Swollen battery?

[mad monkey]

I pulled my batteries out to check them out since the drone has been being stored for a few months now.
The batteries were charged 100% before storage and they self discharged down to 2 bars. One of my batteries has the very faintest feeling of a bump, like I can't even tell if it's buldged or not..

Does anyone have any information on swollen air batteries? I've seen stuff on pro batts but these are different obviously.

I tried to take a picture but it's so faint I can't capture it. I just don't know because I haven't touched it in months I'm a little worried and maybe over paranoid

 

[mad monkey]

I out the battery on the charger solo no multi block.. And it hasn't gotten warm at all. If that makes a difference

 

[Former Member]

My policy is to not fly a battery once it's swollen, disfigured or damaged. You can buy a new Air battery for around $70 or less, so I personally think its a no brainer. If you still want to use it, it might be ok for close-in hovering, bench testing, or updating firmware. You never know when a puffed Lipo will fail, so I try to beat that in mind.

 

[mad monkey]

I guess what I'm wondering is what's considered puffed up? I'm getting my calipers out now to take measurements across the 3 batteries I have

 

[mad monkey]

Ok so 2.of my batteries are like half a mm bigger than the 3rd. I can't tell if it swollen or just built bigger. 2 feel about the same.

I store everything in an air tight waterproof case (like pelican)

Should I be worried about them spontaneously exploding? Or is it a dead in flight kind of issue?
I know punctured is fire. These are perfectly fine that way.

@Thunderdrones thoughts?

 

[Former Member]

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

If you cant take pictures, then see if they all snap in to the Airs frame and dont budge once locked in. See if the lines of the battery are flush with the frame and dont protrude. Check the battery levels in DJI Go and make sure that the cells are within a reasonable voltage of eachother. If one cell is 4.2 and another is 3.9 when fully charged, it might be toast.

Lipos usually wont explode unless they are very angry. You really have to smash them, or overcharge/discharge them to make them explode, but there no guarantee that they wont leak vapor.

If you have had the batteries since new, do you remember if they were all the same size before?

 

[mad monkey]

They all came in the kit together. I don't recall size variables but I don't recall feeling them up so throughly lol I think I'm looking in depth because of the fact it was in storage.

I will check the fitment tomorrow. It's late here.. I did put the batteries in a cookie tin for "safety". Hahahahah paranoia!

Thanks Rob!

 

[Former Member]

They might all be ok.

 

[mad monkey]

Probably, my googling has shown me swollen ones and mine dont look like that lol

 

[swooshdave]

More importantly when are the voltage levels and are there any discrepancies?

 

[JDawg]

My policy is to not fly a battery once it's swollen, disfigured or damaged. You can buy a new Air battery for around $70 or less, so I personally think its a no brainer. If you still want to use it, it might be ok for close-in hovering, bench testing, or updating firmware. You never know when a puffed Lipo will fail, so I try to beat that in mind.

I was not aware this was an issue with the Air, will have to keep an eye on them. Thanks.

 

[mad monkey]

Yeah most of my reading talks about pro batts puffing. Or rc overcharged ones... Haven't heard about the airs doing it, or phantoms even

 

[Former Member]

Yeah most of my reading talks about pro batts puffing. Or rc overcharged ones... Haven't heard about the airs doing it, or phantoms even

I have seen dozens of puffed Phantom, MP, MPP, and other batteries. The problem with the Phantom batteries is when they puff, you cant get them out of the drone! If you try to force a puffed battery into a Phantom, you will never get it out.

Thats a good question as to why you dont hear of more puffed Air or Spark batteries. The Spark and Air batteries sit on the bottom of the drone, and are more susceptible to damage, but less susceptible to heat from the boards. The Mavic battery sits in its tray right on top of the ESC board, and there is alot of heat rising from the boards. That might be one reason why on critically high temperature days, the Mavic batteries will puff sooner than an Air or Spark, even though the mavic battery is located in the prop downwash.

As far as puffing due to sitting around for too long in a fully charged state, you do hear alot more about Mavic batteries than Airs or Sparks. I guess we'll see how the M2 batteries hold up after they have been around through all 4 seasons and variable temperatures.

 

[Hapa]

How many flights around should I expect this "puffing" to occur? I fly in hot temps all the time.

 

[mad monkey]

The battery I was "worried" about fits perfectly fine no issues. Voltages 4.9 4.9 4.8
Doing some. Updating with it now..

I was. Carrying the batteries in my hoodie pocket just now and reached in blind and couldn't tell. So. Maybe I'm just paranoid about my very expensive toy lol

I'll recheck this battery level and voltage after update. Then do the others.

 

[Rickolas]

The battery I was "worried" about fits perfectly fine no issues. Voltages 4.9 4.9 4.8
Doing some. Updating with it now..

I was. Carrying the batteries in my hoodie pocket just now and reached in blind and couldn't tell. So. Maybe I'm just paranoid about my very expensive toy lol

I'll recheck this battery level and voltage after update. Then do the others.

Those voltages are quite high. According to the battery spec, they should be a max of 4.4v per cell, and 13.2v total

 

[mad monkey]

That was 100% charged. They lowered gradually and indoor test flight was good.

 

[patriceaamira_mavicair]

Just a reference, maybe this can help before you put your batteries in storage for more than 10 days

 

[mad monkey]

Just a reference, maybe this can help before you put your batteries in storage for more than 10 daysView attachment 55073

I'm already well aware of the process. Thanks for the information though. Can help someone new

 

[DanMan32]

Half a mm is probably nothing to worry about. The 0.1v differential might be more of a concern.