hi all, I would like to know how to download the batteries properly. In the assistant says "Users Should turn on the battery installed in the aircraft, dischargue statically Until there is less than 8% power left or Until the battery can no longer be turned on.  ".
But what means "or Until the battery can no longer be turned on"?, can someone explain?
thanks.

Just put the battery in the copter turn it on and wait until it dies.

From what I understand, there are several aspects to this. First, don't repeatedly fly your battery down to less than 5% or 5 minutes or so. Second, it is apparently best not to store fully charged batteries, so charge before you fly, not after. Third, assuming you have DJI LiPo batteries, they will automatically discharge themselves after 10 days of non-use. Fourth, if you want to fully discharge (recommended every 20 battery cycles) then the best thing to do is fly your battery down to a reasonable level, and THEN place it in Phantom (with props removed) and power up, and let the battery go to "zero".

jeepinocala Posted at 2015-2-8 04:15
Just put the battery in the copter turn it on and wait until it dies.

The batteries firmware  will automaticall y discharge batteries after 10 days if not used.  No need to do anything, unless for some reason you want to discharge to 8%, then turn on and wait for 1 hour(approx) to discharge.

chenchillo83.ho, per the DJI manual, you should only completely discharge your batteries after every 20 charges. Once the battery has been depleted as you described above, you will no longer be able to turn the battery on. At that point, you can recharge it as you usually do.

1. NEVER run your battery to 0%. It will kill it. Every 30 or so cycles run it down to 8% and then charge back to 100% (but don't store it that way).

2. Only the newer batteries will auto discharge after 10 days. I have the old ones. I charge them before I use them down to 30 - 40%. Over the winter I refrigerate them.

GaryDZ, you won't discharge your battery to 0% if you run it in the Phantom until it's dead. The only way to discharge it to 0% would be to connect some time of third party discharger to the battery.

tonyphantom147. Posted at 2015-2-8 04:24
The batteries firmware  will automaticall y discharge batteries after 10 days if not used.  No need ...

That is only applicable to the latest battery firmwares so not all P2 batteries will have that auto discharge!

GaryDZ Posted at 2015-2-8 04:30
1. NEVER run your battery to 0%. It will kill it. Every 30 or so cycles run it down to 8% and then c ...

We are not talking about regular RC batteries here,  these are LiPo batteries with integrated charge and control circuits and the battery will cut out prior to reaching damaging cell voltage levels.

PhantomHelp Posted at 2015-2-8 04:57
GaryDZ, you won't discharge your battery to 0% if you run it in the Phantom until it's dead. The onl ...

Even a third party charger/discharger cannot discharge the P2 battery completely due to the protection circuit. You'd have to crack open the casing and connect directly to the cells to achieve that .

perdidoflyer Posted at 2015-2-8 04:22
From what I understand, there are several aspects to this. First, don't repeatedly fly your battery  ...

Is it ok to run the motors without props on? I was told that the wind the props make keep the electronics from overheating.  I am getting to the point in a few weeks to cycle one of my batteries & I do not want to damage my quad.

Larry L Posted at 2015-2-8 10:00
Is it ok to run the motors without props on? I was told that the wind the props make keep the elec ...

I would not leave the props on, just let the motors idle. They won't overheat. You could feel the temp once in a while though. I once had a buddy fiddle with the remote while I was discharging (without props). He must have activated fail safe. The lights were flashing yellow and the motors reved up. It would have been a didsaster had I kept props on.

so, I have to leave the phantom on the floor accelerating slightly until the LEDs turn off ?

Take a new or an old pair of props, cut them down to 1/3 to 1/2 length, and balance them.  Balance them on a small rod or pencil, nip off till they are close to level.  Don't need to be perfect for this.

Confirm that the bird will not take off with them with a flight trial outside.

Go back inside, power up, start the motors and let it idle or high idle.

The bit of airflow will keep the electronics (and camera) cool, and the air resistance will speed up the discharge as opposed to bare motors.

Note that I have not put this into practice yet.  This is a suggestion.  And using only a pair of shortened props, CW or CCW and not all 4, will prevent any tipping of the craft at higher prop speeds.

then  high idle on the floor till the motors die or battery leds turn off?

chenchillo83.ho Posted at 2015-2-9 03:27
then  high idle on the floor till the motors die or battery leds turn off?

Yes, and I would fly it to low battery status first.

but then, I will discharge the battery more than 8% recommended by dji, don´t  you think?

chenchillo83.ho, you cannot over discharge your battery if it's in your Phantom.

PhantomHelp Posted at 2015-2-9 06:04
chenchillo83.ho, you cannot over discharge your battery if it's in your Phantom.

You are correct...again.

Two times in one thread. Do I win a prize?

PhantomHelp Posted at 2015-2-9 06:32
Two times in one thread. Do I win a prize?

Your pay rate is henceforth doubled.

ok thanks  to all, now I have it very clear

PhantomHelp Posted at 2015-2-9 06:04
chenchillo83.ho, you cannot over discharge your battery if it's in your Phantom.

It doesn't make a hoot of a difference if in the Phantom or outside the Phantom,  the protection circuit is inside the battery and not the Phantom.

PanamonCreel Posted at 2015-2-9 08:07
It doesn't make a hoot of a difference if in the Phantom or outside the Phantom,  the protection c ...

Your are correct too, and your pay is doubled as well.

Hello everyone, I am currently discharging the battery as you said, the phantom is on the ground and idle high, 20 minutes just like thar and the voltage is still in 11 v and the  battery level at 0%.

by the way, sorry if you do not understand very well what I say, my English is not very good

Sergio Posted at 2015-2-11 22:26
Hello everyone, I am currently discharging the battery as you said, the phantom is on the ground and ...

I would not discharge them below 11.1v.  The battery is essentially depleted at that point, and the voltage drop off rate below that point happens quick.  You can damage the battery by going below 3 volts per cell or 9 volts total for a 3S battery.

1 hour later, the battery is dead, the last time I saw the voltage  was 10.3 v, I let it cool and now charging. Thanks again.

Sergio Posted at 2015-2-11 23:09
1 hour later, the battery is dead, the last time I saw the voltage  was 10.3 v, I let it cool and no ...

I assume that was 10.3v under load.  What is the at rest voltage?

Yes, that voltage was under load, I don´t know the voltage at rest, you told me that when the battery dies, don`t turn on again and just charge  it, and that was that I did.

Sergio Posted at 2015-2-11 23:52
Yes, that voltage was under load, I don´t know the voltage at rest, you told me that when the batte ...

That's fine, I'm just a data hound.  I like to know that kind of stuff.  It's interesting to me.

I haven't let a battery go to depletion in the Phantom like that, and was curious what the final discharged state voltage would be.

What?, you did not do the discharge?, And how you know how to do it? are you sure that is the right way to do it , really? You are scaring me

Sergio Posted at 2015-2-12 00:44
What?, you did not do the discharge?, And how you know how to do it? are you sure that is the right  ...

I do not have the need to discharge my batteries in that fashion, but certainly understand the principle. And what you were advised is as what is recommended in the manual.  I have over 50 LiPo batteries for different model aircraft, and many of them over 5 years in use.  I certainly feel capable of providing advice when asked regarding batteries.

Additionally and my best advice to you, is that the DJI manual or direct contact with DJI the manufacturer is your best bet in getting the proper information.

This is a forum of enthusiasts, not a panel of DJI employees.

You are good to go dude, no worries.

I understand what you say, but I thought that someone who has answered me had done this before in his phantom. I do not want to break a battery, they are not exactly cheap. Tomorrow I will do a test flight and I will tell you how was the flight. I think that many times , the forums of enthusiasts gives more answers than the manufactures.

Thank you very much for everything!

Sergio Posted at 2015-2-12 01:02
I understand what you say, but I thought that someone who has answered me had done this before in hi ...

Technically, I have done this before, many times.  Just a little bit different path to the same result.

I could tell you how I discharge my batteries and why, whether I think it is necessary, and I could tell you that I keep track of mAh's used and charged back into batteries (and why) by using a different method of charging, etc...

But that would take a lot of explaining and using perhaps technical terms, equipment or methods a lot of people may not be familiar with.  And a lot of different folks look at these threads.

But, the bottom line is that methods I may use  are not as explained in the DJI manuals or as recommended by DJI.  This is DJI's site, and "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".  That is why any advice I may give, complies generally with DJI directives.

Have a great flight, hopefully the weather will be good, and the winds calm.

Edit: And I believe my advice pretty much mirrored that of 5 or 6 other folks in this thread as well.

Hi Jamie, charging the battery was fine, I had this problem and I thought it might help the full discharge. after 5 minutes of flight, the voltage was 10.7 and the  phantom lose power , my battery is above 90% of life, what can I do?


Thanks again!!!

Sergio,

My guess would be that the battery has a fault or bad cell in it.  It should not go that low that quick.  Have you checked the battery status in the Assistant software while the Phantom is connected to your computer?  A posted screenshot of that would be nice.

Using the Phantom charger/power source, the fully depleted battery should have taken around an hour and 15 minutes to charge from fully depleted.  If it took considerably less than that, it most likely has a bad cell or a fault in the circuitry.
Did it charge to 12.6 volts?

Sergio Posted at 2015-2-12 23:48
Hi Jamie, charging the battery was fine, I had this problem and I thought it might help the full dis ...

Checking the life of the battery, does not check for any battery problems, or indicate that there are any, or not.

That is just a counter keeping track of charge/discharge cycles, and remaining  life expectancy based on DJI's calculation of how many times they can be safely cycled.

Hi jamie the charge time was correct, 1 hour and 15 minutes approximately, I will charge again that battery and  then I´ll make a screenshot for you.
Thanks.

I have seen many people using regular chargers to charge a phantom 2 battery. For example:
It's nice and all, but I really prefer to charge with the DJI charger only.

As this topic is al about discharging, i asked myself if discharging would work with a regular charger? (offcourse with a discharge function.)
Why this question? To charge, only the power connector is used. But discharging normally only happens inside the phantom, and at that time it also uses the dataport to communicate with the phantom about voltages etc etc. I have no exact idea of this data, is it read only? Or is it important and necessary to discharge. So i want to know if i can discharge the phantom2 battery with a 3th party charger without "scrambling" any data or such. This way it will be way easyer to put them in storage mode or discharge/charge cycle every 20 charges, instead of let the phantom run unnecessary.

I'd like to ask a related discharge question please.

I recently sent my phantom back to have the esc's changed.  I didn't think about it at the time but my batteries are fully charged and I no longer have the bird to discharge them with.  I'm pretty sure this will take 4-6 weeks

My Questions:
It's a new V 3.0 so am I correct in assuming that these batteries are the new ones that will discharge automatically after 10 days?

Is there a quick way I can tell from inspecting the battery itself?

Is there a way to discharge them without the quad itself, I have read the manual several times and could not find anything.

Thanks!