- Joined
- Apr 19, 2016
- Messages
- 298
- Reaction score
- 123
- Age
- 53
After a long hiatus from the forum (life happens) I thought I’d jump back in with what I believe to be the resolution to the charging issue that appears to be plaguing these controllers.
I pulled the bird out of storage for the winter to find the controller at around 20% battery. I plugged it in and an hour later the lights were off which I thought was odd. Anyhow lo and behold, I discovered the charging epidemic.
I can confirm that this is NOT a battery or firmware issue but rather a circuit board issue in the RC. I pulled the battery and tested voltage and it read 8.4v which is a full charge for the 2S1P battery inside. Like the countless others, my RC would only charge to approximately 60-65% on average using the USB port. Using the charging port would give me 30% at best.
Anyhow, I purchased another battery off of eBay and after externally charging to 8.4v, I put it in my RC. Once again 2 lights and 64% in the DJI app.
I found a post on the DJI forum where a member posted a video regarding reflowing of the circuitboard. Being out of warranty I figured why not give it a try IT WORKED! All 4 RC lights are lit and the DJI app reads 99%
I ran the controller battery down to 50% today and plugged it in and it took a full charge. What has happened to the RC really should not have happened under normal operating conditions (storage none the less). You see this type of thing happening in high temperature gaming systems and components that typically generate a lot of heat such as laptops. In short, the solder connections on the circuitboard begin to deteriorate and it begins to fail. Reheating the circuitboard to a specific temperature, holding and then allowing it to cool off slowly can many instances repair it as it did for me. In fact, I understand that there is a pilot in Brazil that offers the reflowing service on DJ I controllers that are out of warranty.
In any event, your mileage may vary. It sure explains why some people are reporting to get replacement controllers that are problematic right out of the box or buying brand new units that have the problem right out of the box. It’s simply a manufacturing process or engineering deficiency that they are simply not taking responsibility for.
I pulled the bird out of storage for the winter to find the controller at around 20% battery. I plugged it in and an hour later the lights were off which I thought was odd. Anyhow lo and behold, I discovered the charging epidemic.
I can confirm that this is NOT a battery or firmware issue but rather a circuit board issue in the RC. I pulled the battery and tested voltage and it read 8.4v which is a full charge for the 2S1P battery inside. Like the countless others, my RC would only charge to approximately 60-65% on average using the USB port. Using the charging port would give me 30% at best.
Anyhow, I purchased another battery off of eBay and after externally charging to 8.4v, I put it in my RC. Once again 2 lights and 64% in the DJI app.
I found a post on the DJI forum where a member posted a video regarding reflowing of the circuitboard. Being out of warranty I figured why not give it a try IT WORKED! All 4 RC lights are lit and the DJI app reads 99%
I ran the controller battery down to 50% today and plugged it in and it took a full charge. What has happened to the RC really should not have happened under normal operating conditions (storage none the less). You see this type of thing happening in high temperature gaming systems and components that typically generate a lot of heat such as laptops. In short, the solder connections on the circuitboard begin to deteriorate and it begins to fail. Reheating the circuitboard to a specific temperature, holding and then allowing it to cool off slowly can many instances repair it as it did for me. In fact, I understand that there is a pilot in Brazil that offers the reflowing service on DJ I controllers that are out of warranty.
In any event, your mileage may vary. It sure explains why some people are reporting to get replacement controllers that are problematic right out of the box or buying brand new units that have the problem right out of the box. It’s simply a manufacturing process or engineering deficiency that they are simply not taking responsibility for.
