The Pros and Cons of taking a Dji Battery to the 8% level to balance cells

[MotorCycle-Man]

I have several "Genuine Dji" batteries that are nearing the 20 re charges....and i have read of many that claim that they have done that and it has ruined their batteries and they will never do that deep cycle again then re charge their batteries....So i have read of those who have and recommend that procedure as per Dji has also....I'm Confused....Yes i'm nearing the 20 recharges....and i have monitored the battery levels before flights and my volt levels are all very very close to each other....So Shall i take them to " 8% discharge" and recharge Them ? Thanks to all who help me with my question !

 

[msinger]

i have read of those who have and recommend that procedure as per Dji has also

DJI does not recommend this procedure. While I'm not convinced it'll hurt your batteries, I've never seen any evidence that showed it was beneficial for DJI batteries.

 

[tcope]

DJI no longer recommends this as a normal course of battery maintenance (i.e. every 20 cycles). However, they may recommend it if you are having with the battery charging or other charging/discharging issues. But again, only if you _have_ an issue already.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

DJI does not recommend this procedure. While I'm not convinced it'll hurt your batteries, I've never seen any evidence that showed it was beneficial for DJI batteries.

My My........I was sure i had read it in the battery care booklet that came with the Dji batterys !....or even the main Booklet..Thanks msinger

 

[grin factor]

There was a similar thread about batteries & charging them etc, and 1 member didn't do anything but charge them as & when needed. His batteries had over 200 charges on them & still worked fine.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

OK...........I really Think its really is a needed thing to do "IF".....cells show a big deviation "Right" ! and this is my number 2 battery this is when i checked it in drone after a re charge : 4.19 4.22 4.26 4.24. when DO you need to discharge to the 8% OR ? when should you need to do it........and hows the volts of this number 02 battery of mine doing after NEAR 20 recharges ?.......i land when its at 20% left !....i also like to check the cells volts during a flight too after take off and at random times in the flight ! Thanks for the help....Your very much appreciated too !

 

[With The Birds]

The discharge to 8% routine is doing nothing other than throwing away a charge cycle you could be flying with. The Texas Instruments battery management electronics constantly update the cell parameters during flight, charging and even track self discharge while in storage. Nothing is recalibrated by the previously recommended discharge procedure. By constantly updating cell IR and performance under load the remaining percentage, est time to empty and health are accurately reported.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

Thank You all For the great information for all the " do's and don'ts" of the Dji flight batteries........I'm sure many have read about the care and recharging on the flight batteries here new and old owners too !....Thanks to the last reply too "With The Birds" !..and I'm sure we will learn more too as more also share what they also know thru experience !

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

In Looking at my Flight Batteries voltages.....just what is a "Unacceptable lower voltage" as compared to the "higher voltages" cells that would raise some concern that the battery needs discharged properly and Re charged to hopefully balance out the cells ?....in a post above...i posted my number 02 Dji flights battery after a charge and it had set for a few days ! Ok are the voltage levels OK ?

 

[With The Birds]

In Looking at my Flight Batteries voltages.....just what is a "Unacceptable lower voltage" as compared to the "higher voltages" cells that would raise some concern that the battery needs discharged properly and Re charged to hopefully balance out the cells ?....in a post above...i posted my number 02 Dji flights battery after a charge and it had set for a few days ! Ok are the voltage levels OK ?

So, your pack has a 70mv deviation (highest to lowest voltage). 70mv is my threshold for keeping a close eye on a pack, seemingly 100mv is considered acceptable (this is the threshold where the phantomhelp log viewer depicts the deviation as red.

What is the reported capacity (mah) for that battery?

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

"With"........i wrote down the capacity...after being charged for about 4 or 5 days......it was at 97%.But the milliamp was not recorded....I will start the drone UP tomorrow and let you know..Thanks.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Here's a DJI Admin's comments on this but regarding a P4 battery (not sure it matters but I suspect not): P4 Batteries dead after long term storage

 

[Psycho Andy]

Interesting thread!
I find the answear from dji team Susan interesting too, even if I still don't trust dji customer support too much as I'm still waiting for an answear from them and now it's more than fifteen days!
Anybody knows more about dji's batteries?

 

[OOO]

Interesting thread!
I find the answear from dji team Susan interesting too, even if I still don't trust dji customer support too much as I'm still waiting for an answear from them and now it's more than fifteen days!
Anybody knows more about dji's batteries?

With The Birds and msinger are the guys you are looking for! Don’t look elsewhere!

 

[With The Birds]

Here's a DJI Admin's comments on this but regarding a P4 battery (not sure it matters but I suspect not): P4 Batteries dead after long term storage

DJI Susan probably hasn’t seen a DJI battery- there is no benefit in deep discharging LiION cells and the suggested routine does nothing to calibrate the smart battery electronics. All my packs have the expected level of “liveliness” or whatever meaningless term it was Susan used to describe the benefit of the discharge routine. This wouldn’t be the first nonsense response from DJI support.

 

[Psycho Andy]

DJI Susan probably hasn’t seen a DJI battery- there is no benefit in deep discharging LiION cells and the suggested routine does nothing to calibrate the smart battery electronics. All my packs have the expected level of “liveliness” or whatever meaningless term it was Susan used to describe the benefit of the discharge routine. This wouldn’t be the first nonsense response from DJI support.

You want to add a nonsense to dji's answears, Susan ones more specifically?
I asked in the forum about the recent impossibility to switch between 2.4 and 5 ghz, want to know what she replied? That "we can not ensure the performance of mobile devices that have not been fully tested", can you believe it?
I specified that I was using the same device when I as ABLE to swithc between the two frequencies! lol!
I'll sure trust what you say more than what THEY say, thanks for sharing!

 

[AirPatrol1]

Anytime a lipo battery is discharged at 8 percent as they state, it does nothing but shorten the life span of any lipo smart or not. These DJI people are out to sell new batteries. Do the math and go study how a lipo is built and designed and if any assumes your wrong. I have three lipo batteries all still running smooth and strong. Not once have I allowed any of them fall below 10 percent mostly at 30 percent I’m bringing her home. Well don’t take my advice study lipo batteries. You’ll find that they have a sell pitch to sell 159.00 dollar batteries and the faster you and I can exhaust the batteries charge cycles the more they can sell

 

[Mark The Droner]

I'll add a few more words just for fun...

Quite a while ago, somebody in the P2 forum, I believe it was Yorlik, stated that his research indicated that a deep discharge for the purpose of "recalibrating" the cells only works if the deep discharge is brought down to "below" 8%. That is what triggers the recalibration. It's a software trigger from within the intelligent battery program. Taking it down to 10%, 9%, or even 8% isn't good enough and won't accomplish anything except risk damaging the battery.

Of course, this thread is not asking about a P2 battery, and we all know things have changed over the years.

In the P3 manuals, the phrase was changed from "below 8%" to "to 8%." And then, IIRC, DJI removed the phrase altogether. Maybe they put it back?

Personally, I don't deep discharge any battery unless there's a cell balance problem.

 

[With The Birds]

Anytime a lipo battery is discharged at 8 percent as they state, it does nothing but shorten the life span of any lipo smart or not. These DJI people are out to sell new batteries. Do the math and go study how a lipo is built and designed and if any assumes your wrong. I have three lipo batteries all still running smooth and strong. Not once have I allowed any of them fall below 10 percent mostly at 30 percent I’m bringing her home. Well don’t take my advice study lipo batteries. You’ll find that they have a sell pitch to sell 159.00 dollar batteries and the faster you and I can exhaust the batteries charge cycles the more they can sell

I haven’t heard about any battery chemistry that doesn’t degrade over time and use, unnecessary draining any cell is simply adding to the cycle count (one less you could use to be flying your AC in this case).

I wouldn’t worry too much about the 8% level, the remaining capacity reported by the “fuel gauge” is referenced to the parameters set in the battery electronics. You are still a fair way off where the cells might be irreparably damaged when the battery enters auto power off.

Your practice of a more conservative landing level will almost certainly extend the life of your packs. I fly with 5 packs so ordinarily will land at a higher percentage and stuck a fresh pack in to continue what I’m doing- there have been occasions where I have been caught out and landed with less than 5%- those packs are still performing well.

 

[With The Birds]

I haven’t heard about any battery chemistry that doesn’t degrade over time and use, unnecessary draining any cell is simply adding to the cycle count (one less you could use to be flying your AC in this case).

I wouldn’t worry too much about the 8% level, the remaining capacity reported by the “fuel gauge” is referenced to the parameters set in the battery electronics. You are still a fair way off where the cells might be irreparably damaged when the battery enters auto power off.

Your practice of a more conservative landing level will almost certainly extend the life of your packs. I fly with 5 packs so ordinarily will land at a higher percentage and stuck a fresh pack in to continue what I’m doing- there have been occasions where I have been caught out and landed with less than 5%- those packs are still performing well.

Without knowing what battery monitor electronics were employed in the P2 packs it’s impossible to say anything about the likely accuracy of the claim re calibration. We know from the Texas Instruments documentation that to the extent it might apply to the P3 and later DJI batteries it is not mentioned in the application notes or feature descriptions. I’m fact it is clear that the cell oaraneters are constantly measured during charge/discharge in use and storage allowing for the remaining oercentage, est time to empty and health to be determined accurately.