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How many charges will a battery last?
5264 9 2015-6-3
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cbarrettcampbel
lvl.1

United States
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I read someone say that after 30 charges, their Phantom 2 fell out of the sky after 5 minutes... I am starting to get pretty worried about this. You can use up 30 charges in less than a month if you fly a lot... and as expensive as these batteries are, that is worrisome.

Any insight on how long these batteries will last? And what happens if your $1259 drone crashes because of a faulty battery?
2015-6-3
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gregg1r
First Officer

United States
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The battery is supposed to be good for 500 discharge cycles. I'm very versed in Lithium battery technologies and as hot as the battery gets, won't ever see 500 cycles.

In the DJI Pilot app, you can view the condition of the individual cells that make up the battery. I'm not going to tell you to check every flight, but I will tell you that I'd be looking at it every 5th flight and note any drop off of voltage and capacity.

Kill the battery within 90 days and the replacement is on DJI as they only warranty the battery for 90 days.
2015-6-3
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NorthernLoop
lvl.3
Flight distance : 300246 ft
United Kingdom
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I would expect more than 30 times to be honest, I'd expect a couple of hundred times. Batteries should be good as don't as you treat them right, don't run them empty, don't overcharge them etc.
2015-6-3
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cbarrettcampbel
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United States
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gregg1r Posted at 2015-6-3 20:47
The battery is supposed to be good for 500 discharge cycles. I'm very versed in Lithium battery tech ...

Thanks for the info... If DJI warrants it for 90 days, that means your credit card company should warrant it for an additional 90 days after that if your credit card offers extended warranty protection. (Amex does).

2015-6-3
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gregg1r
First Officer

United States
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cbarrettcampbel Posted at 2015-6-3 21:00
Thanks for the info... If DJI warrants it for 90 days, that means your credit card company should  ...

Can't say for Amex, but a few companies that offer extended warranties exclude batteries from the warranty extension program.

Use your P3 for 15 minutes of flight time and immediately pull the battery out and check the temperature. CAUTION, the battery will be VERY HOT. I'm measuring 135-140F on the gray plastic covering.
When my batteries fail, I'll be looking for a higher amperage discharge cell to replace it with provided one is readily available at a reasonable cost.
2015-6-3
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Mark97564
Second Officer
Flight distance : 2067749 ft
United States
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Yea, 10c doesn't cut it..  I need 4 cell lipos with a 35c discharge with a capacity of 5000mah to get a perfectly cool battery on my flamewheel's.. F450 and F550..  same capacity in 20c will get hot on me on my flamewheel's but the 35c pCks I've got haven't gone over 100 degrees and I drain 85% of the lipos capacity...  I can't believe dji didn't go with a higher C rated battety..  they manufacturered the plastics so they could have gotten any battery  to fit.....
2015-6-3
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gregg1r
First Officer

United States
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Mark97564 Posted at 2015-6-3 22:51
Yea, 10c doesn't cut it..  I need 4 cell lipos with a 35c discharge with a capacity of 5000mah to ge ...

You know Mark, if I were willing to trash my system, I'd chill the batteries as soon as removed from the P3 and get 6-8 charging cycles a day.
It is my belief that the batteries would be gone in less than a week. Heat kills as you well know.

I was very surprised that the battery got as hot as it did. It can't be good for the electronics inside the P3.

I'm coming up on my 10th charge cycle and I'll run the battery thru my Accucell 6 to see what the real capacity is verses the software used by DJI. I do like the display the individual cell condition, but than again any balancing circuit board can be monitored. Good on DJI for including this function.

2015-6-3
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suryarey
lvl.1

Indonesia
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Bought my Phantom 3 today, i hope it will last much longer than previous PH2 battery that only last 25-50 cycles, it's very hard to get battery replacement right now, low supply high demand, few hobby shop in my country sell it arround 200$ !  that was insane.
2015-6-4
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tomlog
lvl.1
Flight distance : 689511 ft
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United States
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gregg1r Posted at 2015-6-3 21:25
Can't say for Amex, but a few companies that offer extended warranties exclude batteries from the  ...

You have got a problem. I fly my P3 18 to 19 minutes and when I take the battery out it is warm but not even close to hot. If your's is that hot you need to look at something else. I am in California and it get's very hot here and it's not a problem. Also you should get at lease 300 cycles on the battery. I have also been using lipo's for years in everything from multi's to heli's to planes to cars and yes sometimes you get a bad one but for the most part they hold up very well for a long time I have lipo's I have had for 5+ years that still work just fine. Also 10c for a multi is more than enough I have a Align M470 that fly's on 6s packs 8000mha that are 10c pack's plenty of power last's 17 minutes and come down cool. So for multi you have no need for a 35c pack unless you are racing.
2015-6-4
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gregg1r
First Officer

United States
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Tom, I'm resisting opening my P3P to verify how much current is being used. I could make a patch cord and just wire an amp meter in between, but I'm not sure what the second set of contacts on the battery reads.

I've verified the temperature using a laser thermometer as well as a thermocouple. I'm reading between 135 and 142F immediately after engine shutdown. I haven't looked at the battery condition portion of the Pilot app to see if they show an issue or not. Once the modders take apart the P3 and post up their findings, I may try charging the battery with the hobby charger and see how it reacts to different current draw rates.

I have a couple of additional batteries coming today, so one they've been charged and it's stops raining, i'll take to the air again.
2015-6-4
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