totally discharge?

Toiletbowl · Jun 28, 2016

hello guys

what will happen if the battery completely discharge then stock for maybe a month then charge again it could ruin the cell life?

thanks

Pedals2Paddles · Jun 28, 2016

It is not good for the battery to leave it fully charged or fully discharged for a long time. Of course it will self discharge over time, so the latter isn't an issue. But it certainly can't self charge. You're shaving off capacity and reducing the lifespan by leaving them fully discharged for a month. There is no magic formula to say exactly how much, but none the less, it's not good. Don't do it. Charge them up to 50%.

Toiletbowl · Jun 28, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
It is not good for the battery to leave it fully charged or fully discharged for a long time. Of course it will self discharge over time, so the latter isn't an issue. But it certainly can't self charge. You're shaving off capacity and reducing the lifespan by leaving them fully discharged for a month. There is no magic formula to say exactly how much, but none the less, it's not good. Don't do it. Charge them up to 50%.

i take ur suggestion under advice, cheers

FL_Kim · Jun 28, 2016

One of the other members, The Basic Pilot, posted this helpful video on YouTube. It features a 3DR rep. who talks about various things and includes a warning about discharging Solo batteries to 0%.
Cheers,
Kim

SilviaOtt · Jun 29, 2016

Hi everyone..i am new user here. As per my knowledge It is not good for the battery to leave it fully charged or fully discharged for a long time. Of course it will self discharge over time, so the latter isn't an issue. But it certainly can't self charge. You're shaving off capacity and reducing the lifespan by leaving them fully discharged for a month. There is no magic formula to say exactly how much, but none the less, it's not good.

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Bart · Jun 29, 2016

if you go all the way to 0 you will damage the battery permanently. there is a ton of information on the web about lipo batteries but the consensus is that permanent bad things start happening when the cell voltage gets below 3 volts.

Jubalr · Jun 29, 2016

Bart said:
if you go all the way to 0 you will damage the battery permanently. there is a ton of information on the web about lipo batteries but the consensus is that permanent bad things start happening when the cell voltage gets below 3 volts.

I believe the debate is the Solo battery gauge. It is generally believed that 0 is not the traditional 0 of a lipo battery, but that 3DR calibrated it with some reserve left to get people to land before dropping too far in voltage.

Bart · Jun 29, 2016

I haven't seen any evidence of this in my testing. I suppose it could be true, but it sounds suspicious. Even if there is a buffer i'm confident it isn't 3 volts worth.

Jubalr · Jun 29, 2016

Bart said:
I haven't seen any evidence of this in my testing. I suppose it could be true, but it sounds suspicious. Even if there is a buffer i'm confident it isn't 3 volts worth.

Need to test it myself to be sure. But as far as 'evidence' I would point out the pilots that have landed safely at 0. I've never gone below 10% just out of respect to the battery.

Bart · Jun 29, 2016

oh ok - I took the original question at face value. Your now asking about percentage in the 3dr app, not the actual voltage of the battery.

pyrate · Jun 29, 2016

I sort of believe what Philip says when it comes to batteries.
Charge them full before flying, and fly as long as you can and safely land. I don't push it to 0 but if I land at 8% I don't worry anymore
so far it is proving to be fine
I start home at 25
interesting things can happen on that journey

Pedals2Paddles · Jun 29, 2016

I do the same. Enjoy flying and put the legs on the ground between 5 and 10%. You need to be aware of of your distance from landing and such. I'm usually back in my landing area between 10 and 15%. Then I just toy around for the last minute or two. Practice maneuvering with it nose-in or something.

Jubalr · Jul 3, 2016

In regards to the reported % of the battery remaining Solo displays, 0 is definitely not 0 in the traditional sense. Flew a scan today and the flight was almost 22min long. I landed with 0% remaining and the voltage was 13.15 or 3.287v per cell. Just barely above the generally accepted minimum of 3.2v per cell. So it looks like 0% may be around the 3.2v per cell minimum. (note in the bottom right of the Status Screen; Total dist traveled=7,956yds and time in Air=1302sec or 21.7 min) Flight speed was 15mph. This was on a battery that was bought last fall and has about 25 flights on it.

PdxSteve · Jul 3, 2016

That's been my experience as well @Jubalr. Think of the percent indicator as for actual useful flying time and not an indicator of total battery capacity or voltage. And 0 is really a mental safeguard. There is a bit more juice after that, but not much at all. I try to be in my general landing area around 25% but on the ground with 5-10% left. It really all depends on the flight and obstructions near the LZ.

Jubalr · Jul 3, 2016

PdxSteve said:
That's been my experience as well @Jubalr. Think of the percent indicator as for actual useful flying time and not an indicator of total battery capacity or voltage. And 0 is really a mental safeguard. There is a bit more juice after that, but not much at all. I try to be in my general landing area around 25% but on the ground with 5-10% left. It really all depends on the flight and obstructions near the LZ.

Same here Steve. I try to hit the legs at 10% or better. And it makes more sense to see the gauge as actual flight time information. I had set this scan up and new it would be close, in fact I aborted the last few seconds of the last WP to bring it in.