Dead Mavic Battery. "Its aliiiive Igor, its aliiiiive !"

[Conservative Nihilist]

I purchased an eBay Mavic Pro Platinum over 6 months ago, but only got to see it for the first time a week ago. The drone and its three batteries spent a couple of months sitting in a warehouse in New York waiting for shipment, followed by some weeks at sea in a containerized car, before languishing inside that same container under the relentless Equitorial sun at its destination port for and additional 3 long grueling months. Temperatures inside that shipping container were sufficiently high to not only ruin the drone's batteries but also potentially render them volatile enough to spontaneously combust, which was a disaster that I didn't even want to contemplate.

It would be an understatement to say I was worried about my Mavic Pro batteries being stuck out there in the intense heat of a sealed metal container in the tropical sun for months on end. Finally, at long last, with all the tedious paperwork completed, the container was opened up and I was able to take possession of my Mavic Pro Platinum for the first time. To my amazement, all 3 flight batteries had only discharged down to a level indicated by 3 illuminated LEDs when the power button was pressed once to test discharge levels, and in a few short hours, they were all fully charged and ready to go. There was also no indication of swelling or leakage on any of those batteries, which was certainly a relief.

The RC controller battery was however a different story. Pressed the power battery on that controller, and it was dead as a doornail with no sign of life. Having seen Youtube videos showing how complicated it is to replace the Mavic Pro controller's battery, I was not looking forward to attempting any such a delicate surgical operation, so just for the (Mod Removed Language) of it, I connected the controller for a battery charge to see what would happen. For two DAYS the controller's screen readout indicated a battery charge level of 0%, but since the charger showed no signs of overheating, I left that controller connected even as my hopes of ever using that internal battery waned.

Now, four days into the charging process of this Mavic Pro Platinum controller battery I was amazed to note that the controller display confirms a very promising 45% charge level. So, in total defiance of conventional wisdom, as it pertains to the effect of intense heat on ANY battery, I have seen the controller battery of this drone literally return from the dead. I expect to see a full 100% charge level on this controller's battery after a further 2 days of continuous charging, which to me is nothing short of a miracle. I must add that I am using an after-market multiple battery charger which has remained cool to the touch despite being powered up for nearly a week without interruption. I really have no idea if the stock Mavic Pro battery charger would have fared so well after such a long stretch remaining switched on.

Rounding up this account of a disaster averted, DJI batteries have proved to be over-engineered to survive even the most extreme temperatures, which is something I felt compelled to share here with other owners of the Mavic Pro. So, in summary, if your Mavic Pro controller battery ever dies completely, just leave it on charge for several days, and who knows, it may yet revive and resume normal operations against all odds.

Its aliiiive Igor heh heh heh, Its aliiiive !

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

It will be interesting to see if the controller holds a charge ok when in use for the first time (big open flat area, keep close, rth settings etc etc, just in case).

It will also be interesting to see if it charges next time at a more normal rate, usually quite fast, generally finished charging before my first M1P battery.
The controller battery is about 75% capacity than the drone battery, and I never really run it down too far, so maybe a full charge from a low % might take a few hours.

Personally, I feel the M1 batteries are among the best DJI ever made.

Long live Igor, and good luck with the maiden flight.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

It will be interesting to see if the controller holds a charge ok when in use for the first time (big open flat area, keep close, rth settings etc etc, just in case).

It will also be interesting to see if it charges next time at a more normal rate, usually quite fast, generally finished charging before my first M1P battery.
The controller battery is about 75% capacity than the drone battery, and I never really run it down too far, so maybe a full charge from a low % might take a few hours.

Personally, I feel the M1 batteries are among the best DJI ever made.

Long live Igor, and good luck with the maiden flight.

Until I read this post, Mavic_South_Oz, I didn't really know how long a full charge of the Mavic Pro1 Controller battery is normally supposed to take. Hearing that a controller battery charges quickly is confirmation that batteries left in a discharged state for months can indeed suffer permanent damage.

Last year I imported a Mavic Pro that went through the same long delay during and subsequent to a sea voyage, after which its controller also required a few days of charging to reach 100% capacity. All subsequent charges from say 50% to full battery, have taken quite a few hours longer than the time taken to charge flight batteries after each use.

The likelihood is that a degree of irreparable permanent damage has likely been done to the RC controller batteries of both my Mavic Pro and my newly arrived Mavic Pro Platinum, so maybe I will at some point have to learn how to replace those controller batteries from the youtube videos I spotted on the subject.

I will definitely follow your wise advice to start off with short test flights within visual range and away from obstacles until I am sure that the controller battery will hold out and not do anything unexpected mid-flight. I'll write an update on my first test flight with this new-to-me Mavic Pro Platinum, whose controller battery and flight battery performance I will be monitoring closely before venturing out any further afield.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Excellent account. My MPP is smiling!

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

I just made a startling discovery that would have eluded me forever if I hadn't ordered a Mavic Pro Platinum in addition to my existing Mavic Pro. Turns out that the RC controller charging CABLE supplied with my first Mavic Pro was defective and only supplied a fraction of the normal charging current.

When the controller of that first Mavic Pro took hours to charge, I put it down to the controller's battery being degraded by having been left uncharged for six months during the shipping journey. The charging cable did seem to fit a bit looser than normal in its connection to the controller, but since it did charge the controller at a snail's pace, I never considered the possibility that there might be anything wrong with the cable itself.

Despite the arrival of my Mavic Pro Platinum with its own brand new controller charging cable, I at first still continued using the old charging cable until just today when I decided to give the new cable a try. To my amazement, the RC controller's charging rate suddenly lept into overdrive with the new cable plugged in, and in a scant 30 minutes each, BOTH RC controllers were filled to 100% capacity.

With this revelation, I now understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the battery in the controllers of both my Mavics and nothing wrong with any of the flight batteries either, despite the half-year all those batteries spent in a nearly discharged state. I posted this detailed account describing my comedy of errors here just in case anyone else notices an abnormally slow charging rate on their RC controller, and suspects the battery to be the culprit, rather than the charging cable.

 

[Alex Baxter]

I just made a startling discovery that would have eluded me forever if I hadn't ordered a Mavic Pro Platinum in addition to my existing Mavic Pro. Turns out that the RC controller charging CABLE supplied with my first Mavic Pro was defective and only supplied a fraction of the normal charging current.

When the controller of that first Mavic Pro took hours to charge, I put it down to the controller's battery being degraded by having been left uncharged for six months during the shipping journey. The charging cable did seem to fit a bit looser than normal in its connection to the controller, but since it did charge the controller at a snail's pace, I never considered the possibility that there might be anything wrong with the cable itself.

Despite the arrival of my Mavic Pro Platinum with its own brand new controller charging cable, I at first still continued using the old charging cable until just today when I decided to give the new cable a try. To my amazement, the RC controller's charging rate suddenly lept into overdrive with the new cable plugged in, and in a scant 30 minutes each, BOTH RC controllers were filled to 100% capacity.

With this revelation, I now understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the battery in the controllers of both my Mavics and nothing wrong with any of the flight batteries either, despite the half-year all those batteries spent in a nearly discharged state. I posted this detailed account describing my comedy of errors here just in case anyone else notices an abnormally slow charging rate on their RC controller, and suspects the battery to be the culprit, rather than the charging cable.

Interestingly, the pro battery life is quoted as 300 charges at <40°C, and 200 charges at >40°C. One of my 2016 pro batteries has 116 cycles on it (about 900km) and is at 89% life, the others are at about 50 cycles each. I did have a battery replaced by DJI after a cell failure early in it's life, but have never had any other problems with DJI batteries on my plethora of drones.

What remaining life are your batteries reporting, just interested?​

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