Time to Deep Cycle

Craig Thompson · Dec 23, 2015

Gents, its that time for me to do some battery maint before heading out on a couple of weeks of work. I have read so many different way to cycle the batteries yet these all cross different fw versions. Can some one point me to the most current best method for doing this deep cycle / calibration process?

Thanks

Craig

The Editor · Dec 23, 2015

Craig Thompson said:
Gents, its that time for me to do some battery maint before heading out on a couple of weeks of work. I have read so many different way to cycle the batteries yet these all cross different fw versions. Can some one point me to the most current best method for doing this deep cycle / calibration process?

Thanks

Craig

Same as its always been - never changed.
Charge battery to 100%. Fly it until it is at 3.3v per cell OR battery cuts out(whichever is sooner).
Charge back up either to storage charge or full charge again.
Job done.

Phil-RCGeeks · Dec 23, 2015

Or if your wallet is bulging with money to spend, invest in one of these and it can deep cycle up to 4 batteries at a time.
SmartPowerCharge.com Site Product Detail Page

Craig Thompson · Dec 23, 2015

The Editor said:
Same as its always been - never changed.
Charge battery to 100%. Fly it until it is at 3.3v per cell OR battery cuts out(whichever is sooner).
Charge back up either to storage charge or full charge again.
Job done.

Thank you, brain seems to be spinning right now with the what seems to be daily updates.

Craig Thompson · Dec 23, 2015

Phil-RCGeeks said:
Or if your wallet is bulging with money to spend, invest in one of these and it can deep cycle up to 4 batteries at a time.
SmartPowerCharge.com Site Product Detail Page

Cool stuff. A bit pricie, but indeed cool

Craig Thompson · Dec 24, 2015

The Editor said:
Same as its always been - never changed.
Charge battery to 100%. Fly it until it is at 3.3v per cell OR battery cuts out(whichever is sooner).
Charge back up either to storage charge or full charge again.
Job done.

Okay.... Done.. after fully recharged, is there a recommended way to see if everything went ok, and the battery is safe to put back in the line up?

StealthChaser · Dec 27, 2015

Phil-RCGeeks said:
Or if your wallet is bulging with money to spend, invest in one of these and it can deep cycle up to 4 batteries at a time.
SmartPowerCharge.com Site Product Detail Page

I bought one of these and they work great. Well actually Santa did, but regardless it is nice having my batteries all simultaneously charged and always ready.

Dr. Ifly Drones · Dec 27, 2015

I've had the SPC4500 for months now and it was well worth the price ($400 at the time I purchased mine).

kiwidrone · Dec 27, 2015

I also bought myself the Smart PowerCharge for Xmas and it's absolutely worth the money. Charge four batteries and two RC's at the same time, what a time saver and the deep charge feature works a treat. I can now spend more time flying and less time worrying about the state of my batteries.

Highrpm955 · Dec 27, 2015

Very cool.

Phil-RCGeeks · Dec 29, 2015

StealthChaser said:
I bought one of these and they work great. Well actually Santa did, but regardless it is nice having my batteries all simultaneously charged and always ready.

Nice! I wish Santa got me one. All I got was a jumper and some chocolate coins...

Over Louisiana · Mar 9, 2016

Considering taking the plunge on this smarpowercharge unit... any negatives on this item besides price?? when you go to charge 8 batteries and 2 RC's, looks like this would really save time and steps!

unyks · Mar 9, 2016

Over Louisiana said:
Considering taking the plunge on this smarpowercharge unit... any negatives on this item besides price?? when you go to charge 8 batteries and 2 RC's, looks like this would really save time and steps!

Saw a report here that the thing about "firmware upgradable" wasn't realistic because the usb-ports are not attached to anything what you could upgrade... and as far as i know there was never a release of a new firmware. Well, another question is if a firmware upgrade of the SPC4500 is needed at all.

If the budget is not an issue, go for it. Plan B could be to have 2 or 3 DJI chargers..

Over Louisiana · Mar 9, 2016

unyks said:
Saw a report here that the thing about "firmware upgradable" wasn't realistic because the usb-ports are not attached to anything what you could upgrade... and as far as i know there was never a release of a new firmware. Well, another question is if a firmware upgrade of the SPC4500 is needed at all.

If the budget is not an issue, go for it. Plan B could be to have 2 or 3 DJI chargers..

thanks! The deep cycle option is also a time saver versus having to fly/hover till you hit the required % level.. appreciate the input!

Dr. Ifly Drones · Mar 9, 2016

Over Louisiana said:
thanks! The deep cycle option is also a time saver versus having to fly/hover till you hit the required % level.. appreciate the input!

I own a SPC4500 and it's well worth the money. This is a true independent parallel charger while the DJI hub is still just sequential charging. The only time I use my old DJI brick charger is when I'm traveling for personal reasons since a single brick is much smaller.

dasko · Mar 9, 2016

what is deep cycle , i have one off these multibank things , both remotes, 2 usb and 4 batts .

damoncooper · Mar 10, 2016

unyks said:
Saw a report here that the thing about "firmware upgradable" wasn't realistic because the usb-ports are not attached to anything what you could upgrade... and as far as i know there was never a release of a new firmware. Well, another question is if a firmware upgrade of the SPC4500 is needed at all.

If the budget is not an issue, go for it. Plan B could be to have 2 or 3 DJI chargers..

It's definitely upgradeable. I'm beta testing new FW now.