Device to analyze condition of the battery

[Rchawks]

To the tech people. Why hasn't something like this been developed to tell you if a battery has a rogue cell developing? I'm sure if a device was made to fit a mavic air 2 battery (or other) there would be a market for it. What's the limitation to creating something like this? Something that would pick up a bad cell before it caused problems, beyond the case swelling. Just curious. The drone technology is so impressive it seems something like this would be easy. I'm guessing of course that's why I asked.

Sorry; I just realized this should be in off topic. My apologies.

 

[lannes]

In DJI Fly previously you could have a look at the cell deviations any significant deviation between the cells is an indication the battery could be about to fail
This view has been removed in the current version.




In DJI Go4 you can see the cell voltages as well as the battery capacity, a significant reduction in the capacity to hold a charge would also indicate a battery issue



Post a flight you can use Airdata to check on the health of your battery

 

[Rchawks]

Wow, thank you very much for this answer.

 

[brett8883]

To the tech people. Why hasn't something like this been developed to tell you if a battery has a rogue cell developing? I'm sure if a device was made to fit a mavic air 2 battery (or other) there would be a market for it. What's the limitation to creating something like this? Something that would pick up a bad cell before it caused problems, beyond the case swelling. Just curious. The drone technology is so impressive it seems something like this would be easy. I'm guessing of course that's why I asked.

Sorry; I just realized this should be in off topic. My apologies.

About the only thing a device you could plug in would be able to read is the current voltage of the cells. The only way to tell if a cell is bad is to continuously monitor the charging and discharging of the cell. If there is a bad cell there isn’t anything you can do about it after the fact other than replace it.

Swelling is actually a good early warning sign that something is wrong with the battery in and of itself.

 

[Fort Pierce Pilot]

A hundred years ago when I worked with rechargeable hand-held radio batteries we had a unit that would discharge at a fixed rate after fully charging and measure the time to get below a certain voltage. The Airdata readouts do that with software after every flight. It is extraordinarily comprehensive. Trouble is you must take the time to look at it. Now if you can develop a device that prods pilots into routinely checking you might have something.

 

[Rchawks]

Thank you, you're right I haven't been using it, maybe I will now I appreciate the reminder.

 

[MS Coast]

About the only thing a device you could plug in would be able to read is the current voltage of the cells. The only way to tell if a cell is bad is to continuously monitor the charging and discharging of the cell. If there is a bad cell there isn’t anything you can do about it after the fact other than replace it.

Swelling is actually a good early warning sign that something is wrong with the battery in and of itself.

I suspect there's a solution that doesn't require additional hardware.

The drone and controller have computing and data storage capabilities and can display information via the connected phone or tablet. I realize that the computing and storage capacities are probably stretched thin in current models, but building in additional capacity should be relatively inexpensive. I'd be willing to shoulder a $25 - $50 price adder to have smart battery monitoring.