I was reading through some material on flight insurance and reasons for voiding a policy.  Apparently, a cause for exclusion is failure to recycle batteries and keep a log on battery performance.  I'm scratching my head here.

I've started a log of individual cell voltages at the end of recharging.  I will be checking these on a periodic basis (30 day intervals) and will be tracking the deviation between cells.  Has anyone got additional information on this topic?  I.e., when is it time to recycle a Spark or Mavic Mini, or any DJI battery, due to intercell voltage variation or exceeding a maximum number of charges?  

Also, is there a maximum number of times a battery can be charged before it begins deteriorating?

Basically, my questions are two-fold: What should a flyer be logging to avoid something that could void an insurance claim?  And on what data can insurance companies reject a claim?  Just sounds like a loop-hole for insurance companies to me.

By recycling you mean stop using them and put to recycle bin? Interesting issue, I guess if you notice shorter flight times, then they are starting to detoriate. I have a lot of Lipos that I use for RC airplanes and helicopters. They are not smart, but I usually balance charge them to hopefully give them longer life. You should not discharge them too much either. I think that the DJI batteries are good, since they are smart and will automatically discharge to a storage level if not used for a while. I suppose they will have quite a long lifespan, probably several hundred charges. Sorry for my bad English.

MikaelBe Posted at 8-27 09:25
By recycling you mean stop using them and put to recycle bin? Interesting issue, I guess if you notice shorter flight times, then they are starting to detoriate. I have a lot of Lipos that I use for RC airplanes and helicopters. They are not smart, but I usually balance charge them to hopefully give them longer life. You should not discharge them too much either. I think that the DJI batteries are good, since they are smart and will automatically discharge to a storage level if not used for a while. I suppose they will have quite a long lifespan, probably several hundred charges. Sorry for my bad English.

Hi MikaelBe,

Yes, that was the gist of the post.  I too have several other homebuilds and oddles of batteries that I balance charge, then discharge when not in use.  Perhaps these batteries are what the exclusions are targeting.  I know I have a number of older batteries that have very short flight times - but I still keep them.  (Perhaps I'm a hoarder) :-)

I can see where flying some of these could create an incident in the wrong circumstances.

Yes, DJI batteries mind the health of the battery very well.  Still, I'm not sure what the insurance companies expect of a 107 ticket holder documentation wise.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

Hello there Baykayaker. Thank you for reaching out and for these information you have given us. In addition to this threads. The proper way to dispose of the said batteries as follows : Dispose of the battery into specific recycling boxes only after a complete discharge. Do not place the battery into regular rubbish bins. Strictly follow your local disposal and recycling regulations of batteries. If the power on/off button of the Intelligent Flight Battery is disabled and the battery cannot be fully discharged, please contact a professional battery disposal/recycling agent for further assistance. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 8-27 21:22
Hello there Baykayaker. Thank you for reaching out and for these information you have given us. In addition to this threads. The proper way to dispose of the said batteries as follows : Dispose of the battery into specific recycling boxes only after a complete discharge. Do not place the battery into regular rubbish bins. Strictly follow your local disposal and recycling regulations of batteries. If the power on/off button of the Intelligent Flight Battery is disabled and the battery cannot be fully discharged, please contact a professional battery disposal/recycling agent for further assistance. Thank you.

How does one fully discharge a battery via the Intelligent Battery on/off button.  Didn't know you could do that?

Baykayaker Posted at 8-28 13:07
How does one fully discharge a battery via the Intelligent Battery on/off button.  Didn't know you could do that?

Put the battery in the drone, take the props off and turn it on.

A J Posted at 8-29 08:50
Put the battery in the drone, take the props off and turn it on.

Oh.  I was hoping there might be some secret strokes involved: Press and hold for 2 seconds, take a deep breath, hold again for 6 seconds, then double click and count to 5.   

Baykayaker Posted at 8-29 22:51
Oh.  I was hoping there might be some secret strokes involved: Press and hold for 2 seconds, take a deep breath, hold again for 6 seconds, then double click and count to 5.

You can do that too

A J Posted at 8-29 22:52
You can do that too

:-)

Baykayaker Posted at 8-28 13:07
How does one fully discharge a battery via the Intelligent Battery on/off button.  Didn't know you could do that?

Hi there Baykayaker. Thank you for the reply and for the information you have shared with us. The DJI Mavic Mini battery doesn't support self-discharge. Please manually discharge the said battery to 40% ~ 65% if you are not to use it more than 10 days. Kindly please put the DJI Mavic Mini intelligent flight battety on the charging hub or power the said drone on to discharge the battery. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 8-31 00:44
Hi there Baykayaker. Thank you for the reply and for the information you have shared with us. The DJI Mavic Mini battery doesn't support self-discharge. Please manually discharge the said battery to 40% ~ 65% if you are not to use it more than 10 days. Kindly please put the DJI Mavic Mini intelligent flight battety on the charging hub or power the said drone on to discharge the battery. Thank you.

Interesting.  Good to know.

So, the charging hub can discharge the batteries?  

I leave the batteries in the hub, then pack the hub in my carry case.  So I'm safe.  The hub will discharge the batteries for me after a period of time.  Correct?

Baykayaker Posted at 8-31 11:52
Interesting.  Good to know.

So, the charging hub can discharge the batteries?  

Hi there Baykayaker. Thank you for the reply and for this information you have shared. The DJI Mavic Mini Two-Way Charging Hub will not automatically discharge the said batteries. As shown on the figure below you need to insert the intelligent flight battery into the charging hub without connecting it to a charger, then connect any external device to the USB port in the charging hub. The intelligent flight battery with the lowest poser level will be discharged first and the rest in sequence according to their power levels. The status LEDs will display the poser level of the battery that supplies power when the external devices are being charged.

DJI Stephen Posted at 9-1 21:50
Hi there Baykayaker. Thank you for the reply and for this information you have shared. The DJI Mavic Mini Two-Way Charging Hub will not automatically discharge the said batteries. As shown on the figure below you need to insert the intelligent flight battery into the charging hub without connecting it to a charger, then connect any external device to the USB port in the charging hub. The intelligent flight battery with the lowest poser level will be discharged first and the rest in sequence according to their power levels. The status LEDs will display the poser level of the battery that supplies power when the external devices are being charged.

[view_image]

Thank you for this information.

Baykayaker Posted at 9-1 22:17
Thank you for this information.

Hi there Baykayaker. You are very much welcome and thank you for the reply. Have a safe and a happy flying always.