For info regarding battery life while flying, check this FAQ.
For more info regarding brightness settings and consequences on battery life while flying, check this FAQ.
AIR³’s lithium ion batteries are expected to provide 300 to 500 full cycles.
The total lifetime of a battery is like a car’s tires. Its total lifetime is heavily dependent on how it is used.
At a certain point in the battery’s lifetime, what determines the battery life “on that particular day” depends on three factors:
- the care taken to maintain the battery (3 cycles, deep charging during long periods of non-use, etc.)
- the number of previous uses (capacity decreases over time)
- the duration of the charge prior to use on that day…
Note that the displayed battery percentage does not necessarily reflect the battery’s actual capacity. This percentage is determined by a chip. It calculates the percentage based on voltage, as well as the battery’s capacity based on usage. However, this overall capacity can be influenced by various factors. For example, using a power bank or regular use involving small charges. Performing three full cycles will reset the chip.
Therefore, unless you have completed these three cycles, the displayed percentage may not accurately reflect the battery’s actual charge. To ensure your battery is fully charged before flying, charge it for 5 hours or more.
Avoid using a power bank. If you do use one, use it only when your battery level is low, so that you can recharge it during the flight. Otherwise, the chip will be completely confused and the displayed percentage will be completely unreliable.
Once you receive your brand new AIR³ (or after replacing the battery), you must perform 3 full discharge / recharge cycles to set the battery capacity to its maximum.
Launch XCTrack, make sure brightness is set to 80% (without being changed by adaptative brightness) and let it run until it reaches 5% or less. Recharge it for 5 hours or more and do it 2 more times.
Lithium batteries today do not have “charge memory” issues like Nicad batteries did in the past. So, this means that you don’t need to fully discharge it before charging it. However, we recommend that you perform a full charge / discharge cycle once regularly to bypass digital memory and recalibrate the power gauge.
Follow also these additional rules:
- If it is not used frequently, it must be charged and discharged once a month
- Do not charge at high temperature or low temperature
- Do not fully charge the battery after it has often reached 0%. Charge at 15% first.
Avoid completely discharging lithium-ion batteries.
If a lithium-ion battery is discharged below 2.5 volts per cell, a safety circuit built into the battery opens and the battery appears to be dead.
The unit will only turn on if the battery is fully charged.
For prolonged storage it is therefore very important not to leave the device discharged. Make sure it is charged to more than 50% of its capacity.
Ideal charge before putting it away, is 80%.
If you are not anymore satisfied with your battery capacity, before concluding it should be changed, it is recommended that you perform 3 full discharge / recharge cycles to re-set the battery capacity to its maximum.
Read above instructions how to proceed with 3 full cycles.
Check if the duration of the discharge increases amongst the different cycles.
If, after completing three full charge cycles, the battery life is still insufficient, it’s time to replace the battery.
You can order it from our online store or from an AIR³ partner.
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