How many charges expected out of TB50 batteries?

daytonjj · Jan 23, 2019

Hello all, I just have a general question about the TB50 batteries for the inspire 2. How many charges or cycles should you expect out of each battery? And is there a way to check the health of them as well?

Thanks

Dayton

The Editor · Jan 23, 2019

daytonjj said:
Hello all, I just have a general question about the TB50 batteries for the inspire 2. How many charges or cycles should you expect out of each battery? And is there a way to check the health of them as well?

Thanks

Dayton

Depends on how they are treated, how much (deep) they are discharged. How well they are stored. How long they stand fully charged. How long the packs have stood on a shelf before they are sold and used (Lipos deteriorate from the moment they leave the production line whether they are used are not).
So, to answer your question, too many variables to quantify an answer.
In addition, only you can decide when to retire a pack - some will continue using one that others consider do not give sufficient flight time.
Please also use the search function on the forum as this subject has been debated/discussed ad nauseum

mmarian · Jan 23, 2019

The Editor said:
Depends on how they are treated, how much (deep) they are discharged. How well they are stored. How long they stand fully charged. How long the packs have stood on a shelf before they are sold and used (Lipos deteriorate from the moment they leave the production line whether they are used are not).
So, to answer your question, too many variables to quantify an answer.
In addition, only you can decide when to retire a pack - some will continue using one that others consider do not give sufficient flight time.
Please also use the search function on the forum as this subject has been debated/discussed ad nauseum

I agree with everything said above. If you treat your batteries well I would suggest that you can expect at least 100 cycles of reasonably consistent power. After that you might start to see some loss in performance and shorter flight times. Also time to start saving for a new packs...After 150 cycles you might need to consider retiring them.

MrTVR · Jan 23, 2019

Using a total of 20 TB50s, many of which have between 100-150 charge cycles and still managing plenty of flight time with no issues.

The TB50s are proving to be so much better than the TB47s ever were.

mmarian · Jan 23, 2019

That is good to hear! I have on my batteries around 80 cycles and they are still going strong. I was giving my advice based on my past general experience with all kind of LiPo batteries.
Hope these TB50 are exemption from that experience

Florida Drone Supply · Jan 23, 2019

Not that is a perfect relation to life expectancy, but DJI will warranty the batteries up to 200 cycles for the course of the first 6 months of being used.

Peres123 · Jan 24, 2019

daytonjj said:
Hello all, I just have a general question about the TB50 batteries for the inspire 2. How many charges or cycles should you expect out of each battery? And is there a way to check the health of them as well?

Thanks

Dayton

It's been awhile for me but if I remember correctly you can see how many times charged and the general health in the DJI app.

Phil DeVore · Jan 24, 2019

According to DJI, approximately 200 cycles. I’ve got a couple paired sets with 150 cycles and they’re still going strong.

daytonjj · Jan 24, 2019

Sweet thanks for all the replies! I was just curious what people thought and even like y’all stated how many you are currently getting out of them. I have 4 pairs of the TB50s and was just something that I was curious about.

Thanks again,

Dayton

RobH2 · Jan 27, 2019

@mmarian says, "If you treat your batteries well I would suggest that you can expect at least 100 cycles of reasonably consistent power," which makes a lot of sense. Is there a consensus though as to what "treating batteries well" means, I mean, what would the steps look like?

Phil DeVore · Jan 27, 2019

RobH2 said:
@mmarian says, "If you treat your batteries well I would suggest that you can expect at least 100 cycles of reasonably consistent power," which makes a lot of sense. Is there a consensus though as to what "treating batteries well" means, I mean, what would the steps look like?

Although the attached photos are for the Mavic batteries I believe that they will apply for all of DJI’s Intelligent Flight batteries in the general sense as far as storage goes.
Temperatures are a big part of keeping them in good condition while in storage. No sun or extreme temperatures are huge!
I have read where some people store them in the refrigerator but I don’t believe it is a good idea. Simply room temperature is where I store mine at.
And be aware of the voltage before and during flights!! There’s been some talk about Inspire 2’s falling out of the sky because of issues with the TB50 batteries and it was supposedly addressed in the last firmware update but I still keep an eye on my voltage preflight and during my flights because of this issue..

RobH2 · Jan 27, 2019

@Phil DeVore -- Great info. Thanks.

EpicJib · Jan 27, 2019

I have 4 sets of batteries with about 80 cycles on each pair. They are starting to loose there power earlier so I expect another season or about 40 flights on each pair before they may need to be retired. That works out to ~$16.00 a flight (I am in Canada) so its not exactly cheap to run these machines..

mmarian · Jan 27, 2019

EpicJib said:
I have 4 sets of batteries with about 80 cycles on each pair. They are starting to loose there power earlier so I expect another season or about 40 flights on each pair before they may need to be retired. That works out to ~$16.00 a flight (I am in Canada) so its not exactly cheap to run these machines..

Not sure how you have arrived to that figure per flight. Here in Australia one pair costs around AU$540. If I get 120 cycles, it works out to about $4.50 per flight. With 200 cycles it would be only $2.70 per flight.

Florida Drone Supply · Jan 29, 2019

A while back we had posted a link to a study by Battery University that showed the variance in usable capacity based on the storage temp and the storage voltage. As a quick summary, batteries that were stored at full charge lost 40% of their capacity over the course of a year - and batteries that were stored at 40-50% charge only lost around 5% of their capacity over the course of a year. While none of us probably just let our batteries sit on a shelf for long periods of time, we have always put our self discharge number of days at 2 (DJI has 10 by default). We charge to discharge within 24 hours, but if we miss a day we know the battery will be removing the charge slowly by itself.

We can take a look for the original article and post a link to it as well if anyone is interested in it.

Phil DeVore · Jan 29, 2019

Florida Drone Supply said:
A while back we had posted a link to a study by Battery University that showed the variance in usable capacity based on the storage temp and the storage voltage. As a quick summary, batteries that were stored at full charge lost 40% of their capacity over the course of a year - and batteries that were stored at 40-50% charge only lost around 5% of their capacity over the course of a year. While none of us probably just let our batteries sit on a shelf for long periods of time, we have always put our self discharge number of days at 2 (DJI has 10 by default). We charge to discharge within 24 hours, but if we miss a day we know the battery will be removing the charge slowly by itself.

We can take a look for the original article and post a link to it as well if anyone is interested in it.

Yes I would appreciate it if you could post the original article.

daytonjj · Jan 29, 2019

Florida Drone Supply said:
A while back we had posted a link to a study by Battery University that showed the variance in usable capacity based on the storage temp and the storage voltage. As a quick summary, batteries that were stored at full charge lost 40% of their capacity over the course of a year - and batteries that were stored at 40-50% charge only lost around 5% of their capacity over the course of a year. While none of us probably just let our batteries sit on a shelf for long periods of time, we have always put our self discharge number of days at 2 (DJI has 10 by default). We charge to discharge within 24 hours, but if we miss a day we know the battery will be removing the charge slowly by itself.

We can take a look for the original article and post a link to it as well if anyone is interested in it.

Yes would appreciate it