IMU Calibration, Battery Break In Procedure... I'm Dubios...

[PhantomFun]

Hi all, I've been poking around the forums each night and seeing stuff on battery break in, and IMU calibrations, and crooked horizons.

I see that Drone Camps has a whole thing on the battery break in procedure. I have other toys and tools that use all different types of batteries and I've not heard of breaking a battery in before... Additionally, It seems that there is one main person who has posted stuff on the IMU calibration and warm up. I've never even seen my Phantom warn me about warming up... either I'm missing it or just lucky. I'm not sure?

I've also seen stuff on the camera/gimbal being crooked and that an IMU calibration and advanced gimbal calibration may correct it. When I view the photos and videos from those who are having issues w/ a crooked camera/gimbal, I'm not really seeing it. I will have to compare my P2 videos w/ my P3 videos w/ a more critical eye to see if I can see the issue. Maybe I have none ...

Thoughts...?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Kingfish28]

Is there a question in there, or was this intended for a blog post?

 

[bbfpv]

Regarding the battery break in, do your other toys/tools require a $150 battery? Breaking in the battery may or may not extend it's life, but why not? Doesn't hurt.
Regarding the "warming up" message, I've never seen it either. But if/when I do, I know how to fix it now.
Regarding the crooked horizon, it seems to be hit or miss. If you have it, you're going to post that you do. If not, you're not going to post that you don't.

 

[mconheady]

Breaking in the battery is a myth. Just fly low, careful, and not too far away the first few times to make sure the battery works reliably through the range of its voltage. Treat the battery with care. Same as car engine break-ins, just mythical maintenance that propagates on false science and lack of knowledge. DJI or any car manufacturer would document in the manual and warn people, if not do the break in themselves if breaking in was critical to operations, or not-breaking-in had ANY risk. It doesn't. Have fun.

 

[HunterSK]

Has anybody provided scientific evidence that it actually is beneficial?

I haven't seen any.

 

[PhantomFun]

Hi again, it was not my intent to start a blog post (not even sure what that would look like). I was just feeling like there were some tutorials out there that were frivolous. Some of the other batteries I have for my tools and toys are expensive, and I've not heard of needing to condition them. I feel as though this notion is left over from the old NiCad batteries. Even those batteries have been revamped e.g. Eneloop technology.

I did note that when I turned on my Phantom the camera had a bit of tilt to the left when looking at it. I corrected it by hand, and it stayed level after that. It seems that when I first start the P3, it's like that. I've not noted my videos being wonky or off to any degree. I am currently not using the P3 for anything but fun at this point - so I'm not viewing my videos w/ that much of a critical eye.

My original post was in regard to reading all the potential or possible problems of the P3, and I was getting discouraged with my new toy, and fearing that I was missing that it had critical problems. I have come to the realization that, that's what the forum is for, to share experiences and get tips on how to problem solve.

That is all,
Mark.

 

[F6Rider]

I never had a 'warming up' message until the second firmware update, then on the first flight it was there, thought something was wrong.

 

[PhantomFun]

Oddly - when I went to fly the other day just after start up, I got an IMU calibration required message. I thought this is what I get for opening my mouth. As soon as the bird found satellites, the message went away and I had a nice flight.

Mark.

 

[Joe Lipinski]

When an IMU calibration is performed while the Phantom is warm (at all) you will notice a warm up period for future flights. From my understanding this is due to the Phantom creating similar conditions to when the IMU calibration was performed. Most people get around this by placing the Phantom in front of an air conditioner or putting it in the fridge.

 

[JayB]

Hi all, I've been poking around the forums each night and seeing stuff on battery break in, and IMU calibrations, and crooked horizons.

I see that Drone Camps has a whole thing on the battery break in procedure. I have other toys and tools that use all different types of batteries and I've not heard of breaking a battery in before... Additionally, It seems that there is one main person who has posted stuff on the IMU calibration and warm up. I've never even seen my Phantom warn me about warming up... either I'm missing it or just lucky. I'm not sure?

I've also seen stuff on the camera/gimbal being crooked and that an IMU calibration and advanced gimbal calibration may correct it. When I view the photos and videos from those who are having issues w/ a crooked camera/gimbal, I'm not really seeing it. I will have to compare my P2 videos w/ my P3 videos w/ a more critical eye to see if I can see the issue. Maybe I have none ...

Thoughts...?

Thanks,
Mark

Mine always said it was warming up when I first switched it on so I put it in the fridge before IMU calibration and that sorted it

 

[MarkNH]

Breaking in the battery is a myth. Just fly low, careful, and not too far away the first few times to make sure the battery works reliably through the range of its voltage. Treat the battery with care. Same as car engine break-ins, just mythical maintenance that propagates on false science and lack of knowledge. DJI or any car manufacturer would document in the manual and warn people, if not do the break in themselves if breaking in was critical to operations, or not-breaking-in had ANY risk. It doesn't. Have fun.

According to the manual and other posts on here the battery break in is run it down to 50% the first 10 charges. Running down the battery to 8% every 20 charges is questionable according to what I have read on lipo batteries. The rule I saw was never go below 20%.

Mark

 

[mconheady]

Wrong. Battery Break in is a myth. Manual says nothing about "run it down to 50% the first 10 charges. With lipo, full cycles is the best bang for your buck.

Manual:

Battery Charging

1) Charge and discharge the battery completely once every 20 charge/discharge cycles. Discharge the battery until there is 8% remaining power or until it can no longer be turned on, then recharge it to the maximum capacity. This power cycling procedure will optimize battery life.

2) The Intelligent Flight Battery is designed to stop charging when it is full. However it is a good practice to monitor the charging progress and disconnect the batteries when fully charged.

Battery Maintenance

1) Never over-discharge,as this may lead to battery cell damage.
2) Battery life may be reduced if not used fora long time.

http://download.dji-innovations.com...igent_Flight_Battery_Safety_Guidelines_en.pdf

 

[Dadcat]

I had never seen the IMU warming message in my first 60 flights or so. After doing the latest App, FW, RC and battery updates, followed by IMU & gimbal calibrations I now get the "warming up" message. (Yes, I cooled the quad on an a/c vent before the IMU cal).

I can live with it though since it seems to have fixed a problem I've had where the P3 had been reporting it was at 45 feet height at the end of an 18 minute flight when, in fact, it was 6 inches above the takeoff point.

The height error was really bothering me since I fly a lot over wetlands and the Pacific Ocean, mostly at low levels and at distances that I'm depending on the camera and telemetry to tell me what the P3 is doing.

As a result, my skepticism of IMU cals is now reduced.

 

[JohnK]

I see the "Warming up" message VERY briefly in the status screen that comes up at the beginning. It goes away pretty quickly, so it's probably not surprising that some people never see it. I jsut wait for the home position lock announcement and then off I go.

 

[MarkNH]

Sorry you are correct. I saw it somewhere else. There's so much discrepancy on batteries I looked at several batteries. I have 3 batteries so I'm going to use different methods on each 1 to see what results I get. Seeing so many people have bad batteries after 30 to 60 charges
I decided to try something different.

Mark

 

[badbeerbreath]

Sorry you are correct. I saw it somewhere else. There's so much discrepancy on batteries I looked at several batteries. I have 3 batteries so I'm going to use different methods on each 1 to see what results I get. Seeing so many people have bad batteries after 30 to 60 charges
I decided to try something different.

Mark

 

[badbeerbreath]

Sorry you are correct. I saw it somewhere else. There's so much discrepancy on batteries I looked at several batteries. I have 3 batteries so I'm going to use different methods on each 1 to see what results I get. Seeing so many people have bad batteries after 30 to 60 charges
I decided to try something different.

Mark

I'm curious...what are your results so far?

 

[MarkNH]

I'm curious...what are your results so far?

I realized I can't do a true test on the 2 batteries that came with the Phantom because they were used and I don't know how the first 16 charges and battery run down were done. The new battery I am trying a 10 charge 50% run down. Not going below 20% when charging and not doing the 8% run down.

Mark

 

[MindFever]

Is there a question in there, or was this intended for a blog post?

Wow,what a jerk...