Another bad battery

ORANGE CRUSH · Sep 10, 2018

Well here we go again! 39% to 7% in an instant!! Battery is 13 months old, charged 16 times. I recharged it & it wont go above 47%, ran it down to 7%, recharged it again & only 47% with very unbalanced cells. We will see if Autel covers it, luckily i was only 10 ft. In the air this time, 3 times before that i was way out & was able to get home with less than 2% battery left. Be careful guys! You might lose your baby.

bjtap · Sep 10, 2018

I had the infamous battery drop happen to me also. Fortunately, I was able to take a walk and retrieve the XStar, but I have to admit I have been very reluctant to fly the bird because of the fear of losing it. In the last few months I have only flown once! (I guess I just have to get over it). OC... I am pretty sure Autel will replace your battery, you have done all the right things.
Out of curiosity... has anyone with an Evo had this problem?

ORANGE CRUSH · Sep 11, 2018

Autel is Awesome, even though the battery is 3 weeks out of warranty. They have sent me out a new replacement!! Customer service is top notch at Autel!!

m0j0 · Jan 1, 2019

Sixteen charges good grief. Mine is pretty flawless no issues except for I'm not excited about the horizon.

rbolman · Jan 16, 2019

I'm wondering if these might work for a rebuild: 755690 3.7v 4900mah Lithium Polymer Battery For Medical Equipment,Beauty Equipment - Buy 4900mah 3.7v Lithium Battery,Li-ion Battery 3.7v 4900mah 755690,4900mah Lithium Polymer Battery Product on Alibaba.com

Fly-a-holic · Jan 25, 2019

If I was going to attempt a rebuild, I would buy name brand proven cells that have good reviews. You should also buy them in matched sets or balance issues will be evident.
I have never built a lithium pack before but I have built my share of ni-cads and nickel metal packs for my airplanes back in the day. No flight failures from any of those... Knock on wood... Lol

Fly-a-holic · Jan 25, 2019

Question for everyone whose had XSP battery failures. Are the batteries failing with low flight counts?

I just bought a low flight time XSP but I haven't received it yet. I'm concerned about the possibility of it having problems with the batteries. I think I'm getting 3 packs with it. I'll fly it around the field at relatively low altitude until I prove all the batteries I guess.

Goober · Jan 25, 2019

Fly-a-holic said:
I just bought a low flight time XSP but I haven't received it yet. I'm concerned about the possibility of it having problems with the batteries. I think I'm getting 3 packs with it. I'll fly it around the field at relatively low altitude until I prove all the batteries I guess.

Good idea, I think. Charge them fully and go fly.

One of my two original packs gave me a sudden drop recently, from around 30% down to "critical" in just a minute. But I was flying in very cold weather and had noticed shorter times from my other batteries. This particular pack has always been a little troublesome (very slight swelling), so I fly close to home with it. Gave it a full charge and haven't had sudden drops since.

Been curious of cold weather affecting the charging circuit - not the cells themselves. When I start the XSP with the "battery too cold" warning, always low hover for a minute or so until Starlink happy. Have seen this with a full charged batt, taken off charger just a few min before and taken out into cold air. Anyone else experience this?

ORANGE CRUSH · Jan 25, 2019

If those batteries have been sitting for some time and have not been maintained, you may find that the quality of them has diminished or even flat out died, multi cell li-po batteries are subject to failure when not properly taken care of. Just an F.Y.I.

NewZona Rides · Apr 20, 2019

I have had this problem twice now. One battery had been charged 16 times and the recent one had been charged 29 times. I had the camera on this time when it just dropped to zero and come down suddenly. I managed to save the drone but took out all 4 props. Autel did not replace my battery as it was out of warranty even though it was only used 29 times. That makes these batteries really expensive. I have 2 left now and they may be it for me. My 2 I have now are my newest ones I purchased and they are at the 15 charge mark now. I will post a link when I get that video uploaded to YouTube if anyone wants to see it.

Fly-a-holic · Apr 24, 2019

NewZona Rides said:
I have had this problem twice now. One battery had been charged 16 times and the recent one had been charged 29 times. I had the camera on this time when it just dropped to zero and come down suddenly. I managed to save the drone but took out all 4 props. Autel did not replace my battery as it was out of warranty even though it was only used 29 times. That makes these batteries really expensive. I have 2 left now and they may be it for me. My 2 I have now are my newest ones I purchased and they are at the 15 charge mark now. I will post a link when I get that video uploaded to YouTube if anyone wants to see it.

I have noticed that all 3 of my batteries drop from 17% to 8% instantly instead of a smooth countdown like it does from 99% to 20%. I just set my low battery warning (Go Home) to 32% and critical warning to 20%. All this bad battery stuff has me really concerned about my drone making it back in one piece. And even more concerned about what it might hit on the way down.

NewZona Rides · Apr 30, 2019

I finished editing and uploading the recent battery failure I had. Here it is for anyone wanting to check it out. Battery Failure In Flight

Tufargon · May 1, 2019

If you are above the set altitude when it decides to return to home it will stay at that height. It will not go down to the setting.
These battery failures usually happen for one of two reasons. 1. The battery is bad and 2. It was't topped up with a charge within a day.

ORANGE CRUSH · May 1, 2019

#15

Thanks for sharing your video. This exact scenario has happened to me 4 times flying in the densely forested mountains, I have been very lucky to get my ship back without damage. Autel has a BIG problem with these batteries!! At a $100 a piece you would expect a perfect battery. The sad thing is that if your ship is out of warranty and this happens, you are S.O.L. Sadly I only fly to 45% anymore, cutting my flight times drastically. I will never have faith in their batteries anymore for a full 25 minute flight.

Marcle · May 3, 2019

I've had it happen once, in the cold and not having a topped up battery. After I charged it back to full, I didn't have any sudden voltage drops any more. Now I always top the batteries up before I go out. When I got the drone (bought it used) I had one battery that wouldn't charge, at first I thought it was something I was doing wrong being a newbie so I contacted customer service and they sent me a free battery just to get me flying. That has made me a loyal customer since. When I lost it a couple of weeks ago, if I had been the original owner, they were sounding like they were going to send me a replacement after reviewing the flight log! I fessed up and told them I had bought it from the original owner but haven't heard back. They have treated me very well though so I have no complaints.