i_anderson
lvl.3
United States
Offline
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*Very* interesting - Thanks for your thoughts & comments. Hopefully, we can keep this debate going with some "intelligent" input...... I'm certainly not arguing, just trying to add to the knowledge pool. So, my Q's/comments on some of what you said:
- 4-6 minutes extra flight time is *huge*! Congrats! What current is your 3 battery charger supplying to them? You're saying a "slow" charge is better for them. I agree to a degree, and you certainly don't want to constantly use "fast charging", but I don't think that's what the DJI charger is doing - Again, 4A is pretty small for these batteries. I actually believe a mix of fast & slow may be the optimum. I have no data to back this up, it just makes some empirical sense to me.
- AFAIK, all Li-Po chargers work basically the same way; Set the current (or in the case of the default charger, just accept that it's 4amps.) I can set mine anywhere from 1-5A, but for now have stuck with the accepted 4. Obviously, this gives about the same charge time as the DJI. The battery starts accepting juice, initially at the set rate until V reaches 3.7 x cell count - In our case, obviously 11.1V. Once reached, it holds that V and the I reduces as it continues to charge. Once I drops to zero, it shuts off.
A "true" fast charger would be firing in around 6-8 amps (maybe more!) initially, but again, once max V is reached, that drops off fairly quickly so is doing nothing different to a slow charger at this time.
It would be nice to gather data on charge rate, time and subsequent flight time. Maybe I'll try setting one battery to always charge "slow", at say 2A. The second at 3A and the last at 5. (Still not enough to be anywhere near a true fast charge). I'm sure it'll take many cycles to see any differences emerge, but would sure be interesting - Chasing more flight time is kinda the "holy grail" after all! ;)
If anyone else wanted to do the same we could probably learn fairly quickly though?
Having said all that, I too suspect, as you alluded to, that "exercising" them using different charge rates is probably a good idea - Sometimes "slow" & sometimes "fast" - This is after all the way they get discharged. Again, no evidence, just a "gut feel".
It's a shame the monster charger that spawned this thread doesn't have a display - As noted before, I really like to watch whats going on as they charge/discharge.
Cheers,
Ian |
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