Hi, I have 4 sets of batteries that came with a drone I recently bought and have noticed that there is quite a difference in charge cycles over the 4 sets.
In an effort to equalise the numbers, I have been using the lowest cycled batteries first and will then use all in rotation once they are at the same number.
I charged the highest sets up to 60% and have put them to one side.
I always charge the batteries back up to 60% after flying but wonder if this “partial “ charge is counted in the overall charge total or is the figure shown the number of “full” charges?
Just wondering if i need to add 2 to the running total (1 for full charge &1 for 60% charge) or not.
I’ve always understood that, after use, you had to charge them back up to 60% if you weren’t going to use them for a while as they didn’t like staying discharged.
Believed it as DJI also have an auto discharge function “built in “ to the batteries, again for prolonging the batteries life…I thought.
Also got Crystalsky batteries…not sure what they or the remote batteries need.
It’s more so that lipos dont like being left at high charge for long periods.
I think the self discharge takes it down to 40-50% which is ideal for storage.
You dont want to store a lipo on very low charge either as if the voltage drops outside normal levels it can damage the cells and most chargers will refuse to charge it.
But for that we are talking about many months rather than weeks. Leaving them at low charge from your last flight is not really an issue but if your storing long term a half charge is best.
I wasn’t sure for a while there and was starting to think I was damaging my batteries by doing what I’d picked up off various YouTube channels…Phew!
The reason it’s 60% is the multi charger for the Mavic has a selector switch to go between full or 60%.
In the case of the Inspire 2 batteries I stop the charge just as the 3rd light starts to flash.
As you say, a couple of days won’t make a difference but I was getting worried as “Winter is coming” (to coin the phrase) and it may be weeks between flights.
I was also wondering if the charge cycle count went up on these partial charges or just when charged to full capacity.
It used to be based on capacity rather than individual charges so topping up would only count as a full charge when the total cummulative battery capacity was reached.
So a charge from 0 to 50% and another 50 to 80% then 80 to 100% would count as 1 charge.
Unsure if that is still the case, suspect it would be.
That’s brilliant Callum, just what I wanted to know, thanks very much.
It was just a thought that popped into my head on the way home from a chilly but very enjoyable mornings flying (1st one using my new Op number:innocent:).
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