Swollen batteries

[MGVision]

Not long ago i typed that i have no issue with my batteries, till recently i found out that it is not so perfect I know that this is common issue so is there any chance that dji can replece any of them? There is also a swell degree for example - two of my batteries have very little swelling issue and i wouldnt even notice it if not my third battery which have this problem more prominent.
How you set your auto discharge battery option? What is best solution?

 

[old man mavic]

Not long ago i typed that i have no issue with my batteries, till recently i found out that it is not so perfect I know that this is common issue so is there any chance that dji can replece any of them? There is also a swell degree for example - two of my batteries have very little swelling issue and i wouldnt even notice it if not my third battery which have this problem more prominent.

the issue with batteries, is the fact that after the 6 months replacement cover by DJI, then the only other recourse you have for getting a replacement, is the vendors cover where you purchased it from there are just to many variables to battery life to give definitive answers as to how long they will last,all we can do is follow best practice and hope that they give us good service

 

[SpitFire]

Those battery's are very expensive. Number of things to help in making them last longer.
#1. Keep dry an protected from Rain & moisture.
#2. Let them cool down after flying.
#3.Never charge battery warm.
#4.Store at 50% or less.
#5.Never store them for like six months fully charged.
#6.Know safe temperatures of the battery.
#7.Don't store in hot temperatures.
#8.Never insert a battery or remove battery that is powered up.
#9.Any cracking or swelling of battery don't use.
#10.Never charge battery's unattended.
#11.Blow out terminals, especially on sandy beaches.
#12.Protect terminal s and battery during transit.
These are some suggestions for longer battery life.

 

[Sugafly20]

Those battery's are very expensive. Number of things to help in making them last longer.
#1. Keep dry an protected from Rain & moisture.
#2. Let them cool down after flying.
#3.Never charge battery warm.
#4.Store at 50% or less.
#5.Never store them for like six months fully charged.
#6.Know safe temperatures of the battery.
#7.Don't store in hot temperatures.
#8.Never insert a battery or remove battery that is powered up.
#9.Any cracking or swelling of battery don't use.
#10.Never charge battery's unattended.
#11.Blow out terminals, especially on sandy beaches.
#12.Protect terminal s and battery during transit.
These are some suggestions for longer battery life.

Great tips ... MP2 batteries are expensive, noticed batteries leaked (not fully charged) over a few days, then after 10 months batteries started to swell, don’t fit flush, and pop out out easily and drone will lose power. its always cell number 4, bottom cell facing down against drone body.. I didn’t have this problem MP batteries until 14 months... DJI hasn’t responded to my ticket regarding battery drain and swelling .. I recommend removing battery from drone after flight, set aside to cool.. why are DJI lithium batteries so fussy, i expected battery life improvements and no swelling. I don’t have this problem with other lithium batteries .. I think DJI does this intentionally, lithium technologies have vastly improved over the years... batteries are DJI drone Achilles heel, why so many DJI drones drop out of the sky ? Take care

 

[MGVision]

Great tips ... MP2 batteries are expensive, noticed batteries leaked (not fully charged) over a few days, then after 10 months batteries started to swell, don’t fit flush, and pop out out easily and drone will lose power. its always cell number 4, bottom cell facing down against drone body.. I didn’t have this problem MP batteries until 14 months... DJI hasn’t responded to my ticket regarding battery drain and swelling .. I recommend removing battery from drone after flight, set aside to cool.. why are DJI lithium batteries so fussy, i expected battery life improvements and no swelling. I don’t have this problem with other lithium batteries .. I think DJI does this intentionally, lithium technologies have vastly improved over the years... batteries are DJI drone Achilles heel, why so many DJI drones drop out of the sky ? Take care

This is so common issue that it is clearly manufacture flaw. Dji should take responsiblity for this.
When people had mass problems with breaking one leg of polar pro retract landing gear for mavic 2 series ReTract - Landing Gear | Mavic 2 Polar Pro send them new improved set for free. I was one of those people and i received new set after contacting with polar pro customer service.
Thats how serious company should solve problems.

 

[deltamike]

#2. Let them cool down after flying.
#3.Never charge battery warm.
#4.Store at 50% or less.
#5.Never store them for like six months fully charged.

The above are, in my opinion, VITAL.

Thanks Spifire

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

#2. Let them cool down after flying.
#3.Never charge battery warm.
#4.Store at 50% or less.
#5.Never store them for like six months fully charged.

The above are, in my opinion, VITAL.

Thanks Spifire

#2 and #3 are pretty much the same thing, and the DJI OEM chargers don't allow a warm battery charge . . . at least this is with the M1P, and assume most others with the intelligent batteries . . . but maybe not the mini li-ion ?
Also, many use aftermarket chargers, these might allow charging a warm battery.

#4 and #5 related, again all the intelligent batteries will discharge to ~ 45 - 50% after max 10 days (can be set from .
Not the mini though.

For what it's worth, the main thing on Spitfires list that IS in the pilots hand and quite prone to damaging lipo batteries in general is #7, keep your batteries out of high temps, keep out of sun, hot vehicles are particularly bad for leaving them with gear when outside flying . . . and try and protect from humidity . . . many on the forum here in tropical locations seem to have issues (usually hot there too).
#9, is always a good idea, check for swelling straight after flights when removing them, and during charging.
If swollen when cold . . . well, they are probably best disposed of correctly, or store very carefully and use for ground duties, adjusting settings, downloading by wifi, ground testing etc.
#12 definitely protect terminals from shorting, but then most cases / bags have individual isolated 'bays' for batteries, or get the usually available terminal covers that clip on to cover them.

It would be very good idea to add to that list . . .

# Never fly with a partial discharged battery.
If I land one at 50%. I now won't try and squeeze another short flight from it.
From a few posts around on lipos, starting with less than full charge can muck with their displayed capacity, and could lead to flying until dangerously low, bad for flight / drone safety and the battery.

# Aim to land at 25% - 30% battery remaining.
Flying a lipo lower than say 25% or so regularly is bad for their lifespan, doing so to less than say 10% is going to shorten their life considerably.

 

[deltamike]

# Aim to land at 25% - 30% battery remaining.
Flying a lipo lower than say 25% or so regularly is bad for their lifespan, doing so to less than say 10% is going to shorten their life considerably.

I have learnt from experience how true the above is. Nice one Oz

 

[naiku]

Just bought a (used) Pro 2 and the reports of battery swelling are making me nervous. The preview owner said the battery only has a few hours use, but it sounds like it's a case of when, not if, it will swell and need replacing and that length of time does not sound all that lengthy. I owned a Mavic Air for a year and none of the batteries swelled at all, a shame that the Mavic 2 seems to suffer from this.

When people had mass problems with breaking one leg of polar pro retract landing gear for mavic 2 series ReTract - Landing Gear | Mavic 2 Polar Pro send them new improved set for free. I was one of those people and i received new set after contacting with polar pro customer service.
Thats how serious company should solve problems.

I've experienced this from MiniDSP, an initial run of the 8x12 DSP had a hissing sound, bearing in mind, you'd only hear the hissing sound with no music playing and the engine off. But, because of customer feedback they modified the DSP board (completely different board) and sent replacement boards free of charge to original owners. The DSP is a $500 unit, they could have easily released the updated version as an "8x12 v2" and charged more for it, given that a replacement board is basically the entire DSP sans the metal enclosure. The fact they sent those replacements at no cost, because of relatively speaking, a minor issue (compared to a swollen battery falling out of a $1,500 drone), speaks volumes about the company as a whole and has made me a customer for life.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Just bought a (used) Pro 2 and the reports of battery swelling are making me nervous. The preview owner said the battery only has a few hours use, but it sounds like it's a case of when, not if, it will swell and need replacing and that length of time does not sound all that lengthy. I owned a Mavic Air for a year and none of the batteries swelled at all, a shame that the Mavic 2 seems to suffer from this.

Easy to monitor after a flight (especially under duress, sports mode, into wind etc, lots of power needed), and also / or during a charge up when the battery has been on a short while and warmed up.
If it isn't noticeably raised then you should be ok.

A safety measure like a velcro strap around the battery / aircraft body is probably a great idea.
This will stop battery premature ejection in flight, keep the power contacts in place to the aircraft, even if one (or both) of the side clips lets go.

 

[Otisangb]

How you set your auto discharge battery option?

I set mine for 3 days. However I don't rely on it. I only charge the batteries up if I think I will use then within the next day. After I use them I charge them to around 50-60% for storage. I haven't had any swollen batteries yet but they are only about 10 months old.

Like the others have said let them cool before charging and try not to let them drop below a 20% charge.

 

[TR Ganey]

I recently bought 5 new batteries because 4 of 8 of my original batteries were showing some serious swelling. All of the swollen batteries have a mfg date of 7 to 11 of 2018 and none of them have over 50 charges on them. If memory serves me correctly I believe at least one of them was in the 20's. All of the original batteries was set to discharge after 10 days. The 5 new ones are set to discharge after 2 days. Time will tell if it was the long duration before discharge that is killing them. Regardless I will always keep at least 4 batteries charged to 100% continously. If I should get a call for a search the first order of business before getting on the road will be to put all the remaining batteries on charge in the vehicle. By the time we get where we are going and fly out the first 4 the remaining batteries should be ready to go. With 9 working batteries we can just about keep the drone airborne indefinitely. With the 4 swollen batteries we can keep the RC powered continously and with an ipad and an iphone we can keep one of them charged up and operating at all times. Wish I had a spare m2p and controller to have some redundancy there but it's not in the cards right now.

 

[MGVision]

I recently bought 5 new batteries because 4 of 8 of my original batteries were showing some serious swelling. All of the swollen batteries have a mfg date of 7 to 11 of 2018 and none of them have over 50 charges on them. If memory serves me correctly I believe at least one of them was in the 20's. All of the original batteries was set to discharge after 10 days. The 5 new ones are set to discharge after 2 days. Time will tell if it was the long duration before discharge that is killing them. Regardless I will always keep at least 4 batteries charged to 100% continously. If I should get a call for a search the first order of business before getting on the road will be to put all the remaining batteries on charge in the vehicle. By the time we get where we are going and fly out the first 4 the remaining batteries should be ready to go. With 9 working batteries we can just about keep the drone airborne indefinitely. With the 4 swollen batteries we can keep the RC powered continously and with an ipad and an iphone we can keep one of them charged up and operating at all times. Wish I had a spare m2p and controller to have some redundancy there but it's not in the cards right now.

How can you set auto discharge after 2 days? On my go 4 app i have only 5 -10 days option discharge.

 

[Camino Ken]

How can you set auto discharge after 2 days? On my go 4 app i have only 5 -10 days option discharge.

Once you see the 5-10 days, scroll down.

 

[Physopto]

Got mine set to 1 day for discharge. Only time will tell.

 

[everBit]

#2 and #3 are pretty much the same thing, and the DJI OEM chargers don't allow a warm battery charge . . . at least this is with the M1P,

with M2P too, but being accurate it's not charger who not allow a hot battery to charge, it's battery BMS itself inhibit charging by blocking Charge MOSFET until it's cool down.

Also, many use aftermarket chargers, these might allow charging a warm battery.

No, (see above) until battery is hot it's prevent charging itself.
Has been proved with iMax B6 charger on warm M1P, M2P batteries.

 

[Jfvdenning]

The batteries will swell if used in high temps and sports mode which puts stress on the battery.

700 charges on my batteries, some bloated and I have never been present during charging. If you are that worried why not just have them in a safe spot that won't burn down the whole house?

I have never protected the terminals.

I have flown with very swollen batteries for many flights, no issues as long as they are firmly on.

The batteries discharge after 10 days so how can you store them for 6 months full charged?

Those battery's are very expensive. Number of things to help in making them last longer.
#1. Keep dry an protected from Rain & moisture.
#2. Let them cool down after flying.
#3.Never charge battery warm.
#4.Store at 50% or less.
#5.Never store them for like six months fully charged.
#6.Know safe temperatures of the battery.
#7.Don't store in hot temperatures.
#8.Never insert a battery or remove battery that is powered up.
#9.Any cracking or swelling of battery don't use.
#10.Never charge battery's unattended.
#11.Blow out terminals, especially on sandy beaches.
#12.Protect terminal s and battery during transit.
These are some suggestions for longer battery life.

 

[DanMan32]

Can't be that bloated or else it wouldn't latch both sides or at least one side would unlatch after flight.

Then again, my worst bloated battery did have a rather weak latch on one side.

 

[Jfvdenning]

They were bloated, and would require a good push to put on, sometimes on landing they would be barely still on the latches, or one side would be off.

 

[Jfvdenning]

In 20 months experience and 12 batteries, they only swell in hot conditions, I have only had them swell in Singapore and when shooting on a very hot day in direct sun. Other than that I have never had an issue.

QUOTE="naiku, post: 993030, member: 92005"]
Just bought a (used) Pro 2 and the reports of battery swelling are making me nervous. The preview owner said the battery only has a few hours use, but it sounds like it's a case of when, not if, it will swell and need replacing and that length of time does not sound all that lengthy. I owned a Mavic Air for a year and none of the batteries swelled at all, a shame that the Mavic 2 seems to suffer from this.




I've experienced this from MiniDSP, an initial run of the 8x12 DSP had a hissing sound, bearing in mind, you'd only hear the hissing sound with no music playing and the engine off. But, because of customer feedback they modified the DSP board (completely different board) and sent replacement boards free of charge to original owners. The DSP is a $500 unit, they could have easily released the updated version as an "8x12 v2" and charged more for it, given that a replacement board is basically the entire DSP sans the metal enclosure. The fact they sent those replacements at no cost, because of relatively speaking, a minor issue (compared to a swollen battery falling out of a $1,500 drone), speaks volumes about the company as a whole and has made me a customer for life.
[/QUOTE]