Update! I finally received two replacement batteries from DJI that were determined to be defective. Although I love flying over water, I was lucky to have detected the issues with these batteries while flying over my back yard and not over water like many others have reported. The batteries that were bad were originally purchased in February, 2014. They both had the round contacts. I have not flow with the new batteries since they just arrived this evening. The replacement process took about 4 weeks.
Zinnware said:
Autoland at 92%
I guess I am the latest victim to a bad battery. Mine will go into autoland just as it reaches 92% or about 1 to 2 minutes of hovering. I have a video that shows the battery level indicator go from full charge to zero from the DJI osd mini. http://youtu.be/K8YaDtoFVi4
Update! I finally received two replacement batteries from DJI that were determined to be defective. I was lucky to have detected the issues with these batteries while flying over my back yard and not over water like many others have reported. The batteries that were bad were originally purchased in February, 2014. They both had the round contacts. I have not flow with the new batteries since they just arrived this evening. The replacement process to about 4 weeks.
Zinnware said:
Autoland at 92%
I guess I am the latest victim to a bad battery. Mine will go into autoland just as it reaches 92% or about 1 to 2 minutes of hovering. I have a video that shows the battery level indicator go from full charge to zero from the DJI osd mini. http://youtu.be/K8YaDtoFVi4
Thanks for the update Zinware and for documenting your experience for the benefit of others. It's one thing to hear about these types of stories but seeing it visually the way you were able to capture it leaves one with an indelible impression of how things can go wrong in a hurry with these machines, especially when a battery fails.
yes, you re right! after lots of insistence to DJI and B&H, they accepted to replacing promlamatic battery with the new one. now, i ve got brand new p2 battery free which has new upgraded power conn.
The other day I had a battery warning please fly carefully message pop up on my screen while flying on a brand new battery I recently got that has less then 10 flights on it. and just as I suspected round or square contacts have No bearing whats so even on the issue or the cause of the contact pins poor design and low contact pressure. Because its one of the new design battery's with the square contact pads on it. Tho I was able to get the phantom back and landed safely I am not taking the chance of letting DJIs lack of knowledge on what the problem is caused by and them not having a clue on how to fix it and I am just going to mod the pins with fine silver caps/tips on the pins to ensure it cant happen ever again.
The other day I had a battery warning please fly carefully message pop up on my screen while flying on a brand new battery I recently got that has less then 10 flights on it. and just as I suspected round or square contacts have No bearing whats so even on the issue or the cause of the contact pins poor design and low contact pressure. Because its one of the new design battery's with the square contact pads on it. Tho I was able to get the phantom back and landed safely I am not taking the chance of letting DJIs lack of knowledge on what the problem is caused by and them not having a clue on how to fix it and I am just going to mod the pins with fine silver caps/tips on the pins to ensure it cant happen ever again.
The battery pins are for the data/telemetry information. Even if they don't have a good connection, it will not bring your copter down. Power to the copter is accessed through the 2 larger size connectors and is not affected by the data pins.
I have 4 batteries that I also purchased around 02/2014 not to mention the 5th battery which was in my P2 when it went down.
I just checked out the other 4 batteries. All have the round contacts and all are bulging on the sides. They all have less then 30 charge cycles on them.
My new P2 which i bought 2 weeks ago has the new style square contacts and the sides are perfectly straight. I have 4 flights on the new battery.
I'm wondering if the bulging is an indication of a failing battery integrity.
I just sent DJI an email. I spent over $600 on those batteries and with all the early Auto Landings and loss of power issues being reported, I am thinking that the battery bulging on low time batteries might be an indicator of an upcoming failure.
I have 4 batteries that I also purchased around 02/2014 not to mention the 5th battery which was in my P2 when it went down.
I just checked out the other 4 batteries. All have the round contacts and all are bulging on the sides. They all have less then 30 charge cycles on them.
My new P2 which i bought 2 weeks ago has the new style square contacts and the sides are perfectly straight. I have 4 flights on the new battery.
I'm wondering if the bulging is an indication of a failing battery integrity.
I just sent DJI an email. I spent over $600 on those batteries and with all the early Auto Landings and loss of power issues being reported, I am thinking that the battery bulging on low time batteries might be an indicator of an upcoming failure.
Yes, the bulging is abnormal. I just had a battery replaced with ~20 cycles on it and it had started to swell while sitting on the shelf. The service center confirmed that was not a normal occurrence and that the battery should not be flown. Now one of my other batteries is starting to bulge a bit. Both have the round data contacts. Neither one of these batteries has been involved in a crash, mis-handled, dropped or otherwise abused.
Zinnware,
.... and all are bulging on the sides. They all have less then 30 charge cycles on them.
...............
I'm wondering if the bulging is an indication of a failing battery integrity.
...... I am thinking that the battery bulging on low time batteries might be an indicator of an upcoming failure.
if you can't get a new battery under warrenty it might be worth opening up the thing and seeing if you can replace the lipo's and keep the electronics intact so you can reassemble it. there is a youtube vid ( with no sound? ) of a disassembled battery. it has 6 little wires ( all black ) going to the PCB and the 2 main power wires. i guess the 6 wires are for individual cell monitoring and charging?? but most batteries you buy off the shelf use common return ( probably share the -ve terminal ) wire on the balance plug so a 3 cell pack only has 4 wires on the balance plug. whether pairing up the negative poles would affect the DJI battery board i have no idea??? but it could be a goer, if it won't work than it might be a case of stripping off the heat shrink and doing a complete rewire on the new pack??
Another bad battery post. Seems way to common lately. I had 2 batteries out of my 3 go bad yesterday. The bad ones are the originals bought with the Vision back in Febuary. Both packs gave a low battery alarm at 50% and a auto-land initiated about 20 sec later. Had to give full throttle to keep it from landing. Have 37 and 38 cycles on each. My newest battery with 12 cycles was good, alarmed at 29%.
I thought it was strange having 2 batteries crap out on the same day. After discharging to 8% and cleaning all battery posts the 2 bad batteries did the same thing today. Good battery performed as normal.
After charging all 3 batteries I checked stats with the assistant. Cell voltages and mah of all 3 batteries were very similar. Check stats again after flight and bad batteries were discharged to 46% to 47%. Good battery discharged to 25%. Cell voltages again were consistent. No stand out low cell voltage.
My 2 bad batteries are a little puffy. I did not notice any additional heat buildup. I have had a lot of experience with nicad batteries but not so much with lipos. When I had a bad nicad most always the cell voltages would identify the bad cell. IMO I've got a electrical circuit problem not necessarily a bad cell problem.
I'am with a lot of other people that have this battery issue, I can't afford this hobby if I have to buy new batteries every 35 to 40 cycles. With only a 3 month battery warranty its not reasonably. Have to make a tough decision.
I thought I would chime in and give my 2 cents on the situation.
I bought a Vision late last year and soon after I purchased a Phantom 2 and some extra batteries. I had a total of 8 batteries at one time. Not knowing very much about lipos I kept the batteries fully charged and ready to use. The problem was that due to weather and my poor rotation skills, not all of the batteries would get discharged and recharged. Some would stay fully charged for a week or more. Before the 3.0.6 update I was noticing strange behavior with some of the batteries and I had those marked with a black dot. They were only good to about 50% before I would start getting low voltage warnings. They were also slightly puffy. After the latest update the problem was even more apparent as the Phantom would always want to auto-land at 50%. I ended up throwing away about 6 batteries that I just couldn't trust anymore. I did try to fully discharge the questionable batteries in hopes of reviving them but that had no affect. I am certain that in my case the batteries went bad because they sat with a full charge for to long.
I have since purchased 2 more batteries and I keep these and my other two at 50% until I'm ready to fly. With properly cared for batteries I feel 3.0.6 is the best firmware yet. Just thought I share.
locoworks is thinking like me. I just posted this on Phantom 2 Mods asking for help with modifying my failed smart battery to accept other batteries. I have a new smart battery now but this arrangement would give some extra flying time for fun. The post reads as follows:
"Saw where someone offered to take your smart battery cap and modify to accept two 2800mah or 2700, batteries with plugs so use of multiple batteries could be used with the same smart cap. Batteries are carried outside body of Phantom, which is not ideal, but I want to get use out of the short lived P2 battery (55 cycles) now with a dead cell. Have new smart battery, but this would provide some economical flying and a chance to tinker, can't leave anything alone. Have basic electronic skills and have removed all cells from smart cap circuit board. Based on how many battery failures users have encountered on this forum including me, it could be useful information to get something out of all those useless smart batteries. Thanks for any input, capg"
PS added this clarification, when I said I had a dead cell, it was one of the 6 batteries inside the case soldered to the lower circuit board, so I guess two make up each cell and though one is dead, the other must make the thing thing that cell is charged or good, I don't know.
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