Battery Storage Question...

[KentA]

Kent, found this on Amazon, ships from USA & is highly rated https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00466PKE0/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hz

That might just be the one to get!
Let me think a moment before ordering.

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

Sweet, just get the cable Kent mentioned above & you are set

 

[kroorda]

Since I got my XSP, I have wished that Autel had a multi-charger, which would allow a person to be able to charge more than one battery at a time. However, from my experience in electronics, I also know that such a charger is 'easier said than done.' (DJI does offer a multi-charger for their batteries). Anyway, it's not as easy as simply splitting the output of the charger into multiple lines as a good charger increases or decreases it's output based on both the level and draw of the battery it is charging. The Autel batteries have some pretty significant circuitry (including a microprocessor) built in to them and that microprocessor also communicates with a processor in the charger - to insure that the perfect charge is delivered to the battery. I'd be shy about using a non-OEM charger, unless it was specifically designed to work with the Autel battery. For instance, even though DJI makes a multi-battery charger, and both Autel and DJI use 14.5VDC batteries, I would doubt if the DJI charger would work with the Autel battery, (unless, by some chance, both batteries are made by the same company in China.)

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

I'm just going to use it as a dis-charger although if you look at the charger cable end that plugs into the battery, it is just a d/c positve & negative leads, the other port is a dead port. I'll have to test it to see how many volts & amps it puts out. Just guessing around 16-17 volts & 3-5 amps.

 

[KentA]

kroorda,
Thanks for the advise on using a non-OEM charger with the smart batteries.
Do you foresee a problem with using the discharge function?

 

[KentA]

I'm just going to use it as a dis-charger although if you look at the charger cable end that plugs into the battery, it is just a d/c positve & negative leads, the other port is a dead port. I'll have to test it to see how many volts & amps it puts out. Just guessing around 16-17 volts & 3-5 amps.

If you magnify the picture, the face of the charger says, Charge currant: 0.1 ~ 5.0A and Discharge: 0.1 ~ 1A. To the left of the display it says, DC input 11 - 18V.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Just google it. Its been done by DJI users for years.
I can tell you guys and I have told many on here already that charging them with a aftermarket charger will not be faster than the stock charger. You need to set the aftermarket charger to 4.9 amps and it will not charge faster then the stock charger.
Discharging them with the aftermarket charger is painfully slow but frees up your time to do something else and will stop discharging at your set value. You will still need to turn off the battery after discharging.

 

[kroorda]

In fact (as you can see by both the voltage and amperage ranges on the charger) both the voltage and amperage change; depending on the capacity of the battery, the number of cells in the battery, the type of the battery, and the amount of charge in a battery. So setting a charger to deliver a set voltage and amperage simply won't work and will eventually ruin the battery.
There is no 'universal charger' that will charge a battery as well (particularly a LiIon, LiPo, NiCad battery) as a charger that was designed to charge/discharge a specific battery. In the case of these LiPo drone batteries, where charging, discharging, and proper storage are even more critical, there are electronics built into the battery pack which regulate both charge and discharge and the proper amount of voltage, current (amps) and resistance. Likewise, that processor talks to (sends data to/from) a processor in the charger. That is why there are more than two wires between the drone battery and drone charger.

The Tenergy Universal charger is a good one, but please, unless you don't care about your drone batteries (or what they cost), don't even try to use it to charge your drone batteries.

 

[kroorda]

kroorda,
Thanks for the advise on using a non-OEM charger with the smart batteries.
Do you foresee a problem with using the discharge function?

KentA: See above.... It is impossible for a universal charger to charge, or discharge, at the same rate that was designed and built into the OEM battery. Also, if you touch the wrong pin in the multi-pin connector and accidentally apply voltage to the data line, then you'll ruin the functionality of the battery and it will no longer be able to send/receive data between the battery, charger, and, and the drone, which in turn, transmits the battery information (via RF) to the Controller. There's a lot going on and it's not worth messing with.

 

[kroorda]

For those of you who are willing to read more detailed and technical information, the following web page provides everything you need to know about LiPo batteries, including charging and storage. It provides detailed information that supports the information I have provided above:

A Guide to Understanding LiPo Batteries
Click on ^^^^

 

[Jagerbomb52]

And you can go to University.
Battery Information Table of Contents, Basic to Advanced

 

[Jagerbomb52]

And if you want to know why you should do a dep discharge cycle every once in a while here is a good read as to why.
https://phys.org/news/2013-04-memory-effect-lithium-ion-batteries.html

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

After reading articles supplied by Agustine & doing a lot of research, i believe part of my battery problems are this: I fly them, charge them all up & set to 10 days discharge, hoping to fly them again within the next week or so. Not good for the batteries, so now i will charge them, fly them to 40% & if i can't fly them all, i will discharge them to 40% & only charge them when i'm going to fly. during that time i will put them on the charger when only one light is steady & charge them till the next light starts to blink (as per Agustine) To do this i found some cool things: Adapter for the battery that Kent A mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UC334F...&colid=P2V6JGQNF62R&psc=1&tag=autelxpilots-20 these can also be found on e-bay, A cool battery dicharger that is self contained: iSDT FD-100 80W Discharger [ISD-FD-100] | Cars & Trucks This can also be purchased on E-bay. Here is the actual website for the discharger: ISDT Revolution Starts Here And an xt-60 female adapter with leads to plug into the discharger similar to this: ProTek RC "TruCurrent" XT60 Pre-Wired Pigtail (Female) [PTK-5306] | Cars & Trucks Hook it together with some butt connectors & your set. You can even get a software plug for the discharger to change cutoff voltage if needed: iSDT scLinker Charger Firmware Upgrade USB Interface Cable [ISD-USB] | Cars & Trucks You can find all this stuff on e-bay as well, hope this helps others wanting to do the same thing. I will report back after i receive these items & try this out. It is set to drain battery cells to 3.8 volts & can be adjusted for 4 cell & how fast you want to drain your battery. It is actually very simplistic. Here is a youtube video about it:

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

I found another youtube video

 

[KentA]

ORANGE CRUSH,

I just ordered this iSDT kit you've configured.

Thank you for suggesting it & for listing the necessary accessories to make it work. I appreciate your research along with Agustine's valuable guidance & kroorda's advice.

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

Your welcome, I ordered mine 2 hours ago also Kent, I was very impressed with the ISDT unit & the price was awesome, got mine on e-bay for $35. Now we sit & wait for a delivery.

 

[arto.inetco]

for automated winter battery warmup, i wish Autel had a device like dji does...Buy Phantom 3 Intelligent Flight Battery Heater

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

Got my ISDT discharger, this is sweet, hook it up, turn on battery, turn on discharger & walk away. 30 min later, battery is discharged to 15.36 volts, perfect for storage.

 

[KentA]

Mine also arrived but I haven't needed to discharge yet.
Did you get the iSDT scLinker Charger Firmware Upgrade USB Interface Cable?
I didn't but it might be handy for depleting the batteries to 7% for an occasional deep cycle.

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

I didn't order it. Figured i would fly it down to 7% when i needed to do a deep charge, plus i didn't want to have to keep changing the parameters. But i will tell you that this is the easiest way to discharge that there is, this thing is solid & super easy, it even beeps when its done. I charged all my batteries a couple of weeks ago intending to fly, family things & weather changed all that. I had my discharge time set to 2 days & even 2 weeks later they are still slooowly discharging, not a good thing for LiPo batteries. Tomorrow i will hook them up to the bird to check battery percentage & cell voltages for storage to see if they are were i want them