Hi Steve, thanks for the info yes I did the same test and exactly the same results would stay fully charged if they were left in the two way charging hub or in the drone I keep them out on a shelf and the same thing they discharged them self’s. 👍🏼
Thanks. I pretty much always leave them in the hub and/or drone but I fly quite regularly. Longer term I do take them out but it wouldn’t be uncommon for me to leave them in for a few weeks on rare occasions.
I got some little rubber washers about 2-3mm thick and just drop one in each hub recess. The battery never connects then. I always have the hub upright in the bag so them falling out isnt a problem but the band idea is a good one thanks. The whole turn them around idea put me off to be honest. There is a ridge inside each bay running top to bottom - thats the reason for the resistance. These batteries dont handle being pierced too well and whilst it’s probably a non issue i didnt want to risk damaging the casing.
Hey, that's a really clever idea and more elegant than what I suggested! 👍 A couple viewers mentioned flipping the batteries. I tried it and didn't feel comfortable with it for the exact reason you mention. Thanks for the comment, cheers!
@@SteveCoutts Exactly, sure I’m being overly cautious but the batteries do get jammed in doing that and there is a fair bit of pressure on the casing from that strip. Seen one video of a guy who cut the strip out of the hub with a craft knife but I didn’t want to do anything too permanent in case DJI can push a firmware fix for the issue. The best solution I saw so far was a guy who had designed a 3d printed clip that fits over the contacts - link is here www.thingiverse.com/thing:4824231/files 👍
I have a habit of leaving them out of the drone and the hub, and I discharge them manually. But great information, I'm sure you saved someone some 50-150 bucks on batteries. DJI batteries are VERY expensive.
You are much more diligent than I am, I tend to leave them in the hub and/or drone. I do fly pretty regularly so it normally wouldn’t be an issue. Cheers!
Merci de ta vidéo. Je suis d'accord avec toi. De toute façon par sécurité il ne faut jamais stocker les batteries dans le hub ou ailleurs. le seul endroit sûr est un sac Ignifuge et Antidéflagrant ! Ce n'est pas cher et réduit les risques de propagation d'un incendie. Je n'ai jamais stocké mes batteries dans un appareil ou branchées sur un chargeur.
Merci et merci d'avoir regardé ! Il semble que je pilote constamment mon Mini 2 et que je recharge les batteries, de sorte qu'elles ne restent pas longtemps dans le drone ou le chargeur. C'est toujours un stockage à court terme. Je ne laisse jamais mes chargeurs branchés avec des batteries chargées. Pour mes autres drones (Spark et Mini) que je ne pilote pas trop souvent, les batteries sont stockées séparément et rechargées périodiquement pour entretenir les batteries. Je ne suis pas en désaccord, je devrais probablement être plus prudent avec les batteries LiPo, d'autant plus que mes batteries Spark deviennent assez vieilles. Acclamations!
@@SteveCoutts Merci de ton message, c'est très sympa. Je pense en fait que DJI ne devrait pas toujours montrer les batteries en permanence dans leur hub, (même débranché de son alimentation) ce n'est pas un lieu de stockage même à court terme, mais seulement un lieu de charge. Les Lipo sont fragiles aux chocs, si on les perce, elles peuvent prendre feu, le Mavic mini 1, n'avait pas de Lipo sauf erreur de ma part. Les sacs ingnifugés de stockage ne sont pas infaillibles mais limitent les risques. Il me semble que c'est du silicone comme j'ai vu sur des câbles hautes températures dans l'industrie, je dirai que ça résistera a 150/160 degrés celsius pas plus. Donc le sac se consumera probablement mais sans grandes flammes. La seule boîte très sûre est je crois de marque Robbe comme une valise tout en métal très bien fermée et qui a des évents pour laisser s'échapper la fumée. Les sacs ingnifugés sont dits "antidéflagrants" mais je ne le crois pas, fermés avec deux boutons pression et un velcro que ce soit très efficace pour une explosion de batteries (je le dis au pluriel car si une batterie prend feu à côté d'une autre, toutes brûleront.) Donc pour résumer stocker vos batteries dans un contenant prévu pour, loin d'objets inflammables (voiture, bois, carburant....etc) sur un sol en béton ou métallique. Et attention elles craignent aussi le gel. Lol
You can just flip the battery front-to-back and push it back into the charger. There is a little resistance but you can do it without hurting the battery or the charger.
Very interesting stuff Steve. When I first got my Air 2 batteries they didn't auto discharge either. Kept checking their status several times every day. Then i discovered somewhere that the auto discharge function only works when left completely alone without ever checking status. Do the Mini 2 batteries work the same way?
Thanks Craig. You are correct, if you press the button to check the status it will reset the counter. With the Mini 2, even left completely untouched the batteries will not start auto discharging if left in the hub or drone. Cheers!
Thanks mate. I play with Rc basher trucks and I discharge my batteries to storage mode and I asked this question to a couple of TH-cam drone guy's and they said they are smart batteries and will bischarge them selves. But know i find they have to be out of charge hub to discharge 🙃🤪 lucky no one has had them explode yet.
You bet, thanks for watching! I have always trusted the “intelligent” batteries to do their thing, might have to be less trusting going forward. Yeah, hopefully no one has a serious issue with them before DJI can get the issue fixed. Cheers!
I just checked mine and sure enough, after a week since charging all three in the hub and the one in the drone still showed fully charged. :( Rubber bands now in use. Thanks for saving our collective a$$.
Interesting. I have zero experience with misbehaving batteries, sorry. My suggestion would be to post a query in the DJI Forum (forum.dji.com) or contact DJI Support directly. Good luck!
The Mini and Mini 2 have both another issue for all those that use those rarely or not regular. The "turn on" switch once presses does no longer turn on the battery. Remove the battery and connect the charge plug and you will see 2 LED flashing which is right, tellung you the battery is missing. But battery back and turned on will lead to nothing. To get it fixed you need to know that DJI has sucked on a 4 cent piece. The switch to turn on is so cheap that it is dead and most likely impacted by dirt or corosion. To fix it you will need to remove the batter, than use a screwdriver to unscrew screws in the area of the battery bay you can see and take the bottom cover of. If you continue you will see more stuff and dirt but also the turn on button or better know switch, a switch you might have seen 100s of times but this one is dead. To prove that it is right and fixable there is an easy way. Remove the props first and now listen carefully. 1. lay the drone in front of you on its back and with the gimbal showing away from you 2. now you should see a white switch on the right half next to the 4 LED 3. press the button and usually nothing will happen 4. get a can of air and blow the dirt of the bottom and out of the swich (will most likely not work) 5. if you do not have a compressor or such can try to do the same with a hairdryer just to get dirt out of the drone and switch 6. now listen carfully: the white switch has 2 contacts on the left - this is our target for this step 7. but first: push the battery in 8. take a flat screwdriver of 4 to 5 mm and be carefull 9. now bridge these 2 contacts on the left side of the switch (left means shows to the middle of the drone) and hold it bridged 10. you will see the drone turn on and the LED flashing and gimbal awaking. 11. now bridge it again till it shuts off - drone is fully functional, no serious damage, just dirt and corrosion 12. remove the battery ---- once again: remove the battery Now we will try the easiest and cheapest repair. You will need a spray called "CONTACT 60" or pure ISOPROPANOL alcohol and a cotton swab for this. I was successfull with the alcohol when I had not the contact 60 available, which is a german brand. It cleans corosion and "recreates" electrical connections that suffered from dirt and corrosion - your dealer will have such stuff. I. immerse the cotton swab into the alcohol II. turn the body clockwise 90 ° III. the white switch should be on the right side in vertical position, the bridged contacts are showing upwards IV. now take the cotton swab and let alcohol drop from the bridget side carefull into the switch V. 2 drops each time, wait a minute, next 2 drops which will pour through the switch and come out. VI. the lower part of the fuselage can get wet from alcohol, you will continue with 3 to 5 times VII. now press the swab on the side of the switch to make sure alcohol will get in VIII. now take a 15 minute break or simply use the air dryer on a WARM, not hot, level to dry this area around the switch and fuselage IX. once that is achieved push a battery in and keep finger crossed X. press the whit button and hopefully it will turn on again. XI. if not, remove the battery and repeat the alcohol cotton swap drop method again and again XII. take your time to dry it again and push the battery in, press the white button and it should work. In case it did not work out you need to buy such switch called micro tile switch and remove the old and put the new one in. If you look at the board and think "No way" go to a electronic or smartphone repair shop and ask to replace only this switch. Usually 10€ or so for the coffee or 20€ on a bill. If you are there buy another of those switches, you might need them again and you will have the spare part in hands and simply need a solderer again. Might take 20 to 40 minutes to get it working again and may bei 10 more minutes for the finaly assembly. Cleaning is easy to do once you have the alcohol, soldering is a point where you will instantly have a feeling of "NO WAY" or "might try it myself". And no , the drone was stored through winter in a heated room above 18°C and not wet or wet air. it has happened on both drones and also on my friends drones too, which have usually only one of these drones. Good luck.
If you want to watch a video with all those steps search on youtube for this string "DJI Drohne kaputt 😕️ Reparieren für 0 Cent" You will find a video in german but you can copy and print my comment out to compare the general steps and what he is showing - it is a computer repair channel and collector channel of old PC from 80 onwards, but had bought the drone . This had developed the illness of being dead and he tried to fix that what I had fixed before. The video should help a lot and will also show the german KONTAKT CHEMIE spray, which means contact spray. Not cheap, but a lot cheaper then sending the drone to dji and ask for a repair. And a lot faster.
Check them to see how they are first. Then put them through a charge cycle after updating the firmware. If they are not behaving correctly, contact DJI support and hopefully they will take care of you. The issue made the news and DJI was on record admitting the problem so they should do the right thing. Good luck!
@@SteveCoutts Hey, tanks for responding. I reduced the batteries to about 50 percent prior to storing them which might have saved three of them. One of the batteries just won't charge and and the four leds keep blinking three times. It won't power up the drone either. The remaining three batteries seem to work, but it feels like a couple of minutes have been shaved off the flight time.
The video is three years old. A fix and an update to the video was released a couple of weeks later. As long as your software is up to date, you should be fine. Cheers!
A couple of people have mentioned this in the comments. I gave it a try and while it does work but I don't like the ridge inside the hub pressing hard against the battery. Hopefully DJI will have a fix soon. Cheers!
Yep. A couple of people mentioned that in the comments. I gave it a try but I didn't like how the ridge pressed against the battery case. It does work though. Cheers!
This is not an issue for me because I treat my batteries with care and therefore never store them fully charged. They are only charged before a planned flight. But not to 100%, only to a little over 95%. When the charge level reaches about 30% during the flight, I press the RTH button. In this way, a charge level of less than 20% is usually avoided. The batteries are stored at 25% to 30%. According to the knowledge gained from studying technical literature, this achieves an optimum service life for LiPo batteries.
That's good advice. 👍👍 I suspect many folks, including myself, don't put as much care in to it as you do though. I follow the battery guidelines DJI puts forward in the user manual and it has generally served me well. As long as the "intelligent" battery features are working, the batteries should be ok for periods of short term non-use. All 6 of my 4 year old Spark LiPo batteries are still chugging along just fine by following DJI's guidance. 😀 Cheers!
The video was published in May 2021. About a month later I posted another video showing the problem had been fixed - th-cam.com/video/2fkWBNQI-VQ/w-d-xo.html Cheers!
Sounds like the battery has failed. Two things I would try if you want to know more. One, contact DJI Support and see if they can offer any advice. It's likely not under warranty but they should be able to confirm its state. Two, post a query in the DJI Forum (forum.dji.com) to see if anyone there can offer some advice. Good luck!
For sure. Depends on individual habits though I suppose. I fly, typically exhausting all three, then back at home I plug in the two-way charger and give them a full charge. My batteries typically stay in the charger until the next flight. I fly quite frequently so they don't sit around full very long. For my routine I like transporting and storing the batteries in the hub. It's better for organization, transportation and protects them from bouncing around in my pack. Cheers!
I disagree that a fix is impending.. I'm beginning to think the only answer here may be a class action lawsuit someone should file against DJI for completely botching Mini 2 Smart Battery design (inability to self discharge due to requiring a comm line open for LED charge level indicators and power switch.) They have already admitted fault (probably not the smartest idea) and all indications are that they may be unable to fix it. (2+ months without a fix, after promising a "swift update") 😉 I am not down with the litigation happy world of lawyers- sue everyone everywhere always -but DJI is not a tiny company being preyed upon here. At minimum they should supply either a full set of replacement batteries (I am sure there are blissfully ignorant folks out there completely unaware of the issue, and the potential early and imminent failure of these batteries) or a discount on the redesigned Mini 3 that will certainly have a hardware redesign on battery connectivity by allowing disconnect from switching and charge indicators. Not hoping for this outcome, but it's obvious to me that there is no way to fix this with firmware. Proving me wrong would be the best outcome for all, but I'm not hopeful having dealt with similar issues in computer hardware over 40+ years, but hey, there's some incredibly smart folks at DJI, and if they find a way out that's not a warning label and Safety instructions, I'll be impressed as hell.
The video was created with the best information I could find at the time and taking DJI at their word. As it drags on and new information comes available, I agree, you have to wonder if a software fix is possible. I also agree, if a remote fix is not possible DJI needs to take care of its customers. We shouldn't have to collectively sue to get a company to do "the right thing". I have owned 3 DJI drones - Spark, Mini 1 & Mini 2. All three have had issues right out of the gate. I kind of expect new products to be a bit glitchy but I also expect the company to stand behind their products and take care of their customers. I guess we will see how this plays out. Cheers!
@@SteveCoutts Well put. A company shows their true character when things go wrong, not when things are going great. I have no reason to suspect otherwise, but I do hope they don't let this go too long, to the point where we start seeing reports of failing batteries. Consider Apple's high profile issues, most of which were dealt with fairly, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but at least from a sense of preventing damage to their reputation. Samsung also with the recall of millions of Note 7 devices.
left battery for its own alone: died after 1 year. pulled the second battery out of drone after one year: everything okay. i wanted to activate my drone i bought one year ago. this faulty battery is brand new, and i`m really pissed. and after checking this year, that firmware updates blocked any hacking AND DJI drone sends UNENCRYPTED data for DJI aeroscope all the time, DJI is dead for me. bought another drone brand with no aeroscope crap and no restrictions, more functions. bye bye, DJI. mini 2 was the last drone after phantom 3 advanced and spark. they`ve gone to far with disappointing their customers.
My experience with DJI products has been much different than yours. My Spark and all 6 batteries I have for it are still working fine, 5 years later. Same goes for my Mini 1 and Mini 2, the drones and all their batteries are still working great! The one and only time I needed DJI Support they replaced my Spark for FREE because a software glitch made it fly away. I have no complaints. If you're unhappy with DJI maybe it's time to try something from Autel. Cheers!
The auto discharge function is intentional. Li-Po and Li-Ion batteries should not be stored either fully charged or fully depleted. Auto discharge is there to protect battery health and longevity. Cheers!
@@SteveCoutts Nonsense. It's like as if GM drills a whole in your tank to avoid an explosion. How can you not understand that this is a defect/ bug? A feature is something the customer wants. I don't want an empty battery!
@@stebarg If you don't like it, take it up with DJI and/or don't buy their products. All their "intelligent" flight batteries exhibit the same behaviour. You can read more about the battery features, including auto-discharging, in the User Manuals, which are available on DJI.com.
Really enjoying the Mini 2! Great to have this workaround. Thanks, buddy!
Thanks for watching! The Mini 2 is an awesome little bird. Cheers!
Good information and good advice on the elastic band! thanks and greetings from Granada, Spain 👋
Thanks! Greetings from British Columbia, Canada.
Appreciate the heads-up!
For sure. Cheers!
Excellent Information Steve!! Thank you!!
You bet Doug, thanks for watching!
The Mini 2 is my first drone and it's been great so far! Thanks for this lifesaving tip.
You bet, glad it was helpful! Safe flying, cheers!
Yep have seen and heard a few people start talking about this, all good here though, good to see you again Steve.
I believe the issue first broke in the DJI Forums back in early April, so it's been out for a while. Thanks for stopping by, cheers!
Thk for the information
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for good information.
Thanks for watching!
Well done. Thanks
Thanks. Cheers!
I dont get to fly regularly nowadays so this has been helpful. Good to know DJI is coming up with a solution!
Glad it was helpful. Hopefully they come up with a solution soon. Cheers!
Solution??? 2023 and still death battery recieved with new Mini2
Thanks brother
Its a valuable information
You bet, thanks for watching!
Thanks Steve
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for this amazing clear video. sadly its too late for 1 of my 3 batteries. but at least i know how to save the other 2 now.
Crappy! Hopefully the rest treat you well. Cheers!
On this one, I'm not really happy that DJI didn't email a notice. You know, 'cause some of us may not be flying for months at a time.
That's a great idea and certainly something DJI should have done for its customers. 👍
Hi Steve, thanks for the info yes I did the same test and exactly the same results would stay fully charged if they were left in the two way charging hub or in the drone I keep them out on a shelf and the same thing they discharged them self’s. 👍🏼
You’re welcome. Sounds like DJI is on it so hopefully we will see a fix soon. Cheers!
Yeah...2nd elastic...good idea, Steve! Mine all dumped on the floor this morning!
Oops! Yeah, I almost did the same thing so I took your idea on step further - haha! Cheers Don!
Great tip with the elastic band. I'll ask the postman for some in the morning, he always has hundreds in his pockets.
Good call on the postman - haha! 👍
Good tip with the elastic band. I would never leave them in the drone or hub. If I'm not gonna fly for a while I just keep them in the drone case.
Thanks. I pretty much always leave them in the hub and/or drone but I fly quite regularly. Longer term I do take them out but it wouldn’t be uncommon for me to leave them in for a few weeks on rare occasions.
Good info Steve. After hearing this, I tried placing the batteries in the hub reversed. It's a tight fit but seems to work. No rubber bands needed.
Thanks. That’s interesting, I never though to try that. Cheers!
I got some little rubber washers about 2-3mm thick and just drop one in each hub recess. The battery never connects then. I always have the hub upright in the bag so them falling out isnt a problem but the band idea is a good one thanks. The whole turn them around idea put me off to be honest. There is a ridge inside each bay running top to bottom - thats the reason for the resistance. These batteries dont handle being pierced too well and whilst it’s probably a non issue i didnt want to risk damaging the casing.
Hey, that's a really clever idea and more elegant than what I suggested! 👍 A couple viewers mentioned flipping the batteries. I tried it and didn't feel comfortable with it for the exact reason you mention. Thanks for the comment, cheers!
@@SteveCoutts Exactly, sure I’m being overly cautious but the batteries do get jammed in doing that and there is a fair bit of pressure on the casing from that strip. Seen one video of a guy who cut the strip out of the hub with a craft knife but I didn’t want to do anything too permanent in case DJI can push a firmware fix for the issue. The best solution I saw so far was a guy who had designed a 3d printed clip that fits over the contacts - link is here www.thingiverse.com/thing:4824231/files 👍
I have a habit of leaving them out of the drone and the hub, and I discharge them manually. But great information, I'm sure you saved someone some 50-150 bucks on batteries. DJI batteries are VERY expensive.
You are much more diligent than I am, I tend to leave them in the hub and/or drone. I do fly pretty regularly so it normally wouldn’t be an issue. Cheers!
Merci de ta vidéo. Je suis d'accord avec toi. De toute façon par sécurité il ne faut jamais stocker les batteries dans le hub ou ailleurs. le seul endroit sûr est un sac Ignifuge et Antidéflagrant ! Ce n'est pas cher et réduit les risques de propagation d'un incendie. Je n'ai jamais stocké mes batteries dans un appareil ou branchées sur un chargeur.
Merci et merci d'avoir regardé ! Il semble que je pilote constamment mon Mini 2 et que je recharge les batteries, de sorte qu'elles ne restent pas longtemps dans le drone ou le chargeur. C'est toujours un stockage à court terme. Je ne laisse jamais mes chargeurs branchés avec des batteries chargées. Pour mes autres drones (Spark et Mini) que je ne pilote pas trop souvent, les batteries sont stockées séparément et rechargées périodiquement pour entretenir les batteries. Je ne suis pas en désaccord, je devrais probablement être plus prudent avec les batteries LiPo, d'autant plus que mes batteries Spark deviennent assez vieilles. Acclamations!
@@SteveCoutts Merci de ton message, c'est très sympa. Je pense en fait que DJI ne devrait pas toujours montrer les batteries en permanence dans leur hub, (même débranché de son alimentation) ce n'est pas un lieu de stockage même à court terme, mais seulement un lieu de charge. Les Lipo sont fragiles aux chocs, si on les perce, elles peuvent prendre feu, le Mavic mini 1, n'avait pas de Lipo sauf erreur de ma part. Les sacs ingnifugés de stockage ne sont pas infaillibles mais limitent les risques. Il me semble que c'est du silicone comme j'ai vu sur des câbles hautes températures dans l'industrie, je dirai que ça résistera a 150/160 degrés celsius pas plus. Donc le sac se consumera probablement mais sans grandes flammes. La seule boîte très sûre est je crois de marque Robbe comme une valise tout en métal très bien fermée et qui a des évents pour laisser s'échapper la fumée. Les sacs ingnifugés sont dits "antidéflagrants" mais je ne le crois pas, fermés avec deux boutons pression et un velcro que ce soit très efficace pour une explosion de batteries (je le dis au pluriel car si une batterie prend feu à côté d'une autre, toutes brûleront.) Donc pour résumer stocker vos batteries dans un contenant prévu pour, loin d'objets inflammables (voiture, bois, carburant....etc) sur un sol en béton ou métallique. Et attention elles craignent aussi le gel. Lol
You can just flip the battery front-to-back and push it back into the charger. There is a little resistance but you can do it without hurting the battery or the charger.
Thanks Paul. I didn't even think to try that. Cheers!
Very interesting stuff Steve. When I first got my Air 2 batteries they didn't auto discharge either. Kept checking their status several times every day. Then i discovered somewhere that the auto discharge function only works when left completely alone without ever checking status. Do the Mini 2 batteries work the same way?
Thanks Craig. You are correct, if you press the button to check the status it will reset the counter. With the Mini 2, even left completely untouched the batteries will not start auto discharging if left in the hub or drone. Cheers!
I wish this was documented in the owners manual. One thing I love about the Mini's Lion batteries just charge them and leave them alone.
Thanks mate. I play with Rc basher trucks and I discharge my batteries to storage mode and I asked this question to a couple of TH-cam drone guy's and they said they are smart batteries and will bischarge them selves. But know i find they have to be out of charge hub to discharge 🙃🤪 lucky no one has had them explode yet.
You bet, thanks for watching! I have always trusted the “intelligent” batteries to do their thing, might have to be less trusting going forward. Yeah, hopefully no one has a serious issue with them before DJI can get the issue fixed. Cheers!
Has this been fixed? Im not sure, thanks for the vid!
Not fixed yet. Thanks for watching.
@@SteveCoutts thankss
I just checked mine and sure enough, after a week since charging all three in the hub and the one in the drone still showed fully charged. :( Rubber bands now in use.
Thanks for saving our collective a$$.
You bet, thanks for watching! Cheers!
Two of my batteries now have all 4 lights flashing three times is there anyway to fix that?
Interesting. I have zero experience with misbehaving batteries, sorry. My suggestion would be to post a query in the DJI Forum (forum.dji.com) or contact DJI Support directly. Good luck!
The Mini and Mini 2 have both another issue for all those that use those rarely or not regular. The "turn on" switch once presses does no longer turn on the battery. Remove the battery and connect the charge plug and you will see 2 LED flashing which is right, tellung you the battery is missing. But battery back and turned on will lead to nothing.
To get it fixed you need to know that DJI has sucked on a 4 cent piece. The switch to turn on is so cheap that it is dead and most likely impacted by dirt or corosion. To fix it you will need to remove the batter, than use a screwdriver to unscrew screws in the area of the battery bay you can see and take the bottom cover of. If you continue you will see more stuff and dirt but also the turn on button or better know switch, a switch you might have seen 100s of times but this one is dead.
To prove that it is right and fixable there is an easy way. Remove the props first and now listen carefully.
1. lay the drone in front of you on its back and with the gimbal showing away from you
2. now you should see a white switch on the right half next to the 4 LED
3. press the button and usually nothing will happen
4. get a can of air and blow the dirt of the bottom and out of the swich (will most likely not work)
5. if you do not have a compressor or such can try to do the same with a hairdryer just to get dirt out of the drone and switch
6. now listen carfully: the white switch has 2 contacts on the left - this is our target for this step
7. but first: push the battery in
8. take a flat screwdriver of 4 to 5 mm and be carefull
9. now bridge these 2 contacts on the left side of the switch (left means shows to the middle of the drone) and hold it bridged
10. you will see the drone turn on and the LED flashing and gimbal awaking.
11. now bridge it again till it shuts off - drone is fully functional, no serious damage, just dirt and corrosion
12. remove the battery ---- once again: remove the battery
Now we will try the easiest and cheapest repair. You will need a spray called "CONTACT 60" or pure ISOPROPANOL alcohol and a cotton swab for this. I was successfull with the alcohol when I had not the contact 60 available, which is a german brand. It cleans corosion and "recreates" electrical connections that suffered from dirt and corrosion - your dealer will have such stuff.
I. immerse the cotton swab into the alcohol
II. turn the body clockwise 90 °
III. the white switch should be on the right side in vertical position, the bridged contacts are showing upwards
IV. now take the cotton swab and let alcohol drop from the bridget side carefull into the switch
V. 2 drops each time, wait a minute, next 2 drops which will pour through the switch and come out.
VI. the lower part of the fuselage can get wet from alcohol, you will continue with 3 to 5 times
VII. now press the swab on the side of the switch to make sure alcohol will get in
VIII. now take a 15 minute break or simply use the air dryer on a WARM, not hot, level to dry this area around the switch and fuselage
IX. once that is achieved push a battery in and keep finger crossed
X. press the whit button and hopefully it will turn on again.
XI. if not, remove the battery and repeat the alcohol cotton swap drop method again and again
XII. take your time to dry it again and push the battery in, press the white button and it should work.
In case it did not work out you need to buy such switch called micro tile switch and remove the old and put the new one in. If you look at the board and think "No way" go to a electronic or smartphone repair shop and ask to replace only this switch. Usually 10€ or so for the coffee or 20€ on a bill. If you are there buy another of those switches, you might need them again and you will have the spare part in hands and simply need a solderer again.
Might take 20 to 40 minutes to get it working again and may bei 10 more minutes for the finaly assembly.
Cleaning is easy to do once you have the alcohol, soldering is a point where you will instantly have a feeling of "NO WAY" or "might try it myself". And no , the drone was stored through winter in a heated room above 18°C and not wet or wet air. it has happened on both drones and also on my friends drones too, which have usually only one of these drones.
Good luck.
If you want to watch a video with all those steps search on youtube for this string "DJI Drohne kaputt 😕️ Reparieren für 0 Cent"
You will find a video in german but you can copy and print my comment out to compare the general steps and what he is showing - it is a computer repair channel and collector channel of old PC from 80 onwards, but had bought the drone . This had developed the illness of being dead and he tried to fix that what I had fixed before.
The video should help a lot and will also show the german KONTAKT CHEMIE spray, which means contact spray. Not cheap, but a lot cheaper then sending the drone to dji and ask for a repair. And a lot faster.
Is there any issue with the battery in the controller that you are aware of??
Not that I'm aware of.
is this a problem with mini se
Nope. Cheers! 😀
Great! Working abroad for 5 months and now I have a dead battery and probably three damaged ones. Any way to revive a dead battery?
Check them to see how they are first. Then put them through a charge cycle after updating the firmware. If they are not behaving correctly, contact DJI support and hopefully they will take care of you. The issue made the news and DJI was on record admitting the problem so they should do the right thing. Good luck!
@@SteveCoutts Hey, tanks for responding. I reduced the batteries to about 50 percent prior to storing them which might have saved three of them. One of the batteries just won't charge and and the four leds keep blinking three times. It won't power up the drone either.
The remaining three batteries seem to work, but it feels like a couple of minutes have been shaved off the flight time.
🤔👍👍👍
Fix coming soon? Where is it?
The video is three years old. A fix and an update to the video was released a couple of weeks later. As long as your software is up to date, you should be fine. Cheers!
You can place your batteries in charging hub so that the connections are on the opposite side
A couple of people have mentioned this in the comments. I gave it a try and while it does work but I don't like the ridge inside the hub pressing hard against the battery. Hopefully DJI will have a fix soon. Cheers!
@@SteveCoutts all good hope their reply is soon.
Hey. Did DJI solve this problem?
Yes! It's long been fixed. Cheers!
I found I can turn the battery around in the hub.
Yep. A couple of people mentioned that in the comments. I gave it a try but I didn't like how the ridge pressed against the battery case. It does work though. Cheers!
This is not an issue for me because I treat my batteries with care and therefore never store them fully charged. They are only charged before a planned flight. But not to 100%, only to a little over 95%. When the charge level reaches about 30% during the flight, I press the RTH button. In this way, a charge level of less than 20% is usually avoided. The batteries are stored at 25% to 30%. According to the knowledge gained from studying technical literature, this achieves an optimum service life for LiPo batteries.
That's good advice. 👍👍 I suspect many folks, including myself, don't put as much care in to it as you do though. I follow the battery guidelines DJI puts forward in the user manual and it has generally served me well. As long as the "intelligent" battery features are working, the batteries should be ok for periods of short term non-use. All 6 of my 4 year old Spark LiPo batteries are still chugging along just fine by following DJI's guidance. 😀 Cheers!
It has been fixed
The video was published in May 2021. About a month later I posted another video showing the problem had been fixed - th-cam.com/video/2fkWBNQI-VQ/w-d-xo.html
Cheers!
Any one know why one of my battery’s is blinking 3 times and not charging. Cheers
Sounds like the battery has failed. Two things I would try if you want to know more. One, contact DJI Support and see if they can offer any advice. It's likely not under warranty but they should be able to confirm its state. Two, post a query in the DJI Forum (forum.dji.com) to see if anyone there can offer some advice. Good luck!
@@SteveCoutts thankyou
Mine does discharge in hub
Interesting. It definitely does not discharge in the hub or drone for me.
My new battery can’t charge
If it's brand new and still under warranty, contact DJI Support. They will likely just swap it out for you. Cheers!
Can you just put them in the hub at 50% and not even worry about this? lol
For sure. Depends on individual habits though I suppose. I fly, typically exhausting all three, then back at home I plug in the two-way charger and give them a full charge. My batteries typically stay in the charger until the next flight. I fly quite frequently so they don't sit around full very long. For my routine I like transporting and storing the batteries in the hub. It's better for organization, transportation and protects them from bouncing around in my pack. Cheers!
Thnk after my bateri broke😂😂
they should have stayed with li-ion batteries....
Yeah, tough call. There seems to be a bit of a history with DJI and LiPo batteries. Cheers!
I disagree that a fix is impending.. I'm beginning to think the only answer here may be a class action lawsuit someone should file against DJI for completely botching Mini 2 Smart Battery design (inability to self discharge due to requiring a comm line open for LED charge level indicators and power switch.) They have already admitted fault (probably not the smartest idea) and all indications are that they may be unable to fix it. (2+ months without a fix, after promising a "swift update") 😉 I am not down with the litigation happy world of lawyers- sue everyone everywhere always -but DJI is not a tiny company being preyed upon here. At minimum they should supply either a full set of replacement batteries (I am sure there are blissfully ignorant folks out there completely unaware of the issue, and the potential early and imminent failure of these batteries) or a discount on the redesigned Mini 3 that will certainly have a hardware redesign on battery connectivity by allowing disconnect from switching and charge indicators. Not hoping for this outcome, but it's obvious to me that there is no way to fix this with firmware. Proving me wrong would be the best outcome for all, but I'm not hopeful having dealt with similar issues in computer hardware over 40+ years, but hey, there's some incredibly smart folks at DJI, and if they find a way out that's not a warning label and Safety instructions, I'll be impressed as hell.
The video was created with the best information I could find at the time and taking DJI at their word. As it drags on and new information comes available, I agree, you have to wonder if a software fix is possible. I also agree, if a remote fix is not possible DJI needs to take care of its customers. We shouldn't have to collectively sue to get a company to do "the right thing". I have owned 3 DJI drones - Spark, Mini 1 & Mini 2. All three have had issues right out of the gate. I kind of expect new products to be a bit glitchy but I also expect the company to stand behind their products and take care of their customers. I guess we will see how this plays out. Cheers!
@@SteveCoutts Well put. A company shows their true character when things go wrong, not when things are going great. I have no reason to suspect otherwise, but I do hope they don't let this go too long, to the point where we start seeing reports of failing batteries. Consider Apple's high profile issues, most of which were dealt with fairly, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but at least from a sense of preventing damage to their reputation. Samsung also with the recall of millions of Note 7 devices.
left battery for its own alone: died after 1 year. pulled the second battery out of drone after one year: everything okay. i wanted to activate my drone i bought one year ago. this faulty battery is brand new, and i`m really pissed. and after checking this year, that firmware updates blocked any hacking AND DJI drone sends UNENCRYPTED data for DJI aeroscope all the time, DJI is dead for me. bought another drone brand with no aeroscope crap and no restrictions, more functions. bye bye, DJI. mini 2 was the last drone after phantom 3 advanced and spark. they`ve gone to far with disappointing their customers.
My experience with DJI products has been much different than yours. My Spark and all 6 batteries I have for it are still working fine, 5 years later. Same goes for my Mini 1 and Mini 2, the drones and all their batteries are still working great! The one and only time I needed DJI Support they replaced my Spark for FREE because a software glitch made it fly away. I have no complaints. If you're unhappy with DJI maybe it's time to try something from Autel. Cheers!
I don't accept this bullshit that the battery discharges if idle!!! I will return this thing for this defect!!!
The auto discharge function is intentional. Li-Po and Li-Ion batteries should not be stored either fully charged or fully depleted. Auto discharge is there to protect battery health and longevity. Cheers!
@@SteveCoutts Nonsense. It's like as if GM drills a whole in your tank to avoid an explosion. How can you not understand that this is a defect/ bug? A feature is something the customer wants. I don't want an empty battery!
@@stebarg If you don't like it, take it up with DJI and/or don't buy their products. All their "intelligent" flight batteries exhibit the same behaviour. You can read more about the battery features, including auto-discharging, in the User Manuals, which are available on DJI.com.