Why DJI Drone Batteries Fail | Crucial Care & Maintenance

[@aquaclean]

1-When the new drone arrives to me, can I check the percentage of the battery and determine if the battery has been storage for too long? ? 2- How long can I keep the batteries in storage mode ? Thank you...

[@davidpwongphoto]

Is there any aftermarket Mavic Air battery which is compatible with more juice?

[@bigu]

Very excellent video! This is truly a very in depth explanation (with examples) about how LiPo batteries are to be used and taken care of.

[@clmfilms8103]

After how many battery cycles will the flight time start to become noticeable decreased?

[@TonyVRailfanning]

Air 2s owner here and I finally had to replace my 4 batteries after putting more than 7.5million feet of flight distance on the drone (just under 4 years of use) this includes flying in -10c temperatures through the winter months. The batteries worked very well right up till now however they are starting to swell, one so badly that it almost cannot lock into the drone. Good tips on the batteries and how to charge. I always fully charge a day before flying. I charge them up fully after flight and let them discharge automatically over the 2 days days after and then again charge up fully before my next flights. Seems to have worked for me.

[@JerryAnderson-h1o]

I didn't know any of this information when I got my DJI Spark & now that it hasn't been used in a year or so, I'm unable to charge the batteries. Is there a way to revive them?

[@CinatrixMedia]

Hello, I have two DJI Mavic 2 zoom batteries that were dead upon arrival, is there any hope for my two batteries since am living in Africa, and far from any maintenance center. Thanks in advance.

[@kbcitv2316]

Excellent Video with excellent information. Wish I had this info a year ago. I have to replace 4 P4P batteries...smh

[@bryanlewis8777]

8:57 where is the other leg?

[@MB2kbps]

So I have a Mini 2 with the Fly more combo package and the charging hub ive stored them for a week (only 3 white dots light up on each battery) how much is that %? Is it safe or should i even discharge it even further like 2 dots? 🙄

[@josecollazoalvarez4506]

Greetings from Puerto Rico For the drone matrice 300, how long can the batteries be in storage mode and when you are supposed to charge the batteries again to maintain the cycle?

[@SteelCityDrones]

We cover those questions in our m300 online course. steelcityflightacademy.com/dji-matrice-300-rtk-online-course/

[@ThePanzer6481]

I purchased my DJI Mavic Air in January 2020. I flown my aircraft only once and then I kept it idle. I was busy at my work and now after two years I tried use it during vacation. But I couldn’t charge my battery. I just used it once and now it’s not charging. What to do?

[@SteelCityDrones]

Its done, you need to buy a new one.

[@jfjerez]

I remember the setting on my DJI app 4.0 was a setting for the time before start to discharge to storage voltage. ( on my magic pro) but I think on my Magic 2 Pro under the battery status and settings I don’t see that it anymore. Is this normal?

[@mhk1058]

The option is gone for some reason.

[@pikefire6513]

Using our M210 for search and rescues, the biggest problem we have is that we have to be ready to fly at a moment's notice. Often, the batteries will sit for weeks before being used at the last second. Unfortunately, we don't have the option of flying with fully-charged batteries because we never know when we are going to going out until an emergency arrises. Is there a way to mitigate this situation to not only extend the life of our batteries, but to not have to fly with batteries when they are in storage mode?

[@SteelCityDrones]

It's ok if your batteries sit for weeks in storage voltage you just want to avoid the batteries being dormant for 6 weeks or longer. You can also fly the batteries if they are in storage voltage if needed which is about 65% you just wont get very good flying time. Rather than flying batteries at storage voltage, what we recommend for agencies like yourself is to have at least 4 sets of batteries and a few of the chargers. Have 2 sets fully charged with them set to start discharging after 2 days. When those discharge, take the other 2 pairs and charge them. That way you have 2 sets at all time fully charged. You will just need to keep charging batteries every 2 days. Then if you need to go fly on site, bring at least 2 chargers with you to charge up the other 2 sets. It helps if you can have 6 sets and 3 chargers so you can always have 3 sets of batteries charged at all times ready to go. As for overall extended life, follow the content in this video. Never exceed 125F, don't fly down below 20%, don't let the batteries go dormant, and set them to discharge after 2 days. Also always have the batteries at room temp when installing on the aircraft, never fly a pair of batteries that are below room temp. About 3 or 4 times a year do test flights with all batteries monitoring the individual cells making sure there is no more than 0.1 volt gap from cell to cell.

[@pikefire6513]

@@SteelCityDrones Thank you for the timely reply and good advice.

[@Soundafek]

Great information Thank You!!

[@jimmullins1732]

Great video, What is todays best charging sys. for TB55 and Mavic 2 zoom batteries?

[@SteelCityDrones]

The chargers we recommend for TB55's are no longer available with M200 end of life. We recommend and sell the colorado chargers for Mavic.

[@lastofuspartii8946]

Great information. Another tip: Do not leave your batteries in a hot car. I left a fully charged mavic 2 battery in my car during 90 degree weather for 1 day. The next day I tried to fly with it and the battery swelled so much it broke the plastic and the drone crashed

[@mhk1058]

Never expose lipos to heat full stop. They can catch fire very easily cauing more concern than a crashed drone in most cases.

[@teriyakichan8584]

You are very, very, VERY LUCKY GUY. how dare you could leave "LIPO" battery in da car on da hot wx day???? it could easily catch fire and Ruin your whole car!!!!

[@delsomauriciomanhica4543]

Hi everyone, Sir I am using the M300 RTK sensitively one week but one of four the batteries has completely discharged in the case, what can I do to recover the battery?

[@SteelCityDrones]

Do you mean the battery is completely dead? If so the battery is bad and should be under warranty. It has a 6 month warranty.

[@delsomauriciomanhica4543]

Thank you for your assistance. I will order a new one.

[@keanhls]

What does it mean if my battery is 100% but has voltage of 4.12v something? Isn't supposed to be 4.20v? I'm using DJI Air 2S btw.

[@SteelCityDrones]

Your battery is most likely bad as a fully charged cell should be about 4.34 to 4.35 volts. Most likely your State of Charge Indication can be off from the battery sitting too long without being used or the firmware on the battery is not updated as it should. You could try to fly it down as low as possible to sometime like 5% and recharge it then recheck. If your drone has the capability of monitoring battery temperature don't exceed 120F degrees when flying it down. Be very careful and keep a close eye on the battery.

[@danherrick5785]

Looked in battery settings on Mavic 2 Pro and there are no options to select days until discharge. Is yours the same or am I missing something?

[@SteelCityDrones]

Yes sir its there.

[@jfjerez]

Same problem. One response is “ Yes sir it’s there” where? Please more info

[@danherrick5785]

@@jfjerez Can you believe this guy's response!!!

[@danherrick5785]

@@jfjerez Actually - I did figure this out. You have to insert each battery in the drone to change each batteries settings. I don't have mine with me right now to check how I did this exactly. It's possible to not have the setting available if you don;t have the latest firmware. If you do - then try clicking the battery icon on the top, or some advanced setting. I remember an option that did say discharge days. I change all mine from 5 or 7 days to 2 I think... Sorry - don't remember exactly. Just remember to insert each battery and hit the battery icon.

[@augustusmaximus891]

Buy as many good new batteries as u can for your 2s before they completely discontinued it. My Mavic Air is now discontinued and they stopped selling batteries so its basically junk till I find some way of getting hold or trust worthy batteries. Very bad imo. So buy them while u cam and use them a few times to make sure they are good ones while under warranty, then keep them and store properly ad advised in this video and others. Using now and then but don't store them for more than 3 months without doing a repair cycle as he said here. They should make batteries, .my drone is mint and I only have 1 battery with 37 charge cycles on it, so I'm trying to look after the battery as much as possible haha

[@arthurgotz5677]

DJI recommends discarding the batteries after 200 cycles (Matrice 30 RTK Maintenance Manual). Is this something you agree with? What is "a cycle"? Form fully charged down to 20%? Down to 60% for storage?

[@SteelCityDrones]

There really isn't a magic number to follow. You should follow what your batteries are telling you when you test them through the 2 different tests that we recommend every 50 to 75 charge cycles.

[@digitalkiteaerial]

Thanks for sharing. Very informative

[@jodycamper8955]

If the intelligent batteries are just sitting will they discharge on their own even if they're not plugged in?

[@SteelCityDrones]

Yes they will that's what they are designed for.

[@reyesmontemayor6998]

Battery maintenance is the hardest task when running a law enforcement UAV team. Our system must be in a state of readiness at all times. Since a set of tb55 batteries can take anywhere from up to 140 min. to fully charge we have to live with replacing our batteries more often.

[@rogiervdheide]

You can set your discharge times longer, let's say five or six days, and you can make sure that pairs of batteries (or single batteries if your aircraft flies on a single one) start discharging on different days and that you recharge them in accordance with their schedule. If you have six sets of batteries, three of them could be always full then, without compromising total battery life time too much.

[@augustusmaximus891]

4.3 or 3.34? I kept getting confused when you keep saying make sure it's 4.3 or 3.34 volts. ???

[@SteelCityDrones]

4.34 to 4.35 volts is fully charged, 3.85 is storage voltage, 3.62-3.63 be on the ground by.

[@augustusmaximus891]

@@SteelCityDrones My 3S mavic Air battery was as follows. At 99% (18 hours after full charge, full charge was after starting at a full charge, going down to 15 or 20%, then left battery for 6 hours before charging to 100 and doing this test: Cell 1 = 4.18 cell 2 = 4.13 cell 3 = 4.14 65% 3.83 8.80 3.79 49% 3.72 3.71 3.70 36% 3.67 3.66 3.65 25% 3.62 3.61 3.61 20% 3.61 3.60 3.60 Test flight stopped here :) 3.6! Note... the difference in cell volts at higher percentage, should I be worried? The battery was dormant for a year sitting at 60 ish percent, when I pulled it out, it was about 55 or 60 still... My mavic air is discontinued so this is the only battery I got, hence going to town trying to understand best practice. Thank you for the insightful video brother!!!

[@augustusmaximus891]

@@SteelCityDrones oh yes, also this battery is 25 charge cycles in. Storage temps are and have always been in the 20s so no freeze or baking in the sun or got car!

[@lukefarnell8990]

Hi buddy, say if I fly my batteries down to 0% on my mp2 once every 6months then charge them right back up again is that ok. I heard that this resets the cells ? Ok thanks buddy.

[@SteelCityDrones]

No you only want to do battery rest if your batteries have been dormant for a long time snd you have diagnosed your SOC is off. And even then you never fly down to zero. If you ever do a battery rest watch that your battery temps never go over 120.

[@danherrick5785]

Simple question - I have Mavic 2 Zoom. Where is the ideal storage percent? 0%, 5%, 10% 15%, 20, %, 25%? My guess is 20%?

[@SteelCityDrones]

Please watch the full video as we cover that. You should "never" go by percentages, you go by voltages of the cells. For storage voltage its 3.85 Volts.

[@danherrick5785]

@@SteelCityDrones So are you telling me DJI expects the customer to go into battery settings during flight and make sure the voltage is not lower than 3.85 volts?

[@clmfilms8103]

@@danherrick5785 try to land between 20 - 30%

[@rogiervdheide]

At 6:59 you make a mistake. You say 3.3 - 3.35 Volt but you mean 4.3 - 4.35 Volt. At 8:13 it's not 100% clear to me either what you mean. Otherwise, very clear information, thank you!

[@SteelCityDrones]

4.34 to 4.35 colts per cell.

[@pcicecube]

Setting of the discharge value to a lower amount of 1 to 2 days for most drone operators it’s not ideal since one has to travel the next day will travel a couple of days to location and the job main tail to 3 days on site

[@SteelCityDrones]

Ideal or not that's what they need to be. That's why you see the new firmware for Enterprise batteries all default to 2 days in the settings now.

[@pcicecube]

@@SteelCityDrones true- started seeing them at 2 days - I work for national parks australia- - told all remote pilots to change to 4-5 days due to remote travel and lack of power …. what are you / your customers getting cycle count from battery’s ? P4P , m200, m300? Thanks again and great video!

[@Ryder_Studios]

So I know storing at 100% isn't good, what about storage at say 25%?

[@SteelCityDrones]

that's fine as long as they are used once a month.

[@streamzkid6783]

I remember when I had a drone I put it on charging and it started coming up in flames and caught on fire

[@Keemandkam]

Plastic in the microwave?