Number of Recharges?

[Eagle928]

Anyone know the number of times the Evo 2 batteries can realistically be re-charged before needing to be replaced? I understand there are many factors such as how they are treated, used, and environmental factors. Just looking for an average number like 50 or 100.

 

[Deleted member 6303]

I believe I read that the battery warranty is up to 100 or 200 charges cant remember exactly. I would assume since they limit the battery to that amount of charges that is a critical point but in real life they would probably go further.

 

[Eagle928]

No one has had to replace a battery because it won't hold a charge?

I was just reading how the Phantom 4 batteries get 40-65 cycles. Is it reasonable to expect the same or more out of the Evo II batteries.

Has anyone gotten more than 65 cycle yet? These might still be too new for many to have gotten that many when using multiple batteries rotating through to keep them even on cycles.

 

[Deleted member 6303]

Anyone know the number of times the Evo 2 batteries can realistically be re-charged before needing to be replaced? I understand there are many factors such as how they are treated, used, and environmental factors. Just looking for an average number like 50 or 100.

Straight from Autel:

This warranty does not apply to:​

1. Aircraft(s) not utilizing most current, or up to date, and publicly available firmware.

2. Battery that cycle charged more than 200 times (100 times for refurbished batteries).

So according to Autel we should get at least 200 charges. That's 2.5 times DJI.

 

[Eagle928]

Straight from Autel:

This warranty does not apply to:​

1. Aircraft(s) not utilizing most current, or up to date, and publicly available firmware.

2. Battery that cycle charged more than 200 times (100 times for refurbished batteries).

So according to Autel we should get at least 200 charges. That's 2.5 times DJI.

That's great news! All of a sudden the $219 batteries are not nearly as expensive as first thought when they last 2.5 times longer than the competition. A genuine Phantom battery is not cheap either. A pair of them are $369 from Amazon. Or $184.50 each. Probably find them aftermarket for around $100 each or less.

A quick search on ebay turned up a new genuine Evo 2 battery for $183.

 

[Deleted member 6303]

I know I have been ranting and raving but there are so many reasons to have the Evo 2. And customer service is unequalled. My 6K was shipped to Autel 6 weeks ago and was unflyable sick, they repaired and sent back (5 week time frame) new gimbal and sensor assembly. The repair sprung new issues and I had to send her back again, they called and stated I am getting a new 6k and overnight, they sent me a new 6 k (got it today) in 6 days total turn around. (And I didn't pay shipping as well.) The new one also had an extra battery, remote charger and 6 props. Yeah it sucked for 6 weeks but in the end she is great and flew perfectly today. Tripltek the same. I hear a lot of sad stories, but my personal experience is one of nothing but quality and excellence. So when folks cry foul about pricing then you look at it like this as I do, its a great win. Sometimes the upfront price isn't considered by all of the external areas to examine in order to justify expense. Be well.

 

[Mike Mas]

Regarding lithium batteries, I have nearly every drone made and most all have original batteries.

While the capacity will diminish in time, good lithium cells can charge for thousands of cycles. Lithium batteries for the most part are good for 10-20 years or more for automotive use which in some cases is the same as drones. There is many companies who purchase dated lithium and re-package them for sale again with a slightly less capacity. (Big Battery Company) The worst thing you can do with lithium is store it with a full charge.(swelling). Over and under charging is protected by the BCM using buffers (smart batteries) which prevent the battery from over and under charging. Also never charge a battery sub zero temperatures.

On my personal web site your find a number of lithium systems i designed for RV's.

www.rvvolt.com

Regards - Mike

 

[Eagle928]

Regarding lithium batteries, I have nearly every drone made and most all have original batteries.

While the capacity will diminish in time, good lithium cells can charge for thousands of cycles. Lithium batteries for the most part are good for 10-20 years or more for automotive use which in some cases is the same as drones. There is many companies who purchase dated lithium and re-package them for sale again with a slightly less capacity. (Big Battery Company) The worst thing you can do with lithium is store it with a full charge.(swelling). Over and under charging is protected by the BCM using buffers (smart batteries) which prevent the battery from over and under charging. Also never charge a battery sub zero temperatures.

On my personal web site your find a number of lithium systems i designed for RV's.

www.rvvolt.com

Regards - Mike

Very impressive resume at the bottom of your webpage. Thanks for the info.

RVVOLT.COM

 

[herein2021]

Regarding lithium batteries, I have nearly every drone made and most all have original batteries.

While the capacity will diminish in time, good lithium cells can charge for thousands of cycles. Lithium batteries for the most part are good for 10-20 years or more for automotive use which in some cases is the same as drones. There is many companies who purchase dated lithium and re-package them for sale again with a slightly less capacity. (Big Battery Company) The worst thing you can do with lithium is store it with a full charge.(swelling). Over and under charging is protected by the BCM using buffers (smart batteries) which prevent the battery from over and under charging. Also never charge a battery sub zero temperatures.

On my personal web site your find a number of lithium systems i designed for RV's.

www.rvvolt.com

Regards - Mike

This is great information....but now what I thought I knew about drone batteries is called into question. My DJI batteries rarely lasted a year before they swelled to the point to where they were unusable. I even had a Mavic Pro battery go bad within 2yrs and it was only charged twice. I always discharge my drone batteries down to 10 or 20% before storage especially longer term storage and they are always kept in a climate controlled environment. They also auto discharge down to a safe level while in storage; so was DJI using lower quality materials or designing their batteries to be replaceable more often?

I literally started charging my customers more per project just to cover the cost of replacing the drone batteries nearly yearly.

 

[davshev]

I've just seen this thread. I have two Evo II batteries that have gone bad on me within a couple of weeks of one another. The number of discharges on them is 72 and 74.

 

[Eagle928]

I've just seen this thread. I have two Evo II batteries that have gone bad on me within a couple of weeks of one another. The number of discharges on them is 72 and 74.

That's not good for a battery that costs $219!

 

[davshev]

My thoughts exactly. And it happened to two of them right when I needed them! I'm going to contact Autel and see what they tell me.

 

[Eagle928]

I look forward to hearing their reply.

I remember watching a video of 808-State on YouTube, a guy who lives in Hawaii, who has been doing Autel Evo 2 Pro videos for about a year now. He mentioned he only got about 70 cycles before he started losing flight time. I don't remember by how much or how fast it degraded but they didn't just go bad all at once.

 

[davshev]

I look forward to hearing their reply.

I remember watching a video of 808-State on YouTube, a guy who lives in Hawaii, who has been doing Autel Evo 2 Pro videos for about a year now. He mentioned he only got about 70 cycles before he started losing flight time. I don't remember by how much or how fast it degraded but they didn't just go bad all at once.

In my case I'm getting an "unknown battery" error. I couldn't even take off. Autel once told me to try discharging them and then charging them again. It worked briefly, but I got the "unknown battery" error again.

 

[herein2021]

I've just seen this thread. I have two Evo II batteries that have gone bad on me within a couple of weeks of one another. The number of discharges on them is 72 and 74.

Your experience falls right in line with what I have always gotten from drone batteries and each newer model seems to have fewer recharge cycles. The longest lasting batteries that I ever used were in the DJI Phantom 2, every drone since then has had fewer recharge cycles before they go bad.

I will be interested to see how Autel handles this issue.

A word of advice to everyone doing this commercially, make sure that you price on the replacement costs of your batteries into your invoices. This is also why I always recommend buying the least number of batteries possible since they will all go bad around the same time. When you get bigger jobs that need more batteries then just rent them. The perfect number for me has been 4 batteries. Early on I used to buy 5-7 batteries and realized I rarely needed that many and they would all start swelling right around the 1yr mark.

 

[davshev]

This is a follow up to my contact with Autel about my batteries that crapped out after 74 cycles. Happily, they've told me they will replace them!

This their reply.....
Hello David,
Thank you for the above information. Given that the issues are persisting, I believe it will be best to get some warranty replacement batteries out to you.
If you can provide us with a good shipping address, that will be helpful in getting new batteries out to you shortly.

 

[Oden]

Anyone know the number of times the Evo 2 batteries can realistically be re-charged before needing to be replaced? I understand there are many factors such as how they are treated, used, and environmental factors. Just looking for an average number like 50 or 100.

I was reading today that they will warrenty to 200 charges