Battery care
1195 2 2019-3-17
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AlansDronePics
First Officer
Flight distance : 814751 ft
Guernsey
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A lot of bad advice is given on forums about Li-po batteries and it prompted me to seek advice from leading manufacturers.
In the first instance, the user needs to read the DJI manual about the battery, its care, maintainance and use. It is that simple.
According to Sanyo, battery packs consist of 2 main sections. The electronics and the cells themselves.
The electronics (if they are working properly) control the charge so the individual cells receive the correct charge rate and can terminate the charge at the appropriate time. This end of charge point may be decided by cell voltage, temperature of the cell or differences between cells.
Whatever the reason, there is nothing the user needs to do about it.
Apart from damaging the electronics, it is idiotic to connect a charger that is not designed specifically for the battery. The electronics control the charge, so a non-compatible charger will not charge quicker, except if it has damaged the electronics. Short life, swelling or fire is a possible result.
The electronics control the discharge of the cells. They prevent the cell voltage dropping to a point where it is not safe to recharge. It is easy to reach this threshold and if the cell continues to self discharge (while not powering the equipment) then it will prevent it being recharged. A cell can continue to  self discharge and can also suffer a further voltage drop due to a change in temperature. For example, you discharge the battery to a few % and when the battery cools, the voltage drops further and the electronics shut down, permanantly.
The electronics and battery have no memory effect or function, so discharging down to a few % will not reset anything.

The cells work by chemical reaction and from the moment they are manufactured, they start to decline in function. It is just the way they are.
This decline can be hasened by using them or not using them. In use, the heavier the discharge, long runs in sports mode or short spurts climbing or deceleration... the shorter the life. A slow and gentle discharge is best. The lower you take the cell voltage (this relates to battery capacity) or put another way, the closer to 1% left in the battery, the shorter will be its life. DJI have set the default to 30% for a reason. It helps with battery life and ensures you have a safety margin in flight. Short gentle flights down to 30% is probably the optimum for battery life.
The other extreme is fully charging the battery and then topping up because you didn't fly, but want to be ready  to go next time. No worsening of battery life will occur if you leave the battery to electronically discharge after 10 days, provided you don't leave the battery for a long time in this state. The battery will continue to self discharge due to chemical action and a low charge state will shorten battery life.
If the battery temperature exceeds the values shown in the manual, the chemical processes are harmed. This might happen due to flying in high or low ambient air temperature. Hammering the drone in scorching sun is a battery killer and could lead to swelling, explosion or fire. Don't charge a battery if it is hot from flying.
Very cold weather will slow the chemical reactions in the battery and cause the user to increase power through the sticks to compensate. This will warm the chemicals, but the charge capacity will be substantially lower and there might be a sudden power failure or not enough power to get home.
Leaving the battery in a hot car or perhaps overnight in a freezing one must be avoided.

I hope the advice gleaned from Sanyo and Panasonic as well as DJIs manual will save you from grief and give you a long battery life.
2019-3-17
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DJI Stephen
DJI team
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Hello and good day AlansDronePics. Thank you for sharing this informative information you have given us today regarding on how to take care of your Batteries. Great work and thank you for your valued support.
2019-3-17
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Picanoc Jack
First Officer
Flight distance : 10321657 ft
Canada
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thanks for the info, was very appreciated, I am glad to hear about that 30% as I don't allow my batteries to go down any further than that.
2019-3-18
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