery

[Drdave]

Ok, here’s my question-What is the best way to take care of my battery? I have a new Phantom 3 Standard and I want to take care of it, including extending the life of the battery. Not while flying, but afterwards. Should I go ahead and recharge it, or try to drain the battery as much as I can before I put it up? My schedule can get a little chaotic at times, so there may be a week or more between flights. I have heard of some rechargeable batteries developing a ‘memory’ if you don’t do it right. I see where the replacement batteries can get a little expensive, so I’m trying to educate myself the best I can. Any sage advice would be appreciated.

By the way, I’m new to the forum and I’m looking forward to learning tons from everyone here.

 

[Meta4]

Should I go ahead and recharge it, or try to drain the battery as much as I can before I put it up? My schedule can get a little chaotic at times, so there may be a week or more between flights. I have heard of some rechargeable batteries developing a ‘memory’ if you don’t do it right. I see where the replacement batteries can get a little expensive, so I’m trying to educate myself the best I can.

There's not much you need to do.
Lithium batteries don't have memory issues.
Storing at full charge or very low is not good for them.
That's why DJI batteries will self-discharge to approx 50% after a number of days (configurable in the app).

 

[solentlife]

As Meta4 says ... DJI batterys have an auto discharge function built in.

My suggestion if anyone is leaving DJI batterys on shelf for a period .... charge up full. Have auto discharge set to what you like ... Leave battery alone on the shelf ... check it every few weeks to see that you have at least 1 + flashing second LED's light up or 2 full LED's ... at that point charge it back up and let it discharge itself again.. That way you never drop into Hibernation Mode and battery is never drained too low.

Nigel

 

[msinger]

I store my P3 batteries like this.

 

[alokbhargava]

I was too occupied with my work for last ~9 months and had no time to fly my phantom. I used to charge my batteries to about 70-90% and leave them for 3 months unattended. Did it for nearly last 9 months. Batteries are in good shape and I could fly my drone yesterday after charging batteries fully and noticed no issues.

 

[solentlife]

Thats the trick ... checking every so often to make sure they do not drain down to Hibernation Mode ... some batterys are extremely hard to bring out of it.

To revive a Hibernation Mode battery : Switch on ... ignore the lights. LEAVE alone for 5 minutes, do not touch the power button, then plug in charger ... this is where a DJI Charger is only one that works ... (3rd party chargers for some reason cannot overcome the lack of switch-on of battery).
It may take significant time - just leave it alone ... and it will eventually 'wake-up' ....

But tbh - best avoided by topping up charge every few weeks or so ... and let it self discharge down ...

The number of life cycles is not to be worried about as they are few used.

Nigel