Phantom 2 Vision Plus battery failure

Joined
Jul 15, 2014
Messages
90
Reaction score
6
OK just how many folks have had or are having smart battery "swell-up" & failure at around 75% battery level? Both of my batteries which I purchased straight from DJI in June 2014 have this problem. They charge up great ( I have always discharged them to 4-6% then fully recharged them to keep them in good condition). They have only 28 charges on each & I was lucky to figure out it was battery failure before I lost my Phantom due to flying a decent distance as usual then not being able to make it back........ worse dropping in the ocean! They go from 70-75% down to pretty much 'Not enough battery to return home'! The warranty seems to have gone from 1 year down to 3 months.....sux & everyone knows that the battery cost is ridiculously high. What's with DJI they a) Can't come up with a battery with more power = more flying time. b) Bring down the ridiculous cost for them c) Failing this then give a decent Warranty!
Any alternative batteries out there worth purchasing. Just don't want a DJI battery that lasts 6 months again - rather take my chances with another brand that is more reliable at least.........
If I have missed other threads on this same topic I apologize before everyone jumps down my throat ok, tried the search here but didn't turn anything up.
I am totally PISSED! There just HAS to be more folks just like me who have had this problem.......right????
 
Palliz said:
OK just how many folks have had or are having smart battery "swell-up" & failure at around 75% battery level? Both of my batteries which I purchased straight from DJI in June 2014 have this problem. They charge up great ( I have always discharged them to 4-6% then fully recharged them to keep them in good condition). They have only 28 charges on each & I was lucky to figure out it was battery failure before I lost my Phantom due to flying a decent distance as usual then not being able to make it back........ worse dropping in the ocean! They go from 70-75% down to pretty much 'Not enough battery to return home'! The warranty seems to have gone from 1 year down to 3 months.....sux & everyone knows that the battery cost is ridiculously high. What's with DJI they a) Can't come up with a battery with more power = more flying time. b) Bring down the ridiculous cost for them c) Failing this then give a decent Warranty!
Any alternative batteries out there worth purchasing. Just don't want a DJI battery that lasts 6 months again - rather take my chances with another brand that is more reliable at least.........
If I have missed other threads on this same topic I apologize before everyone jumps down my throat ok, tried the search here but didn't turn anything up.
I am totally PISSED! There just HAS to be more folks just like me who have had this problem.......right????

It is hard to tell from your post as to how you took care of your batteries. You say you always discharged them to 4-6% then fully recharged them to keep them in good condition. If this is in fact what you do with your batteries every time you use them, then it is no surprise to me that they are now failing. If you were doing that only every 20th charge (recommended by DJI) then you have only done this full cycle once. You should store your batts at 40-50% charge, not 100%. And chrge them just before you plan on using them. Please clarify as to what you have done with your batteries.
 
I personally store them around 30 to 35% range. Then recharge before flying. But one of my batteries showed slight puffiness and gave low battery warning and had around 7 cycles on it. It would charge but phantom would flash all red and app gave low battery warning. Of course my battery was beyond 3 months and had to purchase a new one. Thought it was a coincidence this happened after the battery firmware upgrade.
 
BlackTracer said:
It is hard to tell from your post as to how you took care of your batteries. You say you always discharged them to 4-6% then fully recharged them to keep them in good condition. If this is in fact what you do with your batteries every time you use them, then it is no surprise to me that they are now failing. If you were doing that only every 20th charge (recommended by DJI) then you have only done this full cycle once. You should store your batts at 40-50% charge, not 100%. And chrge them just before you plan on using them. Please clarify as to what you have done with your batteries.

Question[emoji780] : by storing, how many days do you mean?
I usually fully charge my batteries and use them every 3 days on average, so is it okay to leave them at 100% charge for about 3-4 days?
 
ab.riyami said:
Question[emoji780] : by storing, how many days do you mean?
I usually fully charge my batteries and use them every 3 days on average, so is it okay to leave them at 100% charge for about 3-4 days?

I am not an expert with a lot of previous experience with lipo batts. But what I have said is what I have learned by studying what others are doing and reading about it on the internet. My understanding is the storage rules apply to 10 days or longer, so 3 days may be ok. I always store mine at 40-60% after every flight and charge them right before I fly. Even if it is less than 3 days. Thats me. And I had one batt go bad and replaced by the dealer after 30 cycles.
 
BlackTracer said:
I am not an expert with a lot of previous experience with lipo batts. But what I have said is what I have learned by studying what others are doing and reading about it on the internet. My understanding is the storage rules apply to 10 days or longer, so 3 days may be ok. I always store mine at 40-60% after every flight and charge them right before I fly. Even if it is less than 3 days. Thats me. And I had one batt go bad and replaced by the dealer after 30 cycles.

Thanks for the quick reply, kindly show me if you have a picture of how your battery looked like when it went bad.

I live in a country where its quite difficult to get parts and batteries (also no warranty nor insurance) so I want to be careful.
 
i dont have a picture, but it looked quite normal. it just gave me low warnings at 44%. Mostly under load. Not hovering. The dealer tested it and found it was "bad" and replaced it for free.
 
BlackTracer said:
i dont have a picture, but it looked quite normal. it just gave me low warnings at 44%. Mostly under load. Not hovering. The dealer tested it and found it was "bad" and replaced it for free.
Good to know, thanks [emoji106]
 
Does anyone have a good way to test the battery themselves? I got a warning last flight on one of mine at about 55%. I'm still on firmware 2.0. If I update to the latest firmware will the fault detection feature tell me if the battery is bad? How exactly does it notify you? I couldn't update the battery firmware last time I tried... I remember there being some trick before about having to use a slightly older version of the assistant to get the batteries to update... Is this still the case? Thanks
 
So glad to see people getting involved with this thread - I should have said I followed protocol & pretty well discharged my batteries every flight to around 8-15% as per normal trying to get the most out of my flight time. I will normally fly at least 2-3 times per week on average but recently left them for only 2 weeks without flying then charged them up to 100% but as I mentioned they fail around 65% by rapidly going to danger level & not being able to return home ( klaxon goes off & battery warning red 8% )
hey look I just want to hear from other folks if they have this happen to them after only 6 months or indeed less.
You're right I have not been ultra - specific & i do notice the "exacting" type of people in ALL the threads here so I apologized before I posted initially.
HAVE to purchase new batteries as I am a photographer & need to keep my Phantom in the sky for those beautiful aerial shots I get........hence the reason why I sometimes fly often & sometimes the machine is put up but not for long. It's great to fly as a toy/hobby but even better when you can appreciate it from a photographers point of view.
Thanks again for all the constructive comments - still like to hear if anyone has purchased & currently using the batteries I mentioned in my earlier post? :-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-11-1V-6000m ... 20f2ac2852
http://www.amazon.com/6000mAH-Battery-P ... B00QM87UMK
Appreciate input you guys
 
max said:
Does anyone have a good way to test the battery themselves? I got a warning last flight on one of mine at about 55%. I'm still on firmware 2.0. If I update to the latest firmware will the fault detection feature tell me if the battery is bad? How exactly does it notify you? I couldn't update the battery firmware last time I tried... I remember there being some trick before about having to use a slightly older version of the assistant to get the batteries to update... Is this still the case? Thanks

I don't know how to test them ourselves, other than flying with them and seeing the failures, like yours, mine, and others.

I am on 2.0 as well and none of my batts will update. I have tried older assistants as well and still no luck. I have been living fine without the latest battery firmware so I don't really care about it that much. Others besides me (happydays I know) cannot update theirs as well. According to all the documentation, mine should update but don't.
 
Yep was looking at these batteries as the alternative but hesitated as folks have reported their Phantoms not recognizing them since latest upgrades to software/firmware.
I am totally up to date on upgrades to my system but to be honest 6000mah does sound so much better regardless.
DJI should have done this long ago AND brought down the ridiculous price for their batteries at the same time!
Imagine we can buy a car battery for less with a 2yr warranty ..................that actually lasts!
 
I have read about the update issue. Some have suggested that it is the battery update that is the issue. Updating a XYZ brand battery with DJI firmware. Makes sense that that could go concept may not work well. So my thought is that when ever I do any firmware updating I will have a DJI brand battery inside craft.

Hopefull it wont be an issue but I'll know in a few weeks for sure.
 
Had to throw one of my batteries away last month. on three different flights (not consecutive) it dropped to 6% battery level just after passing the 40% full mark. Once the copter made an emergency landing about 1000 ft from me, once it made it back OK, and third time it took off making a run back to Home, and ran into a pine tree and crashed. Phantom required a new shell. My other two batteries so far are working OK.
 
OK - here is the official reply to my question to DJI about sub standard quality batteries that had a 1year warranty when I purchased direct from DJI in May - June last year:-
M. E. (DJI Technology)Jan 16, 15:55
Dear Paul,
Thank you for contacting DJI. I am sorry to read on the recent issue you are having with the battery. Unfortunately, it is outside of the warranty period. Please click on the following link to read more on the warranty period: http://www.dji.com/service

DJI Customer Service North America

My reply (please bear in mind that I purchased this when the warranty for battery was 1 year - ok ) :-

Hmmmmm this is very bad for DJI to drop the warranty on your batteries from 1 year ( when I purchased the equipment ) to 3 months!
Even a vehicle battery costs less & has a 2 year warranty!!!!!
I really love flying the Phantom but will look elsewhere for new batteries - almost lost my machine before realizing it was to my surprise the batteries
BOTH of them that was the problem..........shame on you all at DJI to suggest that your customers should be satisfied with sub standard batteries
The high price alone leads people to believe that your batteries are the BEST! Not so as you have dropped your warranty substantially to 3 months only!
Did you even look at my order which at the time had a 1 year warranty on the battery?
Sad; VERY sad

*** My main concern is that they found it necessary to drop the 1year warranty to a measly 3 months............why? Pause for thought huh? ***
 
I think this battery issue will eventually come back to bite them in the butt

I look for my p2v's(non plus) to go at any time(my p2v+'s batteries are fairly new with low cycle count

I plan on replacing the battery of my p2v(non plus) with a limefuel unit
 
:D
I've experimented with propellers and firmware, mostly. Batteries and firmware have been a concern which I have left well enough alone. Updates are not always UPGRADESI

I have 4 batteries and two Phantoms. The latest update does not support my batteries.
I do have one battery that is showing signs of failure (early landing) after 30 some cycles. Still, cheap fun!
I have no complaints with DJI smart batteries.
BTW, the new 9450 props are awesome.
:lol: I still run 1.08 on my birds. The only way to fly!

MHL,
Fplvert
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,358
Members
104,935
Latest member
Pauos31