Battery Failure

[HVACOracle]

Drone crashed last week from what appears to be a total loss of power. The battery on the left is from the flight with a 75% charge. The left side of battery is swollen and suspect the pressure pushed the battery loose and dislodged in flight. The surface is smooth and hard like ceramic. The label firmly attached with no bubbles.

Comments ?

 

[GooniesNeverDie]

From the picture it looks like the sticker is peeling up?

 

[Oconnb910]

Looking at the battery I kind of see a Telltale sign of some possible moisture mud something getting in there cuz you got some staining on that front edge and that's usually one of the things I would look for as a Electronic Tech. From other forms and things like that they always say the worst thing is moisture

 

[Former Member]

The left battery, if it is actually swollen and not just the label peeling up, is called "puffed" and it happens when something severe happens to the battery such as over discharge, overheating, or damage.

If this happened mid-flight and caused your drone to crash, you might have a warranty claim.

 

[TTFullTimer]

Eventually almost all Lithium Ion batteries swell regardless of how well they have been treated. My eBike batteries swelled after five years of use. My phone batteries swell since I keep my phones until they are pretty much useless. Helion has a warning in thier instruction manuals to inspect Li Polymer batteries for swelling. My Lithium Iron Phosphate battery I use to power my fishing kayak swelled some of the cells. I was able to disassemble it and salvage half the cells to make a battery with half the capacity. Still a good battery to use.

How old is the battery?

 

[Oconnb910]

This battery is not that old so I would tend to agree with the overcharging possibly a third-party charger being used?

 

[Oconnb910]

I only say these things because I know the track record of most of us with DJI

 

[Kilrah]

Or it got deformed as a result of the crash.

 

[HVACOracle]

The units is 2 weeks old.
It landed on to forest floor, fairly soft ground.
The battery will still power the drone but no longer sits flat.

 

[Former Member]

Do yourself a favor and don't put a puffed battery back into your Mavic.

 

[TTFullTimer]

Best to just buy a new battery for 89 bucks.

 

[idiogenic]

How many cycles on that battery and what is it's reported capacity?

 

[Oconnb910]

If only 2 weeks, try warranty claim.

 

[Former Member]

If only 2 weeks, try warranty claim.

I agree.

 

[HVACOracle]

It will be going back to DJI for warranty. They are supposed to send return instruction, but noting from them yet. The service ticket was started over two weeks age, So we shall see what DJI response is.

 

[nickmavic]

Sounds about right. DJI's position on customer service is that you can go F yourself.

 

[Former Member]

It will be going back to DJI for warranty. They are supposed to send return instruction, but noting from them yet. The service ticket was started over two weeks age, So we shall see what DJI response is.

Bug them again in chat and phone. 2 weeks is too long, its usually 2 days max.

 

[mpa]

wow, puffy batteries causing the battery to dislodge, im shocked! thats a real bad design flaw
instead of using industry standard xt60 or deans connectors they use multiple contacts for redundancy and to limit arching when connecting the batteries, but inherently raises fatal issues like this. perhaps a deans plug or xt60 is not bad afterall.

thanks for sharing,
iv been very hawk eye on these batteries particularly on puffing, mine have minor puffing but hasent really changed the dimensions of the batteries yet. I have never gone past 90% charge or below 20% in 170 flights. But my suspicions is with sports mode, when running normal mode the batteries comfortably sit at 45degress c, but in sports mode they can punch up to 60degress c which is getting near the limits of a lipo.