Hi guys just wanting to see how many of you out there have noticed the short life of Mavic Air batteries when in sports mode, who has had battery swelling issues and over heating issues. Am suggesting a battery recall due to the poor efficiency and swelling and heat issues as it raises safety concerns regarding drone and people. Not to mention main controller data errors (barometer data error) due to the excessive battery heat... A 4s system would be much more suitable and more reliable and it is not much bigger than the current 3s style it would reduce the risk of the mavic just dropping out of the sky and the red tail light or bursting into flames and possibly burning out hardware. When in sports mode the current system reduces flight time by approx 60% I personally get about 8 mins in sports mode. Please DJI we need a better, safer and more efficient battery system.

How do you tell if the batteries are swelling?  They're totally encased in a plastic shell.

And.. no heat issues here..  -30C is warmest it's been outside since last Monday.  It hit -40C yesterday morning  

I have had two dead batteries out of three that came with my red flame Mavic Air, purchased in USA on july last year. One of them was covered and replaced by the 6 moths DJi warranty. The second fails out of warranty. In both cases the drone detected a critical low voltage status and came down on emergency landing procedure. No damage to the drone but the batteries did not accept charge anymore. Reviewing the flight log I notice that the first failure was on a hight temperature batt status. I live in very warm country: Paraguay (south america)

I mean, my batteries get toasty, but they seriously swell? I never encountered it but I’ll keep an eye out. Thanks for the tip!

In hot areas my batteries have gotten a little swelling where it doenst cleanly click when i insert into the mavic air. Nothing major but i was just wondering if anyone else has noticed excessive heat and slight swelling where the sticker is?

Spark in the Park Posted at 2-21 22:18
In hot areas my batteries have gotten a little swelling where it doenst cleanly click when i insert into the mavic air. Nothing major but i was just wondering if anyone else has noticed excessive heat and slight swelling where the sticker is?

Old thread now, but yes, my abtteries get hot and after use they have swollen just very slightly on the sticker side. They do go back to normal very quick as the battery cools. I live in a hot climate (average mid 30s C). I just bought anew battery today, will see if it does the same or not tomorrow, depending on rain  (monsoon season)

Spark in the Park Posted at 2-21 22:18
In hot areas my batteries have gotten a little swelling where it doenst cleanly click when i insert into the mavic air. Nothing major but i was just wondering if anyone else has noticed excessive heat and slight swelling where the sticker is?

What happened with yours? Care to follow up?

Swelling... definitely a thing.
:-(

That does not look good. Potential fire risk I would think.  LiPo fires are nasty.

Fortunately my 3 batteries that are over a year old are still ok. But I check after every charge.

jwt-873 Posted at 1-31 06:18
How do you tell if the batteries are swelling?  They're totally encased in a plastic shell.

And.. no heat issues here..  -30C is warmest it's been outside since last Monday.  It hit -40C yesterday morning

I had a battery burst open after a flight yesterday. Apparently, the only thing keeping it intact during the flight was the fact that it was secured in the Mavic Air.

When I removed the battery, it split. It was hot - about 90 degrees outside. After the battery cooled, it would not close, so I will not use it for future flights. Upon opening, one or more of the 3 LiPo cells inside were swollen, causing the case to split.

I have a Mavic Air and 8 batteries, been flying for 18 months. I follow all the battery maint suggestions and precautions. Out of 8 batteries 5 yes 5 of them are bulging and split open on the sides and are not usable. I told DJI on the phone yesterday that their batteries are defective and should last until they stop working, not bulge out and split. DJI also said charging cycles should be about 200, I’m getting around 80 cycles and then they bulge out. They will not admit they have a problem but instead give you 99 battery rules to follow to make you feel like it’s your fault. There should be a battery recall or some kind of exchange program, but I don’t see that happening. BL

I have 3 batteries and two have a shorter life than the one i bought at a retail store, all 3 have slight bulging but havnt cracked open yet. Has there veen any news regarding battery exchanges or have they changed the cell manufacturer or anything? I love my mavic air but i simply cant fly it in summer due to battery heat tripping the internal sensors of the drone making it give false readings from the baromer etc.

Today, Happen to me.
A sudden drop 20% battery to 0% in the mid air. My drone was returning home 120m height. Freedropped from the air.
I was taking photo at the seaside. Luckily not drop into the sea but to the deck I was standing on. 2m away from the sea.

This was bought last year 2018, and the battery charged less than 10 circles.

Is that only me? Or there is batch of bad battery?

Yes, I have had this happen to 3 batteries now. One of them dies about five minutes after I take off, and has crashed twice which could be very dangerous as that is enough time to get a good amount of altitude. When charge it, it says that it is fully charged, and the same when I power up the drone. After I take off it is as if it is drained immediately. The other battery swole to a point that that back started coming off. Probably bad to still use it but it still works just as good as my other battery that has no swelling. I use my drone maybe 5 times a month, always fully charge them, and store them in a room temp, dry place. I am not sure what the issue is but yes, this needs to be fixed. I am also out of the country so replacing mavic air batteries is not cheap. Hey DJI, HELP!!!

I experience the same with 2 of my 4 batteries, all purchased around feb 2018. Within 1.5 years and only 30 loads, 2 batteries have swollen out of their plastic shell, even though I treat them the same as the other batteries. DJI customer care can do nothing and won't replace, very very disappointing. Great drone, disappointing battery, worthless service.

I would certainly add my name to the list of people asking for a general recall, or at least an exchange program to handle defective batteries. And they ARE defective, obviously not designed or manufactured to specs that would allow full use of the features of the aircraft they power. Seems like DJI is taking the same strategy as US medical insurance companies, which is to deny and resist at every step, and make the process so slow and painful that most people will give up before getting any satisfactory resolution.

This is crazy! I lost 3 batteries with less than 10 cycles due to bulging already!

I bought 2 new ones and 1 of them got the same bulging with only 2 cycles in!

I'm thinking this could be something like a short circuit from the MA causing the bats to bulj or what?

It could definitely be the heat as well but I flew on a cooler 25 C yesterday instead of our usual tropical 30 C +!

Is there a better drone out there that's maybe made in Japan/Germany/USA perhaps?

If this keeps happening, flying this drone actually feels like you have to pay an actual plane ticket!

jwt-873 Posted at 2019-1-31 06:18
How do you tell if the batteries are swelling?  They're totally encased in a plastic shell.

And.. no heat issues here..  -30C is warmest it's been outside since last Monday.  It hit -40C yesterday morning

Swollen batteries. Noticed mine were fitting really tight and getting “battery not installed properly errors.” There needs to be recall.  Surprised this thing didn’t pop out during flight.

TwonDronerMon Posted at 2-10 21:23
I experience the same with 2 of my 4 batteries, all purchased around feb 2018. Within 1.5 years and only 30 loads, 2 batteries have swollen out of their plastic shell, even though I treat them the same as the other batteries. DJI customer care can do nothing and won't replace, very very disappointing. Great drone, disappointing battery, worthless service.[Image]

Agree. Service is horrible.

Good day,

Not sure if I comment here if anyone from DJI will actually read it but hope so.

I noticed today that my batteries in my DJI bag are hot!
This is very concerning and wondered if anyone else has had the same experience?
They were not in the drone, just in the DJI drone bag.
The bag was in an airconditioned room.

Please help.

Thanks very much.