Hi there,

I have been an old DJI customer, having used the Spark earlier while the Ronin-S and Mavic Air are with me currently. I run a couple of YouTube channels with a combined subscriber base exceeding 1.5 million.

I bought the DJI Mavic Air Fly More Combo in December 2018 in the US. I rarely use it due to restrictions in drone operations in India, where I stay. On an average, I use the drone twice or thrice a month.

Last year, one of the batteries of the drone failed. Last week, the other two batteries also failed.

This has got me very worried -

1) how can all batteries of a drone fail?
2) I have used a ton of electronics over the years - smartphones, gimbals, action cameras, cameras, audio equipment, etc. Never has it happened that the battery has failed like this. Detoriated - yes, failed - NEVER.
3) The Mavic Air shows 100% battery before take-off, as soon as take-off happens, it all of a sudden starts showing 0% and does a free fall. This is shocking for 3 reasons -

a) how can the world leader of drones not program the drone to not turn on/take off if battery is weak?
b) if the battery is weak/low, how can it just do a free-fall?
c) who takes responsibility if something breaks or anyone gets hurt due to the free fall of the drone?

This brings me to a few questions -

1) I got in touch with DJI, they conveienently said that the drone is out of warranty, we can't do anything. This is purely using its monopolistic position to an advantage. You make the drones, you make the batteries, you are fully responsible for failure of multiple batteries (I can understand if one battery failed but all failing at once? Clearly that batch of batteries need to be recalled).
2) This seems like a software issue, if the battery is poor, then why is the drone turning on or taking off or even showing 100% charge in the first place (both at the time of take off and after taking off and hovering in the air)!
3) Why does DJI make such poor quality batteries? I am certainly not the first person facing this issue, a friend's Mavic Pro 2's battery stopped working all of a sudden and he had to get a new one for Rs. 11,000/- ($144). He sourced it from Dubai because DJI batteries in India cost an arm and leg, and availability is also poor. Our country is in a lockdown so I am stuck with a drone with no batteries. I had an urgent video to shoot for official purposes (of my city in lockdown).

I have lost complete faith in DJI, I always held them in high regard for their excellent products, mainly their drones but what use is an excellent drone with all batteries failing and the drone free-falling from height? I continue to swear by the Ronin though.

Well, you are out of the battery warranty: 6 months/200 charges? And from what I can tell, you treated your batteries equally, and got almost 2 years out of them.
Now as to:
"a) how can the world leader of drones not program the drone to not turn on/take off if battery is weak?"
Never take off without a fully charged battery. Also, if you sense "abnormal" behaviour with your batteries, you just retire them. Not worth the risk.
"b) if the battery is weak/low, how can it just do a free-fall?"  There are a lot of power demands on anything that is flying/fighting gravity. Drone and heli's are the most demanding on power/current needs.
If you are not confident in the power source, retire it and get new batteries.
and
"c) who takes responsibility if something breaks or anyone gets hurt due to the free fall of the drone?" You do. It is up to you to make sure your equipment is airworthy.
It does look like you got your mileage out of the batteries considering the time of ownership. Maybe just time to buy new ones and take variable out of the equation..

Thanks for your revert.

Does DJI mention anywhere that the batteries are good for only 200 charges?

a) The batteries are always 100% charged before a take-off with the same confirmed on the drone at start-up as well. There was no abnormal behaviour other than going from 100% to 0%.
b) Can DJI not improve the software to be able to identify condition of the battery. Because if it shows 0% for a charged unit prior to take-off, I can understand but post take-off and in mid-air, it shows 0% all of sudden, which becomes a problem leading to a free-fall.
c) Buying a new battery costs 10% of the cost of the drone, plus availability is also a question during these times. It's not economically viable to have so many failed batteries. One fails - understandably, three fail back to back - DJI should LOOK into it, it doesn't sound normal at all.

DJI needs to look into the issue, how can 3 batteries from the same lot, fail one after another, does sound right.

I was looking to buy the DJI Mavic Air 2, now I am scared that I will end up being a tester, will have to wait till all issues are confirmed to be ironed out.

It's 6 months or 200 charges which ever occurs first.
It's in the manual, and online.
It is possible that you have just exhausted them thru their life.
You had one fail a year ago, and finally the last 2 have given it up. They did not go at the same time.
Looks like time for new batteries,

Can you share the online link for the same which states that the batteries need to be changed every 6 months or 200 cycles.

It's still surprising that the batteries go kaput like this. DJI definitely needs to work on its battery technology, till then I believe DJI is taking advantage of its monopolistic position in the market. They make the drones, they make the batteries and if they can make such advanced drones, I am sure they can make better batteries or at least better software which doesn't make a drone free-fall.

I did not say that DJI says that the batteries need to be changed every six months.
I did say that DJI warranties it's  batteries for 6 months, or 200 charges, whichever occurs first after activation.
Now mindful of that, you do have to condition/exercise the batteries every 8/12 weeks or so if not used at all for long periods of time to keep the lipo healthy.
Look into the warranty docs that came with your kit, or online.
Batteries are kind of a "consumable" item. When the battery losses it's ability to take/hold a charge, it is nearing the end of it's life.
You don't toss the bird, you toss the battery and get new ones.
I am assuming that you took good care and maintenance of your batteries, and it looks like they just met their lifespan.

I understand but I am reiterating what I said earlier.

DJI needs to inspect their batteries, because batteries failing like this is unheard off in any electronic device. Something smells fishy, so many batteries failing. If DJI can count the charge, they sure can count percentage, how can battery go from 100 to 0 in mid-air and free fall, that's not right, and after falling too, the drone continues to be powered on, so is this really a battery issue or an issue with the software?

I don't know what to tell you, if they had bricked up early in their life, then you would have a leg to stand on.

But, you can try to open ticket and see what happens.....

It's just a monopoly, nothing else. Never mind, being from the media fraternity, I will surely make the right noises to ensure DJI looks into this matter.

I believe I read something along these lines in this forum, but can find the exact quote.. Let me explain.

1: 1st turn on the battery.
2: Briefly press the power button after the battery is on.

4 Leds - battery life remaining is 75%-100% - Good Battery
3 Leds - battery life remaining is 50-74% - Fair Battery
2 Leds - battery life remaining is 25-49% - Fly with caution
1 Leds - battery life remaining is 0-24% - Use it as a power bank.


This is from memory, so will not be 100% correct.  I hope the original poster of the article read this, as I forgot to book mark his/hers.

Not having such a vast DH´JIO / drone background, I tend to believe thate there is an issue with DJI's batteries?!   I found two of my three batteries "exploded" in the charger! DJI's first recation was fast and then: since almost a week: nothing. What a shame!

HaWo Posted at 5-24 01:51
Not having such a vast DH´JIO / drone background, I tend to believe thate there is an issue with DJI's batteries?!   I found two of my three batteries "exploded" in the charger! DJI's first recation was fast and then: since almost a week: nothing. What a shame!

That's really bad, DJI should look into this, a lot of users are facing multiple issues related to batteries only!

Sorry to hear about the issue, may I know how did you contact DJI Support before?  Do you have a case number or ticket number? Please provide me with it or your contact info, so I can look into it and see if there is anything I can do for you.

HaWo Posted at 5-24 01:51
Not having such a vast DH´JIO / drone background, I tend to believe thate there is an issue with DJI's batteries?!   I found two of my three batteries "exploded" in the charger! DJI's first recation was fast and then: since almost a week: nothing. What a shame!

Sorry for this, HaWo,  I saw DJI Mindy replied your own thread here, could you please reply to her with the info she asked for further assistance?  If you have contacted DJI Support already, please provide us with the reference number or your contact info so we can check it as well. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

DJI Natalia Posted at 5-24 23:30
Sorry to hear about the issue, may I know how did you contact DJI Support before?  Do you have a case number or ticket number? Please provide me with it or your contact info, so I can look into it and see if there is anything I can do for you.

Thanks for your reply. I had contacted via the support form on the DJI website. The request number is 2782459

fasbusa-sp Posted at 5-25 00:46
Thanks for your reply. I had contacted via the support form on the DJI website. The request number is 2782459

Thanks for the information, I will forward your ticket to the related team to follow up.

DJI Natalia Posted at 5-25 03:52
Thanks for the information, I will forward your ticket to the related team to follow up.

Hi, got a revert, nothing new, same old warranty is for 6 months, etc.

So basically no help as such!

fasbusa-sp Posted at 5-28 07:09
Hi, got a revert, nothing new, same old warranty is for 6 months, etc.

So basically no help as such!

Hi there, sorry for that case happened, according to DJI's after-sales policies, the batteries have 6 months warranty period. I fully understand you, I will push our team to follow up on your email. Should there anything else I can assist you with, please feel free to let me know. Thanks for your kind understanding.

DJI Natalia Posted at 5-28 23:31
Hi there, sorry for that case happened, according to DJI's after-sales policies, the batteries have 6 months warranty period. I fully understand you, I will push our team to follow up on your email. Should there anything else I can assist you with, please feel free to let me know. Thanks for your kind understanding.

That's all for now. I understand the policy part but all 3 batteries failing like this back to back is what I am not able to understand.