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Transient Battery Failure

PapaBob

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Feb 25, 2019
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I was about 45 seconds into a flight yesterday when I got a notice that the power had gone critically low and the Mavic 2 Pro started to land itself. Fortunately, it responded to the controls and I was able to return it home without crashing into the trees it was flying over. Total flight was about a minute and a half.

The battery had been charged the night before and showed full charge before flight. Preflight inspection includes making sure the battery has no visible damage and passes the “flat test” (no bulging). Preflight also includes making sure the battery is seated and secure. The weather was sunny, clear and the wind was about 10mph. Temp was 62, a beautiful day to fly.

In the post flight check the battery button showed full charge. I shut off the drone, unseated the battery, reexamined it, reseated it and started the drone. It read critically low so I swapped batteries. I had two subsequent flights without incident.

When I got home I reinserted the problem battery for a test flight in a safe area (i.e. no problem landing or recovering the drone if I had an issue). The battery showed full charge and I flew 8 minutes without incident.

I am attaching the AirData notifications for the aborted flight. It shows insufficient force (speed control) errors starting about 28 seconds in up to the power crisis 45 seconds in. Between 46 sec and 50 sec things seem to return to normal.

I have also attached the battery graphs for the aborted flight and the test flight later that afternoon.

The battery was made in November of 2018 and has had 35 or so flights. It is now retired. I have also cleaned the battery contacts in the drone bay although I do not think this was a connection issue.

If anyone has had a similar experience or has preventative suggestions then please comment. If the drone was at distance or over water then the story would not have had a happy ending.

Notifications.jpg


BatteryGraph1.jpg

BatteryGraph2.jpg
 
Airdata is a great tool. I had three batteries all purchased new in August 2018. All were treated with TLC. Never run below 30%, cooled before charging, etc. All of them bulged by 30 cycles. Useless. The aircraft, however, is incredible. Disappointing to say the least.
I will not be first in the purchase list for the M3 Pro when it gets released. It will be, wait, wait, wait some more, think about it, nah.
 
Airdata is a great tool. I had three batteries all purchased new in August 2018. All were treated with TLC. Never run below 30%, cooled before charging, etc. All of them bulged by 30 cycles. Useless. The aircraft, however, is incredible. Disappointing to say the least.
I will not be first in the purchase list for the M3 Pro when it gets released. It will be, wait, wait, wait some more, think about it, nah.
Same happened here. 3 batteries all swollen. Hadn't used Mavic 2 Pro for months. Charged up prior to trip this week to Maine. In order to use put a heavy duty rubberband around body to secure batteries. See some pictures attached.

I thought I'd read some have had success getting DJI to replace swollen batteries. Would love to hear how this was accomplished? 20210617_213039.jpeg20210617_071859.jpegDJI_0265.JPG
 
I did use a velcro strap to offer additional safety, but after a while decided that was still too risky.
I got DJI to replace one battery, outside of the warranty period when the first one went, then shortly afterward the second and third ones bulged, but I did not ask for a replacement on those. Bought two new ones which are still OK but fairly new still. When those go, I will park the M2 and look at Skydio.
Just get on you DJI account and open a ticket with an explanation of what is happening. They may surprise you. It is worth a try.
 
I just disposed my 10th Mavic 2 battery. They all bulged after 40 cycles or so.
I'm down to three batteries now and in Germany they are out of stock everywhere.

One time it happened in midflight that the bulged battery applied so much pressure downwards that the processor fan which sits underneath stopped working. The processor overheated and the drone initated RTH without me being able to interfere. Luckily it made it - I was flying over the sea.

Even if I could somehow secure a bulged battery in the compartment - I wouldn't do that anymore.

Warning.jpg
 
I was just flying my mavic 2 pro. As always, full battery inspectiin before takeoff. During flight my screen froze three times for about ten seconds. Never happened before. I flew back to my takeoff point and did my usual hand landing. When the blades shut down i moved my hand to carry from the top, and just the slight pressure from my fingers caused the battery to pop out. The battery was very swollen at the bottom, and the power button is inoperable, with the lights showing more than 1/2 charge. This is so maddening to spend the kind of money we do for batteries that have proprietary technology to prevent damage (supposedly). I only have 28 charge cycles on this battery. I have rc car batteries that get completely abused that i have had for years that never have had this happen. My first phantom two pro fell out of the sky due to a bad cell, and as usual, dji said it was out if the warranty period and did nothing. I vowed to never own another one of their products , but two years later needed a drone for a project and bought the mavic 2 pro. I have done EVERYTHING they say we must do to maintain my batteries. I looked at the other teo i have and one of those is slightly swollen at the bottom. Not enough for me to have noticed before this incident, but now it is obvious it will experience the same fate. I am going to hover the drone over a big fluffy comforter and see what happens. I am sure dji will not do anything about this.
 
Now that the battery has cooled a bit during my rant, the power button is now working again.
 
How is it that i can have Milwaukee tool batteries that are less expensive that i abuse the crap out of every day that do not exhibit this behavior? I leave them in a hot truck every day, laying in the 110 degree sunlight, run them till they are too hot to touch, recharge them when they are hot, kill them completely, and they still work and are not swollen and they are over three years old!
 
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So just flew 7 minutes on my other two batteries and both have swollen after flight. They appear to return to normal after cooling off, but they swell to the point that the button no longer responds.
 
This seems to have moved to a swollen battery discussion which is OK. I have had a swollen battery issue which is why I check before and after each flight and after charging. There was no battery swelling involved in my incident. What concerned me was the transient failure and then everything seemed to return to normal. If anyone has any comments on this specific incident I am pleased to hear them. My thanks to all who have responded to this point.
 
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