I'm one of the lucky ones who's battery won't power up or light up when testing after the latest firmware upgrade.  I read on the forum that a few others have had the same issue and the fix is to spend $40 and send the battery back to China / DJI so they can replace it in 5 to 6 weeks.  

After a little digging around, I had a colleague send me this "possible" fix.  I haven't tried it but plan to this week prior to sending the battery back to China.

Any advice if someone else has already done this and if it works?

View Photo Here

I've seen that same recommendation in another thread in this group.  I've had no reason to try it personally and haven't heard results back from anyone else.  I agree that it SHOULD work, and assuming someone has the technical competence to assure they won't cause a short circuit, I can think of few reasons not to try it.  Let us know the outcome if you do it.

SHE'S ALIVE!!!!

OK, here's the latest:

1) I was able to remove the top off the battery and slowly pulled it back to see the inside.
2) The only wire you can "remove" is the balance wire.  All the others are soldered in.  I used chopsticks to remove the balance wire as i didn't want to stick a metal screwdriver in there

3) Kept it unplugged for 2 hours

4) Inserted the balance wire back and the LED lights came back on.  I powered cycle the battery several times w/o any issue

5) I put the latest firmware upgrade on the Micro SD card prior to turning the battery on while in the Inspire

6) Turned on the power but the firmware did not update. I can only assume it had the latest firmware

7) Battery showed it at 97% which I knew wasn't true.  I started and flew it about 15' from me at a height of 3'.  After 30 seconds so, I got a Critical Low Battery warning and the Inspired landed in front of me safely.

8) Battery is back on the charger and waiting for the next test.

Per the instructions, we need to cycle the battery at least twice.  More test flights to come so stay tune..

One has to wonder if any of the battery problems people have experienced are associated with an failed update, or opening un the battery?

DJK Posted at 2015-5-18 05:09
One has to wonder if any of the battery problems people have experienced are associated with an fail ...

hard to say.  this was the first time i ran into an issue with a battery and I've done all the FW updates when available.  Im running 7 batteries (4 T47 and 3 T48') and it was the original battery that came with the inspire that i had issues with.  My thought process was;  i would rather buy a $150 battery than wait 6 weeks for a new one so I had nothing to loose.  

I just ran the first full charge test and the Inspire flew perfect.  I plan to fly again once the battery is charged up for my 2nd test.  More details to come.....

richard@newmedi Posted at 2015-5-18 05:14
hard to say.  this was the first time i ran into an issue with a battery and I've done all the FW  ...

Looks like you are being cautious, apparently the charge controlled also looses its battery condition information when unplugged, and needs some cycling to rebuild the information.

Anyone know for certain exactly what type of batteries are in the controller...might need to leave everything indoors...

OK, Final Test Flights

Flight #1
I charged the battery and took it out for test flight.  I kept it within 25-75' from me at a height of around 3 to 20'.  i ran the battery down to 15% when I was prompted to land which I did.  The battery ran flawlessly.

Flight #2
I charged the battery again and took it out for another test flight.  Within the first 100%-75%, I kept it pretty close.  After, I flew it further and higher still keeping a close watch on the iPad.  I took it to 350' and 2000' from me and again, the battery ran flawlessly.  

To wrap, this did work for me and I'm pretty happy that I did.  My feeling.... i'm still 90% trusting the battery so I plan to keep a close eye on this one.  

I hope this helps if someone runs into the same issue and don't want to send the battery back to China.

Cheers,

Thanks Richard, I will try tonight, I will let you know how I get on. Cheers Scott

Thanks a lot for sharing, my battery is now back from the dead!  
It's a bit tricky to remove the top of the battery but the led lights came back on as expected, and at the charging stage everything seems to be fine.

Thanks again!

Prax Posted at 2015-5-20 05:08
Thanks a lot for sharing, my battery is now back from the dead!  
It's a bit tricky to remove the to ...

Fantastic!  

There is an old IT saying ..."When in Doubt ReBoot"...Nothing like a good Hard Resett...

I have tried this but when i reconnect the wire either the green light flashes out of sync or it shuts off and then turns on shuts off then turns on any suggestion?

joe.montalto13@ Posted at 2015-5-25 11:28
I have tried this but when i reconnect the wire either the green light flashes out of sync or it shu ...

I had the same problem today with a TB48. I did the same unplugging procedure and now is back to life. I'm waiting to recharge to go test it.  

omnipresent Posted at 2015-5-26 13:10
I had the same problem today with a TB48. I did the same unplugging procedure and now is back to l ...

Mine won't go back to life

joe.montalto13@ Posted at 2015-5-27 01:45
Mine won't go back to life

Try it this way

I just had the TB47 go dead on me. I tried the unplug/plug resolution but, nothing! I figured it might be so dead that I would have to work around the electronics on the battery. Sure enough, the batter is now charging. Here's what I did-

Remove the cap and disconnect the cable to the top of the battery. Then using a couple of alligator clips, connect from the charger directly to the top of the battery. It's actually more of a press and hold on the battery as the solder points are large and relatively flat. I held mine for about 2 minutes. Then reconnected the cable on the top of the battery and headed to the charger. Just be careful since you're dealing with a LiPo and electricity.

I hope this works for you!!

joe.montalto13@ Posted at 2015-5-26 11:45
Mine won't go back to life

Joe, you might check my post. It fixed my battery when other suggestions wouldn't.

Nice. great info here

I have two battery's, TB48 and TB47 both would not take a charge, One would do nothing at all. The other would just flash the first LED. After reading this post I still could not get them to take a charge. So I took the top off the battery, Unplugged the multi pin plug (as listed above), took two alligator clips and plugged them direct to the battery's post. then hooked to other end to the charger. ( Take your time and make sure you have + to + and - to -! after manually charging for about 45 min I reconnected the Multi pin and the battery had a 50% charge. put the top back on, Plunged in the charger and complected the charge. Now i can install the battery into the inspire and update the firmware. Hope this helps.

bobjr@johnrotha Posted at 2016-7-26 22:59
I have two battery's, TB48 and TB47 both would not take a charge, One would do nothing at all. The o ...

hi

I have 4 dead battery's. I give it a try tomorrow and let you guy's know what happend....

Rinus

Rinus Posted at 2016-9-4 00:11
hi

I have 4 dead battery's. I give it a try tomorrow and let you guy's know what happend....

Hi,

I was able to fix one battery. So it works. Battery is now charging...
When the battery is done charging i update the firmware and take it to a flight this week.
3 more to go...

Rinus

How do you figure out which is positive and which is negative on the charger?  I can see the cables after removing the cap, but the charger does not offer any clues.  

rip8654 Posted at 2016-10-13 11:22
How do you figure out which is positive and which is negative on the charger?  I can see the cables  ...

Can' you just put a multimeter on the leads and check for polarity?  It the meter reads negative you have the leads reversed.

Rich

I have three batteries that had to be put in long term storage due to a family illness. They were all non-responsive when I took them out two days ago. I searched and followed the instructions here and posted by Lynh Phan at http://droneownersnetwork.com/ho ... ed-dji-battery-new/ You of course have to be quite careful with a LiPo battery. Two of my three are now back in service. The third is overheating, so I removed it from the dji hub. As a side note, the batteries would not charge after the procedure unless they were warm to the touch. Once in the Inspire, they also got a firmware update and show as OK in the app.

I hope this helps others with bricked or in "deep discharge" mode batteries.

RichJ53 Posted at 2016-10-13 16:57
Can' you just put a multimeter on the leads and check for polarity?  It the meter reads negative you have the leads reversed.

Rich

Yes, you can. That is what I did. You'll get a negative DC voltage if the leads are reversed, and positive if connected correctly.

How do you get battery open, can't figure it out

Use a small screw driver on the back side tabs to gently pry them away.  I used a credit card to slide between the tab and case to keep them apart.  Do this on both rear sides.  Then gently pry the two rear tabs and pull the cover off.

Not sure the exact symptom of the original problem, but wondered if it is the same as mine? Basically, the LEDs on mine are working.  The battery was part of my Inspire which crashed (long story) at 83%.  While the LEDs are working, it just doesn't seem to power on the Inspire.  It doesn't go into charging mode either when plugged.  So it's basically a 200$ brick. I am trying these steps seeing if it does the trick or perhaps this battery is just completely useless now. Will post the results here.

RBPsiuDrone Posted at 2017-9-29 07:42
Not sure the exact symptom of the original problem, but wondered if it is the same as mine? Basically, the LEDs on mine are working.  The battery was part of my Inspire which crashed (long story) at 83%.  While the LEDs are working, it just doesn't seem to power on the Inspire.  It doesn't go into charging mode either when plugged.  So it's basically a 200$ brick. I am trying these steps seeing if it does the trick or perhaps this battery is just completely useless now. Will post the results here.

Do you have another battery you could try? This doesn't sound like the same problem, seems more like something physical (connection maybe) inside the battery has broken or come loose in the crash. I would be tempted to open it up and visually check all cables/circuit board/connections are as they should be.

Do be extremely careful in there if you decide to open it up.

Mark G.

Mark Guille Posted at 2017-9-29 08:58
Do you have another battery you could try? This doesn't sound like the same problem, seems more like something physical (connection maybe) inside the battery has broken or come loose in the crash. I would be tempted to open it up and visually check all cables/circuit board/connections are as they should be.

Do be extremely careful in there if you decide to open it up.

Mark, I read your response after I fixed it. You are exactly right, I opened it carefully, and sure enough, the red wire busted off.  I immediately soldered it, secured the contacts with electrical tape, then placed it on the charger. Voila! It is charging! It also powers the Inspire 1 :-)  See the pics below.

RBPsiuDrone Posted at 2017-9-29 09:37
Mark, I read your response after I fixed it. You are exactly right, I opened it carefully, and sure enough, the red wire busted off.  I immediately soldered it, secured the contacts with electrical tape, then placed it on the charger. Voila! It is charging! It also powers the Inspire 1 :-)  See the pics below.

Great news, glad you could fix it!

Mark G.

Mark Guille Posted at 2017-9-29 09:43
Great news, glad you could fix it!

Mark G.

It did well after charging it completely. The only strange thing is, Airdata (healthydrones), is reporting it as a TB47, when physically it says TB48.  Either it needs a firmware update or I have a fake from the previous owner. Smh.  Have you heard of or seen this?

RBPsiuDrone Posted at 2017-9-29 11:05
It did well after charging it completely. The only strange thing is, Airdata (healthydrones), is reporting it as a TB47, when physically it says TB48.  Either it needs a firmware update or I have a fake from the previous owner. Smh.  Have you heard of or seen this?

I'm having problems with Airdata at the moment, whenever I upload flight logs, I get new serial numbers allocated to my batteries, maybe there is a connection?
What mAh does it show under Battery / Trends / Health? This will give you a clue as to whether it is a Tb47 or Tb48.

Mark G.

Mark Guille Posted at 2017-9-29 11:13
I'm having problems with Airdata at the moment, whenever I upload flight logs, I get new serial numbers allocated to my batteries, maybe there is a connection?
What mAh does it show under Battery / Trends / Health? This will give you a clue as to whether it is a Tb47 or Tb48.

I think its an Airdata issue (I just manually set it) cause just like my other TB48s it shows higher mAh (just a tad less than 5k) than my "real" TB47 which is a tad less that 4k.

I managed to damage the Balance Wire Connector when disconnecting the Balance Wire on a bricked TB48.  I contacted DJI Support hoping to get a part no. and to, if possible, get one from them.   All I got back was: "We do not have these available from our store." and no part no.!  Has anyone been able to track down these connectors?
Cheers, AussieSteve

fans53578cda Posted at 2017-12-16 22:45
I managed to damage the Balance Wire Connector when disconnecting the Balance Wire on a bricked TB48.  I contacted DJI Support hoping to get a part no. and to, if possible, get one from them.   All I got back was: "We do not have these available from our store." and no part no.!  Has anyone been able to track down these connectors?
Cheers, AussieSteve

Your best chance would be to get one from a dead battery. Ask around the forums/Facebook groups, I would imagine people would be happy to get rid of their dead batteries for the price of the postage.
Let us know how yo get on.

Mark G.

Just wanted to cross post and see if anyone has recommendations for 3rd party batteries? https://forum.dji.com/thread-59802-1-1.html

This is still a problem with the phantom 4 pro, apparently DJI isn't learning from past mistakes.  To me, this is a very clear case of planned obsolescence, and basically trying to pull a printer company trick, and make sure DJI has some recurring revenue due to the totally unreliable batteries that DJI charging hardware destroys.  

I'm boycotting DJI as a result, so I need to find reliable 3rd party batteries, or I'm selling the p4 pro.   As a hobbyist, it's just not worth it, and as a professional, do you really want to rely on a company that's doing terrible design and not standing behind the product?  I sure wouldn't.

https://forum.dji.com/thread-59802-1-1.html

This is all disapointing to read, but familiar. I have a brand new Mavic Pro that I didn't open from the box for 5 months. All three batteries are DOA. I am waiting for Customer Service response now, but expect it to be a headache as I have moved from the USA to the UK and they'll claim the region invalidates the warranty. I cannot start the drone, power it up, update firmware, or anything. The charger works on teh remote control, but all three batteries are unresponsive except two of them will flash one green light when charging. I don't want to open them up because then it will definitely invalidate things, and I'm not confident with electrics, unless it's simple and there's a detailed video.

So, I bought a used Phantom 3 Standard a few months back,  before I got the Inspire. Anyway, it was one of those fantastic deals where guy's girlfriend buys him drone, guy flies drone. Guy fies drone again. Guy never flies drove ever again. So after a solid 9-12 months sabbatical in this guy's hat closet, he runs out of meth and needs to sell it on eBay.

Enter me. I buy it knowing I'll need to also get a battery cause he reports the battery is not even powering up. Having never touched a DJI product other than the Osmo 2 I had at the time, I ask that he include the dead battery so that I can figure out what he did and fix it. Because of course I'd be able to fix it!

Phantom arrives,  dead battery is dead, he wasn't kidding. After another week passes, new off-brand battery arrives and I can start flying the damned thing.  This was about 6-9 months ago, but I'm not entirely certain. I don't know about anyone else, but ever since the COVIDS started dissolving people's lungs and we have had to stay home, I have absolutely no idea what day of the week it is, much less day and month!

So a couple weeks ago, and as I was sure would eventually happen, I grabbed that dead battery and basically worked each and every glue and clip point that DJI thought would be enough to keep me out for probably 2 hours, but again, may have been 14 minutes, until I finally had the shell off allowing me access to all the solder points and connections. And, well, that was about it. While hoping I'd open it up and see some obvious connection popped off, let out a little chuckle, reconnect it and be shown that it was a fully charged battery, that didn't quite happen. It all looked like one would expect. I did throw a digital multi-meter across the shiny scary shocky looking bits, but got nuthin.

I was excited to learn what you guys were talking about and seeing if it would work on the smaller Phantom 3 batteries. However, the link to what i think was some directions/ explanations  in one of the first posts was dead, COVID-19 dead. So, could someone do me a solid and maybe drop that document in this forum dealie?

Awesome!

BN