Battery maintenance Is actually is pretty simple. It was established long ago not to discharge your lipo batteries below 30% of capacity for best longevity. For general purposes not dipping below 3.4v- 3.6v v/cell always works. Nothing has changed in lithium polymer chemistry to alter that. So multiply the "s" number (3s, 4s, 6s, etc.) times 3.4 and don't discharge below that total. I use 3.6v/cell on my other quad batteries and they remain functional for well over a year and many charge cycles.
Manufacturers that use smart batteries and proprietary battery cells make money from the sale of new batteries. They sell an aircraft only once to a customer but they can sell batteries many times to the same customer. Do you think they are more interested in protecting the consumer or in generating a profit? Bear in mind that voltage warnings used in systems are minimums.
Li-Poly battery stuff isn't all that difficult when it's reduced to the basics.
Charge at no more than 1C
Never leave batteries unattended when charging
Don't leave batteries on a charger over night
Don't leave batteries plugged into the aircraft
Never store batteries fully charged. The exception is the X-Star tx controller which can be stored fully charged as it uses a different (Li-On) battery chemistry.
Store batteries at "room temperature". Around 20 Celsius is a fair room temp reference number.
Store batteries with cells at or very close to 3.8v/cell
Don't discharge more than 70% of capacity
Flight time is determined by battery voltage, nothing else.
Land the X-Star at or above 14.4 volts total pack voltage
Don't use the low battery auto landing safety feature to gauge flight time. It's too late.
Don't recharge a battery immediately after discharging, allow it to cool for half hour or an hour first
If the outside air temp is really cold, keep batteries warm until they are going to be put in the aircraft.
Flight time is reduced in cold outside air temperatures. The colder it is the lower the flight time.
If the battery starts to swell up, it's done. Don't put a lot of time into trying to see if you can keep flying it. Get another.
Invest in a good after market battery maintenance system/charger. You can discharge to storage without flying the X-Star. They will save you a lot of money in replacement batteries.
The above will get ya going but websites like
www.batteryuniversity.com will help you understand more about batteries.