Battery Life and Death

[FlyBuddy]

I want to discuss the life of the batteries for my Mavic Pro 1. I have 3 batteries and they are all approaching 90 charges. I think I've gotten my money's worth out of these batteries. Lately, I've noticed the label part of the battery has a slight bulge after a flight. Since the DJI manual says "Never use or charge swollen batteries", I guess it's time to dust the cobwebs off my wallet and buy some new batteries. What are your experiences with batteries? Do your batteries last for 200 charges? Am I wasting my money?

 

[Jetadhai]

Novice learning noted your comments ... curious ... how do you keep track of battery charges? If it was a six shooter of olden times you cut a notch on the wood handle every time you shot domeone ... a permanent marker to put a line in it for every charge?

 

[Sniperfritz]

You normally get 200 cycles if you only discharged the batteries to no lower than 20 percent .90 cycles is a good realistic figure. Never fly with swollen batteries. to answer Jetadhai's question.
on the main screen of the app. just touch the battery icon on the top right next to the 3 dots.
once in "aircraft Battery" menu. touch details. in there you will find the charge cycles.

 

[Former Member]

Ive got batteries with hundreds of cycles on them. The charge count is irrelevant as long as the batteries have been taken care of, and not exposed to overdischarge, extreme heat or cold. I still have Phantom 2 Vision batteries that are in great shape years later.

My other hobbies are RC cars and planes, and I have "dumb" Lipos that are over well over 10 years old and have been run hundreds of times. If I can get that kind of life out of a non-intuitive Lipo, anyone can get more life than that out of a DJI Intelligent Battery that discharges itself and has a built in low voltage cutoff. Since it's impossible to make a battery that can recharge itself, we owners have to help maintain our batteries and remember to monitor them while in storage and bring them back up to storage level when they have been stored for a while..

OP, can you post some pictures of your swollen batteries? It will help others to see what they look like, and when it's time to retire a battery.

P.S. DJI makes fantastic batteries. I can count on my hand the number of DOA or failed batteries I have gone through in thousands of repairs. The only thing that kills them is us pilots.

 

[Agent Smith]

Ive got batteries with hundreds of cycles on them. The charge count is irrelevant as long as the batteries have been taken care of, and not exposed to overdischarge, extreme heat or cold. I still have Phantom 2 Vision batteries that are in great shape years later.

My other hobbies are RC cars and planes, and I have "dumb" Lipos that are over well over 10 years old and have been run hundreds of times. If I can get that kind of life out of a non-intuitive Lipo, anyone can get more life than that out of a DJI Intelligent Battery that discharges itself and has a built in low voltage cutoff. Since it's impossible to make a battery that can recharge itself, we owners have to help maintain our batteries and remember to monitor them while in storage and bring them back up to storage level when they have been stored for a while..

OP, can you post some pictures of your swollen batteries? It will help others to see what they look like, and when it's time to retire a battery.

P.S. DJI makes fantastic batteries. I can count on my hand the number of DOA or failed batteries I have gone through in thousands of repairs. The only thing that kills them is us pilots.

Well said...

 

[FlyBuddy]

Thunderdrone, now you've got me wondering if my batteries are really going bad. Maybe the slight swelling I noticed is normal and I just didn't notice it before. I live in Southern California and don't fly in extreme temperatures. When my battery hits 30%, I return to home and never get under 20%. The battery doesn't get hot when it's being charged. A picture is attached that shows the slight swelling of the label area. When I push on the label, there is air behind it and it feels puffy.

 

[Hayabusa]

I had three similar batts. 1 with very bad bulge. To point of hard to clip in or out. Tossed it. Tossed another because Ot gave me a batt error. Not taking a chance. They were only a year old but I got plenty out of them and I was not maintaining correctly so bad on me. I still have 1 of the originals with very slight bulge.

 

[Dur8an Poison]

I believe there is apps such as KittyHawk that can monitor and log battery cycles. I havent tried it yet so possibly others can comment better. Your post has made me think tonight i need to download it and look into it. Any other apps that can monitor battery cycles and help us ensure we dont just use the same one the whole time more than others?

 

[Congoblue]

Lipol batts swell up if you leave them for a long time in a discharged state or in a fully charged state. That's why they automatically discharge to 50% if you leave them fully charged, but if they are discharged then there is nothing the battery can do to help itself.

That one in your photo does not look particularly swollen up. They do normally have a slightly squishy feel to them.

 

[FlyBuddy]

I believe there is apps such as KittyHawk that can monitor and log battery cycles. I havent tried it yet so possibly others can comment better. Your post has made me think tonight i need to download it and look into it. Any other apps that can monitor battery cycles and help us ensure we dont just use the same one the whole time more than others?

Not sure what another app will tell you that the DJI Go app doesn't show. It already shows how many times the battery has been charged, the rate of all three cells, temperature of the battery and other things. Also, I label my batteries so that I don't keep using the same one.

 

[Former Member]

Thunderdrone, now you've got me wondering if my batteries are really going bad. Maybe the slight swelling I noticed is normal and I just didn't notice it before. I live in Southern California and don't fly in extreme temperatures. When my battery hits 30%, I return to home and never get under 20%. The battery doesn't get hot when it's being charged. A picture is attached that shows the slight swelling of the label area. When I push on the label, there is air behind it and it feels puffy.
View attachment 63551

That looks like a minor distortion, it should be ok as long as:

1. The battery latches in well on both sides
2. You dont get any battery errors in DJI Go 4
3. Your cells are within .2v of eachother
4. Your run time does not significantly drop off from where it used to.

 

[FlyBuddy]

That looks like a minor distortion, it should be ok as long as:

1. The battery latches in well on both sides
2. You dont get any battery errors in DJI Go 4
3. Your cells are within .2v of eachother
4. Your run time does not significantly drop off from where it used to.

Thanks for the advice. I will be watching them closely

 

[kidroc]

I had one oem batt that did slowly start to swell.. i watched it one day hovering close to me i heard a pop and one side of the batt unlocked i landed it and trashed that one i would not use that batt anymore not worth it..

 

[FlyBuddy]

I had one oem batt that did slowly start to swell.. i watched it one day hovering close to me i heard a pop and one side of the batt unlocked i landed it and trashed that one i would not use that batt anymore not worth it..

That's what I worry about, the battery swelling and popping out. I check these batts. when they're done and they haven't swollen past the hard plastic. When they get close to doing that, they're gone.

 

[Aww@Mavic]

That's what I worry about, the battery swelling and popping out. I check these batts. when they're done and they haven't swollen past the hard plastic. When they get close to doing that, they're gone.

Let's hope it crosses that threshold on the ground or as close to it as possible, and that it remains functional.
Like the Legendary Thunderdrones, I also have lipos (3s) that are over 10 years old still being used in rc cars (Traxxas Revo). Some swollen, most not, all stored safely and performing well. BUT, would I fly the Mavic with a swollen battery? Probably not