Battery Auto Discharge Level

[NHCarl]

Hope this isn't beating a dead horse but... total newb to DJI and have read lots about the battery technology here. My experience with dumb lipos is that they should be stored at about 3.85v per cell. I'm thinking that the DJI smart battery would auto discharge to about the same level? However, I flew my two batteries to 50-55% capacity a couple of days ago and then stored them. My thinking was that this would be a good storage level for the batteries. Now, just took them out to do a flight and find that each one is down to around 33% charge which seems way too low for good storage. Am I missing something in my understanding of how these work? If so, please enlighten me

Thanks in advance!!

 

[msinger]

I flew my two batteries to 50-55% capacity a couple of days ago and then stored them. My thinking was that this would be a good storage level for the batteries.

Yes, that's a good storage level.

just took them out to do a flight and find that each one is down to around 33% charge which seems way too low for good storage

How long were they in storage?

 

[NHCarl]

Thanks for the reply! Batteries were stored for 2 days.

 

[msinger]

The auto discharge feature will only discharge the batteries down to 65%. That auto discharge process will start after 10 days (by default) and will take an additional 2-3 days to complete (depending on the current charge level of the battery). If the batteries are already below 65%, the auto discharge process will not be initiated.

Are you sure you only flew your batteries down to 50-55%? You could view your flight logs to verify.

 

[ChiefStealth]

The battery manual that I have for the Phantom 3 Standard says to get battery charge to between 40% and 65% if the battery will not be used for 10 days, or more. The auto-discharge will bring the battery down to "below 65%" if the battery is above that level.
However, when I fly, I usually fly the battery down to the 30% range. To meet the guidance of 40-65, I have to put my batteries on a charger after flying them down. I usually just charge them to about 50%, and call it good.

 

[NHCarl]

Yes, I understand that there would be no additional discharge if the battery is below 65% I just checked the flight logs and one battery was discharged to 52% and the other 44%. Both were below 35% this morning when I put them in the aircraft.

Thanks again!

 

[msinger]

That's quite unusual. I've never seen a DJI battery discharge that quickly in two days.

 

[DanMan32]

Maybe app recalculation of charge level on restart?

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[NHCarl]

That's quite unusual. I've never seen a DJI battery discharge that quickly in two days.

Yeah, seems quite unreasonable and concerning. I have lots of dumb lipos that have been sitting for months and have lost almost no storage voltage!

 

[msinger]

Are you sure you turned off the batteries immediately after flying and did not use them again until you checked the charge level in the DJI GO app?

 

[NHCarl]

Are you sure you turned off the batteries immediately after flying and did not use them again until you checked the charge level in the DJI GO app?

Yes, turned the aircraft off then put the batteries in the carrying case with everything else. Very strange. I am charging both batteries now to above 50% and will store them again and check them tomorrow to see if they are discharging.

 

[msinger]

Are you running the latest firmware?

 

[NHCarl]

Are you running the latest firmware?

Yes, 1.10.90 I did that as soon as I received the aircraft a couple of weeks ago.

 

[NHCarl]

Yes, turned the aircraft off then put the batteries in the carrying case with everything else. Very strange. I am charging both batteries now to above 50% and will store them again and check them tomorrow to see if they are discharging.

Checked the batteries after 24 hours. One went fro 49% to 48% and the other from 100% to 98%. So, not a drastic change. Will continue to monitor. I have auto discharge set to begin after 2 days. Thanks for all your thoughts on this!

 

[MadisonTucker]

Yes, 1.10.90 I did that as soon as I received the aircraft a couple of weeks ago.

Where did you get 1.10.90?
On the DJI site, the latest is 1.10.0009.

 

[msinger]

Where did you get 1.10.90?
On the DJI site, the latest is 1.10.0009.

1.10.90 is the current firmware version. You can download it from the P3A downloads page or the P3P downloads page.

 

[NHCarl]

1.10.90 is the current firmware version. You can download it from the P3A downloads page or the P3P downloads page.

View attachment 78227

That downloads 10.0090 which is the latest. That's what I have on mine. Title says 10.90 but file name is P3S_FW_V01.10.0090.zip

 

[msinger]

The filenames can sometimes be confusing. 1.10.90 is definitely the current version though. You're good to go.

 

[MadisonTucker]

1.10.90 is the current firmware version. You can download it from the P3A downloads page or the P3P downloads page.

View attachment 78227

Yes, have it. Download is 1.10.90 which unzips to 1.10.00090