Some users reported their confusions about their batteries after upgrading to the Inspire 1 Firmware v1.2.1.03. Clarifications are listed as below:

Batteries' new feature includes:
1. Reduce power consumption of the Intelligent Flight Battery when it is powered off to protect thebattery. When the battery power level is below 40% and is turned off more than 4hrs, it will go into deep sleep mode to further lower the power consumption of the battery, so that the battery can be stored for a much extened peorid even without recharge. When we turn on  the battery again, the control IC (actully the gas gauge IC) inside the battery will reset and re-calculate the power level. This explains why the power level "today" is different from power level "yesterday". Once it goes into the deep sleep mode, the power level (battery level percentage) will reset to a relatively lower value. This is to protect you from inaccurately high power level. Just recharge the battery fully, the control IC will calibrate itself and the power level will be accurate. When you want to fly your Inspire 1, I'd recommend to always fully charge the battery if you haven't use it over a few days.

2. Remind to fully charge/discharge the battery every 10 cycles. If the battery haven't been experienced a fully charge/discharge cycle every 10 cyles, the accuracy of the control IC inside the battery will be worse. To ensure  the accuracy of the power level calcualtion of the battery, the Inspire 1 newest DJI Pilot App will remind the user to perform the fully charge/discharge cycle. Just put a fullly charged batttery in your Inspire and fly it until it reaches the very low power warning, then land the Inspire on the ground and leave it there until the battery level is 5% or below. Then it's DONE. Your battery will be in a better condition to serve you and provide accurate power level information during your future flight.

What about the sudden power drop or shut down of reported users with TB48 batteries and the production hold? I have 2 X TB48 batteries. Do I need to worry?

Andy

All good...but...Even when I hover to drain the batt, it shuts off COMPLETELY at around 9%.  How do I get it to 5%?

It is very bad for any battery to be fully discharged especially below 10%. Do it if you must but be ready to recharge the battery right away.

marcsobel Posted at 2015-5-20 23:17
It is very bad for any battery to be fully discharged especially below 10%. Do it if you must but be ...

You are NOT fully discharging the battery when you take it down to '0%'!!!!!! Look at the cell voltages.

markjacobs.talk Posted at 2015-5-20 23:43
You are NOT fully discharging the battery when you take it down to '0%'!!!!!! Look at the cell volt ...

Here "fully discharge" is a vague definition which does not mean you need to discharge it to 3.0V per cell. To facilitate the gas gauge IC to calibrate the capacity inside the battery, it requires the battery to discharge below a certain capacity level, for example <7%, from a fully charged state. To make it easier for users to understand and to implement, we require the users to "fully discharge" the battery until the power level is <5% or even lower.

miragecy Posted at 2015-5-20 22:02
What about the sudden power drop or shut down of reported users with TB48 batteries and the producti ...

Hi Andy,
If the user try to follow the instructions to do the fully charge/discharge every 10 cycles as reminded by the DJI Pilot App, a normal fully charged battery will not experience any sudden power drop. About the battery turns to be "brick" cases, we need to check case by case. You don't need to worry.

We don't have any production hold. TB48 has an energy over 100Wh that makes it more complicated for shipping. Hope you could receive the batteries you ordered soon.

dbeck@promobox. Posted at 2015-5-20 22:18
All good...but...Even when I hover to drain the batt, it shuts off COMPLETELY at around 9%.  How do  ...

if it shuts down at 9%, then please recharge it fully. Check the voltage balance between all cells, see if there's certain cell whose voltage is much lower than others. When the battery is full and the voltage difference is more than 100mV, then the battery is damaged.

DJI-Bruce,   Thank you for the information and feedback on this forum.

It it very much appreciated.

-Mike

DJI-Bruce Posted at 2015-5-21 14:24
Here "fully discharge" is a vague definition which does not mean you need to discharge it to 3.0V p ...

I know - I understand the concept and where LVC sits in relation to the pack.
I was trying to explain it to marcsobel who thinks that the packs are being fully discahrged!

DJI-Bruce, thank you so much for your reply

Andy

DJI-Bruce Posted at 2015-5-21 14:24
Here "fully discharge" is a vague definition which does not mean you need to discharge it to 3.0V p ...

So ... This needs to be done with a 100% charged battery to <7% without turning the battery on and of any where in between !?

It is during the discharge the battery is calculated I guess then ...

I hear people saying ... Use the battery to charge the remote to drain it ... Or use the simulator ... But ... Is this really the right way to do it?
Does it need to be "in flight" for the calculation to be accurate !?

Bruce, I've noticed now that if I let the batteries sit for a while (probably 4+ hours) before I try to recharge, they won't automatically start charging.  I have to turn them on (the batteries) and then they will charge.  Is this a function of the new "deep sleep" mode?  This happens on my original TB47 and also my newer TB48.

Prior to this firm ware I could just plug in the batteries and they would charge without intervention.

Thanks

chris@bigchris. Posted at 2015-5-22 04:47
Bruce, I've noticed now that if I let the batteries sit for a while (probably 4+ hours) before I try ...

In the manual it says - if the battery is above 95% you need to turn it on if you want to charge it to 100% ...

They haven't been near 95% when this is happening.

chris@bigchris. Posted at 2015-5-22 04:47
Bruce, I've noticed now that if I let the batteries sit for a while (probably 4+ hours) before I try ...

It should be the same response time with the newest firmware as the old one. Could you please shot a video and show whether the LEDs blinks when it is plugged into charger without turning it on manually.

DJI-Bruce Posted at 2015-5-29 15:44
It should be the same response time with the newest firmware as the old one. Could you please shot ...

Next time it happens I'll take a video.

Bruce, could you explain me what I have to do with my batteries for better performance while my drone isn´t? I sent my aircraft to the dealer to wait your answer about warranty. Thanks.
Also I sent to you a post. Thanks for all.

markjacobs.talk Posted at 2015-5-20 23:43
You are NOT fully discharging the battery when you take it down to '0%'!!!!!! Look at the cell volt ...

Discharging the battery to the point where cell voltage drops is damaging the cell

shayd93@gmail.c Posted at 2015-6-17 07:51
Discharging the battery to the point where cell voltage drops is damaging the cell

No it isn't!

Zero on the DJI app IS NOT 'Zero' voltage.
I have absolutely no idea why so many people cannot grasp this concept, especially with all the battery powered devices we all use every day.

I wouldn't mind betting nearly every man, woman and child have a smart phone and everybody regularly runs that down to the point the phone switches off or 'zero' on the battery meter. It s exactly the same thing, zero isn't 'Zero' - it is a pre determined level at which the battery will shut off to protect itself. There is still over 3v per cell level in the pack !!

markjacobs.talk Posted at 2015-6-18 23:55
No it isn't!

Zero on the DJI app IS NOT 'Zero' voltage.

Exactly, that's why discharging battery to the point of it shutting down is dangerous.

shayd93@gmail.c Posted at 2015-6-20 01:44
Exactly, that's why discharging battery to the point of it shutting down is dangerous.

NO IT ISN'T !!! - You haven't grasped the concept at all.

Running down the battery to the point of it shutting down (when calibrating the battery) is exactly what you are supposed to do and will not harm the battery in any way because you are not taking the pack down to dangerous levels. It is designed to shut off before that happens.
Just because the app says 0% doesn't mean the battery is at zero voltage. The battery CANNOT get to zero voltage, it is designed to shut off before it even gets to 3.1v per cell.
   

markjacobs.talk Posted at 2015-6-20 03:13
NO IT ISN'T !!! - You haven't grasped the concept at all.

Running down the battery to the point o ...

Christ! I meant batteries, Lithium-ion, lithium-polymer. Draining a battery until voltage-cutoff is dangerous. I didn't meant Inspire 1 batteries although it still is Li-Po battery they have voltage controllers to prevent such thing yes and yes. But if you buy some chinese Li-Po battery for let's say FPV Monitor and drain it completely it might explode on you.

Dji Bruce, As you know I've been waiting several days for an answer about my incident instant drop battery charge. http://forum.dji.com/thread-19602-1-1.html
For this reason, my other eight batteries were fully charged the day of the incident did not have any use. What should I do with those batteries then when I get my aircraft repaired so that this incident did not happen again?

DJI- Bruce

Thanks for the detailed feedback.  

You say : " When the battery power level is below 40% and is turned off more than 4hrs, it will go into deep sleep mode to further lower the power consumption of the battery, so that the battery can be stored for a much extended peorid even without recharge"

Does this mean you are saying that after a flight where battery is obviously less than 40% the battery can be left for days without re-charge.  My last testing proved that where a battery had something like 29% post flight charge and was left to the following day, it had discharged to 0%.  If this was then left for say up to a week without charging would the automatic discharge and deep sleep not take the battery to a dangerously low power level ?

As other members on the forum have recommended, is it not best to recharge to the 50% level after all flights regardless of how long you anticipate it will be to your next flight.

Would appreciate if you could confirm or clarify.

Jorgehlopezc Posted at 2015-7-3 00:30
Dji Bruce, As you know I've been waiting several days for an answer about my incident instant drop b ...

Jorge,

Just leave your other 8 batteries untouched (do not check battery power levels) for 10 days and they should go into auto discharge mode.  10 days is the default discharge time set in the battery firmware from the factory; you may have reset this to a lower number of days in the DJI Pilot app.

Note:  Every time you press the battery power button once to check the current battery charge level, you will reset the auto discharge timer.  So, if you check your battery charge levels every few days, they will never go into auto discharge. You have to leave them alone for up to 10 days to start the auto discharge and another 3 or so to complete it.  In my experience the batteries typically discharge to 50-70% and stop.

david.p.mann@ea Posted at 2015-7-3 05:07
Jorge,

Just leave your other 8 batteries untouched (do not check battery power levels) for 10 day ...

Thanks a lot david, I only check the charge level with one battery. The others are alone since more than 15 days then when I begin again to fly I only have to full charge? Thanks for your help...

Jorge,

Just fully charge the batteries the day before you will use them and they will be fine.  That has been my experience.

I would also suggest that in the Aircraft Battery menu in the DJI Pilot app you turn on the option to "Show Voltage on Main Screen."  This will cause the Pilot app to display battery voltage level directly under the battery percentage in the upper right corner of the Camera screen.Then add the following step to your pre-flight checklist: check the battery voltage after powering on the Inspire to determine whether or not the displayed battery percentage may be incorrectly reported.  My fully charged TB48 batteries show 4.30-4.31 volts when fully charged; my one TB47 battery shows about 4.25 volts when fully charged.  Your fully-charged battery voltages may be slightly different.  However, if the battery voltage reads, say, 4.0 volts, but the power level is reported as 90+ percent, the power level percentage should not be trusted because the battery is obviously not fully-charged based on the low voltage reading. I would remove that battery (and charge it) and try another battery.

david.p.mann@ea Posted at 2015-7-3 12:46
Jorge,

Just fully charge the batteries the day before you will use them and they will be fine.  Tha ...

Thanks David for your very important notes I will consider them. But Don´t you believe that the percentage of battery charge is calculated based on the same voltage found?

Jorgehlopezc Posted at 2015-7-3 23:08
Thanks David for your very important notes I will consider them. But Don´t you believe that the p ...

Jorge,

Apparently not always.  For example, on the flight where your battery dropped from 50% to 7%, DJI-Bruce reported that the flight log showed that at the start of that flight the reported battery percentage was 96%, as you also reported, but the battery voltage was only 3.89 volts.  My TB48 batteries read 4.29-4.31 volts when fully charged (100%).  At 3.89 volts the charge level would be less than 60%.  This big discrepancy between reported battery charge percentage and battery voltage level was probably a temporary glitch related to the battery firmware update that you just completed on that battery a few minutes before the flight.

david.p.mann@ea Posted at 2015-7-4 09:31
Jorge,

Apparently not always.  For example, on the flight where your battery dropped from 50% to  ...

Sorry was the aircraft in flight at 3.89v? Load sag and all...

I agree with you. Thanks again.

david.p.mann@ea Posted at 2015-7-4 09:31
Jorge,

Apparently not always.  For example, on the flight where your battery dropped from 50% to  ...

I agree with you. Thanks again.