Cell damage after only 27 charges?!

emoney609 · Jan 24, 2016

just bought this battery from drones etc on May 30th 2015. I barely used it and today I took it up and seen cell damaged and landed it. Power off and on and retried same thing. Was hoping it was because the battery discharged from sitting. Recharged it and tried again the cell damage warning came right back on. Just set it up at home to get some pictures, and says its normal now, but as soon as I fly the warning will come back. Also I just noticed DJI battery's only have a 6 month warranty FML!!!

alokbhargava · Jan 24, 2016

This is a premature battery failure. Normally this doesn't happen. Contact your seller.

Did you have any crash with this battery? Did you leave it under sun for long? Is the shape of the battery the same, you don't see any cracks on the plastics? Do you charge under cold conditions? Did you leave it uncharged for long?

emoney609 · Jan 24, 2016

Everything looks great on battery, it just sits in a drone crates roller case, in my house, when not in use.

WetDog · Jan 24, 2016

You said you just bought it. It thinks it's gone through 28 discharge cycles ... Something doesn't add up.

Are you SURE it just sits there in the case when you're not using it???? Maybe your Phantom is taking itself for a ride now and again?

I'd also question the 2 day self discharge setting. That's is probably overkill.

rockydog · Jan 24, 2016

Have you done the deep discharge DJI recommend after 20 charges....down to 8% and then fully charge ?

m0j0 · Jan 24, 2016

Deep discharge.. But I'm thinking I would never trust that battery again. I would send it back.

Phantom 3 Pro / iPad Air 2

Jeff48920 · Jan 24, 2016

Just call DJI they will warrant the battery. I have sent 3 back and gotten 3 brand new one in return based solely on HealthyDrones data. Not worth the worry.....

emoney609 · Jan 24, 2016

Jeff48920 said:
Just call DJI they will warrant the battery. I have sent 3 back and gotten 3 brand new one in return based solely on HealthyDrones data. Not worth the worry.....

Even after having for longer than 6 months?

emoney609 · Jan 24, 2016

rockydog said:
Have you done the deep discharge DJI recommend after 20 charges....down to 8% and then fully charge ?

Trying this right now, very slow to discharge without flying it though.

Jeff48920 · Jan 24, 2016

emoney609 said:
Even after having for longer than 6 months?

One yes...the others were under 6 months old. In your case I'd bet they would honor the warranty because of the type of issue.

m0j0 · Jan 24, 2016

Put the battery in the aircraft fire up the props.. Don't take off. Should kill it fairly quickly.

Phantom 3 Pro / iPad Air 2

Kman · Jan 24, 2016

For what it is worth, Best Buy has the batteries on sale for $124.99.

emoney609 · Jan 24, 2016

I will buy from them next time, especially if I can get a 2yr warranty with them lol

emoney609 · Jan 25, 2016

After calibration still have the same problem. It made it to 75% this time before the cell battery damage warning. Before it was immediately. Still the battery is broke so that doesn't matter. DJI support so far is no help. They told me to update everything. Well everything is up to date besides my iphone 6s. And doubt that has anything to do with it, because the battery that came with it is still working great. Here is my healtydrones.com report. HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
gonna send this to dji support to see if it makes a difference. All i know is 27 flights for $160+ isn't right.

emoney609 · Jan 25, 2016

Can anybody read that report to let me know for sure if battery is defected? Is there anyway to fix it? Hope DJI can replace this for me.

TheRealNick · Jan 25, 2016

emoney609 said:
Can anybody read that report to let me know for sure if battery is defected? Is there anyway to fix it? Hope DJI can replace this for me.

You can see it on the power battery cells tab, see the major deviation of cell 1 for the duration of the flight....good luck!

emoney609 · Jan 25, 2016

TheRealNick said:
You can see it on the power battery cells tab, see the major deviation of cell 1 for the duration of the flight....good luck!

I did see that, and looks like I'm screwed! Don't know why the cell got damaged. Was charged and sitting in case set to 10 day discharge. I read that 2 day is better, because the longer the battery sits while charged it can get damaged, so 2 days was the setting everybody is recommending. The battery that came with it is still working great, so I'm gonna say it's a faulty battery from Drones Etc.

TheRealNick · Jan 25, 2016

emoney609 said:
I did see that, and looks like I'm screwed! Don't know why the cell got damaged. Was charged and sitting in case set to 10 day discharge. I read that 2 day is better, because the longer the battery sits while charged it can get damaged, so 2 days was the setting everybody is recommending. The battery that came with it is still working great, so I'm gonna say it's a faulty battery from Drones Etc.

I agree and would expect a new battery covered by warranty. I would start with Drones Etc... and then move to DJI if no luck...

emoney609 · Jan 25, 2016

TheRealNick said:
I agree and would expect a new battery covered by warranty. I would start with Drones Etc... and then move to DJI if no luck...

Sent a email to both drones etc and dji, hoping one of them will help me out. Really upset that a $160 battery just **** on me for no reason. Making it really hard for me to buy any more battery's right now. In fact I'm not gonna buy one in less I can get at least a 1yr warranty out of it!

emoney609 · Jan 25, 2016

Got shot down by Drones Ect. Never buy from them again. Looks like DJI is my last hope. And I hope they can understand this battery is flawed, but then again now we all might know why they only give you a 6 month warranty!