For a video overview of this topic, please click here.
Overview
Manage your batteries in Skyward to track records, manage inventory, and manage maintenance. Organizing and managing batteries well will extend their lives, mitigate risks, and keep you flying safely.
To get started, navigate to the Batteries screen by clicking Manage in the top menu.
Note: For best practices on naming batteries, see the naming guide.
Battery List View
The Batteries screen provides an overview of available batteries. This screen serves as an index of available batteries, as well as providing a quick overview of battery status.
Features and Functions
- Add Battery: You can add a battery from this screen by clicking the blue Add Battery button in the upper right.
- Duplicate: You can also duplicate a battery record by clicking the small blue rectangle at the end of each row. All the information about the battery will be duplicated, including all the custom fields, and the word “copy” will be appended to the title.
Battery Detail View
The battery screen provides default and custom fields for tracking battery information, as well as a service ticket system for tracking service events.
Features and Functions
The Battery detail view supports:
- Service events and status
- Editing and duplicating
- Document upload
- Hours (calculated from logged flights)
In addition, the battery detail view provides the ability to track information in the information panel, service history, notes field, custom fields, and documents. Documents may be uploaded from your desktop or attached to an equipment using the document library.
Service Events
Service tickets are critical to a maintenance program. Tickets track who did what to the equipment at what time. Skyward provides a basic ticketing system to help you maintain your equipment. In order to record a service event:
- Click Service Event above the information panel.
- Change status to:
- Active – Attaches time-stamped note to current ticket. Changes status to active.
- Grounded – Creates new ticket and attaches time-stamped note. Changes status to grounded.
- Retired – Asks for confirmation. Changes equipment text color to gray. Changes status to retired.
Editing and Duplication
The Edit and Duplicate buttons are in the upper right hand corner of the battery detail screen.
The only required field for a battery is the name. All other default fields are recommended as a best practices means of keeping your equipment records.
Note: The Compatible Aircraft field does not automatically associate a battery with a compatible drone. The field is intended for reference.
As described above, duplicating a battery will duplicate all the information in the battery record and then append ” – copy” to the name.
Document Upload
You can drag-and-drop documents to the field to attach new documents. You can also choose to upload documents from a finder window. And finally, you can attach documents directly from your general document library.
Information Dashboard – Critical Feature
A critical feature of the information dashboard is the battery hours. Battery hours are calculated from flight hours where the battery is added to a flight. At this time, Skyward provides automated hour calculations. Battery cycle counts can be tracked in the default Historical Cycle Count field in the information panel.
Recommended Custom Fields
Carefully consider information that you need to track for each battery. Common fields are found in the information side panel. However, Skyward provides the flexibility to allow you to track additional information that is specific to your workflow and operations.
Start by clicking the Edit button and then adding a custom field label and value in the custom field section. Be sure to add the custom field value, even it is only a placeholder suggestion, in order to save your new custom field.
Here are some suggested custom fields.
| Label | Example Value |
|---|---|
| Model Name | TB48 |
| Purchase Date | 01/01/2016 |
| Storage Location | Kit 01 Container |
Naming Propulsion Batteries
Before naming a battery, think about how you want organize your systems. Battery names and aircraft names should follow similar patterns. Keep it simple. You can change the name later. Because some batteries are only compatible with a specific type of aircraft, it’s useful to include that information in the name.
For specific recommendations regarding naming, reach out to your Customer Success Representative. They may have input for you based on your program needs and industry best practices.