Wait, now the battery is too hot to charge?

The P3 battery is almost certainly a different chemistry than the P2 battery.

Charge volts per cell: P3= 4.375v; P2= 4.20v
Reported volts/cell charged: P3= 4.35; P2= 4.18v

My first flight in my P3 resulted in an "almost too hot to touch" battery. But after 5 flights, it's coming out much cooler. I don't know if that's breaking it in, but I suspect it is getting the internal chemical structures "lined up" for better conductance by cycling it.

By the way- I'm not following the "only discharge 1/2 way for 10 cycles" regimen. These batteries are only discharging at a bit over 3C. That's not taxing them at all. I think DJI has done a lot of homework in the development of these "smart" batteries. They say to discharge the batteries all the way after 10 cycle until the P3 won't turn on. That just seems inconsistent with the "baby the new battery" approach.

Now to Adam's problem. I think he's right. It appears the recharge temperature limit is too aggressive. Might be variation in the sensitivity of the sensor from one battery to another. Maybe it can be changed with a battery firmware update. We won't know until more batteries get into people's hands.

I think so many people are doing the 10 minute thing that their batteries aren't getting hot enough to get to the issue... so I bet we won't get the angry beavers attacking this board until June. Especially when the other batteries are in and people are trying to hot swap. It just can't be an hour wait. That takes the number of batteries I need from 4 to 8. That's kinda goofy.
 
I get my battery to charge after a minute. I set my cars ac to cold, put the battery in front of the vent for a min and then I get to charge it right away. Sensor is external. You can alternatively put the battery in the fridge, hopefully one that manages condensation well, like my sub zero...
 
I get my battery to charge after a minute. I set my cars ac to cold, put the battery in front of the vent for a min and then I get to charge it right away. Sensor is external. You can alternatively put the battery in the fridge, hopefully one that manages condensation well, like my sub zero...

The sensor is EXTERNAL! Wow. That's a massive help. Thank you.
 
External from the actual lipo most likely (as in they didn't squeeze it in between the lipo cells). I think its near the plugs so I have the plug facing the ac vent went I cool it down.
 
External from the actual lipo most likely (as in they didn't squeeze it in between the lipo cells). I think its near the plugs so I have the plug facing the ac vent went I cool it down.
Thanks Killer, that's good information.

I read somewhere else that they could get their battery to start charging sooner if they turned it on before plugging it in to the charger.

Edit: Per Adam & Killer below- this doesn't work.
 
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I think I tried that but it didn't work, not 100% sure though. I wasn't happy when I couldn't charge my battery right away and tried a bunch of stuff to circumvent the temp thing...
 
Thanks Killer, that's good information.

I read somewhere else that they could get their battery to start charging sooner if they turned it on before plugging it in to the charger.

Turning it on makes no difference. It starts to charge and then switches over to the 3 blinking lights on LED 4.
 
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I got my p3 2 days ago. Took it out after the update, flew it very low, just around the yard. Same thing happened, went to recharge and it was also too warm to recharge, ended up throwing it in the freezer for a few minutes, still took almost an hour for it to begin charging.... THIS Really BITES.
 
Does this happen with both P3A and P3P? Can it be the charger? Highly doubt it as its regulated by the "intelligent" board.
 
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Update: after about 5-6 charge cycles it now charges right after flying down to 44% or so. It must be breaking in now. No more waiting to charge
 
I am having the same frustrating issue with a hot battery not charging. I've only charged it 3-4 times so far since the P3A arrived last week, so I'm hoping it will get better in time as some have been noting. Right now it's a wait of more than 30 minutes BEFORE charging begins.
 
I am having the same frustrating issue with a hot battery not charging. I've only charged it 3-4 times so far since the P3A arrived last week, so I'm hoping it will get better in time as some have been noting. Right now it's a wait of more than 30 minutes BEFORE charging begins.


Hey guys, yes you have to let the battery cool down before it will recharge. It is a chemical reaction when you use it. The inner cell temp. has to come down before you can charge it. It is a Safety that is built into the batteries.

If you think you can just throw it on the charger after flying you are wrong.

If your that impatient than you have to learn about this type of battery.

Throwing it in the freezer is just going to shorten the life of the battery, if you can't wait put it in the fridge for at least 10-15 minutes and then charge it.

Come on now, we all know one battery isn't enough but don't take the chance of ruining your battery or causing a fire just because you want to fly.

There has been a lot of engineering and thought in how these were made and how they work.

SLOW DOWN!


Think about it!
 
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Outside temp of my battery was 94F and I was able to start charging. Not sure what the trigger temp is yet. I need to do some ore testing. I don't think it takes long to cool but it will be dependent on the ambient air temp.
 
This will all be moot once spare batteries are available.
 
This will all be moot once spare batteries are available.

No it won't. If you have to wait an hour to recharge, you'll need 6 or 7 batteries to keep a rotation for long shoots. If it can recharge immediately you can do it with 4 batteries and 2 chargers.
 
It is a very cool 66F (18.8C) here in Los Angeles. I flew it for the maximum amount of time allowable (around 22 minutes) and once it was off I took out the battery and drove home. Hung out and talked for a bit and after about 45 minutes, went to charge it.

Too hot.

.

This is surprising, yesterday admittedly it was only 7C here but I flew it for a good 10 minutes and battery felt warm but put it on charger almost immediately as I thought I might fly again in an hour or so,
Started charging straight away and it still felt quite warm
 
This is surprising, yesterday admittedly it was only 7C here but I flew it for a good 10 minutes and battery felt warm but put it on charger almost immediately as I thought I might fly again in an hour or so,
Started charging straight away and it still felt quite warm

There seems to be no rhyme or reason. For awhile I thought I broke mine in and it stopped doing it - then I did only a 10 minute run and it wouldn't charge for 30 minutes. ?!?! Now when I'm in the car I just hold it in front of the AC for 5-10 minutes and it seems to work.
 
No it won't. If you have to wait an hour to recharge, you'll need 6 or 7 batteries to keep a rotation for long shoots. If it can recharge immediately you can do it with 4 batteries and 2 chargers.
Whether you need 4 batteries or 7 doesn't negate the fact that once spare batteries are available, overheating will be less of an issue.
 
What the heck is going to happen if it gets warm while flying??? I just put mine in front of a small fan and it cooled down pretty quickly so I could recharge it.

Being that they can get pretty ripping hot if you are flying pretty aggressively and for along time nothing is going to happen when flying due to the battery getting hot.

Its not programed to shut off if its hot and flying and is only some thing that prevents it from charging.

So far I have only had 3 chargers were it was to warm to just start charging as soon as I plugged it in. 2 of them it was sort of warm tho not any thing I would say was to to hot. and they cooled down in a matter of minutes. Then the one were it was still ripping hot I put it in the fridge for about 5 mins and it was still warm when it came out. But it started charging right away after.
 
How are people having to wait an hour before charging? Are you leaving them in the sun, in the desert? Even when I was flying at high elevation (over 1 mile) in around 85F weather (elevation = less air to cool the battery and higher energy burn to keep airborne) I just put it in front of a fan for 10 minutes and it was good to go.
 
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