Took my original Mavic Pro, purchased in January, 2017, out for a spin yesterday and after flying I saw that two of my three batteries are now swollen. I had noticed that the bettery I flew with connected oddly to the AC, but since it seemed secure I didn't think I had a problem, however on return for battery swap-out I realized that the battery side that faces the AC had swollen -- you can see by the reflections how it is no longer flat. I guess I'm lucky it didn't swell further during flight and pop out. I've been flying every weekend for the last 5 months and am pretty sure the swelling only happened after this weekend's charging for my Sunday flights.



Three and a half years is I guess a reasonable drone battery lifetime all things considered. That's 169 flights and nearly 36 hours in the air in my case.

I'm curious if this matches other original Mavic Pro users experiences, so if you feel so moved, please select how long your shortest-lived battery lasted until it either failed to hold a charge or swelled up and became too dangerous to use. If you want to post how many flight you got out of it in comments, that would be appreciated, too. Thanks!

Failed battery disposal PSA from DJI Thor:

Dispose of the battery into specific recycling boxes only after a complete discharge. Do not place the battery into regular rubbish bins. Strictly follow your local disposal and recycling regulations of batteries.

Ex Machina Posted at 6-29 09:09
Failed battery disposal PSA from DJI Thor:

Dispose of the battery into specific recycling boxes only after a complete discharge. Do not place the battery into regular rubbish bins. Strictly follow your local disposal and recycling regulations of batteries.

I had to return two on my MP1 batteries after the first charge back in 2017 yet the other one lasted nearly two years. Never had a battery issue with any of the drones I have bought since - I maintain them like pets now lol

A J Posted at 6-29 09:35
I had to return two on my MP1 batteries after the first charge back in 2017 yet the other one lasted nearly two years. Never had a battery issue with any of the drones I have bought since - I maintain them like pets now lol

Huh, did the bad batteries not hold a charge or immediately swell, something else?

My SOP was to top off the batteries if needed the day or day before before flying, then recharge them on my return.

Ex Machina Posted at 6-29 09:40
Huh, did the bad batteries not hold a charge or immediately swell, something else?

My SOP was to top off the batteries if needed the day or day before before flying, then recharge them on my return.

Charged out the box to 100% for the very first time, synced the firmware, took it out, flew them down to 20%+ and came home. When I took them out the bag on my return they were swollen on the back of each of those batteries - the third one was fine. I thankfully bought them from Apple so took them straight back, went absolutely nuts in the store having paid around £1350 back then for the fly more combo and got two new ones on the spot and a £50 voucher. The two new ones were sold with the drone in 2018 working just fine as the third one always did.

Now I fully charge the battery to 100%, take it out to fly down to around 20% within 24 hours of the charge, take the battery out of the drone immediately after flight, let the battery cool down naturally away from direct sunlight then on my return I recharge it for 20 minutes which takes the voltage to around 3.7v and store the battery/ies in a DJI battery safe bag in a cool, dry place until I intend to use them again. Even if I have not flown for while I always fully recharge and discharge to 25% once every one-two months.  

By "Still going strong" I hope folks are choosing this only if they've had the battery longer than 3.5 years.

I just sold my MP about Two weeks ago. But never experienced swelling with
the 4 batteries I owned. Even after 291 flights my batteries still were getting
20 mins of flight time. I voted 3.5 years, but if I wouldn't have sold it. My vote
would have been still going strong.

My first flight was on October 6, 2017.  I just passed over 10,123,126 feet of flight distance.  (1,917 miles or 3,085 Km) and I'm still on the original set of batteries.  When I fly, I have low battery alarm set to 30% and when it goes off, I return home.  Batteries are usually about 20-24% when I land.  I let them cool off, place in my bag and they stay there until the next time I fly.  Then the day before I go out next, I'll pull them out and charge them up.  I have no swelling on any of the three batteries, but I have noticed that the film on the bottom looks like it's flaking a bit but no swelling.  Inspected before every flight.  

Mine are original.  One thing I don't ever do is leave the batteries in the car.  Everything comes inside when not in use.  I don't know if keeping them from overheating helps, but so far, so good.

Brad Bilger Posted at 6-29 14:33
My first flight was on October 6, 2017.  I just passed over 10,123,126 feet of flight distance.  (1,917 miles or 3,085 Km) and I'm still on the original set of batteries.  When I fly, I have low battery alarm set to 30% and when it goes off, I return home.  Batteries are usually about 20-24% when I land.  I let them cool off, place in my bag and they stay there until the next time I fly.  Then the day before I go out next, I'll pull them out and charge them up.  I have no swelling on any of the three batteries, but I have noticed that the film on the bottom looks like it's flaking a bit but no swelling.  Inspected before every flight.

Wow! That's impressive! When did you buy your batteries?

They came in with the original bundle.  Bought the package in October of 2017.  My drone has 552 flights, all with the original 3 batteries, Total flight time 125 hours and 56 minutes according to my flight data.  Never a crash and the only disconnects that I've had were fixed with a new USB cable.  And all on Android Note 5 at first, now running a Note 9.

Brad Bilger Posted at 6-29 17:47
They came in with the original bundle.  Bought the package in October of 2017.  My drone has 552 flights, all with the original 3 batteries, Total flight time 125 hours and 56 minutes according to my flight data.  Never a crash and the only disconnects that I've had were fixed with a new USB cable.  And all on Android Note 5 at first, now running a Note 9.

Check back in towards the end of the year if you think about it -- clearly you've gotten your money's worth out of the deal. ;)

Ex Machina Posted at 6-29 18:30
Check back in towards the end of the year if you think about it -- clearly you've gotten your money's worth out of the deal. ;)

Yeah.. I love telling people that my maximum flight altitude according to my record is 13,155 feet.  Sounds impressive until I tell them that I took off at 12,900 feet on top of a mountain.  At that point, I was impressed that it even got off the ground.  Flew without a single problem.

In my opinion 4 biggest mistakes handling batteries:

1. Do not leave them in your car (various temperatures)

2. Do not charge them when they are hot (eg. after flight, let them cool down to room temperature for 20min or more)

3. Do not store them fully charged ( auto discharge will work for how many days you have set it on, but if you tap battery power button it will restart internal clock on it)

4. Do not fly with half-depleted battery. Charge the battery to 100% before every flight !!! ( especially if you have stored them full and you think that 70% is good to fly after one month )

I had an issue with no4 when inflight battery percentage dropped from 68% to 8% in one second. ( on Inspire1 TB57 battery )

Micato Posted at 6-30 09:56
In my opinion 4 biggest mistakes handling batteries:

1. Do not leave them in your car (various temperatures)

I learned to fly a drone with an old 3DR  Solo.  I USE to charge the batteries up and leave them in the bag.  One day, the batteries had been sitting for about a week and a half.  Was heading out to fly and checked the batteries.  They were showing about 80%.  I figured that was enough for a bit.  Went out, set up, took off and made it about 300 feet away and got a low battery alarm.  Checked my controller and it was showing 20% and falling FAST.  Made a U turn and headed back at a low altitude in case of failure.  When it hit 10%, it went into low battery protocols and headed to RTH Altitude (100 Feet)  Overrode and headed to the ground.  Luckily, I was at 2 feet altitude and 15 MPH when the battery gave up the ghost.  Silly thing did 2 somersaults trying to slide to a stop.  

THIS is the reason that I adopted the battery protocols that I use.  They sit at 20% until I need them.  I don't charge them hot.  I don't leave them in my truck.  And when that low battery alarm sounds, I head back RIGHT THAT MOMENT!  I've read too many tales of "Oh, I know my drone... I can fly for 10 more minutes..."  I treat my batteries nice and they have lasted a LONG time now..

Micato Posted at 6-30 09:56
In my opinion 4 biggest mistakes handling batteries:

1. Do not leave them in your car (various temperatures)

Got to agree with this, good points and good practices.

Hello there Ex Machina. I am sorry to know about this trouble with regards to the swollen battery of your DJI Mavic Pro and thank you for reaching out. Battery swelling is basically caused by to much heat, vast changes in temperature and/or moisture getting into the battery itself. Batteries should be stored at a constant temperature of around 20 to 25c when not in use and kept away from direct sunlight, damp, water etc. In addition please do not fly your drone with swollen batteries this might lead to an accident during the flight. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 7-1 01:56
Hello there Ex Machina. I am sorry to know about this trouble with regards to the swollen battery of your DJI Mavic Pro and thank you for reaching out. Battery swelling is basically caused by to much heat, vast changes in temperature and/or moisture getting into the battery itself. Batteries should be stored at a constant temperature of around 20 to 25c when not in use and kept away from direct sunlight, damp, water etc. In addition please do not fly your drone with swollen batteries this might lead to an accident during the flight. Thank you.

Thanks. I've followed all those practices, have never left batteries in a car for longer than it took me to drive somewhere, fly and drive back. Don't live in a wet climate. Temperature differential between my house and the outside might be 10 or 20 degrees at most in the summer, rarely flew during wintery conditions.

Is there an official estimate on battery life?

Ex Machina Posted at 7-1 04:56
Thanks. I've followed all those practices, have never left batteries in a car for longer than it took me to drive somewhere, fly and drive back. Don't live in a wet climate. Temperature differential between my house and the outside might be 10 or 20 degrees at most in the summer, rarely flew during wintery conditions.

Is there an official estimate on battery life?

Hi there Ex Machina. Thank you for the reply and for these information you have shared with us. The DJI Mavic Pro intelligent flight battery can be used 200 cycle times. After the said battery has been used for mor than 200 times, it cannot guarantee that there is no error with the said battery. The warranty repair service will be provided based on the warranty period or charge cycle 200 times, which ever comes first. For more details, kindly please refer to the warranty repair terms. In addition, I will post a link where in you can see some tips on DJI battery care ( https://store.dji.com/guides/battery-care-important-think/ ). Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 7-2 01:10
Hi there Ex Machina. Thank you for the reply and for these information you have shared with us. The DJI Mavic Pro intelligent flight battery can be used 200 cycle times. After the said battery has been used for mor than 200 times, it cannot guarantee that there is no error with the said battery. The warranty repair service will be provided based on the warranty period or charge cycle 200 times, which ever comes first. For more details, kindly please refer to the warranty repair terms. In addition, I will post a link where in you can see some tips on DJI battery care ( https://store.dji.com/guides/battery-care-important-think/ ). Thank you.

Thanks much for that. Turns out my charge cycles were under 90 for all three batteries.

Mine came dead on arrival....all 3 batteries are dead! Can't even activate for warranty!

Ex Machina Posted at 7-2 08:24
Thanks much for that. Turns out my charge cycles were under 90 for all three batteries.

Hi there Ex Machina. You are very much welcome. If you have any other inquiries or concerns with DJI. Please feel free to post it here at DJI Forum. We are all here to help and support you.

I honestly can't remember my acquisition date, but it has been several years.  It was bought by my son for backup (from Apple store) when he went to Hawaii a few years ago, along with an extra battery.  I bought it from him, with the "spare" battery that he used a few times on his trip.  I don't fly as much as I used to, so flight times and charges aren't known.  Tracking that info has proven to be inaccurate in my case.  I don't charge hot, or even warm, and I store between 20 and 40%, never above  Like someone above said, I charge at least one of the batteries the night before I think I'm going to fly again.  Both batteries seem to have normal flight time, and one cell is showing very slightly lower voltage during flight than the others, but does not fade any faster.

Sorry I can't come up with the numbers right now.  The controller/iPad I use are not readily available at the moment.

Keep flying and stay safe...at least we can't get Covid from the drones (if we don't loan them out).

Dirty Bird Posted at 8-9 13:50
If the batteries are Li-Pos I am surprised they have lasted storing them at only 20%.  No Li-Po I am aware of recommends storing that low.  Most recommend 50-60%.  DJI Li-Pos will automatically discharge themselves to a suitable storage level.

I dunno... this was the recommendation years ago from this forum when I first got my pro.  Been using it this way ever since and never had any issues with it since then.  Low battery alarm set at 30%.  It sounds, I head back.  Battery stored with between 20-30%.  Haven't had a single battery problem since.  And since today is nice and cool this morning, I'm heading out the door as we speak to go fly some more.  
As I said, this was the recommendation from the forum back then.