After every flight I usually wait till the battery cools down and then do a full charge. I usually charge to 100% but have noticed I can go several weeks without using a battery. I currently have 5 vision + batteries and three have the 10 day auto discharge function. I also have 6 "dumb" regular lipo batteries that are used for my Phantom 1. Ive read keeping a fully charged Lipo for an extended period is bad.
After every flight would it be better to charge to 50% and then when ready to fly (either the next day or 2-3 weeks later etc.) to top it off to 100%. Would this shorten the life or performace of the battery doing a double charge? Thoughts??

good question, im not sure if after flying and my battery is at say 20% if it is better to:

1.  leave it at 20% for a week or two and then charge it again before next use (assumption here is that i always monitor low ones every day or so to make sure they never go below 10% before i charge them)

or

2.  charge it back up to 50% prior to the idle few weeks between flights.

i am currently doing #1 but dont know which is technically better for my battery.  

Either way is OK if you're just not using them a week or two,  for longer storage periods option 2 is better so that the cells do not fall below damaging charge level due to self discharge.  
Also charging in two stages doesn't cause any added degradation of the cells.

can you explain what you mean by '2 stages', i think i get it but want to be certain.

A funny thing happened the other night. Three of my dumb lipo batteries used on my Phantom 1 had been sitting around for probably about two weeks fully charged. I checked the voltage and all three read 12.5v.  As most of you are aware the phantom 1 does not display battery level on a smartphone so you must rely on a small blinking light on the tail of the drone.  When the battery runs low it will slowly start flashing red and as it gets really low it will rapidly flash red and auto land. I usually get about 11-12 mins of flight. First flight got about 6 mins before realizing the rear light was rapidly flashing red and it descended rapidly and I caught it by hand. I flew the first flight fast in ATTI mode so figured maybe this is why the battery drained so quickly.  Second flight I flew more reasonably in GPS mode and got 11 mins till I got the slow red flashing light and landed. Third flight I flew in GPS mode and  I only got about 5 mins until I noticed the rapid flashing red light.  It was kind of high so I brought it down as fast as I could until it literally almost dropped from the sky!!. I tried to catch it but only partially slowed its fall until it landed sideways in the snow motors still spinning.  All three batteries have about 25 charges each. How could 2 of the three batteries perform so poorly after sitting around fully charged?? Are Lipos really that unreliable? I now have every battery charged to around 50% and will fully charge them right before the next flight to see if the two exhibit the same behavior. Anyone know how many cycles these batteries are suppose to last? The Smart batteries appear to last close to 300 charge cycles according to the DJI manual but Im surprised by the drop of performance of some of my dumb Lipo batteries...Anyone give me any feedback on how to properly maintain lipo batteries and what to realistically expect from a properly cared for Lipo?

PanamonCreel Posted at 2015-2-26 04:15
Either way is OK if you're just not using them a week or two,  for longer storage periods option 2 i ...

Okay thanks. Im always going to charge the dumb lipos to 50% and then fully charge them just before flight knowing two stage charging doesnt damage or shorten the life of  lipos.

gnixon2015 Posted at 2015-2-26 04:26
can you explain what you mean by '2 stages', i think i get it but want to be certain.

I think what he means is after every flight to charge them to 50% and then stop the charge (1st stage). Let them sit around for days or weeks at a time and then remember to fully charge the 50% battery to 100% (2nd stage) right before flight.

It would be nice to know what do most people do and what type of life and performance have you gotten out of your Lipo?

Hi ppl... I am new to DJI and have had a Phantom 2 Vision+ Version 3 for three months. I have always charged batteries immediately after each flight to 100%. I did not do a flight for three weeks and got 20 minutes out of each battery before reaching orange status on battery life on app. Is the above regarding just Phantom 1 and batteries or both ph1 and 2

Both although if you have the phantom 2 batteries with the 10 day auto discharge feature it is less of a worry..

shane@shardae.c Posted at 2015-2-26 05:58
Hi ppl... I am new to DJI and have had a Phantom 2 Vision+ Version 3 for three months. I have always ...

both shane.  and i think what folks are getting at is that it is probabaly better LONG TERM LIFEWISE to charge only up to 50% after flying (ie draining it down) than to go all the way to 100% and let it sit that way for the 10 days it takes to get back to 50% anyhow.  then, from 50% just charge right before you fly.  make sense?

gnixon2015 Posted at 2015-2-26 06:10
both shane.  and i think what folks are getting at is that it is probabaly better LONG TERM LIFEWI ...

yep that's what I meant with two stages, first charge to around 50%  and then within 24 hours before the flight charge it up to 100%.
Some would charge them up and then if they can't fly discharge it down but that would actually cause more aging since every full charge cycle takes some life as well.

rdc44444@hotmai Posted at 2015-2-26 04:34
A funny thing happened the other night. Three of my dumb lipo batteries used on my Phantom 1 had bee ...

Well a multirotor is not very efficient in regards to energy usage and is 100% reliant on the power supply it gets to stay afloat in the air. You also cannot put huge batteries in there since weight is an issue as well. With that in mind I think that you may get 70-100 full charge cycles out of a well cared for Phantom LiPo before flight times will get rather short.  Mileage will vary with flight style and environmental conditions as well.   

I came across this and thought it was helpful...

http://uterc.org/files/LipoStorageTips.pdf

gnixon2015 Posted at 2015-2-26 06:10
both shane.  and i think what folks are getting at is that it is probabaly better LONG TERM LIFEWI ...

Thanks gnixon for that.... certainly clarifies it simply... cheers

my phantom is off in the shop and while 2 of my batteries are at 50%, the 2 i had charged to fly when my ESC failed are sitting here at 100%.  ive checked them (single button short press) and after over 3 and a half weeks they are still at 100%.  

so EITHER, pressing the button to 'check' status (NOT pressing it long enough to turn on) resets the 10 day counter or my batteries (which are stock DJI direct) are not discharging.  although, ill be honest, i could have sworn i waited once in that 3 weeks for more than 10 days before pressing the button.

so that is odd enough... but ALSO... now i realize that the only way to discharge my battery is now 3000 miles away being repaired.  so if it is another 2 weeks before i get it back, are those batteries screwed??  because that will be 100% charged for approx 6 weeks at that point if not a week longer maybe?

gnixon2015 Posted at 2015-4-24 12:26
my phantom is off in the shop and while 2 of my batteries are at 50%, the 2 i had charged to fly whe ...

Not all P2 batteries have the autodischarge feature,  depends on the loader/FW version.
Well a simple discharge mechanism,  12V Car incandescent bulb (20W or so) and wired socket connected to the battery (polarity not important) . Power the battery on and let there be light until the desired charge level.  Just make sure that you don't have a short somewhere .  

gnixon2015 Posted at 2015-4-24 12:26
my phantom is off in the shop and while 2 of my batteries are at 50%, the 2 i had charged to fly whe ...

Pressing the button does reset the 10 day countdown so if you press it within 10 days periods it'll never discharge.