Batteries Swelling Up!

[YeeaaBoii]

I did a topic search for anything related to this but I couldn't find one. If there is a thread like this, please post it and I will refer to it.

I just got done resetting my compass with a small magnet and was doing a test flight to make sure everything was working properly again. To my surprise, the magnet trick worked!

I was very relieved until I got in the house and took the battery out. It was way hotter than usual and the sides looked like balloons about to bust out of the white plastic battery case. I checked another battery I used earlier today and it was slightly bulged as well. I'm worried there's something up with my P2V+ and it's going to keep eating batteries because the only batteries that are messed up are the ones I used today.

Today has been a day full of problems for my P2V+. First it gave me "compass maintenance" issues on the app and on the Mac assistant. I finally fixed it with a magnet. Then it wouldn't do an IMU calibration and froze 4 times mid calibration. I finally got it to finish though. My P2V+ has had the tilted camera on the roll axis since day 1. It also likes to vibrate violently during flight from time to time. I know that sounds like a prop balance issue but I put new props on it and it didn't fix the problem. And apparently now it's blowing up batteries like balloons for fun. I'm about to just smash this one with a sledge hammer and buy a new one. DJI won't warranty any of my problems so I'm done dealing with them.

Just wondering if anyone else has had battery issues similar to mine!

Thanks!

 

[Geoelectro]

I have read others getting bad batteries replaced by DJI. Go to your dealer and see what they say.

Geo

 

[YeeaaBoii]

Bringing my own thread back to life since I am still having issues with batteries swelling up.

I have now had a total of 5 batteries replaced through DJI due to swelling.

Can anyone (or everyone) here squeeze the long open sides of their batteries and tell me if it feels solid or if it gives in a little bit? Mine always feel like there's a slight pocket of air surrounding the battery. I can actually see the side push in slightly until it hits the hard cell underneath the gray cover. When the battery is new, it feels very solid on all sides. After about the 5th or 6th discharge, mine begin to swell and get progressively worse the more often I use them. They are the most swollen immediately after a flight. The battery is usually very warm and the sides bulge out a little more than they had before the flight. After the battery cools down, the swelling also subsides slightly.

So my question is, is there a tolerance to any kind of swelling for these batteries? If a few people chime in and say their batteries feel similar to my description, then maybe that's just how they are. DJI told me they shouldn't swell in any way at all but I figured I'd come to the boards and ask around.

If you really want to test what I'm talking about, feel your battery before and after a flight by squeezing the sides and see if it seems like it has swelled up at all.

Thanks!

 

[Mori55]

How low are you running them down?

 

[FBiff]

I would check battery connections and look for loose connections maybe overheated motor?...

 

[DrJoe]

DJI batteries are fragile, high powered and very dangerous.
But what the hell, how else are you gonna eek out a 20+ min flight?

I have always used care. But I have bumped a battery on occasion, or one has fallen over from upright to horizontal while charging or waiting to be installed.

I had a battery that after a full charge, was causing the P2V+ to warn of a low battery condition (even while indicating 48% charge). I read some posts, and figured I got a dud. Close inspection revealed a crack of the white plastic housing on a side. Now, I have never dropped one from any height, but they have been bumped and tipped like I said. Because of the damage, I didn't ask DDM (my dealer) to replace it, I just bought another one.

Please treat DJI batteries like the fragile, explosive bombs they actually are. NO BUMPS!

 

[Paul K]

In my opinion one of the reasons why battery swelling occurs, is when you would fly the craft with lots of power demand ( fly with very little hovering ;in another words if you don't give the battery a break during the flight)

 

[YeeaaBoii]

How low are you running them down?

I run them down to about 20% each time, sometimes sooner around 25%. My swollen batteries say they've had 5 charge cycles each according to the Phantom Assisstant on my Mac.

 

[YeeaaBoii]

In my opinion one of the reasons why battery swelling occurs, is when you would fly the craft with lots of power demand ( fly with very little hovering ;in another words if you don't give the battery a break during the flight)

I feel my flights are pretty evenly mixed. I use it mostly for photography so I do a bit of hovering with minor tweaks to get the right angle.

DJI batteries are fragile, high powered and very dangerous.
But what the hell, how else are you gonna eek out a 20+ min flight?

I have always used care. But I have bumped a battery on occasion, or one has fallen over from upright to horizontal while charging or waiting to be installed.

I had a battery that after a full charge, was causing the P2V+ to warn of a low battery condition (even while indicating 48% charge). I read some posts, and figured I got a dud. Close inspection revealed a crack of the white plastic housing on a side. Now, I have never dropped one from any height, but they have been bumped and tipped like I said. Because of the damage, I didn't ask DDM (my dealer) to replace it, I just bought another one.

Please treat DJI batteries like the fragile, explosive bombs they actually are. NO BUMPS!

These have only been in the slots in my Tradecraft Tough Case or in the P2V+ itself.

 

[YeeaaBoii]

I would check battery connections and look for loose connections maybe overheated motor?...

I'm starting to think it is the P2V+ itself that is killing the batteries. There's no way I've had 5 defective batteries in a row. Has anyone checked the sides of their batteries for minor swelling to see if it's just normal?

 

[Meta4]

Has anyone checked the sides of their batteries for minor swelling to see if it's just normal?

My 4 show no sign of swelling after 15-50 flights.

In my opinion one of the reasons why battery swelling occurs, is when you would fly the craft with lots of power demand ( fly with very little hovering ;in another words if you don't give the battery a break during the flight)

The only time you fly with less power demand than hovering is when you are descending so almost all of every flight will be at high demand.

 

[Panamon Creel]

The only time you fly with less power demand than hovering is when you are descending so almost all of every flight will be at high demand.

Moving horizontally is said to have a little less power use than hovering but IMO the difference won't be huge. The highest power usage maneuvers are in all likelihood full vertical up acceleration and full throttle up stick to quickly decelerate out of a vertical drop. Those are maneuvers that should be avoided if the battery is already running at a low capacity percentage since it could easily drop the cell voltages to permanent damage levels.

 

[Sketch6995]

yes they swell up and are unusable after that, and i think this problem is made worse by storing your batteries fully charged. Ive done this alot and have had to replace swollen batteries after just 3 months.
now i store them at 20% or less and havent had the problem so often.

 

[Panamon Creel]

sketch6995, store them at about 50-60% charge, general 3.85V/cell is the ideal long storage voltage to reduce aging over time. 20% might be ok for short term storage however for long term storage you risk that the cell voltage drops below critical level due to self discharge causing swelling/permanent damage also it takes more time to charge them if you want to use them .

 

[N017RW]

After you strip away the 'intelligent' portion of the P2 batteries your left with just LiPos.

The ones chosen are obviously very 'LOW' in terms of quality.

Maybe they have not speced the battery with an adequate "C" discharge rating for the application.

When I saw 300 cycles as the expected lifetime I was skeptical ( :lol: ) as 100 is all I have ever gotten from LiPos in my CP helis and typically it's about half of that before some swelling is detected.

 

[Panamon Creel]

Maybe quality of the LiPo cells but my theory goes more towards the "intelligent" part of the batter being at fault for the failures
A test I did by using a programmable charger with graph function as the power supply instead of the DJI power brick gave me indications that the P2 internal charger only does CC charge all the way without a CV soaking phase on the end which could be detrimental to the battery. Also from some reports it seems that the inteli circuit may allow individual cells to drop below 3V under load if they are not balanced ( haven't seen that myself yet ).

 

[N017RW]

My observations of the charging profile concur with appearance of the CC only approach.
However it takes too long. My experience with 3S packs on a balancing charger has been that it reaches 12.6v (CC cut-off value/trigger) in the first half or better of a charging cycle.
The intelligent setup continues charging UNTIL 16.6v is reached then shuts off.

However I can attest to the battery under load (in flight) voltage never drops below 10.8v as I have telemetry. This is a healthy distance from the generally accepted 3+v/cell damage threshold.

 

[Panamon Creel]

....
However I can attest to the battery under load (in flight) voltage never drops below 10.8v as I have telemetry. This is a healthy distance from the generally accepted 3+v/cell damage threshold.

Thanks for the info but could cell imbalance still cause a single cell pair drop below critical level while the overall voltage is still looking OK? Would be a huge imbalance but one never knows .

 

[krsdj1]

.
My batterys all swelled, I had them all replaced and one of the replacements have already started swelling, this is probably normal unless all the batterys are defective, I am not sure what to do next.
If you really want to test what I'm talking about, feel your battery before and after a flight by squeezing the sides and see if it seems like

 

[N017RW]

....
However I can attest to the battery under load (in flight) voltage never drops below 10.8v as I have telemetry. This is a healthy distance from the generally accepted 3+v/cell damage threshold.

Thanks for the info but could cell imbalance still cause a single cell pair drop below critical level while the overall voltage is still looking OK? Would be a huge imbalance but one never knows .

I have my doubts.
Simple enough to test... just hookup to P2 Assistant after flight and see.