LCI or an episode with DJI Service about a "water damaged" battery – and why you should care

[OneEyeOpen]

Please see original thread – Legal aspects of DJI service – at the DJI forum.

Summary
My Inspire 1 RAW fell out of the sky from 174.5m for no obvious reason. I was flying about the 30th flight in a weeks course at a deserted and very dry sandy area in the North-African Sahara when it happened. Back to Germany I shipped the drone to DJI and got the following response:

"no warranty - // after repair/replacement, faulty unit or parts will not be returned Date and time of the flight: Jan 10, 2018, fly599. 1. The aircraft was in GPS mode; 2. T=371 s, H=174.5 m, D=1601.8 m, the flight log ended due to battery error; Conclusion: Battery communication error. the battery is water damaged."​

I found out that DJI assesses the battery exposure to moisture by means of a LCI – liquid contact indicator – which is somewhat hidden under the left front edge of the battery cover. Depending on its varying position you may accidentally touch it with your fingers – see pictures below.

Needless to say that my battery was not exposed to any particular moister in this extremely dry area. But – DJI didn't care. The LCI sticker at the outside turned red. So the battery must be "water damaged" inside.

When searching for environmental specifications regarding the highest tolerable moisture level for operating or storing an Inspire 1 and the TB47/48 batteries neither the recent Inspire 1 manuals nor the Intelligent Flight Battery Safety Guidelines available at the download section of the DJI website tells you anything about it.
Surprisingly, in the Zenmuse XT manual I found clear environmental specifications for operating temperature, storage temperature and – humidity.

Conclusion: Since I couldn't find any restrictions or warnings in using the Zenmuse XT with the Inspire 1, the aircraft can be operated and store in an environment of 5% to 95% humidity and –10 - 40°C temperature, of course.

This is pretty awesome – but I am uncertain weather the LCI on DJIs Intelligent Flight Battery is intelligent enough knowing about that specification.

So – watch your LCI and let me know your thoughts.

And – maybe I am overlooking something obvious. So please let the true experts in this forum come in and shed light – and expertise – on the topic.
Since I am considering legal action against DJI it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[The Editor]

Thread reopened.

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

DJI isn't the only company that plays fast and loose with these little stickers to absolve themselves of any liability.

In the states most of our products are made in China, but they are made for American companies who then turn around and sell them retail.

It's a whole different ballgame when you are dealing with a Chinese company selling retail. There is a general ethic towards their customers found in dealing with Western companies that is not shared by their Chinese counterparts.

 

[DAP UAV]

Thanks for the info. i had no idea that these stickers existed. I checked all 8 of my batteries and all of them seem ok (white). Good luck with DJI. I hope they do the right thing and rectify your issue.

 

[MrTVR]

We have 20 TB47/48 batteries, 4 of which (notably the older ones) do not have these stickers. Thankfully all those that do have the sticker seem ok.