Hi, can anyone please advise what the life expectancy of a mavic battery is?

This should be required reading: https://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide/

You and your luck dude. You have six month warranty and up to 200 charges. Check on the battery before every flight!

The maximum cycle is 200 charges. There will be reminder in APP if the battery went wrong.

DJI Susan Posted at 2017-8-11 23:22
The maximum cycle is 200 charges. There will be reminder in APP if the battery went wrong.

Thats great to know - this is a valuable piece of general guidline information - thank you.

I know you guy have got a lot to do over such a wide product range and support features but perhaps dji could put in a request to yr battery manufacturer to produce a short document covering battery specifications, efficiency and performance graphs under typical conditions.

The lower end of the battery life is especially confusing. Forum members seem often to complain that nearing the last 1/3 of battery life the drop off seems to happen disproportionately quick - this is also my experiance - why would this happen?

I just checked my five Mavic batteries, all were at 100% charge.
Here are the results:

         Total Capacity    Voltage    Times Charged
         --------------------    -----------    ----------------------
1)               3592            12.84                 43
2)               3674            12.87                 31
3)               3534            12.85                 30
4)               3474            12.85                 30
5)               3764            12.93                   9

The first four batteries are still "teenagers".
You might want to do this check with your batteries as well.

MARSAN Posted at 2017-8-12 01:30
I just checked my five Mavic batteries, all were at 100% charge.
Here are the results:

thanks Marsan - i appreciate u taking the time to share that with me.
Just got back from some flying - first gentle flight since i decided it was time for me to try sport mode some months ago;
I checked each battery after and all parameters as viewed in the app have made me feel better.
Voltage variance is 0.01 across 3 cells on each battery - max temperatures between 44- 49 degrees.
when i viewed this spec in airdata is was a bit worried about the results i was seeing and confused because 2 bits of their data was conflicting.

Also dji susan says life expectancy is 200 cycles - good to know

Bekaru Tree Posted at 2017-8-12 05:23
thanks Marsan - i appreciate u taking the time to share that with me.
Just got back from some flying - first gentle flight since i decided it was time for me to try sport mode some months ago;
I checked each battery after and all parameters as viewed in the app have made me feel better.

But what exactly does "200 cycles" mean?
My oldest batteries aren't even two and a half months old, but look how much the total capacity is down from the initial 3830 mAh capacity.
How much juice will still be in our Mavic batteries after 199 cycles?
5 minutes of flight?
What do we do with our batteries, when they have reached retirement age? Paper weights? Into the trash? Or can they be recycled by DJI?

MARSAN Posted at 2017-8-12 06:04
But what exactly does "200 cycles" mean?
My oldest batteries aren't even two and a half months old, but look how much the total capacity is down from the initial 3830 mAh capacity.
How much juice will still be in our Mavic batteries after 199 cycles?

perhaps dji will tell us what acceptable disposal practice is - i will start a new thread.

I think they mean charging cycles and i think this is not an exact figure but will vary some especially if battery was not properly looked after

MARSAN Posted at 2017-8-12 06:04
But what exactly does "200 cycles" mean?
My oldest batteries aren't even two and a half months old, but look how much the total capacity is down from the initial 3830 mAh capacity.
How much juice will still be in our Mavic batteries after 199 cycles?

Discharging the battery level around by 75% of the total power is counted as one cycle.
For the disposal of the battery, we suggest that please fully discharge the battery and then give it to the designated battery recycling bins. If the battery can not be discharged, please contact to a professional battery recycling company to handle it.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-8-12 22:51
Discharging the battery level around by 75% of the total power is counted as one cycle.
For the disposal of the battery, we suggest that please fully discharge the battery and then give it to the designated battery recycling bins. If the battery can not be discharged, please contact to a professional battery recycling company to handle it.

Thank you for your helpful reply!

Bekaru Tree Posted at 2017-8-12 12:58
perhaps dji will tell us what acceptable disposal practice is - i will start a new thread.

I think they mean charging cycles and i think this is not an exact figure but will vary some especially if battery was not properly looked after

Yes, of course, I did mean recharging cycles...

OK, see you around the corner in the new thread.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-8-12 22:51
Discharging the battery level around by 75% of the total power is counted as one cycle.
For the disposal of the battery, we suggest that please fully discharge the battery and then give it to the designated battery recycling bins. If the battery can not be discharged, please contact to a professional battery recycling company to handle it.

Thank you for this answer - 75% is counted as 1 cycle.

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2017-8-13 05:27
Lipo batteries can be charged many times past the expected life expectancy but you will experience shorter and shorter flight times..

Thanks - good to know.

Lipo batteries can be charged many times past the expected life expectancy but you will experience shorter and shorter flight times..

Bekaru Tree Posted at 2017-8-13 04:16
Thank you for this answer - 75% is counted as 1 cycle.

You are welcome.

I get 300more and still okay, can fly 20minute

Dirty Bird Posted at 11-23 23:21
My original 3 Mavic Pro batteries are 2 years old.  They are still going strong with little degradation in performance from when new.

hey dirtybird - thats good to hear - i am well impressed with these batteries.
i have two of my original 3 batteries and 2 newer ones - i get just about the same amount of flight time from each battery.
I fly pretty much always in sport - my batteries have had a hard working life. i fly them hard but never/seldom intentionally at max - .
At best i get about 19min  per battery these days - on average/mostly i get about 15 min per battery and that (like my flight today) was in extremely windy conditions.
So sport mode and high wind considered i am happy with the plus minus 15 min per battery that i get.

happy flying - you do awesome flights and great videos btw

The question is will DJI continue to produce these batteries even if they stop selling that model of drone?

Usually  3rd party batteries do not perform as well as original ones.   Hopefully with the Mavic 2 having 3 models and it appears widely used there wil be a substantial market for batteries for these drones. Maybe even some improved ones inthe future.

The life of a UAV appears to be down to the supply life of it's batteries

JAgraphics Posted at 11-28 04:05
The question is will DJI continue to produce these batteries even if they stop selling that model of drone?

Usually  3rd party batteries do not perform as well as original ones.   Hopefully with the Mavic 2 having 3 models and it appears widely used there wil be a substantial market for batteries for these drones. Maybe even some improved ones inthe future.

suppliers produce the batteries for dji - i think so long  as there is demand for the batteries they will continue to produce.

Heat is the enemy of LiPo batteries, so make sure that they cool down before recharging and don't let them cook in your car on a hot day - that way they last longer

My battery is still working after 200 recharges and this is the video:

Maph Posted at 12-22 13:55
My battery is still working after 200 recharges and this is the video: https://youtu.be/hIX5Y4L7XD8

cool clip :-)

I live in Thailand, always over 30 deg Celsius , my battery are only lasting around 6 months before swelling.

Got to say for the price they should be lasting far longer without problems.

ZeroGravity Posted at 12-22 22:50
I live in Thailand, always over 30 deg Celsius , my battery are only lasting around 6 months before swelling.

Got to say for the price they should be lasting far longer without problems.

hi zero -

Some factors that are known to decrease max life potential are:
1. opperating the drone in sport at max - this causes fast discharge which increases the battery temperature and which can /will reduce life expectancy of a battery. when flying in sport avoid keeping sticks at max. what i do is that i push to max (to feel where max is) and then i tap off slightly.
2. storing the batteries for too long whilst fully charged - ensure your batteries are set in the app to discharge after about 3 days in case you do not use it for a while and then it will not keep a full charge for too long.
3. i wonder if the high humidity of thailand is maybe a life reducing factor for the battery?

my mavic pro original is almost 2 years old. Two batteries i have had since new - one has been charged 245 times and the other charge 230 times - i get roughly between 6 and 8 km per battery depending on how strong the wind is blowing.

Bekaru MP UAV Posted at 12-23 08:09
hi zero -

Some factors that are known to decrease max life potential are:

Many thanks for that.

Heat and humidity is an issue for sure as I rarely use sport mode and my battery's are never stored fully charged.

My 3 batteries are just over 2 years old with less than 60 cycles each on them. Flight time is a little less than original but they are starting to swell  As a swollen battery could eject itself during flight and is  a sign of imminent failure  they’re going in the bin. So that’s about a £1 a flight!

BossBob Posted at 6-1 04:54
My 3 batteries are just over 2 years old with less than 60 cycles each on them. Flight time is a little less than original but they are starting to swell  As a swollen battery could eject itself during flight and is  a sign of imminent failure  they’re going in the bin. So that’s about a £1 a flight!

Thats bad luck - when storing for long durations ensure that they are run down (not flly charged) they will/should last a lot longer

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2017-8-13 05:27
Lipo batteries can be charged many times past the expected life expectancy but you will experience shorter and shorter flight times..

i noticed 2 of my batteries started to crack and bulge out on the bottom. Kept popping out of the drone frame and I am seriously lucky it never fell out of the sky!

Bekaru MP UAV Posted at 2018-11-24 05:15
hey dirtybird - thats good to hear - i am well impressed with these batteries.
i have two of my original 3 batteries and 2 newer ones - i get just about the same amount of flight time from each battery.
I fly pretty much always in sport - my batteries have had a hard working life. i fly them hard but never/seldom intentionally at max - .

It's not about how you fly. It's about how long you fly.

Flying the battery down to 30% will give you 200 charge cycles.

Flying the battery down to 50% will give you close to 500 cycles.

Flying below 30% will trash your battery.

bjr981s Posted at 2020-9-3 16:05
It's not about how you fly. It's about how long you fly.

Flying the battery down to 30% will give you 200 charge cycles.

I don't think that's true. I regularly fly down to 15-20%. I have 5 Mavic 2 batteries all over 100 cycles now. All of them still providing similar to flight times and no puffing or expansion of any kind. I never use sport mode. I also never leave battery sitting while charged. I usually charge just a few hours before use.

CGPhoto Posted at 11-17 13:38
I don't think that's true. I regularly fly down to 15-20%. I have 5 Mavic 2 batteries all over 100 cycles now. All of them still providing similar to flight times and no puffing or expansion of any kind. I never use sport mode. I also never leave battery sitting while charged. I usually charge just a few hours before use.

Don't confuse the discharge down numbers I quote with the DJI battery charge status in the app from the Smart Battery.

I quote real battery percentage as per the actual battery, not the calculated Smart battery percentage.

This is calculated at the time you deplete the battery completely and then recharge as per the 3 month DJI Battery maintenance guide.

If you fly down to 20% of the app indicator you should be OK.

If you check other posts here you will see people can discharge down to 0 and still be flying according to the App. Which is obviously impossible. Means that they have not calibrated as per the DJI maintenance regime

Basically do not fly below 3.5 V per cell under load.   

DJI Susan Posted at 2017-8-11 23:22
The maximum cycle is 200 charges. There will be reminder in APP if the battery went wrong.

Hello.Today I fly with my dji fpv drone when I got a sign in my goggles that I reached the lifespan battery. Is that mean that I cannot fly anymore or.... ??

bjr981s Posted at 2020-9-3 16:05
It's not about how you fly. It's about how long you fly.

Flying the battery down to 30% will give you 200 charge cycles.

100% on this. Being using Lipo in all sort of RC and also my motorhome that has 4 200Amp Lipo...

Take little power out as you can, keep them cool, never go below the 50% and they will last longer...

That's also why I go serious doubts about how long batteries will last in the new Mini 3 pro where they are constantly getting very hot to the touch...


And I should have check the date of how old this thread is....

fans366193c4 Posted at 4-9 06:23
Hello.Today I fly with my dji fpv drone when I got a sign in my goggles that I reached the lifespan battery. Is that mean that I cannot fly anymore or.... ??

Hi there, the message will pop up when the battery has too many charging cycles. We provide a battery warranty for 12 Months and Charge Cycle of fewer than 100 Times for DJI FPV.
If the battery has more than 100 charge cycles, we will suggest that you replace the battery for the flight safety concern. I appreciate your understanding.