After a long flight I placed my battery in the charger.  But we needed to leave the house and I NEVER leave a Lithium Polymer (or LiIon) charging when I am not there.  I have never read of problems with DJI smart batteries… but still, it seems prudent.  So I disconnected it without really noticing what state of charge it was in.  When we returned, I re-inserted the battery in the charger, and the lights did not light (so was apparently fully charged).  When I flew next, the starting battery charge was only 75%!  After that flight, I charged it without interruption, and the P3A showed 100% when I started it up again.

  

I learned:  Don’t charge unless you can let it go all the way to the end uninterupted.

  

   

  

quadpilot Posted at 2017-8-31 18:11
if not sure switch the battery on then start the charging process
the battery will charge then turn off once it hits 100% full

Thanks!  I will.  

Exactly .... switch battery on then plug in charger.

I do this regardless of battery charge level.

Nigel

We have overcharge protection for the intelligent battery, and it will also discharge automatically when the battery had not been used for a certain amount of time that you set on the app.
The battery itself needs to be turned on first then charged when the power is beyond 95%. Not sure which was your case. But you can check the battery status, if all show normal, then no worries.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-9-2 23:42
We have overcharge protection for the intelligent battery, and it will also discharge automatically when the battery had not been used for a certain amount of time that you set on the app.
The battery itself needs to be turned on first then charged when the power is beyond 95%. Not sure which was your case. But you can check the battery status, if all show normal, then no worries.

Mine was 75%.  I see that page 20 of the manual teaches that if above 95% to turn the battery on before recharging.  It seems it should be done all the time as suggested above.  

bob37 Posted at 2017-9-3 06:42
Mine was 75%.  I see that page 20 of the manual teaches that if above 95% to turn the battery on before recharging.  It seems it should be done all the time as suggested above.

Actually not all time ... the official way is correct ... BUT some batterys are 'lazy' ....

I have to switch on all batterys if I charge with my Programmable LiPo chargers - so I got into the habit of switching on whatever charger used ... DJI or LiPo ....

What I found is that I got near 100% charge all the time then instead of the 95 - 97% I was getting if n ot switched on. The full charge was more reliable.

It appears that some batterys are better charged with switch ON ... so much for 'intelligence' !

Nigel

If only the pilots had enough sense. Hahaha


Better written instructions would be mighty helpful as well. ;-)

A small book would benefit the new comers, rather than the common leaflet.


RedHotPoker

My battery has been used only 16 times and after a couple of weeks stored when I press the button only led #1 lights on. I tried to charge it and now it does not work, it only blinks led #1 16 times, then nothing for about 6 to 7 secs and then the cycle repeats. Would you say is dead or could it be brought to life again? Thanks.

Hector Garcia Posted at 2017-9-3 09:06
My battery has been used only 16 times and after a couple of weeks stored when I press the button only led #1 lights on. I tried to charge it and now it does not work, it only blinks led #1 16 times, then nothing for about 6 to 7 secs and then the cycle repeats. Would you say is dead or could it be brought to life again? Thanks.

Hector ...

Switch on battery ....

DO NOT TOUCH FOR 5 MINUTES !!

Lights go out ....

NOW plug in to charger BUT DO NOT TOUCH BUTTON ON BATTERY !!!

Leave on charger ... it can take quite a long time for charger to 'kick' battery back into life again ...

Your battery may have gone into hibernation and this is way to bring them out back to life.

There are other methods to kick start LiPo's .... but DJI would not appreciate my posting them !! It means opening the battery case.

Nigel

solentlife Posted at 2017-9-3 09:37
Hector ...

Switch on battery ....

Thanks Nigel. I did as instructed but when I plug it into the charger (I have the HUB for 4 batteries) leds on the battery turn on few times then after like 10 secs the led in the HUB goes from Green to Red. Should I leave it connected anyways ? Thank you.

Exactly ---- do not use the hub.

Nigel

Instead of a hub, I bought a second OEM DJI 100w charger and it's been a real treat.

Splits charging my four intelligent flight packs in half, and now I can charge my RC and a flight pack together. Haha



RedHotPoker

For those interested : a cheaper and in my view better solution is to buy a proper LiPo charger with adaptor lead ... you then have information immediately, continuously displayed during charge ...

For the price of ONE 100W DJI charger - you could buy TWO LiPo chargers and leads ....

Here's one of my chargers in use ....



People buy the 'hubs' but then find out that they charge in sequence ... NOT parallel ... which in my mind is no use at all. All it does is save you unplugging charged and plugging in uncharged pack ...

Some link to the higher spec multi chargers that can parallel charge - but WOW !! what a price !! I can buy multiple programmable LiPo chargers for that money and charge better !

The LiPo charger has another advantage as well - something that I consider DJI should look at seriously :

A programmable charger such as a B6 .. B8 ... Accucel etc. have built in safety checks. If anything is not correct - they default out / stop charging or don't even start.

The DJI power brick has no safety checks and relies on the battery packs 'board' ....

Therefore if a fault occurs in the board which does not cut the power - the DJI brick will pump away still ... but the LiPo charger will cut out.

DJI .. surely it would make more sense to change to similar to 99.9999% of the RC market and use LiPo chargers ? The added safety of that cut out surely agrees with DJI wish to have safest Multi Rotor out there ?
I am not alone in using LiPo charger instead of the DJI brick.... there are many out there who use similar to myself.

Nigel

bob37 Posted at 2017-9-3 06:42
Mine was 75%.  I see that page 20 of the manual teaches that if above 95% to turn the battery on before recharging.  It seems it should be done all the time as suggested above.

Alright, thanks for your feedback. If the battery is working properly now, that's great.

quadpilot Posted at 2017-9-5 04:50
hi Nigel
this is the charger i use
https://www.westlondonmodels.com ... ns-LIPRO-QUAD-6.asp

The DJI batterys are not standard 4.2v per cell LiPo's .... they are HV LiPo with 4.35V per cell full charged.

I cannot find LiHV setting or user parameter setup to cater for them on your Quad Charger ....

If you only charge to 4.2V as per standard LiPo - you will only be getting about 90% charge ..

Think you need to hang onto your DJI bricks for a while !!

Nigel

I have the SkyRC Mini B6 of 60W that charges LiHV as well as the usual.

And I have the Accucel 6 80W as in the photo above that charges LiHV etc.

Both do  an excellent job.

Nigel

It was only fairly recent that LiHV became available generally .... Turnigy Bolt etc.

Many RC people have been caught out on this... I was !

That is why I bought the Mini and 6-80 ... to give me LiHV capability, as well as LiFe for Rx applications.

The Accucel 6-80W is a good buy on Hobby King ..... it gives higher charge rate than your Quad which only delivers 50W ...

I prefer multiple chargers instead of one unit doing multiple. That way I know I will always have a charger ... if one fails. I actually have 4 chargers on the bench + the two DJI... and an extra Mini 6 spare that has a fault.

Nigel

Hello all,
Since we are covering  charging, batteries in a hibernate mode and charging with different cargers I have a question that might fit well here and keep information consolidated.

Battery maintenance/recovery.  I bought a used P3P, bird is in good shape, everything works, seller even took me out and flew it and let me fly it before we shook on the deal.  Flew it 2x now at home and flights seemed to be a bit short before I was getting battery low warnings, I had fully charged the batteries before starting.  I started looking around in DJIGo app and found the battery data.  ONe battery has 42 charges, the other 38.  That seems like quite a few, what is typical lifespan of these P3 batteries?  I plan to check battery life when I get home.

The batteries are set on a 5day auto discharge.  What I am wondering is would it make sense to drop that to minimum time of one day, let it discharge, next day charge 100%, let sit so it discharges..  Repeat that for a number of cycles to see if it improves the battery life?  Does that work with these sort of batteries?

solentlife Posted at 2017-9-3 09:37
Hector ...

Switch on battery ....

Why should you not touch the battery?

Hi Lamrith ....

A typical LiPo battery if not abused - that is charged reasonably and used but not drained too low ... kept at storage charge between uses .. This should give years of use. 42 / 38 uses are only a fraction of what you should expect.

5 day auto discharge ... this is about the maximum I would want before discharge ... remember that you can add another 2 days to that to get to storage level if going from full charge. I suggest a 2 - 3 day setting.

OK - cycling is not like the old NiXX days of reviving cells ... LiPo cells once damaged do not recover ... regardless of what you may hear. BUT what I suggest you do ....

Next time you charge - SWITCH ON the battery and then plug into charger .... Leave it to shut down charge ... Then put into AC and power up .... look at battery level indication ...

When you charge with SWITCH ON ... this actually over-rides that boards supposed safety feature of preventing charging when 95% or more. In fact its' often  faulty and can in fact inhibit full charge from any level. I am not only user who has observed this.

Welcome to the world of LiPo's !!

Nigel

Montfrooij Posted at 2017-9-5 10:24
Why should you not touch the battery?

What is meant by that is ....

Do not touch the Button to switch off or check battery ...

You need to leave the battery alone for at least 5 mins for the internal board to initiate shut down. THEN you can charge.

Nigel

solentlife Posted at 2017-9-3 22:19
For those interested : a cheaper and in my view better solution is to buy a proper LiPo charger with adaptor lead ... you then have information immediately, continuously displayed during charge ...

For the price of ONE 100W DJI charger - you could buy TWO LiPo chargers and leads ....

Thanks for this info!

solentlife Posted at 2017-9-5 10:28
What is meant by that is ....

Do not touch the Button to switch off or check battery ...

Aha, ok, thanks for clarifying that.
I was really puzzled hahahahaha.

Thanks for the tips Nigel!

quadpilot: I will time a flight tonight.  I was lead to believe 20-25min was the norm, the flights I had were in the 15-17min range I think, but you all know how time is distorted with a new  toy.

You can see my videos on Youtube ... solentlifeuk .... I average up to 18mins a flight and land with about 30% remaining ...

To have over 20 mins and certainly 25mins .... you better be prepared for critical situation !!

Nigel