Should I swap this battery?

MedinaTaylor · Jan 28, 2016

My last two flights have produced numerous cell deviations in the battery.

I have linked my Healthy Drones logs.

1st problem HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
2ND time HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

I have had the battery for about 3 weeks, with 10 charge cycles. I never went below 50% until the flight that showed all the deviations.

I am still in Amazon's return policy and wonder if I should exchange it before it's too late.

daveleeds · Jan 28, 2016

tbh, I wouldn't hesitate to get it replaced. There are too many horror stories circulating at the moment to be taking any chances.
I received a new one last Thursday, charged it Friday and it was on its way back to Amazon on Monday.

HMR · Jan 28, 2016

As a newbie I have been searching thru this great forum to get the education I need for when I buy my phantom. The common threat to many of the issues is a failure of a component that could have been avoided. God knows there are enough ways to crash a drone when you do every thing correctly. Send it back...........

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

alokbhargava · Jan 28, 2016

HMR said:
As a newbie I have been searching thru this great forum to get the education I need for when I buy my phantom. The common threat to many of the issues is a failure of a component that could have been avoided. God knows there are enough ways to crash a drone when you do every thing correctly. Send it back...........

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

If you do you preventive checks correctly and fly safely, there is no known reason for it to crash. Obviously we make mistakes or ignore checks or get too enthusiastic to perform stunts, we might crash it then. FW 1.5 had a battery FW issue which used to crash P3s but it has been updated in FW 1.6. No other known issues are known to crash the bird.

MedinaTaylor · Jan 28, 2016

Fresh off the charger and it shows a .08v variance.

With The Birds · Jan 28, 2016

MedinaTaylor said:
Fresh off the charger and it shows a .08v variance.

Medina can i ask how you are charging this battery, are you turning on before connecting to the charger by any chance?

The individual cell voltages depicted here are of potential concern, for lipo chemistry 4.22v per cell is the absolute max they should be charhed to when full. Even slightly above this and we should expect early failure with greatly reduced usable lifespan.

I occasionally see 4.3 per cell in dji go which concerns me.

It also seems the reported battery capacity is on the low side. I typically see 4480+ mah on my batteries just off the charger.

MedinaTaylor · Jan 28, 2016

With The Birds said:
Medina can i ask how you are charging this battery, are you turning on before connecting to the charger by any chance?

No, I do not turn the battery on before charging.

Solar Deity · Jan 28, 2016

With The Birds said:
Medina can i ask how you are charging this battery, are you turning on before connecting to the charger by any chance?

The individual cell voltages depicted here are of potential concern, for lipo chemistry 4.22v per cell is the absolute max they should be charhed to when full. Even slightly above this and we should expect early failure with greatly reduced usable lifespan.

I occasionally see 4.3 per cell in dji go which concerns me.

It also seems the reported battery capacity is on the low side. I typically see 4480+ mah on my batteries just off the charger.

These are HV Lipos, able to be charged to 4.35V/Cell.

SD

With The Birds · Jan 28, 2016

Solar Deity said:
These are HV Lipos, able to be charged to 4.35V/Cell.

SD

Good to know, that makes me more comfortable.

Mark The Droner · Jan 28, 2016

MedinaTaylor said:
Fresh off the charger and it shows a .08v variance.

My understanding is, the gap is measured from the nearest cell, not the furthest cell. And measuring that way, it's a .06 variance and no issue.

MedinaTaylor · Jan 28, 2016

Marknmd said:
My understanding is, the gap is measured from the nearest cell, not the furthest cell. And measuring that way, it's a .06 variance and no issue.

Is a .06v variance OK for a 3 week old battery?

How much of a variance should be a cause for alarm?

Mark The Droner · Jan 28, 2016

I'm addressing post #5.

According to healthy drones, you shouldn't be concerned with anything under .07. And if you have a few .07 variances, that's okay too. A few is normal. If you have more than a few, you should watch the battery.

Bottom line is, if healthydrones is correct, there is no reason to be concerned at this point - looking only at the graphic in post #5. .

m0j0 · Jan 28, 2016

I am not understanding the battery information from healthy drones then. He has more than 9 major deviations.

Phantom 3 Pro / iPad Air 2

Mark The Droner · Jan 28, 2016

Yeah - I see that. Fortunately it's not a horrible deviation. If it was my battery, I'd do a deep discharge. Some might not agree.

m0j0 · Jan 28, 2016

Marknmd said:
Yeah - I see that. Fortunately it's not a horrible deviation. If it was my battery, I'd do a deep discharge. Some might not agree.

I was thinking the same thing.. Deep discharge will probably get it back.

Phantom 3 Pro / iPad Air 2

ForistellFlyer · Jan 28, 2016

alokbhargava said:
If you do you preventive checks correctly and fly safely, there is no known reason for it to crash. Obviously we make mistakes or ignore checks or get too enthusiastic to perform stunts, we might crash it then. FW 1.5 had a battery FW issue which used to crash P3s but it has been updated in FW 1.6. No other known issues are known to crash the bird.

Pilot error issues are the biggest problem