Tb48 storage and bloated?

[OneStudPuppy]

thoughts?
Stored in the case no crazy temps etc in closet inside walls of house, maybe about 6 months? Sometimes real life takes over and hobbies take a back seat.
Maybe 20 flights total..

 

[AeroMirage]

That sux.......

 

[OneStudPuppy]

Yea majorly..

That sux.......

yea majorly. I messaged their support like DJI on twitter suggested. Can't hurt to talk to them. I sent em pics and pictures of the serial numbers etc.

 

[The Editor]

View attachment 14145 thoughts?
Stored in the case no crazy temps etc in closet inside walls of house, maybe about 6 months? Sometimes real life takes over and hobbies take a back seat.
Maybe 20 flights total..

They are history I'm afraid.
Dispose of them safely.

I have never trusted DJI battery management/discharge firmware even after they supposedly fixed the discharge firmware bug sometime ago.
With a permanently connected device there always has to be a quiescent current flowing which still means discharge - however small.
This is why if I am not using my packs for a number of weeks I will always check and top up if necessary once every 21-28 days or so. It is a pain to do and totally unnecessary on real lipo packs but unfortunately yet another maintenance step needed with DJI 'Nanny' packs

 

[3pa4ok]

I had the same problems with the Inspire 1 batteries after long unattendant storage one day I found them all four -2-TB 47 and 2-TB48 dead. After numerous attempts to fix it myself which involves taking them apart ,some tricks with disconnection did not give any result!!! I was mad!!!, One of them TB48 was brand new!!! So I desperately applied to the DJI with my problem and unbelievably, they replaced all 4 batteries for the brand new ones in the coupleof weeks time! Sometimes it worth to ask help from DJI I did not expect this to happen to me at all. So my advice is to contact DJI ,sometimes can be helpful!!! Happy flying to everyone!!!

 

[OneStudPuppy]

They are history I'm afraid.
Dispose of them safely.

I have never trusted DJI battery management/discharge firmware even after they supposedly fixed the discharge firmware bug sometime ago.
With a permanently connected device there always has to be a quiescent current flowing which still means discharge - however small.
This is why if I am not using my packs for a number of weeks I will always check and top up if necessary once every 21-28 days or so. It is a pain to do and totally unnecessary on real lipo packs but unfortunately yet another maintenance step needed with DJI 'Nanny' packs

Curious what level or percent you top them off at? Full charge?.

I'm trying to locate the proof of purchase and am starting a dialog with DJI, we will see how it goes. But in all reality storage of batteries should NEVER result in bloating. More so at 20 uses maybe max!! I could see if 100 cycles and then some.
Will see how it goes. Tb48s are just to expensive to take it as they bloated and oh well.. have to try.

 

[SanCap]

You said in an earlier post that they were charged. How charged were they

Curious what level or percent you top them off at? Full charge?.

I'm trying to locate the proof of purchase and am starting a dialog with DJI, we will see how it goes. But in all reality storage of batteries should NEVER result in bloating. More so at 20 uses maybe max!! I could see if 100 cycles and then some.
Will see how it goes. Tb48s are just to expensive to take it as they bloated and oh well.. have to try.

Batteries should be stored at 30-40%, never at full charge.

 

[The Editor]

Curious what level or percent you top them off at? Full charge?.

I'm trying to locate the proof of purchase and am starting a dialog with DJI, we will see how it goes. But in all reality storage of batteries should NEVER result in bloating. More so at 20 uses maybe max!! I could see if 100 cycles and then some.
Will see how it goes. Tb48s are just to expensive to take it as they bloated and oh well.. have to try.

I keep them as close to 3.85v per cell as I can - as you should do with all Lipos in storage.
I top them up back to this level every 21-28 days or so to stop the low level discharge that can occur with DJI nanny packs.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

I had the same problems with the Inspire 1 batteries after long unattendant storage one day I found them all four -2-TB 47 and 2-TB48 dead. After numerous attempts to fix it myself which involves taking them apart ,some tricks with disconnection did not give any result!!! I was mad!!!, One of them TB48 was brand new!!! So I desperately applied to the DJI with my problem and unbelievably, they replaced all 4 batteries for the brand new ones in the coupleof weeks time! Sometimes it worth to ask help from DJI I did not expect this to happen to me at all. So my advice is to contact DJI ,sometimes can be helpful!!! Happy flying to everyone!!!

Will see how it goes, I emailed they requested all the information on purchase, wanted a video of the issues etc, I just gathered and sent all the information over.
Smart battries is one of the biggest oxymorons i have seen in my lifetime!

 

[OneStudPuppy]

You said in an earlier post that they were charged. How charged were they


Batteries should be stored at 30-40%, never at full charge.

I'd have to ask my friend what level he kept them at. He thought (as did I) I would be able to take the bird in and drop it off. Come to find out nope. Firmware update killed the camera. Ups actually picked up the case bird and controllers and camera today. But that's another story lol.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

I keep them as close to 3.85v per cell as I can - as you should do with all Lipos in storage.
I top them up back to this level every 21-28 days or so to stop the low level discharge that can occur with DJI nanny packs.

Sounds good I'll have to look into making a routine until i get the bird back.
You just use the drone to check
The status? Or a advanced charger?

 

[emtea]

Sounds good I'll have to look into making a routine until i get the bird back.
You just use the drone to check
The status? Or a advanced charger?

You can use the drone to check, that would be the easiest way without having to buy anything else. However, if you keep them charged to where there are 2 solid and 1 blinking light and then stop charging shortly after the 3rd light starts blinking, you will be pretty close to storage voltage.

You can also buy third party hardware which will automatically charge/discharge to storage voltage.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

You can use the drone to check, that would be the easiest way without having to buy anything else. However, if you keep them charged to where there are 2 solid and 1 blinking light and then stop charging shortly after the 3rd light starts blinking, you will be pretty close to storage voltage.

You can also buy third party hardware which will automatically charge/discharge to storage voltage.

Good to know.
If one isn't going to fly for a while, weeks or a month like what threshold should one put em in that voltage range?

My drone was picked up by ups today for its trip in. I have one at 90% and the other at about 75% was trouble shooting. Didn't expect them to say send in the entire drone.

 

[emtea]

Good to know.
If one isn't going to fly for a while, weeks or a month like what threshold should one put em in that voltage range?

My drone was picked up by ups today for its trip in. I have one at 90% and the other at about 75% was trouble shooting. Didn't expect them to say send in the entire drone.

I don't think it matters whether you will store it for days or months, it should be stored around 3.85v per cell for as long as possible between flights. I will charge/discharge all my batteries to 3.85v after flying and will typically charge them the night before (or as close as possible to) my next flight. This could be just a week or months. If it's just a day or two between flights, I personally will just charge them to 100% as I am probably on the move but best practice would actually be to charge them up to 3.85v and then fully charge them as close as possible to the actual flight.

As Editor mentioned, you will notice the DJI batteries will slowly discharge, I think in just a couple of weeks of storage, you will notice the 3rd light no longer blinks (i.e. it's fallen down to 50% or less) even though it did when you set it to storage voltage. Best practice, like Editor said, would be to top them up to 3.85v periodically.

All this being said, it's important to remember that the most crucial thing is to check that your voltage is even across the cells before takeoff and periodically during flight. Also realize that charging/discharging wears the battery, so if you have fully charged batteries but you won't use them for another few days, it's up to you if you want to discharge them and recharge them (thus wearing them out) or just leave them fully charge (thus also potentially reducing their lifespan). Would it be noticeable or significant? I haven't really noticed myself.

One tip/trick, if you need to discharge a battery but don't have a discharger and you don't want to fly your drone, you can use the cable to charge your RC with the inspire batteries. You can also buy a USB adapter from DJI where you can use your inspire batteries to charge any USB device (phone, tablet, etc). If I have charged packs, I tend to use them to charge the RC so as to sort of "recycle" the power for later use (most people, like myself, are not too concerned with the capacity of the RC battery and on top, the RC battery is cheap to replace compared to the TB47 and TB48).

Hope this helps!

 

[OneStudPuppy]

I don't think it matters whether you will store it for days or months, it should be stored around 3.85v per cell for as long as possible between flights. I will charge/discharge all my batteries to 3.85v after flying and will typically charge them the night before (or as close as possible to) my next flight. This could be just a week or months. If it's just a day or two between flights, I personally will just charge them to 100% as I am probably on the move but best practice would actually be to charge them up to 3.85v and then fully charge them as close as possible to the actual flight.

As Editor mentioned, you will notice the DJI batteries will slowly discharge, I think in just a couple of weeks of storage, you will notice the 3rd light no longer blinks (i.e. it's fallen down to 50% or less) even though it did when you set it to storage voltage. Best practice, like Editor said, would be to top them up to 3.85v periodically.

All this being said, it's important to remember that the most crucial thing is to check that your voltage is even across the cells before takeoff and periodically during flight. Also realize that charging/discharging wears the battery, so if you have fully charged batteries but you won't use them for another few days, it's up to you if you want to discharge them and recharge them (thus wearing them out) or just leave them fully charge (thus also potentially reducing their lifespan). Would it be noticeable or significant? I haven't really noticed myself.

One tip/trick, if you need to discharge a battery but don't have a discharger and you don't want to fly your drone, you can use the cable to charge your RC with the inspire batteries. You can also buy a USB adapter from DJI where you can use your inspire batteries to charge any USB device (phone, tablet, etc). If I have charged packs, I tend to use them to charge the RC so as to sort of "recycle" the power for later use (most people, like myself, are not too concerned with the capacity of the RC battery and on top, the RC battery is cheap to replace compared to the TB47 and TB48).

Hope this helps!

Great information as I didn't know until yesterday they wanted the whole package bird, rc's, camera so I kind of got caught with my pants down on battery levels. A friend sent me this drone to look at. I've flown it 2 min so far.
Ups should deliver in a few hours to DJI and I figure probably the two to three week wait time. If they fix it right he'll take a month. Just fix it right and send me back my own gear lol

 

[OneStudPuppy]

Funny I asked why? And their reply
Was first oh out of warranty have a good one basically. I repeated the question they sent a few docs.
And said have to cycle etc (paraphrasing). And have a good day lol..
There had to be a better battery design but I'm sure would cost More production wise.
Bah!

Wonder if battery shells are worth anything to anyonez

 

[AeroMirage]

I bought a used inspire once that came with 3 bloated trashed batteries. I removed the tops and disconnected the wires and sold them on ebay. I sold all 3 and got $20 each for them.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

I bought a used inspire once that came with 3 bloated trashed batteries. I removed the tops and disconnected the wires and sold them on ebay. I sold all 3 and got $20 each for them.

Nice. I'll probably do same, make a little towards a new battery.

 

[emtea]

Funny I asked why? And their reply
Was first oh out of warranty have a good one basically. I repeated the question they sent a few docs.
And said have to cycle etc (paraphrasing). And have a good day lol..
There had to be a better battery design but I'm sure would cost More production wise.
Bah!

Wonder if battery shells are worth anything to anyonez

Not sure how handy / comfortable you are with soldering and electric circuits but I recall someone successfully replacing the cells in a TB47/48 and reusing the board. What you're really paying for when you buy that $150 battery is the circuitry. Personally, I don't think I would bother doing this though.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

Not sure how handy / comfortable you are with soldering and electric circuits but I recall someone successfully replacing the cells in a TB47/48 and reusing the board. What you're really paying for when you buy that $150 battery is the circuitry. Personally, I don't think I would bother doing this though.

Yea I picture it being very doable.
My soldering skills are out of practice. Just not sure about what I could come up with and reliability.
I have a engineer friend but he is a state over and I could toss one to him as a challenge maybe.