P3S Battery questions: Can this battery be saved?

[Jthomp]

Equipment involved: P3S, factory-supplied P3S battery, factory-supplied P3S Charger.

Actions leading up to event: P3S was damaged in an accident and had to be sent to DJI for repairs (the battery was not sent with it, per instructions from DJI). The battery was simply set aside in my work shop pending the return of the P3S. About 6 weeks after receiving it, DJI informed me the cost of repair would exceed the cost of purchasing a refurbished one (which mine was). I had them send my drone back un-repaired. Curious to see what would happen, I tried charging the battery which I had held back from shipment to DJI (couldn't do this earlier as the charger had to be sent in with the drone.) Nothing had been done to this battery since the moment of the accident - it was at about 50% just prior to the accident and was not properly discharged to a storage condition after the accident.

Problem: After being on the charger for several hours, the only lights that I saw in all that time was a sequence of 1, 2, 3, then 4 green lights, then the red light would come on for one or two seconds, then all lights would go off. That sequence went on and on and on until I finally unplugged everything a couple of hours later.

The question(s): (1) can this battery be made to work properly now? (2) If so, how is that done? (3) How is a voltage-per-cell measurement taken on this type of battery (especially if one does not have a functioning P3S on which to run "DJI GO"?

 

[Numone]

What happens when you switch on the battery, in the same way as you would if it were in the AC?

 

[Jthomp]

What happens when you switch on the battery, in the same way as you would if it were in the AC?

The red light goes on and stays on, then one green light comes on and stays on. Nothing else happens.

And, before anyone asks - no, I have not put it into the copter and then turned the battery on. I have no idea what that could do to the copters electronics.

 

[With The Birds]

What are you expecting might happen? If it's 25% charged that sounds good...

 

[Jthomp]

What are you expecting might happen? If it's 25% charged that sounds good...

Trouble is - it will charge ONLY to 25%. OR it, too, may have been damaged in the crash and maybe some of the battery internals are shorted out or have broken connections or whatever. Not sure I want to use the Phantom 3 flight hardware as a test bed to find out what WILL happen.

Just want to know if other dronies have had experience with this type of battery condition and, if so, what was done to fix it (other than shell out another $140+ for a new battery.

 

[Frank Pliska III]

Sorry to hear about your mishap. Not sure if anyone has tried to disassemble a battery and how difficult it might be. There may be a broken wire to one or more of the cells. At least a visual inspection of the inside if the battery would be my suggestion.