Today I was flying my drone to the point of trying to get my battery down really low (in order to do a deep charge on it).  I was on my street and basically flying it up and down the street, also practicing turning, etc.  My primary goal was to get the battery down to about 20% and then land the craft and let it drain down to about 8% on it's own.  At one point when the drone was about 120' away, near the end of my street, the RTH (battery low) kicked in and it immediatly started to rise to my pre-set 150' altitude.  Fortunately, I was quick enough to actually hit the pause button but if I hadn't done it a couple seconds later, it would have risen into a tree.
Before I get flamed, I always had eyes on the drone, usually flying it about 6' off the street, no traffic and I was only using the controller (no tablet/phone).

So my suggestion would be to have an automatic pause (5-10 seconds) before the aircraft starts the RTH flight back.  A warning on the controller and tablet/phone that lets you abort the RTH.

I realize it would be rare for someone to be flying their drone with low battery but if you're practicing low runs, it's always in view, and if you have your RTH set to a higher battery limit, it could happen.

Anyway, just a thought. PS. I got my 8% battery and did the deep charge

I'm not even sure where to start here.

First, go read your manual. Go read *all* of your manual.
Second, go do a Google search on LiPo batteries. Read up on them. What you did was lower the life of your battery, not improve it.

Never fly your pack lower than 20 percent if you can help it. You don't "deep charge" LiPo's. Over discharging is a good recipe for a battery fire. While you're Googling LiPo's  you should do a search on "puffing" a battery.

in theory i kinda agree with you - in practice though "hovering' is not an efficient mode(consumes more battery than slow 5 -10m/s forward movement does) and it seems dji RTH model revolves largely around efficient battery usage.

So my suggestion would be to have an automatic pause (5-10 seconds) before the aircraft starts the RTH flight back.

It already does this, at least if you're using the Go app. It warns you that it's going to initiate RTH and gives you 10 seconds to prevent it from doing so. If you feel that didn't happen here then upload the (TXT file) flight log from your mobile device to PhantomHelp using these instructions and provide a link to it here.

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-8-6 11:59
So my suggestion would be to have an automatic pause (5-10 seconds) before the aircraft starts the RTH flight back.

It already does this, at least if you're using the Go app. It warns you that it's going to initiate RTH and gives you 10 seconds to prevent it from doing so. If you feel that didn't happen here then upload the (TXT file) flight log from your mobile device to PhantomHelp using these instructions and provide a link to it here.

He says he was flying with only the RC.

ephektz Posted at 2017-8-6 12:12
He says he was flying with only the RC.

Ah, good catch; I overlooked that part.

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-8-6 12:30
Ah, good catch; I overlooked that part.

Wow. OK, so I was following the instructions on AirData's web site regarding battery maintenance.  Thought I was doing good.
Hovering in place is really that bad of an idea? (don't answer please)
Next time (or if) I ever post a suggestion or a comment here, I guess I should preface it with "I've read the manual, I've googled, and now I'm still asking."

Some snarky vultures here.  See the "Beginner" under my name?

marklyn59 Posted at 2017-8-6 12:44
Wow. OK, so I was following the instructions on AirData's web site regarding battery maintenance.  Thought I was doing good.
Hovering in place is really that bad of an idea? (don't answer please)
Next time (or if) I ever post a suggestion or a comment here, I guess I should preface it with "I've read the manual, I've googled, and now I'm still asking."

I found some info on AirData regarding recaibrating the battery electronics on a Phantom 2 with the procedure you described. The first thing that popped up on Google when I searched, "AirData deep cycle" was some Phantom pilots calling BS, though.

Does the manual specify a "deep discharge?" Don't do that. You are hurting your battery performance. It's also not a good idea to fly without a phone or tablet attached as it's considered an integral part of the controller. You are losing a lot of features, some safety related, when you do this.

He didn't say it was bad to hover; he said it was inefficient. Hovering takes more power than gentle forward flight for two reasons: One, it takes more active correction to keep the UAV stable and in one place. Two, because physics.

Snarky? Yes. Mainly because your suggestion is something that is already implemented and would have been available had you been following the procedures recommended in that manual you said you read.

I don't know if you purchased a combo but there is a gizmo in your pack that will connect to your battery to a mobile phone or two mobile , this will have the effect of reducing your battery power and charge your phone, link below.

deviceshttps://store.dji.com/product/mavic-battery-to-power-bank-adaptor

marklyn59 Posted at 2017-8-6 12:44
Wow. OK, so I was following the instructions on AirData's web site regarding battery maintenance.  Thought I was doing good.
Hovering in place is really that bad of an idea? (don't answer please)
Next time (or if) I ever post a suggestion or a comment here, I guess I should preface it with "I've read the manual, I've googled, and now I'm still asking."

Some snarky vultures here.  See the "Beginner" under my name?

Specifically what part of my response did you find snarky?

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 13:23
I don't know if you purchased a combo but there is a gizmo in your pack that will connect to your battery to a mobile phone or two mobile , this will have the effect of reducing your battery power and charge your phone, link below.

deviceshttps://store.dji.com/product/mavic-battery-to-power-bank-adaptor

Thanks Hallmark, that sounds like a better idea than hovering to get the battery lower.
Now I'm not sure about the care/maintenance of the batteries, everything I'd downloaded regarding the Mavic (from DJI's website) doesn't speak directly to care/maintenance of the batteries in regard to what is on AirData's battery maintenance part of their website.
The only reference I found before was on pg 29 of the Mavic manual explaining how to drain the batteries to less than 20% (or until they won't turn on) but that is in regard to storage for a trip.  Reading that made me think that AirData's site on maintaining the batteries was not only reasonable but probably necessary.
Now I'm not sure so I guess I'll send DJI an email and ask them.  

ephektz Posted at 2017-8-6 13:21
I found some info on AirData regarding recaibrating the battery electronics on a Phantom 2 with the procedure you described. The first thing that popped up on Google when I searched, "AirData deep cycle" was some Phantom pilots calling BS, though.

Does the manual specify a "deep discharge?" Don't do that. You are hurting your battery performance. It's also not a good idea to fly without a phone or tablet attached as it's considered an integral part of the controller. You are losing a lot of features, some safety related, when you do this.

ephektz, I normally don't fly without a tablet or phone.  I only did this because I wanted to get the battery lower, the drone was in clear sight  6' above ground and I used that time to practice turns, stops and simple maneuvers.  I personally would never consider flying the drone without the software (tablet/phone) regularly.

If I could have deleted this post due to the direction it took I would have but don't seem to have that ability to do so.  Still, maybe it can be salvaged since I want to know conclusively if the batteries should be maintained as directed on AirData's site.

marklyn59 Posted at 2017-8-6 13:39
Thanks Hallmark, that sounds like a better idea than hovering to get the battery lower.
Now I'm not sure about the care/maintenance of the batteries, everything I'd downloaded regarding the Mavic (from DJI's website) doesn't speak directly to care/maintenance of the batteries in regard to what is on AirData's battery maintenance part of their website.
The only reference I found before was on pg 29 of the Mavic manual explaining how to drain the batteries to less than 20% (or until they won't turn on) but that is in regard to storage for a trip.  Reading that made me think that AirData's site on maintaining the batteries was not only reasonable but probably necessary.

Your batteries are under 6 month warranty I would follow dji's instructions on battery maintenance, airdata is not all it's cracked up to be certainly it's log reviews are sometimes a bit dubious.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 14:18
Your batteries are under 6 month warranty I would follow dji's instructions on battery maintenance, airdata is not all it's cracked up to be certainly it's log reviews are sometimes a bit dubious.

I really can't find much specific info on battery maintenance, or I'm just missing it. Do you have something in the way of a link?  I've downloaded all of their PDF's from day 1 since I had the drone and refer to them regularly but zilch (at least on specifics).

marklyn59 Posted at 2017-8-6 13:45
ephektz, I normally don't fly without a tablet or phone.  I only did this because I wanted to get the battery lower, the drone was in clear sight  6' above ground and I used that time to practice turns, stops and simple maneuvers.  I personally would never consider flying the drone without the software (tablet/phone) regularly.

If I could have deleted this post due to the direction it took I would have but don't seem to have that ability to do so.  Still, maybe it can be salvaged since I want to know conclusively if the batteries should be maintained as directed on AirData's site.

I'm not certain what you're looking for here. Don't fully discharge your LiPo's. So no, don't do what AirData is telling you to do. It's unnecessary and will negatively impact the performance of your batteries.  

marklyn59 Posted at 2017-8-6 14:23
I really can't find much specific info on battery maintenance, or I'm just missing it. Do you have something in the way of a link?  I've downloaded all of their PDF's from day 1 since I had the drone and refer to them regularly but zilch (at least on specifics).

Have you read the battery safety guidelines in user manual section, it's a 6/7 page separate from normal manual.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-6 14:33
Have you read the battery safety guidelines in user manual section, it's a 6/7 page separate from normal manual.

Yes, Hallmark, that was one of the first things I read since it was a small document and there is nothing in there that I can find of any real use to the subject.

marklyn59 Posted at 2017-8-6 15:13
Yes, Hallmark, that was one of the first things I read since it was a small document and there is nothing in there that I can find of any real use to the subject.

All of your questions can be answered in the document you said you read on page 4 and 5: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... y+Guidelines-EN.pdf

Ehpketz,
This post is about discharging the battery to a low percentage and recharging it fully as a regular maintenance (sidetracked from my suggestion of a RTH warning/prompt).
Thank you for posting that link. You helped prove my point.
What I do see on pg 4 under storage is "Never transport a damaged battery or a battery with power lever higher than 5%" so that makes me wonder why these batteries would be damaged as you stated earlier.
Obviously this is not the case if you are advised to let them drop under 5%, and then charging them back up to 100% ("after transport") would look and smell like what I described in my original post.
Additionally, if *you* read that document you posted the link to, you'd see under battery maintenance on page 5 that it specifically says to fully charge and discharge the battery at least once every 3 months to maintain battery health.  So it looks like I have my official answer that (according to the DJI document *you* linked) it is advised to do a full discharge/recharge.
You sure spend a lot of effort to tell people to "read the manual" when you yourself didn't even do that.  You're not really someone in this community I care to have respond to any of my posts. I'm trying to learn and asking questions. I'm not always going to ask the best questions and I may occasionally miss something in the documentation.
You try to make someone like me feel bad stating I need to read the manual, and I have read what I could get my hands on. But, it turns out that your form of chastising me gave me the link to my answer and if DJI says I should do this, that's good for me.

marklyn59 Posted at 2017-8-6 17:17
Ehpketz,
This post is about discharging the battery to a low percentage and recharging it fully as a regular maintenance (sidetracked from my suggestion of a RTH warning/prompt).
Thank you for posting that link. You helped prove my point.

You do whatever you do. I'd urge you to actually go read on LiPo batteries, though, and gain an actual understanding on how they are designed and how their charge cycles work. You've proved no other point than that you have no understanding. DJI attempted to design these things so they are fool proof, but I guess they can't cover every angle.

Fly safe and have fun.

Hey, I'm good. When/if DJI ever asks me on a battery warranty repair/replacement if I followed the maintenance, I'll be able to say, yes I did.
Good flying to you too.

Marklyn, apologies if this bothers you. I would recommend you to follow the battery guidelines when you claim the warranty. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our Support Team via support.us@dji.com.

DJI Susan Posted at 2017-8-7 19:54
Marklyn, apologies if this bothers you. I would recommend you to follow the battery guidelines when you claim the warranty. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our Support Team via .

"if the user manual bothers you"... huh?

You should let your late model car warm-up for 15 minutes prior to driving it, as well.

According to an email I just received from DJI support...

Dan Nikko （Support）
8月13日 01:37 CST

Dear Mark,

Thank you for responding.

I apologize for the delay response.

Never over-discharge, as this may lead to cell battery damage. Never let your battery go to 0%.

Discharging is letting your battery drain up to 6% but not less that 5% for maintenance.
Best Regards,

Dan Nikko
DJI SUPPORT
Tel Support: +1(818)235 0789 / Mon-Fri 7:00AM-5:00PM(PST)
Online Support: http://www.dji.com/support#after

Mark & Lyn       
Mark & Lyndon
8月10日 00:19 CST

Thanks for the response but can you clarify what you mean by never "ove-rdischarge"?
I thought that meant that you shouldn't discharge the battery to under 5% or less yet your maintenance in your documentation states to fully discharge and recharge every 3 months.
Isn't over-discharging basically bringing the battery level down to a very low percentage?
Can you please elaborate on this?

Thanks!!

Dan Nikko       
Dan Nikko （Support）
8月9日 23:42 CST

Dear Mark,

Thank you for contacting DJI technical support.

We take reports like yours very seriously and want to provide you with the best support possible.

Battery Maintenance
1. Never over-discharge, as this may lead to cell battery damage.
2. Battery life may be reduced if not used for a long time.
3. Fully charge and discharge the battery at least once every 3 months to maintain battery health.

You can check our Mavic pro Intelligent flight battery safety guidelines at our DJI website.
http://www.dji.com/mavic/info#faq

You can also check our DJI safety tips video tutorial.

Best Regards,

Dan Nikko
DJI SUPPORT
Tel Support: +1(818)235 0789 / Mon-Fri 7:00AM-5:00PM(PST)
Online Support: http://www.dji.com/support#after

Mark & Lyn       
Mark & Lyndon
8月9日 06:10 CST

There has been some heated discussion on the DJI Mavic community forum regarding battery 'refreshes'
Some people say NEVER let your batteries get down to 8% or lower and then fully charge them.
Yet the battery manual document, page 5, states to let your battery fully discharge and fully recharge them every 3 months as a maintenance.

What are the details of proper battery maintenance? I'm a new Mavic owner and want to do this right so please provide some details.

Thanks