nrgwise
Second Officer
United States
Offline
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I have read a lot of the posts/threads about the battery and 100% charge before take off. Quite frankly, I put no stock in any of it. I have flown hundreds and hundreds of flights more than my battery charges would indicate. Why? I fly multiple flights on each battery. Out of 100 flights, I would say maybe 6 or 7 are the duration of the battery charge on average. Meaning, multiple 'flights' on the same charge (landings with power down and power up with take-offs). Even with location changes in between. Only the first one had 100% charge at the start. I have never once, with my P2 or my P3, have I been concerned that my battery was not 100% at the time of take off. Just my experience. But I am also very particular about my battery care and charge saturation.
All batteries are 100% charged before leaving for a flight excursion.
Fly battery until 2 solid bars, then land and replace (may entail multiple take-offs and landings before replacement).
During regular flying months, storage/recharging/use is frequent enough to not worry.
During the coldest weather months - too cold for safe flying, let batteries discharge to two solid bars, charge up to three solid bars, repeat.
Before first flight in Spring, deep cycle discharge batteries. After 20 normal charges, deep cycle batteries.
Use a full saturation charger exclusively. Rapid chargers are worst for your batteries. Rapid chargers may give every indication that the battery is fully charged, but in reality, the charge saturation is not 100%. This could lead to sending what you thought was a 100% fully charged battery into flight when in fact the current driving the force is not there, only the voltage was which shut off the charger. Hence your battery has all this voltage, but very little current to drive it so the flight is going to be short. Very short. Also, never recharge a battery right after flight. Even if it feels 'cool' to the touch. Charging a battery too soon after discharge, especially if it is at all warm, will degrade the life of the battery. Rapid charging and charging right after flight are probably two of the worst things for the life and stability of this type of battery.
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