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Fully charged batteries

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Nov 30, 2018
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How long is it sensible to leave batteries fully charged?

I'm wondering if I charge them up for flying and the flight gets delayed a few days, is it better to leave them charged or revert to storage charge and recharge them again before the rescheduled flight.
 
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2 0r 3 days fully charged for me personally which is very rare, otherwise in storage and checked at regular intervals. A fully charged battery stored for long periods of time will get damaged over time, f you want the best possible chance of longevity, only charge when needed.
 
I had a mission get delayed 5 days. The battery was about 8% degraded after that.
two or three days - no worries. After that I start to see some degradation.
 
2 0r 3 days fully charged for me personally which is very rare, otherwise in storage and checked at regular intervals. A fully charged battery stored for long periods of time will get damaged over time, f you want the best possible chance of longevity, only charge when needed.
Thanks. It is literally 2 or 3 days so I'll leave them charged for now then.
 
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I had a mission get delayed 5 days. The battery was about 8% degraded after that.
two or three days - no worries. After that I start to see some degradation.
Thanks, that's what I thought/hoped would be the answer.
 
In my opinion even two of three days is too long. Overall degradation of the battery begins as soon as you charge them up from storage so the least time possible leaving them fully charged is my aim. When I know I'm gonna be flying I charge up batteries no earlier than the evening before the expected flight and if that flight is gonna be in the afternoon I charge them that morning. For me, then, around 18 hours is the absolute maximum time I have my batteries at full charge. Ideally it better to charge batteries with as little time possible between the charge and flight but leaving enough time to let the batteries settle down.

For example, I'm expecting to do a job next Tuesday morning that will require 3 batteries. I will check the weather conditions for Tuesday at around 6PM Monday and if it looks good I will begin charging two batteries up at 7PM Monday evening and the third battery Tuesday morning while I'm having my breakfast. Note that the actual job will only require two batteries, the third as a spare, just in case, which will be either run down in the field after the main job or will be discharged to storage if I don't get the opportunity to deplete it in flight.
 
One battery that can be left fully charged is your ST16 controller, that's Lithium ion so it benefits from being left fully charged.

Thank you for the tip regarding the transmitter battery. I was wondering whether I was doing the right thing by leaving it charged or not.
Cheers.
Mike
 
In my opinion even two of three days is too long. Overall degradation of the battery begins as soon as you charge them up from storage so the least time possible leaving them fully charged is my aim. When I know I'm gonna be flying I charge up batteries no earlier than the evening before the expected flight and if that flight is gonna be in the afternoon I charge them that morning. For me, then, around 18 hours is the absolute maximum time I have my batteries at full charge. Ideally it better to charge batteries with as little time possible between the charge and flight but leaving enough time to let the batteries settle down.

For example, I'm expecting to do a job next Tuesday morning that will require 3 batteries. I will check the weather conditions for Tuesday at around 6PM Monday and if it looks good I will begin charging two batteries up at 7PM Monday evening and the third battery Tuesday morning while I'm having my breakfast. Note that the actual job will only require two batteries, the third as a spare, just in case, which will be either run down in the field after the main job or will be discharged to storage if I don't get the opportunity to deplete it in flight.
In 2016 when batteries were new 2/3 days as a one off, but now there old and need TLC. I don't charge til a few hours before, after consulting the Met Office weather map, UAV Forecast and my Weather station, and then hopefully Mother Nature plays ball.
 
Hi,
I used to Fly DJI drones - their batteries self discharge to a safe level over several days so I didn’t have to worry, How do I lower the Typhoon H’s batteries Dow to a good level for short term storage. I charged Both last weekend, but the weather turned bad, so what do I do?
 
I use an ISDT Smart Discharger FD-100 to bring them down to storage level of 15.4V.

Before I purchased the discharger, I connected them to two car headlamps in series and monitored the voltage with a voltmeter until the battery reached 15.2V. It would then rebound to about 15.4V after it was disconnected.

The best practice is to get adapter cables and use a third party charger that can do balance charge, storage charge, discharge, and measure cell voltages and Internal resistance. Use forum search “LiPo battery care and feeding”.
 
As you had been using DJI equipment it stands to reason you have not had cause to learn about proper care and handling of a lithium battery. Typhoon H How To forum has a sticky thread -Lipo Battery Care-dedicated to battery education and Q and A. It contains links to extremely valuable educational sources. You might enjoy spending some time in that thread and come away much better for it.
 
2 0r 3 days fully charged for me personally which is very rare, otherwise in storage and checked at regular intervals. A fully charged battery stored for long periods of time will get damaged over time, f you want the best possible chance of longevity, only charge when needed.
Good advice. I learned the hard way not to keep batteries charged. Had a few get damaged (pillowed) because I was leaving them fully charged. I only charge 'em just before they are needed. And as a reminder, do not leave charging batteries unattended. Good luck.
 

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