Scrod 68, Utah Jim: While getting ready to fly my bird 2 years ago, got an update message and it bricked mine as well. Returned to Autel after having a lengthy discussion about not being able to flash the bird back to factory specs. This is total arrogant geek ********. If you offer updates, there should always be a way to reset to factory specs because SOMETIMES, the updates will cause problems. Will NEVER do an update again.
On the battery issue, I had 3 totally dead batteries. Used an external power source to bring them up to the 6 volt level and the factory charger then kicked in. All 3 were returned to full charge level. One exhibited excessive temperature (15 degrees above the other 2, which were at room temp) and some slight swelling. It was disposed with a local battery recycler. The other 2 have held their charge for a month and only recently, have dropped from 4 LED's to 3 LED's. A maintenance brought them back the 4 LED level and have held that for 3 weeks now. I absolutely recommend monitoring the temperature and physical appearance while charging these batteries. Additionally you should identify a local recycler and consult them on what receptacle the battery should be placed into while recharging. I used to have 4 batteries and while charging one, had the bloody thing go into overdrive, excessive heat and swelling. It ruptured while sitting inside of a plastic trash can. I barely got the can outside before the battery went "China Syndrome" and melted though the bottom of it. Lots of smoke!
Guys, let me know if I can help with your charging issues. It is really very straight forward. Also, I would like to buy a spare battery or two and will take dead one's to try to revive.