Must be very stupid, but it seems to help

[Heijst]

I had the practice to fly every weekend with my MA. After every flight I reloaded the used batteries till 100%, just to be ready for the next flight.
This is not what DJI suggests, but nevertheless I did it, because, maybe, I wanted to fly on Monday, or Tuesday, or . . .

My behavior was punished by swollen batteries, which I noticed more or less half a year later.
Although I already bought new batteries, I tried to reshape the swollen ones by using a clamp,
step by step pushing more pressure and after repeating this for more than two weeks,
I notice that they become more flat again. Not as new, but surely better, I think.

Now I am ready for loads of mud, or is there anyone who can support me with his own practice?

 

[The Editor]

I had the practice to fly every weekend with my MA. After every flight I reloaded the used batteries till 100%, just to be ready for the next flight.
This is not what DJI suggests, but nevertheless I did it, because, maybe, I wanted to fly on Monday, or Tuesday, or . . .

My behavior was punished by swollen batteries, which I noticed more or less half a year later.
Although I already bought new batteries, I tried to reshape the swollen ones by using a clamp,
step by step pushing more pressure and after repeating this for more than two weeks,
I notice that they become more flat again. Not as new, but surely better, I think.

Now I am ready for loads of mud, or is there anyone who can support me with his own practice?

View attachment 93249

Is this an early April Fools Joke?

 

[Checki]

Mud!!!

You probably burn in mud soon...

 

[bonmot]

I have been using a lot of LIPOs through my helicopters and racing cars. After they start gassing, you better stop using it.
You can argue it may save you some money, which is true, and I did that many many times.
But for my helicopter and racing cars, they are always close , 100 feet max. When the battery voltage start dropping, my monitor will start beeping (very loud), and I can normally tell from the performance. So I can bring the vehicle back in 15 seconds.
One of the biggest problem on a weak or defective LIPO is the end of curve, which is a sudden drop, which give us no time to bring a drone back from 5 minutes away.

 

[Thanev]

Throw them away!
I mean...dispose if them in a safe manner,but stop using them....

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Totally agree with others here. Squeezing those batteries with a clamp could lead to a rupture and a fire. Get rid of them quickly.

 

[Thanev]

Totally agree with others here. Squeezing those batteries with a clamp could lead to a rupture and a fire. Get rid of them quickly.

Yes.Catastrophic Lipo failure is not nice. Especially if it happens if you are away or asleep....

 

[Flycaster]

You can start here:

 

[old man mavic]

there's always one

 

[Manty]

How do most dispose of their Lipos?

 

[old man mavic]

the safest way is to take them to a specialist battery recyclers that can dispose of them safely

 

[Manty]

Thanks have not had to dispose of any yet

 

[AngaraAnil]

I had the practice to fly every weekend with my MA. After every flight I reloaded the used batteries till 100%, just to be ready for the next flight.
This is not what DJI suggests, but nevertheless I did it, because, maybe, I wanted to fly on Monday, or Tuesday, or . . .

My behavior was punished by swollen batteries, which I noticed more or less half a year later.
Although I already bought new batteries, I tried to reshape the swollen ones by using a clamp,
step by step pushing more pressure and after repeating this for more than two weeks,
I notice that they become more flat again. Not as new, but surely better, I think.

Now I am ready for loads of mud, or is there anyone who can support me with his own practice?

View attachment 93249

What DJI recommends

 

[BigAl07]

I had the practice to fly every weekend with my MA. After every flight I reloaded the used batteries till 100%, just to be ready for the next flight.
This is not what DJI suggests, but nevertheless I did it, because, maybe, I wanted to fly on Monday, or Tuesday, or . . .

My behavior was punished by swollen batteries, which I noticed more or less half a year later.
Although I already bought new batteries, I tried to reshape the swollen ones by using a clamp,
step by step pushing more pressure and after repeating this for more than two weeks,
I notice that they become more flat again. Not as new, but surely better, I think.

Now I am ready for loads of mud, or is there anyone who can support me with his own practice?

View attachment 93249

That's a very unsafe process. The "puffing" is a by-product of the components of the battery breaking down and off-gassing. It's a sealed unit and the "gases" are trapped inside resulting in the "Swollen" state.

They should be taken out of Flight Service for a couple of reasons:

• a) They are no longer able to deliver the PUNCH needed for the aircraft to sustain high current maneuvers
• b) their total capacity has been reduced but the algorithm to determine battery % remaining may not be accurate... aka similar to a broken fuel gauge on your automobile.
• c) The swelling can cause enough deformity to where the battery does not fully engage in the locking mechanism and could become dislodged IN FLIGHT (return to terra firms like a rock).

We keep a couple of puffed batteries for testing and software/firmware updates and I have an adapter to be able to use them to charge USB devices (iPad, Phone etc).

 

[hashfly]

Even a fire extinguisher won't put out a lipo fire, do some research before you burn your house down

I really hope this post was a joke

 

[Pontoon-pilot]

That's a very unsafe process. The "puffing" is a by-product of the components of the battery breaking down and off-gassing. It's a sealed unit and the "gases" are trapped inside resulting in the "Swollen" state.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
this right here, above/
These hard shell packs usually have 3 cells inside. Each cell is a sealed pouch with liquid in it.
When the lipo cell about to die/overcharged/undercharged/overdraws too fast, it releases gas inside the sealed pouch causing the puffing.
When you try to squeeze on puffed up battery the gas has no place to go and you will surely rupture the pouch inside the hard shell casing of your battery.
The gas and liquid will be squeezed out of the pouch. When you try to charge it or use it, you are ready for the surprise of what a bad lipo can do. Smoke, fire, or nothing.
If the OP's post was a joke, it was a bad one.

PS: usually you can still use a puffed battery for a short while for less demanding tasks, for example: low-draw power source, but the pack will always be unbalanced- meaning one cell will have less voltage/capacity.

 

[Thanev]

I try to discharge it as far as possible,then leave it in some salt water for a while.Then drop it off at a battery recycling depot.

Puffed Lipo Battery: Why they swell and what to do about it • LearningRC

Anybody who uses lipos will eventually encounter a puffy or swollen battery. And the first question that inevitably comes up is "What should I do?"

learningrc.com

 

[theDRONEranger]

Please DO NOT keep these batteries in the house or anywhere else near other combustibles. Remove them, immediately to a safe nonflammable storage area until you can safely transport to a proper disposal location!

 

[Heijst]

First of all, many thanks for the (mostly) kind responses.

DJI states “Never use or charge swollen . . . batteries “.
In the same Guidelines they even say “Do not place heavy objects on the batteries . . .”.
So why did I start my stupid experiment by carefully squeezing them (with apparently good results? It’s because I couldn’t quickly remember DJI batteries (for the MA) getting fire or fallen out of the sky as a result of a puffed battery.

My question now is: what is considered a swollen battery? It that 0.5 mm thicker, 1 mm, 4 mm?

My own common sense brought me to the following practice.
When a battery is getting thicker, it is hard to lock it in the MA. The more pressure I have to use to lock it in, the easier it can snap out of the lock. When this would happen in mid-air, it would be a disaster of course.

My own rule at this moment is: when I have to put too much pressure, f.i. only possible with heavy pressing two thumbs together, I stop using the swollen battery.

I wish I could discover more about the status of a battery from the voltages of the cells, but that doesn’t make sense for me. I’ll show the results of (ad random) three of my batteries, of which one was puffed.

3.94​	3.98​	3.96​	11.87​
3.97​	3.98​	3.97​	11.92​
3.97​	3.98​	3.97​	11.91​

So the question remains:
What is the best way to recognize a bad battery?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Dbez1]

Related question, not only for me but for all MM pilots...
The MM use Lithium Ion batteries and not Lipo. I saw on utube that it’s ok to keep them charged at 100% and that it’s also ok to use them down to say 40% and recharge. In other words, they have no memory. Is this good information or not??? I’m aware that you can’t believe everything you see on utube or the internet. Thanks.