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Swelling Battery caused Crash

HarrySmooth

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May 21, 2019
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I was flying my Mavic pro platinum over water and was returning to home and got about 3 foot over the land ( thank God ) and my battery just popped off… I noticed that the battery had swelled up but I didn’t think about taking a picture of it at the time but I wrote DJI and supplied them with my flight records and everything else they asked for and they wanted me to return my Mavic to them for analysis… I tried to explain it’s not a problem with my Mavic it’s a problem with their swelling batteries but they still wanted me to return the Mavic for to them for analysis and I refused, because they couldn’t tell me if it was going to cost anything or not, so I wasn’t about to return my Mavic to them and then end up with a $300 bill for servicing, when I know after reading these posts that I’m not the only one that’s had this problem! In my opinion they should offer free insurance and rebuild the batteries correctly to where they will not swell… I’m really pissed… Now I’m scared to fly over water !
 
If the battery is close to “brand new” why not have the initial conversation with the supplier (let them have the war with DJI)?
 
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Well, I learned one thing about my batteries, when they were brand new they all had a loud hard click/mount to the drones chassis. I have 5 batteries for the Mavic 2 Zoom. I numbered them as I received them 1-5...

Battery#1 Click is barely noticable, the mount is barely felt.

Now let's take a walk through Battery Park...

Battery #2 Click is slightly audible and the mount is slightly felt
So, as the battery #'s go up the click gets louder and the mount feels tighter.

OBSERVATION:
Battery #1 has a slight bulging at the bottom, if I hold the battery up and level it to the eye a slight bulge is present..
Battery# 2 bulge is there but not as bad as Battery-# 1.

The bulge goes away as the Battery number goes up.
The bulge disappears at Battery # 3.

My batteries: The bulge coincides with how loud the click sounds while mounting to the drones chassis. The bigger the bulge the less sound it makes while mounting the battery and less of a positive mount.

Battery # 5 HAS no bulge at all. It produces the loudest click sound and I feel the battery lockup to the chassis.
 
I was flying my Mavic pro platinum over water and was returning to home and got about 3 foot over the land ( thank God ) and my battery just popped off… I noticed that the battery had swelled up but I didn’t think about taking a picture of it at the time but I wrote DJI and supplied them with my flight records and everything else they asked for and they wanted me to return my Mavic to them for analysis… I tried to explain it’s not a problem with my Mavic it’s a problem with their swelling batteries but they still wanted me to return the Mavic for to them for analysis and I refused, because they couldn’t tell me if it was going to cost anything or not, so I wasn’t about to return my Mavic to them and then end up with a $300 bill for servicing, when I know after reading these posts that I’m not the only one that’s had this problem! In my opinion they should offer free insurance and rebuild the batteries correctly to where they will not swell… I’m really pissed… Now I’m scared to fly over water !
if you gave your drone you were wrong. you return the object with problems, so the battery is not the drone, I have been taken to a drone I have never had because internal politics is so they will also make good products but you can not say the same what for assistance. sorry for the errors foofle use translate. other note have sold millions of pieces in Italy but have not yet developed an appkicazione in Italian they have not supposrto in Italian and neither have the manuals they are found perhaps 12 months after the exit of the drone is not right. AUTEL does not sell in Italy yet they give support in crazy Italian language.
 
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Well, I learned one thing about my batteries, when they were brand new they all had a loud hard click/mount to the drones chassis. I have 5 batteries for the Mavic 2 Zoom. I numbered them as I received them 1-5...

Battery#1 Click is barely noticable, the mount is barely felt.

Now let's take a walk through Battery Park...

Battery #2 Click is slightly audible and the mount is slightly felt
So, as the battery #'s go up the click gets louder and the mount feels tighter.

OBSERVATION:
Battery #1 has a slight bulging at the bottom, if I hold the battery up and level it to the eye a slight bulge is present..
Battery# 2 bulge is there but not as bad as Battery-# 1.

The bulge goes away as the Battery number goes up.
The bulge disappears at Battery # 3.

My batteries: The bulge coincides with how loud the click sounds while mounting to the drones chassis. The bigger the bulge the less sound it makes while mounting the battery and less of a positive mount.

Battery # 5 HAS no bulge at all. It produces the loudest click sound and I feel the battery lockup to the chassis.
it is a logical consequence it could not be otherwise
 
Well, I learned one thing about my batteries, when they were brand new they all had a loud hard click/mount to the drones chassis. I have 5 batteries for the Mavic 2 Zoom. I numbered them as I received them 1-5...

Battery#1 Click is barely noticable, the mount is barely felt.

Now let's take a walk through Battery Park...

Battery #2 Click is slightly audible and the mount is slightly felt
So, as the battery #'s go up the click gets louder and the mount feels tighter.

OBSERVATION:
Battery #1 has a slight bulging at the bottom, if I hold the battery up and level it to the eye a slight bulge is present..
Battery# 2 bulge is there but not as bad as Battery-# 1.

The bulge goes away as the Battery number goes up.
The bulge disappears at Battery # 3.

My batteries: The bulge coincides with how loud the click sounds while mounting to the drones chassis. The bigger the bulge the less sound it makes while mounting the battery and less of a positive mount.

Battery # 5 HAS no bulge at all. It produces the loudest click sound and I feel the battery lockup to the chassis.
When that bulge gets big enough you have no sound- especially not from the propellers.
 
Were these genuine DJI batteries, or clones?

I have just gone through this, so I feel somewhat knowledgeable on the subject.

I had four batteries for my MPP. I would generally keep them all charged (you never know when you'll need to go flying, right?), and I would store them in my MPP backpack in the back of my car. Over the last two months, we've had MANY 100+ degree days here in Sacramento. This means 120+ degrees inside the locked car, esp. if parking in the sun. I've come to find out (from this forum) that heat is really bad for these batteries, and causes them to swell, esp. when stored with a full charge.

So now I have two batteries that are swelled beyond my comfort zone. They will barely plug into the Mavic. Since I don't trust them, I have disposed of them (not worth my investment to chance flying with them), and bought two new batteries, which are completely flat on the bottom, like they should be.

Lesson learned: 1) Do not carry charged batteries in hot weather in the car, and 2) Take the drone case out of the car and bring it inside with me when I go to work or home.

This has solved my swelling issues so far.
 
If you have a swelled battery that will still mount and otherwise has decent capacity, instead of throwing it out, use it as a "maintenance" battery to power the AC for firmware updates, file transfers, going over settings, etc, or as a power bank with an adapter.
 
Were these genuine DJI batteries, or clones?

I have just gone through this, so I feel somewhat knowledgeable on the subject.

I had four batteries for my MPP. I would generally keep them all charged (you never know when you'll need to go flying, right?), and I would store them in my MPP backpack in the back of my car. Over the last two months, we've had MANY 100+ degree days here in Sacramento. This means 120+ degrees inside the locked car, esp. if parking in the sun. I've come to find out (from this forum) that heat is really bad for these batteries, and causes them to swell, esp. when stored with a full charge.

So now I have two batteries that are swelled beyond my comfort zone. They will barely plug into the Mavic. Since I don't trust them, I have disposed of them (not worth my investment to chance flying with them), and bought two new batteries, which are completely flat on the bottom, like they should be.

Lesson learned: 1) Do not carry charged batteries in hot weather in the car, and 2) Take the drone case out of the car and bring it inside with me when I go to work or home.

This has solved my swelling issues so far.
Were these genuine DJI batteries, or clones?

I have just gone through this, so I feel somewhat knowledgeable on the subject.

I had four batteries for my MPP. I would generally keep them all charged (you never know when you'll need to go flying, right?), and I would store them in my MPP backpack in the back of my car. Over the last two months, we've had MANY 100+ degree days here in Sacramento. This means 120+ degrees inside the locked car, esp. if parking in the sun. I've come to find out (from this forum) that heat is really bad for these batteries, and causes them to swell, esp. when stored with a full charge.

So now I have two batteries that are swelled beyond my comfort zone. They will barely plug into the Mavic. Since I don't trust them, I have disposed of them (not worth my investment to chance flying with them), and bought two new batteries, which are completely flat on the bottom, like they should be.

Lesson learned: 1) Do not carry charged batteries in hot weather in the car, and 2) Take the drone case out of the car and bring it inside with me when I go to work or home.

This has solved my swelling issues so far.
Were these genuine DJI batteries, or clones?

I have just gone through this, so I feel somewhat knowledgeable on the subject.

I had four batteries for my MPP. I would generally keep them all charged (you never know when you'll need to go flying, right?), and I would store them in my MPP backpack in the back of my car. Over the last two months, we've had MANY 100+ degree days here in Sacramento. This means 120+ degrees inside the locked car, esp. if parking in the sun. I've come to find out (from this forum) that heat is really bad for these batteries, and causes them to swell, esp. when stored with a full charge.

So now I have two batteries that are swelled beyond my comfort zone. They will barely plug into the Mavic. Since I don't trust them, I have disposed of them (not worth my investment to chance flying with them), and bought two new batteries, which are completely flat on the bottom, like they should be.

Lesson learned: 1) Do not carry charged batteries in hot weather in the car, and 2) Take the drone case out of the car and bring it inside with me when I go to work or home.

This has solved my swelling issues so far.
Hello, thanks for your reply… I live in Florida where the inside of a car can easily reach 150° but I never leave my MPP in the car… Ever! It was a hot day when I was flying and the battery popped off… I have five batteries all brand new… And I, like you keep them charged. I now take a small bungee cord and wrap it tightly around my MPP being careful not to obstruct the sensors just for an extra layer of security, but there was no way I was going to send my MPP back to DJI for analysis especially since they couldn’t tell me if it was gonna cost anything or not… That’s just ridiculous, I sent them my flight records and everything else they asked for it’s not a MPP issue it is a battery issue and it needs to be addressed! This is an engineering flaw
Thank you very much for your insight! It helped a lot, And by the way yes they are genuine DJI batteries
 
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I’m having the same issue with P4P batteries as well as M2P. I can’t help but travel with both drones in a hot car. I have to go to multiple job sites throughout the day. I’ve considered carrying new batteries in a cooler while transporting during the day. I hate it that batteries are worthless after just a small amount of flights, but then drones are way more expensive so I suck it up and take old batteries out of service.
 
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If you have a swelled battery that will still mount and otherwise has decent capacity, instead of throwing it out, use it as a "maintenance" battery to power the AC for firmware updates, file transfers, going over settings, etc, or as a power bank with an adapter.
Because they can catch fire, and by all accounts, LiPo fires are very difficult to put out.
 
...And I, like you keep them charged...
Don't do that. I've read tons of forum posts and watched lots of videos about this. The consistent message is to store them within the recommended tenperature range (which I cannot remember off the top of my head, except to recall that with my A/C I keep my apartment at about 24C, and that's perfect for these batteries), and always discharge them to below 50%, but don't let them discharge completely either (running your batteries down to 0%, for example, is a great way to severely shorten their lifespan).

They are intelligent batteries, and will self-discharge (to protect themselves) after several days if you store them fully charged, but this generates heat, so if your storage area isn't nice and cool, you may also exceed their storage temperature.

Now, I don't personally know if this is true, but it seems to be the official position, therefore if you ignore it, DJI has a strong position from which to refuse replacement if it is found they were stored fully charged, or outside of recommended temperatures. Your call.
 
UPDATE: Tonight could of been disastrous. I could of lost my Mavic 2 Zoom. I know some of my 5 batteries are displaying battery buldge. As mentioned in one of my above posting I have only 5 batteries. I numbered them 1-5 with 5 the newest one bought. #1 battery came with the AC. They seem to be dying with #1 the worst and with that said #1 & #2. are most likely going to die out before #3, 4. And 5.... BATTERY #2 Popped out of the chassis with the AC hovering about 2 feet above ground. The drone died and I watched it in horror. The #2 battery clicked in place with a slight click sound. I had a bad feeling so I let it hover in place. The battery heated up until it expanded enough to unmount itself and I watched it happen. What if I was 399 feet in altitude and 1000 feet out.. I currently have 4 batteries with a good possibility of retiring the #1 battery.
 

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