Battery charging and losing voltage while stored

[Metalhead]

Has anyone noticed the dual battery charger doesn't fully charge the batteries? I happened to notice after finishing with the dual charger and then placing a battery in Skydio 2 that it wasn`t showing fully charged. If I charge with the Skydio it seems to fully charge. Also, I`ve noticed the batteries don't hold a full charge that long while in storage. Seems like 2 weeks is enough for them to drop a noticeable amount. I`ve been topping them off with the Skydio the night before use.

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for battery charging?

 

[Ridefreak]

The batteries are designed to discharge to 50% after 2 weeks of sitting, a 50% power level during storage doesn't impact it's life as seriously as a full charge. I"ve experienced what you're describing, won't fully charge occasionally on the dual charger, I've also had the dual charger not charge a battery at all, put it on the charger and it just sits there, If it charged on the dual charger and won't go to 100% I top it off using the drone. For the other scenero where it won't charge at all on the dual charger I place those into the drone for a few min charging then I'm able to move those over to the dual charger and fully charge them. Boils down to sometimes the dual charger can be flaky, I've always been able to recover the battery by charging through the drone.

 

[Metalhead]

Designed to discharge when in storage? That`s crazy, I`ve never heard of a battery designed to not hold a charge! I`ve noticed mine not initially charging in the dual charger also. I hadn`t put much thought into why. Thought maybe the battery wasn`t discharged enough to trigger the charging process. Guess the charging quirks aren`t that big of deal as long as you know what they are.

 

[frankbonatelli]

Yea it actually does this to maintain the overall battery health. In my younger days I used to build Lithium battery's for oil and gas tools. Ive blown more then my share of tools up from shoddy wiring and over charging!

The charger programming is actually quit good at charging these along with the controler. I m usualy fully done two batteries and controler in 90 mins or less.

 

[Ridefreak]

Designed to discharge when in storage? That`s crazy, I`ve never heard of a battery designed to not hold a charge! I`ve noticed mine not initially charging in the dual charger also. I hadn`t put much thought into why. Thought maybe the battery wasn`t discharged enough to trigger the charging process. Guess the charging quirks aren`t that big of deal as long as you know what they are.

That's typical for LiPos, you don't want them stored at full charge for a long period. 2 weeks is the cutoff where Sky Dio decided that it's not going to adversely affect the life of the battery. It's covered in the manual.

 

[Trailryder42]

Skydio says: If storing your batteries long-term, we recommend fully charging and discharging them every two months.

How are you supposed to discharge them?

 

[Ridefreak]

How are you supposed to discharge them?

Only way is to power up the drone and flying it typically. Not sure how long it would sit and run waiting to take off but that might be a possibility if you couldn't fly.

 

[ETdronehome]

Skydio says: If storing your batteries long-term, we recommend fully charging and discharging them every two months.

How are you supposed to discharge them?

You can also use the dual battery charger as a battery bank assuming firmware is up to date. Probably more fun flying the drone to drain it to whatever level you want though