One critical aspect of prolonging the life of your drone is to store it properly. Storage is one thing that gets overlooked, yet how you do it determines the stored item’s degradation level. And your drone is no exception to this fact.
Regarding the quality and effectiveness of storing your drone, the most significant factor will be the storage case or container you use.
Storage container for your drone
In selecting the best storage container for your drone, you should consider the following items:
Ample storage – An ideal circumstance would be storing your drone and its accessories in one big container. This is not only convenient; it also keeps everything you need for flying your drone in one location. There should also be room for all of your drone’s spare parts and instruction manuals.
After you give this some thought, the most logical conclusion would be to have smaller containers for holding different components like propellers, batteries, motors, and so forth. Your goal is to have all the smaller containers fitting snugly, along with your drone inside the big container.
Remove vulnerable parts – Some moveable parts on your drone could be subject to damage during storage. An example of this is its propellers and even propeller guards. Remove all such elements and store them inside a safe individual container.
Waterproof – Your drone storage case should also be water-resistant. While they may seem to be overkill, you’ll be thankful you did if one of your nearby water pipes happens to freeze and break.
Either way, go ahead and take that extra step and waterproof your drone storage set-up. What could it hurt, after all?
Hardshell – Why would anyone choose anything but a hard shell container to store their drone and accessories?
It’s the same as when we discussed waterproofing; you never know when a box gets dropped on the case. If the container isn’t hard-shelled, and if such a thing happens, you’ll be buying a brand new drone.
So when storing your drone, anticipate any potential hazard and protect yourself against that. This includes the location where the storage container is placed. Always keep your stored drone away from high traffic areas.
Storing drone batteries
If you’ve done any research at all on the LiPo batteries that drones use, then you should already be aware of the dangers they impose. Therefore, you’ll need to take some additional steps to ensure that your drone’s battery is stored correctly.
Here are the main issues with storing your LiPo batteries:
Half-charge – Your drone’s LiPo batteries should never be stored fully charged. The simple rule with how you view these batteries is the bigger the charge, the more flammable they are. Therefore, you should store these batteries when they are at a 40-50% charge level.
Today, many drone battery chargers have a storage setting that allows them to be charged up to that recommended storage level.
Keep them cool – LiPo batteries should always be stored in a cool place – even in between flying sessions. The reason is that they generate a lot of heat when in use. Never keep them in a hot place, like your car during the summer months.
Keeping your drone batteries cool not only makes them safer to store but also prolongs their storage capacity. Some people recommend storing them in the refrigerator. This is fine for half-charged batteries, but you should never keep a fully charged battery in your fridge.
Low moisture – Aside from heat, the other condition that can cause battery problems is moisture. Be mindful of this if you store your drone batteries in your refrigerator. When a battery comes out of the fridge, it will need to slowly warm it to room temperature.
Also, moisture is a good reason to store your batteries in plastic bags.