Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By Dodo
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1838480
I usually charge my SE2 after each flight, put it away and then give it a quick charge before the next flight. I've not flown for more than 2 hours in a day since I've had it and so the battery has never been fully run down.

Is the the kindest way to look after the rechargeable battery and prolong its life?

What might be better?

Thanks
Last edited by Dodo on Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Miscellaneous
#1838482
Good question @Dodo and one I have pondered. The difficulty in not putting it away charged is the time it takes to charge it in preparation to go flying. That's why I have concluded your method meets the needs closest. Having said that, it's early days in its use.
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By Rob P
#1838484
What's the duration of operation for SE on a full charge?

I believe that trying to store modern rechargeable devices fully-charged is not the best for battery life, but it is the pragmatic answer as an uncharged device is a bit useless.

I don't worry much about this, working on the principle that most of, if not all, my battery powered tech will be in the junk cupboard long before I have to worry about battery life.

Rob P
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1838486
It's difficult to answer without knowing what goes on internally within the SE2.
The SE2 claims a 12 hour battery life.
The optimal way to look after the battery for maximum number of cycles is to recharge it to around 3.95v (compared to 4.2v for 100% charged)
But it might be that the SE2 cuts off charging at 3.95v anyway, or may be continues to 4.2v ....
It depends whether it's charging logic was designed to maximise run time off a single charge, or long term battery life.
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By Iceman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1838489
Battery usage is going to be highly dependent upon whether or not you have the 20W ADSB-out function enabled. As a pure receiver, power usage will be relatively light. It’s a shame that the manual does not contain any information on usage / charging techniques and maximising battery life.

Iceman 8)
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By tnowak
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1838493
Generally speaking, those types of batteries benefit most from being fully charged and then almost fully discharged before being recharged. That tends to extend battery life.
SE2 has about a 12 hr battery life when set to TX/Rx but over 20 hrs when used as a receiver only.
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By MattL
#1838503
Ours sit on charge overnight and run all day in the aircraft no problems, my personal one seems to hold charge for weeks without being on charge as well
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1838506
tnowak wrote:Generally speaking, those types of batteries benefit most from being fully charged and then almost fully discharged before being recharged. That tends to extend battery life.

Are you sure? Skyecho uses a Lithium-Ion battery. Normally Li-Ion batteries last a greater number of cycles if charged to a maximum of 65% and allowed to discharge not below 25%. However, clearly this only gives you 40% usable capacity of the battery. 80%:20% is a more normal compromise between capacity and life expectancy.
Some devices manage this for you (i.e. when they claim to be fully charged they are actually only 80% charged, and cut off at 20% remaining).
Cessna571 liked this
#1838509
rikur_ wrote:
tnowak wrote: 80%:20% is a more normal compromise between capacity and life expectancy.
Some devices manage this for you (i.e. when they claim to be fully charged they are actually only 80% charged, and cut off at 20% remaining).


I was just going to post the same. Charge to 80%, don’t discharge below 20%. Lithium technology also holds it charge well when stored, so no need to bump it up the morning of a flight.
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By Corsican
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1852914
We keep the SE2 in the aircraft and as we are a group, no option to take home to charge. Last weekend, it started fine and midway through Farnborough zone went dead, so I switched to the iPhone Location Services, this despite the SE2 being plugged in with its USB power. I never got it to work so it seems that it really does need to have a basic charge in order to keep going. Strange design? Or perhaps someone with a better understanding of electronics than I (not hard) can explain?