Battery recharging when almost full

[Joe_Scot]

At what percentage does the Anafi battery NOT regard itself as fully charged and hence allows you to charge it?

I typically fly only at weekends, so if I charge my batteries to 100% on a Sunday, they lose a bit of charge before the next weekend - typically 3% to 5%. So, when I flew yesterday, my flight logs showed that my batteries started each flight at 97%, 97% and 95% respectively. I recharged each during the day and flew again, and each one showed a start value of 100% in the logs (as you would expect) which says to me that the batteries are all working fine.

The problem is that if you try to charge a battery that's at 95% you get a sequence of 4 green lights indicating that it's full - but it isn't really. This means you can't easily start out with batts at 100% if it's a week since you charged them (not long enough for hibernation to have taken effect).

So, does anyone have an easy solution, other than having the drone sit on a table switched on with the battery going down to 90% (???) on Friday night, just so you can recharge it? What is the magic percentage "90%/91%/92%..." where it allows you to recharge it?

 

[Liger 1956]

Lipo batteries do not like being kept at full charge without being used. Parrots 10 day before discharge is really a last resort to help maintain good battery health. If you only fly at weekends then why do you not charge the batteries on a Friday night ready for Saturday or Sunday? If I charge the Anafi batteries and then am not able to fly for a couple of days I will hover in the garden, if it is not raining or in the garage if it is, to get the battery level down to about 50% before I put it away.

 

[Joe_Scot]

Thanks for the reply ... and good advice. I've been in the habit of recharging them soon after flying as I'd made a copy of this page when I first bought the drone...

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.... and had remembered the point under How to increase the lifetime of a battery .... "Recharge the battery after each use – within 20 minutes." (although I have not often been able to stick to the 'within 20 minutes')

Anyway, perhaps it should say "Recharge the battery after each use - to 50% if it will not be used for a few days" to make it clearer.

I have also wanted to have the batteries ready for the odd occasion when the weather forecast is wrong, and I end up being able to fly it on a summer's evening.... that has happened a few times! But in winter I doubt I'll be able to use it much other than at weekends, so I will follow your advice and try to get the batteries at 50% before leaving them for days or weeks.

 

[Liger 1956]

I would question the "within 20 minutes" statement. I have always considered it good practice to let the battery cool down, as they get warm in flight due to the current draw, before re-charging them. However it is not possible to feel how hot the Anafi battery gets so I would have thought that not re-charging until at least 20 minutes after landing was better advice. You are correct that LiPo should not be left fully discharged and I will storage charge them up to 2 steady green LEDs are showing if I am not flying for a while.

 

[DeWe]

About your question to load the Lipo to 100%:
The 4 Led are not cycle ...the LEDs must go off. After that the balancing is finish and the Lipo should be full charged

 

[Joe_Scot]

About your question to load the Lipo to 100%:
The 4 Led are not cycle ...the LEDs must go off. After that the balancing is finish and the Lipo should be full charged

Just to be clear...
When charging, the final stage is you have 3 green LEDs steady, and the 4th is flashing green. When fully charged, all 4 go off.
When plugging in a battery that is already charged (or, per my question, that is at some value above 90% approx), you immediately get all 4 LEDs flashing green about 5 times and then they go off.