Question 1. DJI advertises that Spark batteries when fully charged allow for 16 minutes of flight time. Today I came home from work, popped in a fully charged battery and tested. Indoors, no wind, basic maneuvers and the battery flew for 12 minutes and 30 seconds. Anybody else have this issue?

Question 2. I have always known that batteries when new need to fully charged, then fully discharged multiple times to maximize battery life and performance. Does this pertain to the Spark batteries as well? I would think so.

Question 3. Lastly these batteries take quite a while to cool down after a flight. I assume it is best to let them cool prior to recharging. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance

1. Not an issue, that is theory and experience. 12.30 is good for practically hovering most of the time.
Best times, ~14 min, I got in almost permanent forward flying in a circle in full speed p-mode (20kph)

2. There is a saying that Li-Ion dont work that way. Some say, fully discharge is only stressing the cells.
Anyway, every now and then I fly to critical battery landing (10%). And there prevent Spark from landing for some more numbers.
Just today I had still to fly 200m under 10% (no choice, to wet below ;-) and had it landed with 1%

3.They do not recharge if still to hot/warm, anyway!

S-e-ven Posted at 2018-2-8 20:44
1. Not an issue, that is theory and experience. 12.30 is good for practically hovering most of the time.
Best times, ~14 min, I got in almost permanent forward flying in a circle in full speed p-mode (10kph)

Thanks for the good info

Basically get 12 minutes on average, best I got was 14 minutes and I normally fly to low battery, 10%,, then I leave the batteries to cool down before I recharge..

Some of that goes to regular battery degradation. Most batteries will stay consistent until they get close to 100 flights which is about when it's good to get new batteries at least. Also I mean even indoors with no wind there is variables. Heating or Air vents people, pets etc moving around the drone moving because of it's own prop wind speed pushing it away from couches or walls etc. Even with technically no variables there are variables in most situations.

I read somewhere that the 16 minutes is based off of forward flight under perfect conditions. So actual flight time will be variable.

1. Companies such as DJI always test their batteries multiple times and broadcast the best time trial of battery length. So, 16 minutes is probably rare, but I am in the same boat as you with the 12-13 minutes.
3. The battery is called an "Intelligent Flight Battery" for a reason because it doesn't start charging until it is at a proper temperature, so I wouldn't keep worrying about what temperature your pattery is at. It does the job for you. Thanks, DJI!