First failed battery

DronePilot · Aug 10, 2014

After flying my P2V+ for several months, probably over 200 flights without a single incident, I have my first battery failure. I thought I would share the experience.

My issue started after a long GS waypoint flight I was in the process of landing and had 55% remaining battery however, while coming down from altitude I suddenly got the battery alarm. As I brought it down I noticed it was coming down on its own so it was doing the whole emergency landing thing. I was able to keep the left stick fully up and maneuver it to my landing spot without issue. I checked the battery gauge again and it still said 45% once I had landed. Hmm, why did it emergency land I thought. I put another battery in and made another long flight without issue. I recharged my batteries and today tried the same battery that failed me the day before. At take off it said it was 95% but once I got about 100 feet I got another battery alarm. this time I looked and it indicated it was at 30%, only moments after taking off? I quickly landed and after landing the gas gauge showed 75%? So it appears the issue was under heavy load the voltage dipped. Feeling the pack it does feel a bit swollen so I imagine one cell is bad. I'm glad this didn't happen when I was 2 miles down range or over a lake. Pretty spooky nonetheless. I don't think I'll try that battery again. Time to order another. You would think you would get more than 100-200 flights out of a battery but I have certainly had LiPo cells fail in other models before with similar indications.

Does anyone know how long DJI will warranty batteries for?

skyhighdiver · Aug 10, 2014

DronePilot said:
After flying my P2V+ for several months, probably over 200 flights without a single incident, I have my first battery failure. I thought I would share the experience.

My issue started after a long GS waypoint flight I was in the process of landing and had 55% remaining battery however, while coming down from altitude I suddenly got the battery alarm. As I brought it down I noticed it was coming down on its own so it was doing the whole emergency landing thing. I was able to keep the left stick fully up and maneuver it to my landing spot without issue. I checked the battery gauge again and it still said 45% once I had landed. Hmm, why did it emergency land I thought. I put another battery in and made another long flight without issue. I recharged my batteries and today tried the same battery that failed me the day before. At take off it said it was 95% but once I got about 100 feet I got another battery alarm. this time I looked and it indicated it was at 30%, only moments after taking off? I quickly landed and after landing the gas gauge showed 75%? So it appears the issue was under heavy load the voltage dipped. Feeling the pack it does feel a bit swollen so I imagine one cell is bad. I'm glad this didn't happen when I was 2 miles down range or over a lake. Pretty spooky nonetheless. I don't think I'll try that battery again. Time to order another. You would think you would get more than 100-200 flights out of a battery but I have certainly had LiPo cells fail in other models before with similar indications.

Does anyone know how long DJI will warranty batteries for?

I would like to know this as well I have a battery that has 32 flights on it, but it is a little puffy in the case compared to the other 3. All cells read very close but wonder about shorter life or failer while out on a flight. Maybe the will exchange?

DCGOO · Aug 10, 2014

The battery tool will tell you how many charge cycles your battery has logged. The way I read the spec sheet was to expect "up to 300 charges" I doubt there is any warranty for your battery with 200 flights. Perhaps for only 22, it probably depends on your dealer.

DronePilot · Aug 10, 2014

DCGOO said:
The battery tool will tell you how many charge cycles your battery has logged. The way I read the spec sheet was to expect "up to 300 charges" I doubt there is any warranty for your battery with 200 flights. Perhaps for only 22, it probably depends on your dealer.

Funny the battery tool only shows 21 cycles. Perhaps I've only brought it down below 15% 21 times ? Its definitely had more than 100 flights on it.

Thanks.

boncroz · Aug 10, 2014

Battery tool?

DronePilot · Aug 10, 2014

boncroz said:
Battery tool?

Its part of the Phantom 2 Vision+ Assistant PC software

boncroz · Aug 10, 2014

Guess I'll have to look a little closer at the app. Haven't noticed that. Thanks.

Ozziebattler · Aug 10, 2014

I think there was 12 month warranty but since there has been a few battery issues the warranty has come back to 3 months. Dont quote me on that its just what i have gathered from the forums

DBS · Aug 10, 2014

DronePilot said:
Pretty spooky nonetheless. I don't think I'll try that battery again. Time to order another.

Charge it all the way back up and drive a nail thru that sucker and post it on youtube for us... :twisted:

Ozziebattler · Aug 10, 2014

Just thought i would share this with everyone...the other night while flying my Vision i got on the screen battery communication error fly carefullywhat ever you do dont panic and try to get the bird back as quick as you can I did exactly that and got nearly back home and it just died and fell out of the sky. When i checked the battery it was still 76% charged and only 20 cycles on it. I dont know for sure if i had flown carefully whether it would have got back safely...but maybe. Now all i have is one very sad bird.

DBS · Aug 10, 2014

Battery communication error is a different situation... it means the data from the two small pins is being corrupted... either by dirty pins or faulty connection etc... telling you fly carefully because your battery may not be fully seated and possibly come loose and lose power.

Double-D · Aug 10, 2014

Check the cells in the assistant software.
Plenty of reported battery issues on the forum, myself included. Mine only made 20+ flights and was replaced under warranty no questions asked.
It doesn't have to be discharged down to 15% to count as a discharge, it counts when you plug it in to charge.
Rather worrying though I know.
Glad you made it back safe.

jasonb777 · Aug 10, 2014

Who did you buy your batteries through? DJI? I was just curious for future reference...

DronePilot · Aug 10, 2014

I bought my P2V+ and batteries from bhphoto. They have served me well for many years.

I think these battery gas gauges must not record a cycle every charge as my problem battery only shows 21 cycles but I know it has been flown well over a hundred flights. For kicks I charged it and put it back in my bird and brought it out and just hovered. After a minute or so the gas gauge started dropping quickly, before long it was down at 76% and giving the alarm again. I wonder if one cell has dropped voltage and that is why the alarm is on at 76%. I keep it hovering by holding up the throttle and over the course of another minute or two its down to 5%. It dies quick. Checking on the assistant software / advanced / battery tab I see when its at 5% all cells are low but one is a tenth or so lower than the others. Normally with a faulty lipo I would expect one cell to be much lower, curious. When recharging it seems to think its recharged rather quickly too. At least the fault is reproducible. My concern is if this had happened to me when my bird was down range I could be in trouble. I definitely feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of my P2V+ though. I've had a lot of fun with it and "knock on wood" not a single crash.

Dirty Bird · Aug 10, 2014

I have not had an issue with my Phantom batteries, but when I have had failed Li-Pos for my other aircraft they usually show a similar situation as what you described. One cell will display a nominally lower voltage than the other cells.

RedBaron · Aug 10, 2014

DronePilot said:
After flying my P2V+ for several months, probably over 200 flights without a single incident, I have my first battery failure. I thought I would share the experience.

My issue started after a long GS waypoint flight I was in the process of landing and had 55% remaining battery however, while coming down from altitude I suddenly got the battery alarm. As I brought it down I noticed it was coming down on its own so it was doing the whole emergency landing thing. I was able to keep the left stick fully up and maneuver it to my landing spot without issue. I checked the battery gauge again and it still said 45% once I had landed. Hmm, why did it emergency land I thought. I put another battery in and made another long flight without issue. I recharged my batteries and today tried the same battery that failed me the day before. At take off it said it was 95% but once I got about 100 feet I got another battery alarm. this time I looked and it indicated it was at 30%, only moments after taking off? I quickly landed and after landing the gas gauge showed 75%? So it appears the issue was under heavy load the voltage dipped. Feeling the pack it does feel a bit swollen so I imagine one cell is bad. I'm glad this didn't happen when I was 2 miles down range or over a lake. Pretty spooky nonetheless. I don't think I'll try that battery again. Time to order another. You would think you would get more than 100-200 flights out of a battery but I have certainly had LiPo cells fail in other models before with similar indications.

Does anyone know how long DJI will warranty batteries for?

I just sent a battery into my dealer with basically the same problem. I tried using DeoxIT on the contacts with only a slight improvement. I checked the DJI website for warranties and it shows 3 months for batteries.

Kag49601 · Aug 10, 2014

I had the same issue with one of the batteries I received with my phantom when it was new! Checked each cell in the assistant software and found out one of the cells was not balancing with the others. It was reporting a much lower charge which caused the overall capacity of the pack to show 5000mah in the software. I took a screenshot of this and sent it to my dealer and he sent me a new one, and didn't even ask for the old one back. I now use this battery for "testing" the camera/motors after maintenance, or viewing/syncing content, as well as formatting cards. When its static and stationery the battery last forever.

Double-D · Aug 11, 2014

jasonb777 said:
Who did you buy your batteries through? DJI? I was just curious for future reference...

A dealer in Australia. Sent email and got a reply and warranty claim from Dji through them the next day.

dannytroy · Aug 11, 2014

If you are out of warranty I would open the case and check the voltage of each of the 6 cells. Do this after a flight, not after charging. I'd bet a cell is going bad. Of course, be very careful not to short a cell while testing, as lipos don't respond well to shorting! BTW, DJI used glue, as well as the locking tabs to hold the battery together, so it's a bit of a PITA to get the case open.