Hi all,

Just hoping I could get some advice on a problem I've had.

I've been unable to use my Inspire 1 for a few months due to work. I fully charged my batteries and then discharged them to around 40% capacity, as I had read this was a good idea if you intend to store the batteries for a while.

I've come back today to find one battery has swollen and the second battery, whilst not swollen, will not power on or charge.

I've decided to dispose of the first battery as I know swollen cells are dangerous to keep around.

The second battery however, I'm hopeful can be recovered?

When I try to power on the battery, I get the red power button come on and then the bottom green light flashes a few times... and then the battery powers off.

If I try to charge it, I get the same.

I've read the manual and I can't seem to find this error code, any advice on what the problem is and how I might resolve it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

I thought a video of the problem might help:

Leave it on charge for an hour or two.

If you don't use the batteries for any length of time they will discharge themselves to the correct voltage.

pauldean85@goog Posted at 2016-8-22 02:11
I thought a video of the problem might help:

How long have you left this battery on the charger? What battery percentage was it at prior to storage?

Sorry for not replying guys, I had forgotten about this post!

I'd not used the Inspire for three months due to work - the batteries were charged to about 50% before being stored (I read that this was a safe level to store at).

I also read that the batteries should be fully discharged and charged every 12 weeks or so - this is when I discovered the batteries had both died.

The first battery is now in a waterproof bin in the garden, pending disposal as one of the cells has swollen, but I'm hoping I can still save this one.

The batter is about 15 months old at this point and the last time I used it, the remaining life was over 90%.

I understand how to look after LiPo batteries and I did what I thought was best considering I couldn't use them, I'm disappointed to see that I'm not the only one to have had this issue.

Here's what happens when I attempt to charge (apologies for the poor quality)

So DJI won't tell you this, but here it is:

DJI's "intelligent batteries" are very poorly designed. The charging circuit constantly drains the pack (probably to keep the intelligent circuit powered) and, left alone, the pack will quite literally discharge itself to death. I had 2 packs come out of storage with the exact same symptoms you have.

So, if you've tried all the usual stuff (power on while charging, leave on charger for a couple hours, etc) and you still are under warranty (DJI only warrants their batteries for 6 months, which makes sense because they're badly designed and are prone to failure) you can have them replaced.

Otherwise:

1) Pry off the white plastic top.
2) Use a multimeter to check the actual pack voltage. "Dead" under normal circumstances means you're going to see about 22v from the pack, but I've had two "intelligent" batteries literally murder themselves to sub-10v levels, so you may have any amount of voltage in those packs. As an aside, <10v coming out of a 6s LiPo pack is a real no no - it can damage the pack and potentially be dangerous. I guess this is why DJI doesn't talk about this issue too much...
3) If they're really dead, disconnect the balance cable (it's the cable on the connector with 7 or 8 thin wires heading to the charging circuit).
4) Use a wire to jump the negative terminal on the charging input to the negative terminal on the battery.
5) Connect the charger and, with your multimeter, test the pack every 5-10 minutes until it reads about 22v. It'll take about 45-60 minutes to revive the pack.
6) Re-assemble the pack and charge as normal.
7) Discharge in a low hover to 5% or so.
8) Recharge completely.

We had a lengthy discussion about the crappiness of DJI batteries and how to fix them here:
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=59802

That includes a photo that shows the jumping of the negative terminals.

I recovered two batteries this way.

pauldean85@goog Posted at 2016-9-12 04:29
Sorry for not replying guys, I had forgotten about this post!

I'd not used the Inspire for three mo ...

Given how long you have had these batteries, trying SimplePanda's method could be a course of action since they are out of the warranty period. Based on the battery's behavior in the video, turning it on while charging should do the trick before resulting to self repair. Please be advised that with any sort of self repair, there is a possibility that it will not work or can cause further damage.

Thanks for the feedback, unfortunately this battery is now a paper weight; it won't turn on at all and plugging it in to the charger does nothing.

Very disappointing that despite following the recommended steps for storage, my very expensive batteries are now useless

Hi, is it possible with a battery for Ronin-M too to recover this?
Because I see that to open up the battery seems to be not that easy. And I don't know if it works too to charge without the electonics.
Thanks a lot
Stefan

Just got in thr mail a new dji phanyom 4. When i opened the package i checked the battery levels of the drone and the remote. Both were at half. I read through everything then charged the remote first. When it was done i tried to charge the drone battery and no lights came on. I pushed the power button on it and still no charge. Im at a loss. Dji told me to leave it on the charger for over 4 hours because its probably in hibernation mode. Is this true? Doesnt seem so.

Here is my finding on the INSPIRE 2 after 6 months of non use. This is crazy to see that is still not fixed even if the Inspire 2 remote is a complete new board.
I used mine maybe 20 time and DJI will ask me to buy a new one cause warranty is over.
https://www.visionrouge.net/web/ ... -wont-charge-fixed/

Hey DJI

do you think it's normal that your batteries die if they are left uncharged for several weeks? Do you think that such information should be written in small print? These batteries are not cheap. Judging by the number of inquiries about your batteries, a lot of people have lost money. How did you help with solving the problem? you made s**t that dies if you don't charge it, and we have to pay you money for new batteries again? i lost 3 batteries, just becouse not use my drone for a while its around 600$.....

I cant find any solution to fix them, nothing from DJI, you seriously just ignoring the problem?

Serjior25 Posted at 7-23 02:08
Hey DJI

do you think it's normal that your batteries die if they are left uncharged for several weeks? Do you think that such information should be written in small print? These batteries are not cheap. Judging by the number of inquiries about your batteries, a lot of people have lost money. How did you help with solving the problem? you made s**t that dies if you don't charge it, and we have to pay you money for new batteries again? i lost 3 batteries, just becouse not use my drone for a while its around 600$.....

Hi there, we understand how you feel. However, we believe every electronic product has a certain warranty period, especially for the battery. And to ensure the battery's health, we suggest that you store it at 40~65% power if you are going to have a long time not using it. Totally discharge and charge the battery at least once every 3 months. By the way, could you provide the serial numbers for the batteries for us to check? If those batteries are still in warranty, we may suggest you send them to us and open a repair case. Thank you for your understanding.