How Often to Charge Spark Battery to Stay Above Minimum Voltage Threshold

[EagleHeart]

I learned the hard way after leaving my Spark in the closet for two years that if the voltage on the LiPo battery drops below a certain threshold, the battery is ruined.

I wish to avoid the same mistake with my new batteries and will periodically charge them if I am not actively using the drone.

Question: How often di I need to charge the batteries, and how much do I need to charge them when I do so.

To put it another way, how long can the batteries stay on a closet shelf before I run the danger of the voltage dropping too low.

TIA.

 

[SoccerRef12]

I learned the hard way after leaving my Spark in the closet for two years that if the voltage on the LiPo battery drops below a certain threshold, the battery is ruined.

I wish to avoid the same mistake with my new batteries and will periodically charge them if I am not actively using the drone.

Question: How often di I need to charge the batteries, and how much do I need to charge them when I do so.

To put it another way, how long can the batteries stay on a closet shelf before I run the danger of the voltage dropping too low.

TIA.

I charge mine every 2-3 months.

 

[SPark_South_Oz]

Mine never seem to drop below the usual 2 full / 3rd flashing led after auto discharge.
I guess with another drone in use at times, the longest would be around 3 - 4 months for the Spark, but usually it's used every 2 - 3 months min.
(Luckily, our winter isn't severe and interfere as much as it would in the northern hemi.)

I usually just charge all 5 batteries up to full when going for a fly, using them in turn in the aircraft.
One is always in it, usually a full one from when flying last and changing over.
Then I use the charging station to top off that and the following 2 in line, the spare 2 in the normal charger.

I might fly 1, 2, 3 batteries to say 2 bars, and leave them, the others if unused will auto discharge, think mine are set for 5 days.
If I fly a battery lower than 2 bars, I'll just fully charge when I get home and leave it to auto discharge as normal.

You could leave them on your charger (the 3 battery flymore charge base is handy for this) and every few months check them, if they go down to say 1 bar / 2nd flashing, then yes, drop them in for a full charge, then let them auto discharge.
Of course make sure it's your usual safe place for charging, under watch at all times, or outside, or in a fireproof location etc.
You could monitor them at intervals, and slip them out when the 3rd led starts flashing during a charge I guess, but to me using the auto discharge is easy and lets them have a full cycle.

If you haven't set the auto discharge days on each of your batteries, then you can do this via the Go4 app battery menu.
It'll be set from factory for 10 days, I think it might still have option for 2 days or upwards in there you can set.
I just chose 5 days in case I wanted to head out for a fly within that window.

If your batteries start auto discharge AT ALL, they need to be recharged before use, otherwise cell balances can be off, which can lead to bad things happening in flight . . . like a battery having a high SOC % reading for take off, but a very fast drain in real life.

 

[Jray]

I charge all my batteries once a month

 

[NOLADG]

I try to use all my Lithium batteries at least every three months and I am referring to everything in the household that has batteries that is not used on a regular basis. Even if it is just a simple charge-it-up-a-bit and use-it-for-a-bit then leave it for storage with the battery in mid range.

 

[Faithley]

If I know I'm going out to a new location, then I charge my batteries the night before to have fresh batteries. otherwise, I just give them a full charge and let them discharge on their own. I regularly check them to see how far they dropped and if a charge is necessary. I recently discovered one of my batteries didn't want to charge. it still had power in it, I could see when I pressed the button to check the power level, I had it in the charger and didn't want to charge. I put it on the drone and tried charging it in there but didn't work, when I press the button, it still lit up but didn't charge, so I turned on the drone and plugged in the charger again and it worked it started charging again. hope this helps just in case someone else comes across the same problem.