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Is this myth true?
1404 10 2017-12-30
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djiuser_vPBC7VG
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United States
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Hello,
I have heard a lot of people saying that it is preferable to stop flying at around 20-30%. This is true for normal, stupid Li-Po batteries. However, the Mavic pro batteries are smart and they surely won't let you over discharge them...
Should I stop flying at 20-30% or can I go down to 10% as long as I'm careful not to go too far? Does the 80/20 rule apply to DJI batteries?

2017-12-30
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DroneFlying
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Flight distance : 10774613 ft
United States
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You guessed correctly: even though it still gets (wrongly) repeated in the context of DJI's "intelligent" batteries, the caution against going below 20% doesn't apply with regard to maintaining the health of the battery. In fact, the manual specifically says to discharge it to below 20% before traveling.
2017-12-30
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A CW
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Given that DJI advertises the recharge cycle times of their batteries based on 15% - 100% I think landing on 30% is a waste. I always land on 11-15% and have never had any battery errors. The problems occur when you hit 10% or less with critical warnings so best to avoid going that low.
2017-12-31
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QuadKid
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A CW Posted at 2017-12-31 00:34
Given that DJI advertises the recharge cycle times of their batteries based on 15% - 100% I think landing on 30% is a waste. I always land on 11-15% and have never had any battery errors. The problems occur when you hit 10% or less with critical warnings so best to avoid going that low.


Don't trust the battery level indicator in the Go/Go4 App, there have been many instances of forced landing low battery instances here in the forum where people say their battery showed 20% yet the drone did a forced landing and have either lost their drone to some unreachable location and/or landed in water. The drones that did this that were recovered, after looking at the .dat file the actual battery level was 8-10% which triggered the landing.

I would much rather loose a few minutes fly time than the drone, always have it at my feet by 30%.
2017-12-31
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A CW
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QuadKid Posted at 2017-12-31 00:50
Don't trust the battery level indicator in the Go/Go4 App, there have been many instances of forced landing low battery instances here in the forum where people say their battery showed 20% yet the drone did a forced landing and have either lost their drone to some unreachable location and/or landed in water. The drones that did this that were recovered, after looking at the .dat file the actual battery level was 8-10% which triggered the landing.

I would much rather loose a few minutes fly time than the drone, always have it at my feet by 30%.

Never happened to me with any of the seven DJI drones I've owned in the years I've flown.
2017-12-31
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Zamboon
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You can but you leave absolutely no margin for error or a gust of wind.

Fully agree with QuadKid’s last sentence.
2017-12-31
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mz-in-norcal
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Flight distance : 1005049 ft
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The only reason I'd return early is if it is cold, in which case LiPo batteries tend to have a hard time providing the same amount of power (for as long).
2017-12-31
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DroneFlying
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QuadKid Posted at 2017-12-31 00:50
Don't trust the battery level indicator in the Go/Go4 App, there have been many instances of forced landing low battery instances here in the forum where people say their battery showed 20% yet the drone did a forced landing and have either lost their drone to some unreachable location and/or landed in water. The drones that did this that were recovered, after looking at the .dat file the actual battery level was 8-10% which triggered the landing.

I would much rather loose a few minutes fly time than the drone, always have it at my feet by 30%.

there have been many instances of forced landing low battery instances here in the forum where people say their battery showed 20% yet the drone did a forced landing

Can you provide a link to one of the threads where a DAT file showed this? I don't remember seeing that but would be interested in taking a look.
2017-12-31
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QuadKid
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-12-31 05:18
there have been many instances of forced landing low battery instances here in the forum where people say their battery showed 20% yet the drone did a forced landing

Can you provide a link to one of the threads where a DAT file showed this? I don't remember seeing that but would be interested in taking a look.


Was awhile ago, will find it and post the link, I think it was either here or on Mavic Pilots forum

Here is one of them there are more will continue looking
https://mavicpilots.com/threads/ ... 5-of-battery.14422/
2017-12-31
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DroneFlying
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QuadKid Posted at 2017-12-31 06:05
Was awhile ago, will find it and post the link, I think it was either here or on Mavic Pilots forum

Here is one of them there are more will continue looking

The landing discussed in that thread wasn't related to battery level; it occurred because the user pulled back on the left stick while the downward / VPS sensors incorrectly indicated the ground was close by. Also, there doesn't appear to have been a DAT file provided or any mention of a major difference between the indicated or actual level of remaining charge.
2017-12-31
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luciens
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The key metric is the cell voltage, like any LiPo battery. If you want them to last for literally years, the ideal is around 3.8v per cell resting when you finally shut the a/c down. Even though 3.7v is the nominal cell voltage for a LiPo, 3.7v resting is a pretty deep discharge. It won't hurt them to discharge them that low, but it may slightly shorten the overall service life of the batt.

Also, the cell voltage under load is important also. What you don't want is the cell voltage going below about 3.6v at any time. The batt may survive going below that for a while, but it also may not. Fortunately, the telemetry allows you to see the cell voltage under load, so you can monitor this.

So the thing to do is see what percentage value gets you around 3.7v or maybe even into the high 3.6's under load and set your alarm there. 3.65v and less under load is approaching a bit too deep. It does no good to "deep cycle" a LiPo and actually shortens its life unnecessarily....
On my P4P, that translates to about 32 to 35% on the telemetry. I land at 32% usually which is about 3.67-8v under load and a little under 3.8v at rest....
2017-12-31
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