Battery does not click in place

[gnirtS]

I have had my 3 batteries for my zoom for close to 8 months no signs of being swollen.... It's all in how you take care of lipos.....lipos are needy like kids you have to take care of them!

No its not. The mavic 2 batteries appear to be substantially more prone to swelling even when used completely within the manufacturer guidelines than the older batteries for any other drone.
Far more people have swelling issues and far earlier than other drones and batteries.

We have lipos that have never been run down, are stored between 40-60%, are cool before charging and are not flown above the limits DJI specify still swelling after tens of flights.
High ambient temperature (but still within the limits) seem to be the cause of most and as its summer this is most likely why people are seeing more of them swelling now.
High 20s to mid 30s celcius although well within margins seem to cause rapid, premature wear and swelling. Possibly humidity is having an effect too.

Yes some people mistreat batteries. But people mistreat all batteries. The difference is the mavic 2 batteries are seeing far more of an issue than other batteries. Theres something very specific about these.

 

[Mike4884]

No its not. The mavic 2 batteries appear to be substantially more prone to swelling even when used completely within the manufacturer guidelines than the older batteries for any other drone.
Far more people have swelling issues and far earlier than other drones and batteries.

We have lipos that have never been run down, are stored between 40-60%, are cool before charging and are not flown above the limits DJI specify still swelling after tens of flights.
High ambient temperature (but still within the limits) seem to be the cause of most and as its summer this is most likely why people are seeing more of them swelling now.
High 20s to mid 30s celcius although well within margins seem to cause rapid, premature wear and swelling. Possibly humidity is having an effect too.

Yes some people mistreat batteries. But people mistreat all batteries. The difference is the mavic 2 batteries are seeing far more of an issue than other batteries. Theres something very specific about these.

Oh i dont doubt it....most definitely dji is probably using 2 seperate manufactures atleast for lipos....i remember my mavic pro batteries , 2 were from some company duongjuan or something close to that lol and the other manufacturer started with an "S" (another chinese brand) but were much better quality and noticed cells were always very close in voltage compared to others especially over time and also didnt crap out as much under load when getting below 50%....so who knows whats going on this go around. I am curious now and am going to look at batterys when i get home. What i do know is i dont have a problem with mine.

 

[gnirtS]

I had to throw away all 3 of my flymore pack batteries after 7 months / 20 cycles so i cant check any serials on there now. It'd be interesting to collate batch/serials from failed batteries to see if theres a trend.
In identical (warm) environmental conditions i got 18 months and 150 or so cycles out of my mavic 1 batteries. Thats a huge difference. I just had to spend $500 on new ones on a drone i only had mid September.

 

[Dhudspith]

For folks with swollen battery packs, I'm curious on your typical usage. Would you be willing to answer a few questions?

1) How are you charging your batteries (standard DJI charger or aftermarket charger)?

2) How long do you charge your batteries before you fly them?

3) What % are your batteries at when you land and remove them?

4) Number of flights before you noticed the "swelling"?

 

[MavicPro1966]

Just noticed that 3 of my batteries for my Mavic are not "clicking in" as tightly as I'd like. They DO click and can't be "pulled out", but upon investigation, the batteries are definitely a little swollen.

Fortunately, got one more that's fine and I'll order 2 more for next week.

A friend of mine flies a m2p and I noticed a bloated battery. He heard about this happening before. This was a wake up call to check batteries. If my buddy decided to take off and fly again battery may pop off. Good to strap down battery with Velcro.

 

[gnirtS]

For folks with swollen battery packs, I'm curious on your typical usage. Would you be willing to answer a few questions?

1) How are you charging your batteries (standard DJI charger or aftermarket charger)?

2) How long do you charge your batteries before you fly them?

3) What % are your batteries at when you land and remove them?

4) Number of flights before you noticed the "swelling"?

1) Standard DJI

2) Normally on the morning of (so a few hours before) use

3) Usually 40-60%

4) 18-20 on all 3 of my original M2 batteries.

 

[Dhudspith]

1) Standard DJI

2) Normally on the morning of (so a few hours before) use

3) Usually 40-60%

4) 18-20 on all 3 of my original M2 batteries.

That's pretty gentle treatment for batteries and about how I run mine as well. I've let batteries sit charged for a week when the weather changed and I couldn't get out flying. I've got roughly 28 cycles on 3 battery packs right now and haven't noticed any swelling. I'm in Wisconsin, so temperature conditions while flying are rarely above 85F outside. Also, I've used a hobby charger and parallel charged all 3 packs at once with a parallel board and 12Amps of current, but that's not how I generally charge.

 

[gnirtS]

My ambient is about 28c to 33c every single day. Humidity 80%+ often. I suspect they struggle in these conditions even though its well inside what DJI claim is fine.

Ive taken to storing the new ones in the fridge.

 

[Waldo Pepper]

One of my three batteries doesn't click in place. It feels like it's sitting tight, but there is no "click" when I push it in place. Thee other two batteries are fine.

Has anyone else seen this? It feels a bit risky to fly it with a battery that might disconnect during flight.

It happened to two of my M2P batteries, just recently pass few days. Both started to swell, luckily my buddy seen the battery was not properly snapped in place after returning from a long flight. Problem was swelling, was very fortunate it didn’t come off during flight.

And again this morning, the other battery did the same but on this flight started using the battery mod bracket to hold the good battery in place in case this one swelled. Sure enough, after flight was over landed the M2P. Started to break down the Battery mod bracket to put M2P away, the battery pops out after removing the battery mod bracket. Inspected this battery, sure enough it too was swollen.

Had I not used this Battery mod bracket, the battery surely would have cone off during flight.

Just ordered two new batteries from DJI, going forward will be using this battery mod bracket to hold battery in place Incase these swell during flight. So for now my M2P is grounded, until my new batteries arrive.

Find someway to Strap down Battery on all future flights, even on new batteries with low cycles.

Good luck,
Paul

 

[Thomas B]

Looks like lots of people are starting to see it. Most likely the time of year when temperatures heat up. Mine may have been one of the first 3 purely because i live in the tropics so its warm *all* year.

In the metro Phoenix area I never fly when air temp is 104 or greater, but often fly at 99-100 degrees... humidity 20-60%. I have no problems with my 5 batteries (>50 flights each)
If it is the time of year/ temp I’d be surprised. Warranty the batteries if possible, but don’t use them... that’s asking for a crash due to loss of power.
I strongly advise against using swollen batteries!

 

[Waldo Pepper]

In the metro Phoenix area I never fly when air temp is 104 or greater, but often fly at 99-100 degrees... humidity 20-60%. I have no problems with my 5 batteries (>50 flights each)
If it is the time of year/ temp I’d be surprised. Warranty the batteries if possible, but don’t use them... that’s asking for a crash due to loss of power.
I strongly advise against using swollen batteries!

Hello Thomas,

I agree, even if strapping down a known battery that swells during flight is asking for trouble. That swelling has nowhere to go, may create another problem inside battery during flight.

On my case, after the first Battery swelled, was afraid my second battery would eventually do the same. So I used a battery mod bracket on my last good battery just in case it started to swell, after the flight removed bracket and battery pops out on it’s own. After further inspection, sure enough it too had swelled.

Funny thing though, after they cool down swelling goes down a little. Enough to were it’s not noticeable, I’m sure eventually they’ll retain the swell.

Going forward, when my new batteries arrive will continue to use the Battery mod bracket to hold down battery Incase they do swell. Rather play it safe, I was lucky twice this week next time I may not be so lucky.

I live in the San Joaquin Valley of California, it gets hot here. Not as hot as your area but hot enough, the older batteries will most likely start to swell under these conditions.

Good luck,
Paul

 

[WWK888]

My two batteries that swelled up had a manufacture date of July 2018. Can anyone else post the manufacture date of their defective batteries, interesting to see if they all came from the same batch.

 

[Waldo Pepper]

My two batteries that swelled up had a manufacture date of July 2018. Can anyone else post the manufacture date of their defective batteries, interesting to see if they all came from the same batch.

Hello WWK888,

One of mine matches yours, July 2018. The other August 2019. Had 54 charges on one, the other 57 charges.

Part of the fault could be ours, if not storing them probably with safe storage voltage, etc.

Still, bummer especially if disconnecting during flight.

Paul

 

[MavicPro1966]

Can flying sports mode cause the battery to swell up faster? How about leaving your battery in the car after use or fully charged in vehicle for hours .

 

[gnirtS]

Temperature and high temperatures will cause swelling.
So the latter, yes certainly. The former, probably but might depend on ambient.

 

[paulatkin73]

Temperature and high temperatures will cause swelling.
So the latter, yes certainly. The former, probably but might depend on ambient.

no one knows for sure what is the exact C rating of those new lipos, but, something is off with them. even in sport mode mavic does not drain more then 20A - usually way less than that, closer to 12A current - it should not be too much for a 4S 3500mah lipo even with a 10C rating. so it has to be either a chemistry or production defect. 1500mah CNHL lipos i have give me 120A boost current and good sustained 60A current on a racer and do not swell, but they are good 100C bricks. i wish CNHL or comparable reputable producer would make those mavic 2 replacement sets, i would be more confident using them than this OEM DJI stuff that seems to behave so odd.

as of maintenance - lipos like cold, and one thing not to do, ever - do not throw them into the charger right after the flight if battery still feels hot/warm. it need to cool down properly before new charging cycle.
and, swelling usually happens aggressively only in 2 cases - when cell is almost completely discharged, or if max possible discharge current from cell is above its limit threshold. i just cannot see how it can be possible even with 20A current - on 4 cells it is just a 5A per cell. go figure.

 

[Thomas B]

no one knows for sure what is the exact C rating of those new lipos, but, something is off with them. even in sport mode mavic does not drain more then 20A - usually way less than that, closer to 12A current - it should not be too much for a 4S 3500mah lipo even with a 10C rating. so it has to be either a chemistry or production defect. 1500mah CNHL lipos i have give me 120A boost current and good sustained 60A current on a racer and do not swell, but they are good 100C bricks. i wish CNHL or comparable reputable producer would make those mavic 2 replacement sets, i would be more confident using them than this OEM DJI stuff that seems to behave so odd.

as of maintenance - lipos like cold, and one thing not to do, ever - do not throw them into the charger right after the flight if battery still feels hot/warm. it need to cool down properly before new charging cycle.
and, swelling usually happens aggressively only in 2 cases - when cell is almost completely discharged, or if max possible discharge current from cell is above its limit threshold. i just cannot see how it can be possible even with 20A current - on 4 cells it is just a 5A per cell. go figure.

DJI 4 battery chargers will not charge the M2 batteries until the temp of the battery drops to a certain point. Not sure what that temp point is, but the DJI charger just blinks the indicator light yellow until that temp is reached, then turns green and charging begins.

 

[WWK888]

Hello WWK888,

One of mine matches yours, July 2018. The other August 2019. Had 54 charges on one, the other 57 charges.

Part of the fault could be ours, if not storing them probably with safe storage voltage, etc.

Still, bummer especially if disconnecting during flight.

Paul

View attachment 79087View attachment 79088

Thanks for the info. I really suspect there was a bad batch. I am very careful how I charge, store and use my batteries. I am certain I did nothing to cause it to swell. One of my batteries only had 17 charges on it ( I rotate five batteries). Unfortunately the warranty is only six months, kinda sucks. As I stated in an earlier post I was lucky, I decided to land with 47% left on the battery. Just as I went to remove the battery, it popped loose. I now use a velcro strap on all batteries as a precaution. I fly a lot over water so if a battery swells and pops loose I will most likely lose my AC.

 

[WithTheBirds]

no one knows for sure what is the exact C rating of those new lipos, but, something is off with them. even in sport mode mavic does not drain more then 20A - usually way less than that, closer to 12A current - it should not be too much for a 4S 3500mah lipo even with a 10C rating. so it has to be either a chemistry or production defect. 1500mah CNHL lipos i have give me 120A boost current and good sustained 60A current on a racer and do not swell, but they are good 100C bricks. i wish CNHL or comparable reputable producer would make those mavic 2 replacement sets, i would be more confident using them than this OEM DJI stuff that seems to behave so odd.

as of maintenance - lipos like cold, and one thing not to do, ever - do not throw them into the charger right after the flight if battery still feels hot/warm. it need to cool down properly before new charging cycle.
and, swelling usually happens aggressively only in 2 cases - when cell is almost completely discharged, or if max possible discharge current from cell is above its limit threshold. i just cannot see how it can be possible even with 20A current - on 4 cells it is just a 5A per cell. go figure.

It would be 4A per cell if connected in parallel- not the case with these packs (series connection).

 

[WWK888]

Just had two more failures with the same production date of July 2018.