I was wondering if others have recently had issues with problematic batteries? My experience may indicate there’s a QC issue.
A few months ago I purchased a new DJI battery from Amazon. All was OK until about the 4th charge. Toward the end of that flight at about 20% battery remaining, I got an error indicating there was a broken cell. From this point on, one cell as shown on Flight Data, was always greater than 0.1volt different than the other 2 cells. I ended up returning this battery for a replacement. Typically the high to low of all cells is less than 0.05 volts.
The second battery did the exact same thing at about the 4th charge. I gave up on purchasing a new battery for a while, assuming that perhaps there was a bad lot.
Very recently I again purchased a new battery. All was great until the 5th charge. I was sure to gently break in this new battery, with low level close flight in case there was a problem. I monitored closely for voltage variances and other errors with no problems. The first time I took it to 250 feet and a distance away, it dropped like a rock after 2 minutes of full (not sport mode) throttle. Prior to flying I always check the battery to make sure is firmly installed. Luckily I had a trackimo mounted and could easily find the Mavic in the middle of a large farm field. An analysis of the on board flight log using the BudWalker flight analysis app (excellent app!) indicated no problems. It appeared to just stopped transmitting. An analysis of the final second indicted no sudden jarring, voltage drops, or anything out of the norm. I found the Mavic with all 4 props attached but chipped from the crash, and the battery about 5 feet away having been ejected from the impact. The battery had about a 90% charge left. Surprisingly, other than the 2 front legs being somewhat broken and the one arm being sprung back, there was little damage. I didn’t see it go down as I was looking down at the controller adjusting the antennas. Once I looked back up the drone was gone with a message on the screen indicating the drone had disconnected.
This drone has flown over 1000 miles, with no real problems to speak of. After repairing the front legs, I’ve flown the drone several times a various speeds with older batteries with no issues. The crash battery appeared fine, but I wasn’t going to push it. It’s going back.
A very close inspection of this battery did indicate a very slight bulge on the underside that wasn’t visible. It could only be felt.
I’m ordering a battery directly from DJI this time. This last battery had a manufacture date of about a year ago.
Lesson learned, be careful with new batteries. I wouldn’t consider them reliable until something over 10 flights.
A few months ago I purchased a new DJI battery from Amazon. All was OK until about the 4th charge. Toward the end of that flight at about 20% battery remaining, I got an error indicating there was a broken cell. From this point on, one cell as shown on Flight Data, was always greater than 0.1volt different than the other 2 cells. I ended up returning this battery for a replacement. Typically the high to low of all cells is less than 0.05 volts.
The second battery did the exact same thing at about the 4th charge. I gave up on purchasing a new battery for a while, assuming that perhaps there was a bad lot.
Very recently I again purchased a new battery. All was great until the 5th charge. I was sure to gently break in this new battery, with low level close flight in case there was a problem. I monitored closely for voltage variances and other errors with no problems. The first time I took it to 250 feet and a distance away, it dropped like a rock after 2 minutes of full (not sport mode) throttle. Prior to flying I always check the battery to make sure is firmly installed. Luckily I had a trackimo mounted and could easily find the Mavic in the middle of a large farm field. An analysis of the on board flight log using the BudWalker flight analysis app (excellent app!) indicated no problems. It appeared to just stopped transmitting. An analysis of the final second indicted no sudden jarring, voltage drops, or anything out of the norm. I found the Mavic with all 4 props attached but chipped from the crash, and the battery about 5 feet away having been ejected from the impact. The battery had about a 90% charge left. Surprisingly, other than the 2 front legs being somewhat broken and the one arm being sprung back, there was little damage. I didn’t see it go down as I was looking down at the controller adjusting the antennas. Once I looked back up the drone was gone with a message on the screen indicating the drone had disconnected.
This drone has flown over 1000 miles, with no real problems to speak of. After repairing the front legs, I’ve flown the drone several times a various speeds with older batteries with no issues. The crash battery appeared fine, but I wasn’t going to push it. It’s going back.
A very close inspection of this battery did indicate a very slight bulge on the underside that wasn’t visible. It could only be felt.
I’m ordering a battery directly from DJI this time. This last battery had a manufacture date of about a year ago.
Lesson learned, be careful with new batteries. I wouldn’t consider them reliable until something over 10 flights.
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