DJI Mavic 3 Battery - Best Practices

DJI Mavic 3 drone battery best practices, info and tips for getting the best from your new DJI Drone when flying and charging,
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#DJI
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#Drones

[@BlairAir]

This makes me appreciate my Autel Evo 2 Pro ( and Evo 2 series as a whole) offering a 7100 mAh Smart Battery that you can set auto discharge to start at anywhere from 1 to 10 days. It will drop from 100 to 96% after one day. Then go to 60-65& in daily discharge cycles of 16-18% until it reaches about 60%. Far more user control of the process.

[@pauliedigi]

Lots of good info but a couple key things left out: 1) how do we manual discharge the batteries? 2) what controller charging method will induce normal charging vs quick charging?

[@aureopic2203]

Hey, I have the exact question, how do yu discharge them manualy ? I don't see anything in the app neither

[@TommyGrofcsik]

Maybe put it in the drone and run it

[@pauliedigi]

@@TommyGrofcsik i have 5 batteries. I charged them up before each shoot, sometimes I use all of them and sometimes I only use 1-3. It’d be nice to be able to manually discharge batteries when I’m not planning on using them for a while.

[@TommyGrofcsik]

@Paul DiGiovanni I'm pretty sure the only way to discharge them, is to use them in the drone, use them in reverse as battery packs to charge other devices or just wait for the self discharge.

[@Rockin_EUC]

So glad you made this video, I can count on you to be thorough with your reviews! Great job, much thanks!!

[@amillison]

Wow, excellent video. I learned so much good info about best practices for my new Mavic 3

[@GlenB1963]

Thank you. Excellent advice. At almost $300 Australian, you certainly want to treat them with respect. 👍👋

[@gatway100]

I completely agree with you say I know always practice. Always

[@Talpiot_Program]

Excellent professional presentation. ❤

[@williamgenovese2613]

Actually for long term storage a colder temperature slows down chemical reactions preserving the battery health overall. I've been storing lipos and DJI batteries since early 2017 in a refrigerated cell at about 3-5⁰ with great results on battery life. I got 8 Inspire 2 battery packs from that age alive and kicking very close to the original flight time. I do keep the batteries in "plastic and alloy film" bags with dehydrant bags to avoid the condensation issue and when I take them out of refrigerated cell I let them rest for at least 1hr to ambient temperature before opening the sealed bags. One might argue about the cost in energy to keep the cell refrigerated but in my case it is mostly powered by solar energy and it is payed back by the huge amount of value i stock in it. Anyway good article and my two cents, with such expensive batteries, at this point in time with so little info on the tecnology, I'd only charge them with the original charger.

[@droneflyingfinn9090]

Fantastic video. Very good information for all drone flyers. Keep it up!

[@JakeSloan]

Spot on and very well explained!!

[@davidgraham4588]

I have flown these batteries on multiple flights on partially batteries a hundred times without an issue. In my phots and filming style it not really feasible for me to recharge the battery after every flight, forget about topping off the battery when it has discharged to 96%. No mention of battery management with regards to never charging a hot battery. No mention of removing the battery from the ship after flight as to not facilitate cooling. All of this STANDARD protocol with the phantoms beginning with the 2 vision plus in 2015.

[@frankymusik]

Thank you for the detailed explanations. Two questions arose for me: At 6:12: ... an additional 9 days after the first 3 days have elapsed? The Mavic 3 Users Manual says: "... automatically discharges to 60% of the battery level when it is idle for nine days." It is not said "...after 9 more days"...... At 6:18: Pressing the battery button resets the counter? I have never observed that! You have to be allowed to check the status of the battery, right? I have never observed that a "check" would have "disturbed" the unloading process. I would appreciate it if you could refer to it again. Thank you.

[@sampedregon1388]

In regards to the Mavic 3 battery, when the self-discharge has dropped to 96% after 3 days, will the charging hub allow the battery to be topped off to 100%? Mavic 2 batteries can not be topped off to 100% if the current charge level is between 90-100%.

[@TommyGrofcsik]

My Air 2s batteries are the same way.

[@catherineharris4746]

Thank you so much for making this video!👍👍👍

[@TriniWeekes]

I am very very Happy too see you with a M3. I am very much looking forward to a breakdown of the camera sensor on this drone and how good it is compared to the Air2 etc..

[@mallikarjunse]

But BMS does coulomb counting. Its state of charge should be accurate enough to not crash.

[@theflyinggrip]

You mentioned discharging the batt, is there some way to discharge without flying or letting the aircraft sit on the bench that I am in the dark on?

[@BlairAir]

Only alternative is getting a charger that will set battery to "storage" level of approx. 60%. These typically require powering on the battery to discharge if above the desired state, but not needed if charging UP to 60%.

[@typxxilps]

5:48 Had heard a lot of reviews but no one had been talkin before about that discharge behaviour in 2 steps to 96% and 60% or single pressing as a reset of the time counter for the discharge. But reminds me to charge my Mavic 2 pro batteries I still have and the goggles.

[@4WheelsOnTheRoad]

great info however, the MOST basic thing is left out, what the heck do the LED lights mean?

[@bowdenimages1197]

So, I just checked the manual, and your advice about not flying when the battery is not fully charged is nowhere to be found. I also decided to check with DJI, and they said that there should be zero problems flying on a battery that is not fully charged. They said that if the battery has an issue, you'll get an error code, and that the battery reading is accurate and you'll get a notice once the battery is low. I also reached out to a few commercial professionals who have now a decade of experience, and they said that they're called intelligent flight batteries for a reason, and that you're basically preaching drone battery folklore from the early days of drones when the batteries only lasted 10-15 minutes, and also In the early Phantom days, this was based on the BMS algorithms not having a good idea of where the battery charge was after the battery self-discharge has drained it. The idea was it could show more charge than available and the drone would drop from the sky. But multiple flights starting from a fully charged battery were not an issue because the BMS had knowledge of the actual charge state. There was also an issue with Inspire where it had an issue where there was a bug with an update, and it caused the percentage readout to be inaccurate. A number of professionals have said they noticed this issue, but it's never been an issue again. They all say, including DJI, that this is not relevant for new drones. As I said, I've been flying for years multiple flights and never had an issue. I think the best advice here is to not concerned yourself with flying on a battery that isn't fully charged, but if you have a battery that has been in storage, or hasn't been charged in a while, the best practice would be to charge the batteries, and if at all possible, bring your drone in at 20% regardless. But you don't need to worry about flying multiple times on a single charge. That has been made evidently clear from my experience with drones, from DJI, and from a number of professionals. You should really consider changing your advice here.

[@davidwalker2402]

Good Job, nice to see you now have M3. Really looking forward to know what you think. 👏

[@vidjcb]

Nice and full detail explanation about the new features of this particular battery. I've noticed the app does not allow us to set the time we want to discharge the battery although the DJI GO 4 does. Big thanks for your video

[@Serander]

I have 2 batteries and one of them is never used and the another one completely empty .. so for example ; i fully charged them and after flying the capacity went down to %40 recharging the battery %100 is okay ? Or how should i charge them ? Should i fly until the battery gets fully empty ?

[@robcameron7632]

Thanks champ, very informative.

[@MVPMedia2024]

Any thoughts to the 3rd party charger: Hanatora Multi Function Dual Input Charger

[@Alvin-eq5rc]

The PD type C support appeals to me the most especially when travelling and you may not have power socket.

[@hanshalstensen4428]

Thanks for the information! :)

[@djidroneadventures4059]

Great advice.. Thank you

[@adrianglessner5979]

Never thought about flying a battery that 1/2 flat. Things change from fully charged to 1/2 that flight time/algorithm is calculated with a fully charged or uncycled battery. Need to not fly my FPV on a cycled battery. So you would stay away from the shown "3rd party" chargers?

[@skykingimagery899]

Thoroughly confusing. The Air 2s was so much simpler. How do you charge the battery through the drone's port.

[@scotthowell1596]

Is it better to always slow charge the drone battery with the larger cable on the PD-65 US charger (if time is not important)?

[@timelapsebylkunl72]

Great content. Thank you!

[@ralphthompson8085]

Thanks for a very clear video. Question, for a brand new battery, should we discharge them first before use, the recharge them fully. Thanks

[@nosleiraa]

Greetings from Brazil. If I arrive from a flight and only have 20% of battery left, to keep the battery for a long time should I charge the battery up to 60% for storage?

[@MaxcullinAgamUTV]

Great review 😀😀

[@MadRC]

Thank you 😁

[@jalbert9613]

Would you advise using the charge hub to charge a phone as a means to discharge a battery?

[@addyprocreate1150]

Tqvm

[@digitalkiteaerial]

Great tips!

[@sergiosantiagoserg8637]

did you mentioned how to power off the battery ???

[@legendsauto]

Very insightful video. I own a Mavic 3 and a Mini 3 pro. I tried to find some information if i could use the Mavic 3 charger to charge the Mini 3 Pro? As it only came with a USB C cable.

[@ronarmour8909]

Yes you can. With a fast charger (PD) the lights will blink much faster on the M3Pro. The Smart Controller also likes a PD charger.

[@masterpdj2623]

How many cycles can we expect out of our Mavic 3 batteries. I try to replace my DJI batteries around 200 flights, is that too soon?

[@MadRC]

Tbh each is different, I have always said anything after 100 can be borrowed time however if you lol after them 300 is possible. .

[@wolfgang-wagner-wowproductions]

how to do the manual discharge ?

[@MadRC]

It’s basically leave the drone on or fly it down. There is no other way

[@wolfgang-wagner-wowproductions]

@@MadRC tnx

[@0321recon]

For the controller - the slower output is the hardwired cable? Just checking.

[@MadRC]

No that’s the faster. The hardwire is the drone charger with an Orange end. The USB is the slow one.

[@jamesss1953]

HELP pleeeease. My Mavic 3 batteries only recently stopped recharging within a reasonable time‼️ sometimes a day just for x1 to recharge. I have x3 batteries and use the x3 charger from DJI. I decided yesterday to fly in my house just above the floor to run all 3 batteries down but still same issue. Any ideas / would be welcome 🙏

[@MadRC]

Your probably using the wrong end of the charge cable. There is one with an Orange inner. That’s the one for the battery

[@jamesss1953]

@@MadRC nope; the charger that comes with the DJI a Mavic 3 has 2 leads. Thicker is for 60w fast charge (ie. Mavic drone) and second is thinner and for basic controller or the RC pro. Both leads are fused to the 60w fast charger leaving x2 ends

[@arturaszaleskis8907]

Thanks for video but I knew pretty much all of it, just watched to find out how to set different times for discharging batteries, you mentioned few times about discharging to 60% but never mentioned how to do it on dji fly app so to me its pointless advice

[@maro0016]

I would be more interested in Inav and ardupilot builds …

[@mallikarjunse]

Do a teardown 😅

[@gtpjon]

Never seen so many stupid people concerning batteries since the M3 came out ... hope they will watch this video & get smarter! Thanks Mad!

[@typxxilps]

TOTALLY OFF TOPIC but worth to know: it seems that AliExpress has improved their shipping by a lot since Chrismas. I have ordered 8 items last wednesday for germany, mostly cheap stuff like circuit breaker, cable, adapters for solar power, the usual 5 - 10€ items you need but also an a pc / android USB oscilloscope from hantek incl. Logic Analyzer for 70€ and probes for 15€. I bought the cheapest (after shipping) available and I can tell you that the oscilloscope and probes arrived today within 7 days. All other items are already in germany too, but seem to arrive tomorrow or are announced for delivery today. I did not pay anything extra for faster shipping and a lot of the vendors had back then an arrival early March on their sites anounced. My only explanation is the way how AliExpress now handles all the EU and maybe UK deliveries too after the EU has enforced the law for VAT / customs for small/cheap items with those shops in china collecting the VAT at purchase depending on the country they have to deliver like 19% VAT in Germany and 20% in UK. If I change my adress I get a different price for example in Scotland (I can check that easily without changing to GBP, only the destination country). Now it seems that at least DHL / german post and some other do have established a clearance check in China and they now can ship a container full of freight directly from china to Frankfurt with no further customs and delays in Frankfurt. Just an example of the route the probe had taken, while the Oscilloscope had been sent over Belgium, LIEGE, with Hermes as delivery. The probe is not even a parcal delivered by DHL, it comes with the german mail delivery and is tracked too. Might be different due to the fact the german post agency owns DHL and might be a bit more efficient, but Hermes has been faster: delivery arrived at 12:00 and german mail will arrive at 15:00 Usually AliExpress was more or less a night mare regarding delivery, I mean the items arrived but when was unpredictable. But since last November a lot must have improved cause I had purchased from 9 different vendors items that seem to arrive within 10 days consistently, a lot faster than ever before (my ususual experience was a 4 to 10 weeks bandwith). No one was slower than AliExpress shipping from China, no item was from a european warehouse and every item is trackable. Prices are a lot higher due to Corinna (disease ) and VAT I had not paid that often in the past, but delivery is smoother than from some german ebay vendors or pretty much the same speed. BUT: if someone had told me that there are still british Oscilloscope makers in the entry field the picoscope 2204a from picotech for 115€ without probes I woud have bought that one for sure cause picoscope comes with its own software and development and a 5 year warranty and supplied by german farnell group within 3 days. Of cause USB connected BOX oscilloscopes, but good enought for my need checking the purity of the sine waves on my honda generator and the solar power generator after at least 2 devices (TV and fridge) had died pretty early just about 3,5 years old for what ever reason. I have no clue about Oscilloscopes and it was hard to make a decision cause there are some DIY ones for now 30€ but small bandwith about 200 kHz, 1 channel and 2,4 inch screen and so on. I thought that my old 6 inch phone inch offers a far better display than any of the cheap 1 channel oscilloscopes with tiny screen can offer. The android phone powers the oscilloscope and that way I got the same, but 2 channels up to 20 Mhz (but reality by a german professor has shown a limit more or less of 1 Mhz, who then later told that the picoscope for 115€ is by far the best one considering that it promises 10 Mhz and is capable of doing so). Hantek 6022BL Oscilloscope 2 Channels incl 16 channel logic analyzer. I got that cause I simply did not wanna invest more than 50€ which I then raised up to 80€ incl. 2 probes 1x 10x and another 2 probes 1x 100x - but for 115€ I would have bought the british one delivering as promised and would have gotten the probes for another 20€ or so. I had also looked for a used RIGOL , even some 10 year old entry models or so but close to all were 200€ and more.

[@guillaumetilliole9226]

Dispointed. I think that u show us (fore exemple) How discharge personnaly the battery. Sorry for m'y english,i m french🙂

[@robrowbotham1814]

Wow….you took the plunge and bought an M3?

[@MadRC]

No it was on loan.

[@bowdenimages1197]

Bro lol, the idea of not flying multiple times on a single battery is just asinine. I’m a RE photographer, and I’ve literally never heard this advice, and if I didn’t fly multiple times on one charge, I’d need 10 batteries 😂

[@MadRC]

Considering it’s in the manual for every DJI drone and always has been I’m a little surprised you have not seen it. It’s also largely the reason why so many Inspire 1 and other quads were lost. And yes as a pro user you really should have 10 backs. DJIs SOC is not reliable once you have landed and we created a very large post on this on DJI forum years ago due to the very real issues.

[@bowdenimages1197]

@@MadRC That is insane to me. I’ll look into it further. Thanks

[@bowdenimages1197]

@@MadRC Do you know where exact that is in the manual? Because I've been looking for it and can't find it.

[@MadRC]

@@bowdenimages1197 DJI have always said before flight make sure the battery is fully charged. In the Mavic 3 manual it’s under the pre flight check list and listed under “”charging the battery.” DJI have always stated make sure the battery is fully charged before flight and they will even refuse warranty for issues where it was not before the flight took place. Top of page 27 on the Mavic 3 manual.

[@bowdenimages1197]

@@MadRC Ok I'll look now. Thanks!

[@SaboUnsavoryagents]

AT SOME POINT ARE YOU GOING TO TELL US HOW TO TURN THE DAMN THING OFF!!!

[@wolfgang-wagner-wowproductions]

why cant do this video without the sponsor ? :)

[@MadRC]

It was not sponsored but the dealer provided the drone on loan. Is that a problem me saying that?

[@wolfgang-wagner-wowproductions]

@@MadRC you are right . sry

[@JuanSanchez-ik7wx]

Way too long mate. bye bye

[@MadRC]

That’s why it’s called everything you need to know. I could have made a 20m video and glossed over all the issues and problems but you will find my content does not do that. If your list looking for pretty picture and someone to tell you how amazing it is there is plenty of videos that will do that so please enjoy 😉

[@JuanSanchez-ik7wx]

@@MadRC You need to break it into 3 videos if you expect people to watch it. You just dont get it. I can watch 7 other 3 minutes videos and get 10x the info your POS video puts out.