Do I need to reflow my controllers?

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Hello All,
After a long hiatus from flying my drones (P4 with around 8 flights and a P4P with 0 flights), I was checking up on my batteries as I normally do to keep them in good shape and lo and behold I discovered a problem with both controllers:
The controllers, both of them would charge to 3 led lights and then turn off.... I connected them to the GoApp4 and it mentioned a firmware update for both so I did that successfully.
But still same charging problem. After numerous connects and disconnects from the charger, I managed to get the 4 light leds to show up as in fully charged. But when I connect to the App, it shows both controllers battery around 80 to 85 percent....
If I charge them again, they stop after a while and the app still shows the same percentage....
I know that the batteries are in good condition as they were never used much and were never fully depleted.
Do you think I need to reflow the battery chip on the board inside both controllers? Will that fix the problem? Or is there anything else I can try before doing that?
No warranty on both drones btw.
Thank you kindly in advance.
 
Thank you for replyimg.
The batteries were never stored fully charged. I always make sure they are around 50% charged as per DJI's recommendation and advice from drone pilots on the forums.
 
Reflow is unlikely to be necessary. It is only required if the original solder joint was never properly soldered. Use a loupe and look at the joint. You should be able to see as older defect by comparing the look of that joint with all the others. Unless you have some skills with microelectronic repair, you are likely to make more problems by attempting reflow.

Battery problems are much more likely.
 
Sounds like the batteries have deteriorated over time, or gained "memory" even though that is not supposed to happen.
Why don't you try flying one of the birds until the controller battery is drained "to a safe but very low level" and see if they will accept a full charge.
Just a thought
 
Thank you for replying. That's exactly what I did today: I just discharged the remote controller to 10% and charged it. It hits 3 LEDs and stops charging...
 
Thank you for the offer, I'll definitely keep that in mind.
I'm thinking that the remote controller is not detecting the correct charge of the battery, might be due to the battery gauge chip on the board that's losing contact. I've saw it happening on many controllers online.
I think I may have to disassemble the RC and test the voltage of the battery to make sure it's fully charged.
 
I discharged the RC to 10% and charged it back, it stops blinking at 3 LEDs, but if I keep the charger plugged for a couple extra hours and turn it back on, it shows 4 LEDs. The app shows 86%.
I disassembled the RC and tested the battery on a voltmeter, it reads 8.29V.... Does that mean the battery is good?
 
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UPDATE: I just did a reflow; I used a heat gun with a small makeshift nozzle and concentrated the heat on the battery gauge chip right next to the rightmost led on the board for about 30 seconds.
I used Kapton tape to insulate the surrounding components from the heat.
I let it cool down for a few minutes and then reassembled the controller. I connected it to the charger and it seemed normal.
I then connected it to the GoApp and lo and behold: it showed me 97% battery!!
So I think this concludes without a shadows of a doubt that the battery gauge chip is in fact losing contact with the board.
Still have to do this on my P4P controller next and check for how long the fix will last.
Hope this helps someone.
Thank you all for your help.
 
UPDATE: I just did a reflow; I used a heat gun with a small makeshift nozzle and concentrated the heat on the battery gauge chip right next to the rightmost led on the board for about 30 seconds.
I used Kapton tape to insulate the surrounding components from the heat.
I let it cool down for a few minutes and then reassembled the controller. I connected it to the charger and it seemed normal.
I then connected it to the GoApp and lo and behold: it showed me 97% battery!!
So I think this concludes without a shadows of a doubt that the battery gauge chip is in fact losing contact with the board.
Still have to do this on my P4P controller next and check for how long the fix will last.
Hope this helps someone.
Thank you all for your help.
I had the same issue on a P4p V1 controller. I reflowed it at least 4 times over the course of months. Sometimes it would read in the 94% range but if I flew 4 batts in an outing the controller would be near dead when I was done. That's one test you could do to see how many flights you can get out of your controller after the reflow. If you don't ever need to make multiple flights in a day, the reflow may work for you. After reading about others sending their controllers back to DJI for repair and getting a new controller for $90, I did the same. Well worth it to me.
 
I had the same issue on a P4p V1 controller. I reflowed it at least 4 times over the course of months. Sometimes it would read in the 94% range but if I flew 4 batts in an outing the controller would be near dead when I was done. That's one test you could do to see how many flights you can get out of your controller after the reflow. If you don't ever need to make multiple flights in a day, the reflow may work for you. After reading about others sending their controllers back to DJI for repair and getting a new controller for $90, I did the same. Well worth it to me.
Thank you for your input.
Unfortunately there is no official DJI in my country.
 

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