Tight Battery Fit

[screwthepap]

Hello, all.

My non-FMC Mini 2 arrived a couple of days back along with a spare battery. As I proceeded to activate and charge the batteries, I noticed that inserting them into the aircraft required a great deal of force. They would latch into place normally once all the way in, but removing them was even more difficult and I even chipped a fingernail while pressing the latch and trying to pull.

Both batteries charged normally and I've already flown the quad indoors with no error messages.

It is normal for the batteries to fit so tightly in the Mini 2? The amount of force needed to insert and remove them seemed absurd.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

How easy do they go in , if its hard to put them in than you have an issue .
But if your not using a good hold on the tab they can be hard to get out and you will need to get a better hold on the battery tab.

I notice the lid gets in the way sometime I end up using only the very tip of my finger and you can feel it sometimes.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mini 2 in the Rain.

 

[DanMan32]

It could be that it's not a tight fit perse but that you're having a hard time disengaging the latch.

As suggested, if it was easy to put in, then it should be easy to pull out once latch is disengaged.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

It might be worth measuring them with calipers etc, then posting their dimensions on here so that people can compare them, do they look swollen at all?
My MM batteries are around 19.9-20mm x 38.4mm and from what I have read the Mini 2's batteries shouldn't be greatly different.

 

[pgenneken]

Mavic Mini 2 Battery Extractor

So it's winter here and removing battery from the drone in gloves or with frozen fingertips is not the easiest thing to do. So i made a little tool. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4723274

mavicpilots.com

 

[mavicn00b]

Mini 1 batteries seem to go in and out much easier. My mini 2 batteries are a little stiffer.

 

[screwthepap]

It might be worth measuring them with calipers etc, then posting their dimensions on here so that people can compare them, do they look swollen at all?
My MM batteries are around 19.9-20mm x 38.4mm and from what I have read the Mini 2's batteries shouldn't be greatly different.

Nope, they don't look or feel swollen.

Just took my dial calipers to the batteries. The thickness of both are consistent at 0.779", but the widths vary quite a bit, from 1.515" to 1.525" across their lengths.

 

[screwthepap]

It could be that it's not a tight fit perse but that you're having a hard time disengaging the latch.

As suggested, if it was easy to put in, then it should be easy to pull out once latch is disengaged.

Disengaging the latch is not the problem; the batteries just fit real tight and slide in and out with difficulty.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Nope, they don't look or feel swollen.

Just took my dial calipers to the batteries. The thickness of both are consistent at 0.779", but the widths vary quite a bit, from 1.515" to 1.525" across their lengths.

slightly wider than the MM but not much, any rub marks? Did it come out that far under gravity?
Does anything inside the drone look out of place?

 

[Thomas B]

Likely better to be tight in order to minimize chance of wear to the drone body and battery contacts from vibration.

 

[screwthepap]

slightly wider than the MM but not much, any rub marks? Did it come out that far under gravity?
Does anything inside the drone look out of place?

No rub marks that I can see on the batteries, and nothing in the battery compartment looks out of place.

The picture was to illustrate that the batteries fit tight right from the instant of insertion.

 

[screwthepap]

Likely better to be tight in order to minimize chance of wear to the drone body and battery contacts from vibration.

I get that, but a snug fit would serve that purpose and facilitate easy insertion and removal, rather than an excessively tight fit that stresses the plastic around the battery compartment and makes battery removal a potentially fingernail-breaking affair.

 

[GadgetGuy]

They start out tight and loosen up over time. You'll get better at it, too!
Patience, grasshopper!

 

[screwthepap]

Patience, grasshopper!

"Patience is a dish best served cold."

... Oh, wait a minute. I think I got my movie quotes mixed up.

 

[GadgetGuy]

"Patience is a dish best served cold."

... Oh, wait a minute. I think I got my movie quotes mixed up.

Perhaps. Better to start out tight and loosen up to secure, than to start out secure and loosen up to loose, risking possible disconnection in flight.

 

[KiloMeater]

Make a visual inspection on the battery bay on the drone to check if everything is in place.
After I sold my MIni1 and got the Mini2 I noticed the batteries were a bit harder to put in. Within 1 or 2 days the battery would not easily get in unless I would really push , which I did not .
Looking inside I discovered at the side wall a flat white cable that should be glued to something was not properly placed and the battery body would try to push it upon entring .
I gently pushed it back to the right place and ever since a few months later I never faced such an issue.

 

[Yeunglings]

I've noticed that the batteries fit much more snug on the Mini2 than the MM but I believe that's by design. In addition to being a different shape by making the battery case just a smidgen larger it helps to prevent people from trying to insert the Mini2 batteries in to the MM but allows the MM batteries to fit in the Mini2. If you made the battery bay larger then the MM batteries might rattle around but if the shell of the Mini2 battery was much smaller then DJI would run the risk of consumers forcing( or attempting to) a Mini2 battery in to a MM. Making things physically compatible from generation to generation but only in 1 direction can be tricky business. Probably cheaper to do it this way instead of adding extra pins, connectors or secondary power contacts.

 

[African wildlife]

We find that the Mini 2 batteries are straightforward to put in and take out. I mention this as a benchmark for what should probably be normal.

If you haven't been able to find an obvious cause of the problem, then solve it, I'd return the drone for a replacement if it's new.

 

[Mike Mas]

Appears as if the plastic housings are of different thickness - I have two that fit fine and another is tight. The release needs to be re-thought, it difficlt to remove from the bulk charger as well as the aircraft.

 

[screwthepap]

If you haven't been able to find an obvious cause of the problem, then solve it, I'd return the drone for a replacement if it's new.

Yup, just did that this morning. Initiated an exchange with Amazon.