Really discouraged right now...

[BJR981S]

p.s. Here is the text from the Battery Safety manual.

Battery Maintenance
1. Never over-discharge, as this may lead to battery cell damage.
2. Battery life may be reduced if not used for a long time.
3. Fullly charge and discharge the battery at least once every 3 months to
maintain battery health.

Relevant text highlighted.
I have a mavic pro and the batteries are LiPos not LiHvs

They are LiHvs. Check the cell voltages when fully charged. A LiPo cell fully charged is 4.2V an LiHv cell fully charged is 4.4V

Cheers

 

[BJR981S]

DJI's software/firmware won't allow the user to draw the battery to 0 unless they override the low battery warnings.

Not correct. The low battery warnings are an application dji go 4 app warning and only relate to warnings in flight. The are not absolute nor enforced. You can see this fact in threads that complain of batteries being fully discharged in flight down to zero and the drone falling from the sky.
.

 

[BJR981S]

All four batteries are stuffed? Its your charger. Buy a new certified original dji charger, buy new batteries and happy days.

Read the thread and see the improper operation by the OP on discharging battery to zero and leaving them discharged.

 

[Photo Booth]

Yep, running them down to zero is a mistake. See the first line of DJI's Battery Maintenance guidelines. "1. Never over-discharge, as this may lead to battery cell damage." Cell damage is when you get swelling.

Mark

 

[Mike4884]

Okay I'll try to keep this short and sweet op did do some things wrong but really not your fault since you didn't know.... so coming from a heavy RC background especially helicopters 3d having 12s and 14 s stick packs all the way down to 1s pack.... we always followed certain rules. .. 1st u have your 80/20 rules meaning never fly below 20% and always put 80% back into the pack. Never ever let your packs it for more than a few weeks at any voltage try to keep at room temps. Basically lipos like to slowly discharge overtime so you must always check on them. You had them set to 10 days just charge which is way too long in my mind also you would fly only once or twice a month as you stated? I usually do 2 days discharge.... 10 days is too long for a fully charge lipo to be sitting around that will cause swelling also heat will cause swelling another factor that will cause swelling is over discharging....ie taking the battery down lower then 3.72 per cell.... like I said on my batteries I don't like to go past 20% I know DJI batteries have a little reserved so sometimes I might fly to 15% but that is it..... also this Hocus Pocus about discharging your batteries all the way to 0% every few months is just the most asinine thing I have ever heard of in my entire life, I don't care what DJI says. I laughed when I read that a year ago or 2 years ago if I would have done that with my 14 s stick pack I would be out 500 bucks! That is just bull ....the only reason why I would say it would work is to reset the board that's inside the battery but I still would not do that it just seems too dangerous to take a lipo that low.... put it this way I have been flying DJI drones for 3 or 4 years and I have never ever done that I follow my 80-20 rule and never had a problem with batteries ever.



Edited: spelling / talk to text errors

 

[dangerousdavekincaid]

Long story short. Use your batteries. If not used in a month or so you probably should charge them up. Then let them discharge as they are SMART BATTERIES they are. I now mainly fly my new Mavic Zoom, but have to charge up my Air, Spark, Mavic pro, and Inspire batteries regularly. I let a couple inspire batteries go for almost a year and they were toast. One was swollen and the other was discharged to low showing a fast blinking light which indicates not operable.
.

 

[Clinton1]

Okay I'll try to keep this short and sweet op did do some things wrong but really not your fault since you didn't know.... Joe coming from a heavy RC background especially helicopters 3d having 1ws and 14 s stick packs all the way down to 1s pack.... we always followed certain rules. .. 1st u have your 80/20 rules meaning never fly below 20% and always put 80% back into the pack. Never ever let your packs it for more than a few weeks at any voltage try to keep at room temps. Basically lipos like to slowly discharge overtime so you must always check on them. You had them set to 10 days just charge which is way too long in my mind also you would fly only once or twice a month as you stated? I usually do 2 days discharge.... 10 days is too long for a fully charge lipo to be sitting around that will cause swelling also heat will cause swelling another factor that will cause swelling is over discharging....ie taking the battery down lower then three point 3.72 per cell.... like I said on my batteries I don't like to go past 20% I know DJI batteries have a little reserved so sometimes I might fly to 15% but that is it also this Hocus Pocus about discharging your batteries all the way to 0% every few months is just the most asinine thing I have ever heard of in my entire life I laughed when I read that a year ago or 2 years ago if I would have done that with my 14 s stick pack I would be out 500 bucks! That is just full of the only reason why I would say it would work is to reset the bored that's inside the battery but I still would not do that it just seems too dangerous to take a lipo that low.... put it this way I have been flying DJI drones for 3 or 4 years and I have never ever done that I follow my 80-20 rule and never had a problem with batteries ever

Very well said. I was waiting for someone to spell out how a lipo battery should be treated. Also come from 3d Heli's, and that is how you looked after your batteries. This 10 day thing of having a battery sit fully charged is so wrong. I also use the 80/20 rule, and my batteries never had any problems. The thing is a lot of people think that the batteries are made by DJI. Also wrong, there are only between 3-5 battery manufacturers in the whole world. So yes, you will have batteries fail in a short period, or last very long, if you look after them. Anything that is made by a human, can, and will fail. Period.

 

[KostasNK]

I also have 4 batteries for one year and some months now. I have 480flights (around) 120 charge-discharge cycles on each battery, I should check each one in the dji app because the forth I bought after a few months so it is newer. 3 of the batteries started swelling 2 months ago.
The newer one swelled. Only one of the original ones has not swelled...
I stopped flying very often the last few months and for the sake of safety I won't use the swelled batteries anymore. So I will need to buy 3 new ones...
Is 120 charge cycles enough to cause a swell in the mavic pro batteries?

 

[Mike4884]

Very well said. I was waiting for someone to spell out how a lipo battery should be treated. Also come from 3d Heli's, and that is how you looked after your batteries. This 10 day thing of having a battery sit fully charged is so wrong. I also use the 80/20 rule, and my batteries never had any problems. The thing is a lot of people think that the batteries are made by DJI. Also wrong, there are only between 3-5 battery manufacturers in the whole world. So yes, you will have batteries fail in a short period, or last very long, if you look after them. Anything that is made by a human, can, and will fail. Period.

Very true .... yes LiPO batteries will fail sometimes prematurely but if you do look after them the right way they will last a few hundred Cycles or more so far with my DJI batteries I have had none fail.... so I'm thinking the way we look after the batteries, its the right way to do it. A lot of these guys have never had bigger packs or High-C rating packs or good RC LiPO chargers so they don't really understand how LiPO batteries work and what is essential and taking care of them. Not really their fault though because you're not really learning anything with a DJI charger, so you have to do more research also. Standard DJI Chargers don't let you set a storage charge you can't see your voltages nor can you check IR ratings.... for the guys that need to learn how to care for lipos there are some good websites that will help with that. Most common thing I see with new guys is leaving batteries fully charged or taking them down too far.

Edit... I must say DJI should really take the 10 day discharge out of the app that is just too long I think even 7 days is too long. Especially if you are in a hot environment and the batteries aren't at a nice temperature....anyway I would say 3 or 4 days Max and that is Max!!!

 

[Mike4884]

I also have 4 batteries for one year and some months now. I have 480flights (around) 120 charge-discharge cycles on each battery, I should check each one in the dji app because the forth I bought after a few months so it is newer. 3 of the batteries started swelling 2 months ago.
The newer one swelled. Only one of the original ones has not swelled...
I stopped flying very often the last few months and for the sake of safety I won't use the swelled batteries anymore. So I will need to buy 3 new ones...
Is 120 charge cycles enough to cause a swell in the mavic pro batteries?

Not really mavic Pro batteries should be good for well over 200 Cycles how did you take care of your batteries? Have u left them charged/sitting alot? Taking them down past 15 or 20% a lot? Do you leave them discharged for long periods? Lipos are very picky that's the best way to explain it you pretty much have to Baby them if you want them to last

 

[Clinton1]

Very true .... yes LiPO batteries will fail sometimes prematurely but if you do look after them the right way they will last a few hundred Cycles or more so far with my DJI batteries I have had none fail.... so I'm thinking the way we look after the batteries, its the right way to do it. A lot of these guys have never had bigger packs or High-C rating packs or good RC LiPO chargers so they don't really understand how LiPO batteries work and what is essential and taking care of them. Not really their fault though because you're not really learning anything with a DJI charger, so you have to do more research also. Standard DJI Chargers don't let you set a storage charge you can't see your voltages nor can you check IR ratings.... for the guys that need to learn how to care for lipos there are some good websites that will help with that. Most common thing I see with new guys is leaving batteries fully charged or taking them down too far.

Edit... I must say DJI should really take the 10 day discharge out of the app that is just too long I think even 7 days is too long. Especially if you are in a hot environment and the batteries aren't at a nice temperature....anyway I would say 3 or 4 days Max and that is Max!!!

Amen to all of this. It feels like i found a long lost brother in the way you also see the problems the guys are having with these batteries, and how to care for them. As you say, none of them are really at fault for not knowing. It is the way the technology of today has taken away the learning process of what really is involved in all the aspects of rc flight. Here i see DJI as the biggest culprit. To make more money, they have to appeal to the masses, without a steep learning curve. That is why there are so few rc plane and - helicopter pilots out there, compared with the amount of drones in the market place. It takes months of practice to get your first successful flight, without ending up in a heap of destroyed gear. Rambling on to long. The point is guys must learn how to treat there batteries the proper way, and not trust what is hyped as "intelligent batteries"

 

[Mike4884]

It is the way the technology of today has taken away the learning process of what really is involved in all the aspects of rc flight. Here i see DJI as the biggest culprit. To make more money, they have to appeal to the masses, without a steep learning curve."

Couldnt have said it any better!

 

[geckotrap]

About a month ago my drone crashed to the ground like a rock. What happened is there battery swelled and disconnected in flight. Fortunately, it was close to the ground and there was minimal damage. Yesterday I flew again and my drone kept disconnecting from 30 feet away. I thought it was some sort of interference. When I landed to change batteries, the battery practically shot off from the pressure that had built up between the battery and the release. I'm really disappointed. It looks like I'm going to have to I replace four batteries that are only a year old and have only been used less than twenty times. It's going to cost $80 each to replace. That's $240!!!!!!! I get that batteries have a limited life, but only year? They still hold a charge and run for twenty minutes. The batteries swell, push away from the connectors and the drone disconnects. Best case scenario, the drone only disconnects. Worst case, it drops from the sky like a rock. How long do you think these batteries should last?

I read as many answers I could stand, and as far as I read, no one has a possible solution that I have. All batteries, means you happened to get batteries that are all faulty in the same way? Not probable. Even batteries that you purchased or received at the same time were not manufactured side by side on the assembly line! Maybe in our imaginations.
Same single charger, maybe. Faulty drone, perhaps. But my question to you, especially since you mentioned your research exposed "Gas buildup", is Do you live in an area with High humidity?
I live in the tropics, and camera equipment needs special treatment, in order not to suffer common problems of high humidity.

 

[HDIRON]

Yep, running them down to zero is a mistake. See the first line of DJI's Battery Maintenance guidelines. "1. Never over-discharge, as this may lead to battery cell damage." Cell damage is when you get swelling.

Mark

Does it matter if you leave the battery in the Mavic or should you take it out when storing the drone for a few weeks, or months?

 

[DanMan32]

I just thought of something: you don't happen to often keep them in a hot or very cold car, do you?

 

[kidroc]

We ruled out that the charger may have overcharged the batteries because of their smart function. It could be logical that the drone had an issue which would effect all four batteries about the same time. I'm going to figure out how to post the flight info so that possibly someone might find a clue.

Thank you for caring.

On that note the charger is biult into the battery so each batt has a charger inside it.. Your power brick is just that a device to supply power to the batts internal charger

 

[Danzo]

About a month ago my drone crashed to the ground like a rock. What happened is there battery swelled and disconnected in flight. Fortunately, it was close to the ground and there was minimal damage. Yesterday I flew again and my drone kept disconnecting from 30 feet away. I thought it was some sort of interference. When I landed to change batteries, the battery practically shot off from the pressure that had built up between the battery and the release. I'm really disappointed. It looks like I'm going to have to I replace four batteries that are only a year old and have only been used less than twenty times. It's going to cost $80 each to replace. That's $240!!!!!!! I get that batteries have a limited life, but only year? They still hold a charge and run for twenty minutes. The batteries swell, push away from the connectors and the drone disconnects. Best case scenario, the drone only disconnects. Worst case, it drops from the sky like a rock. How long do you think these batteries should last?

One of the biggest ways to puff up a lipo is to fly to LONG. Never dran under 20% (my experience) it’s hard to overcharge with DJI charger, very easy to fly too long and kill battery.

 

[Wispa]

Another newbie here. I leave my batteries permanently on the charger - three batteries in three slots - but note that they will drop down to around 60% if they remain untouched. I fly them all around once a fortnight. I have had them around two years and have noticed no deterioration in performance.

 

[Mike4884]

Another newbie here. I leave my batteries permanently on the charger - three batteries in three slots - but note that they will drop down to around 60% if they remain untouched. I fly them all around once a fortnight. I have had them around two years and have noticed no deterioration in performance.

Consider yourself lucky.....or your discharge is set to 2 or 3 days

 

[mbsz53]

Okay I'll try to keep this short and sweet op did do some things wrong but really not your fault since you didn't know.... so coming from a heavy RC background especially helicopters 3d having 12s and 14 s stick packs all the way down to 1s pack.... we always followed certain rules. .. 1st u have your 80/20 rules meaning never fly below 20% and always put 80% back into the pack. Never ever let your packs it for more than a few weeks at any voltage try to keep at room temps. Basically lipos like to slowly discharge overtime so you must always check on them. You had them set to 10 days just charge which is way too long in my mind also you would fly only once or twice a month as you stated? I usually do 2 days discharge.... 10 days is too long for a fully charge lipo to be sitting around that will cause swelling also heat will cause swelling another factor that will cause swelling is over discharging....ie taking the battery down lower then 3.72 per cell.... like I said on my batteries I don't like to go past 20% I know DJI batteries have a little reserved so sometimes I might fly to 15% but that is it..... also this Hocus Pocus about discharging your batteries all the way to 0% every few months is just the most asinine thing I have ever heard of in my entire life, I don't care what DJI says. I laughed when I read that a year ago or 2 years ago if I would have done that with my 14 s stick pack I would be out 500 bucks! That is just bull ....the only reason why I would say it would work is to reset the board that's inside the battery but I still would not do that it just seems too dangerous to take a lipo that low.... put it this way I have been flying DJI drones for 3 or 4 years and I have never ever done that I follow my 80-20 rule and never had a problem with batteries ever.



Edited: spelling / talk to text errors

Thank you for taking the time to thoughtfully reply. From what I've researched and consensus from other replies, your answer send to be the most succinct. Everything I did was instructed per the mavic manual. For my situation, I think the this I did that had the most detriment was letting them go below the auto discharge for too long and the batteries being subjected to Florida heat (although below the operating tolerance). I wish I had known how sensitive these batteries are upfront and had better specific guidelines for care. I believe following DJI suggestions actually contributed to the issues with my batteries. I really like your 80/20 rule. To make sure I'm clear, you suggest to discharge after 3-4 days and then maintain about 80%? Do you top off before flying?

Thanks again.