Battery Overheat - Evo 2 Pro - Don't leave a battery on your drone EVER!

[sandman2001]

Just a warning to Evo 2 owners. Yesterday, I did a flight for a wedding. After the flight, I just shut down my Evo 2 and put the drone with battery attached (this was a mistake) into my bag and put it in my car. It was a hot and humid day, but again, it was late afternoon/early evening and the car was not that hot.

Anyway, luckily about 45 minutes later I went into my car to get the drone for another quick flight. When I opened the bag the drone was ON!! and it and the battery were very HOT!@. Hot enough that I didn't want to fly that drone and instead pulled my Evo 1 for the flight.

I figure the button on the battery must have gotten pressed when I put it in the bag and the drone turned on. The odd thing was that the battery only had about 10 minutes left on it when I shut it down and put it in the bag. I don't understand why it turned back on, why it didn't die after 10 minutes, and why it was so HOT.

Luckily I came back in less than an hour as I can only imagine what would have happened.....bag on fire, car on fire, etc.

After pulling the battery, both the drone and battery cooled down. Going to test everything today to make sure no issues......but that is the last time I leave a battery in a drone in my bag....no matter how short the storage.

 

[Eagle's Eye Photo]

To answer your question on the time... you had 10 minutes of flight time, under load. Which would end up being hours of energy left, simply powered up in an idle state. As far as the heat... those little vent holes in the battery do dissipate heat, while the aircraft is in the air. Doubtful they have the same effectiveness with the aircraft in a carry bag, inside a car.

 

[sandman2001]

To answer your question on the time... you had 10 minutes of flight time, under load. Which would end up being hours of energy left, simply powered up in an idle state. As far as the heat... those little vent holes in the battery do dissipate heat, while the aircraft is in the air. Doubtful they have the same effectiveness with the aircraft in a carry bag, inside a car.

makes total sense. thanks.
lesson learned.....

 

[herein2021]

Just a warning to Evo 2 owners. Yesterday, I did a flight for a wedding. After the flight, I just shut down my Evo 2 and put the drone with battery attached (this was a mistake) into my bag and put it in my car. It was a hot and humid day, but again, it was late afternoon/early evening and the car was not that hot.

Anyway, luckily about 45 minutes later I went into my car to get the drone for another quick flight. When I opened the bag the drone was ON!! and it and the battery were very HOT!@. Hot enough that I didn't want to fly that drone and instead pulled my Evo 1 for the flight.

I figure the button on the battery must have gotten pressed when I put it in the bag and the drone turned on. The odd thing was that the battery only had about 10 minutes left on it when I shut it down and put it in the bag. I don't understand why it turned back on, why it didn't die after 10 minutes, and why it was so HOT.

Luckily I came back in less than an hour as I can only imagine what would have happened.....bag on fire, car on fire, etc.

After pulling the battery, both the drone and battery cooled down. Going to test everything today to make sure no issues......but that is the last time I leave a battery in a drone in my bag....no matter how short the storage.

I agree with you the battery's power button probably got pressed which made it come on, this is another thing that DJI does better than Autel...their battery power indicator is easier to see in direct sunlight (impossible to see with the Autel batteries) and the batteries are harder to accidentally turn on because the button is harder to press and it is indented slightly.

The battery did not die in 10min because the battery remaining indicator calculates the time remaining based on being in the air; on the ground without the ESCs and motors to drain the battery it could easily stay on for hours. It got so hot because there was no airflow in your bag and the IMU, Gimbal motors, etc. all stay active and put off quite a bit of heat regardless of if the drone is in the air or not. In fact, these items get so hot that if you sit too long on the ground without taking off, cooling fans will turn on to keep it from overheating on the ground. I live in FL, so even the remote controller's cooling fans typically run while I am flying the drone it gets that hot and humid here.

Also, the interior of a car can reach 170 degrees even on a day that does not seem that hot due to no airflow and radiant heat. This is why I avoid if at all possible bringing any extra batteries or battery powered equipment to a shoot, my car has limo tint, and I always try to park in the shade when I am at a shoot; those types of temps will definitely shorten the life of any battery.

For my particular setup I always leave one battery in the drone; I have 4 flight batteries and the case only holds 3 so the safest place for the battery is in the drone, but I would not leave it in there if I had to put the EVO in something like a bag. The rugged case's padding ensures the buttons cannot accidentally get pressed to turn on the battery.

The main thing keeping the battery in the drone does is it keeps dust and dirt from entering the battery tray, it also keeps you from having a loose battery rolling around which would have to be secured some other way. So yes, leaving it in is not ideal, and for long term storage you definitely do not want to leave it in, but in my situation, the safest place for the battery for me is to leave it in the drone. Another thing you never want to do is leave the battery in the drone while flying on an airline.

 

[herein2021]

To answer your question on the time... you had 10 minutes of flight time, under load. Which would end up being hours of energy left, simply powered up in an idle state. As far as the heat... those little vent holes in the battery do dissipate heat, while the aircraft is in the air. Doubtful they have the same effectiveness with the aircraft in a carry bag, inside a car.

You posted your reply while I was still typing mine.....

 

[Eagle's Eye Photo]

You posted your reply while I was still typing mine.....

whaaaa? that never happens...

Another thing you never want to do is leave the battery in the drone while flying on an airline.

^^^^
This

 

[phantomrain.org]

This was one of the Problems we Immediately recognized when getting the Evo 2 as to how easy it was to accidentally hit that Power Button and the sole reason for putting a protective Ring on the Wet Suit Battery Covers . This solved that problem for us.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Evo 2 in the Rain .

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

whenever I finish a flight, I immediately remove the battery and replace it with a fresh one. like you, I once landed a drone and drone was hot (for whatever reason) and when I pulled the battery it was pretty warm. I didn't feel comfortable letting the battery cool down while still inserted in the drone. since I never fly thru all of my batteries, I will always have a fresh battery on hand and whenever I am done for the day, I leave the site with a fresh (cool) battery in the drone. besides, as everyone knows, before you put these on the charger, they need to cool down which takes even more time when batteries are locked in the case (slots).

 

[Antonello]

Just a warning to Evo 2 owners. Yesterday, I did a flight for a wedding. After the flight, I just shut down my Evo 2 and put the drone with battery attached (this was a mistake) into my bag and put it in my car. It was a hot and humid day, but again, it was late afternoon/early evening and the car was not that hot.

Anyway, luckily about 45 minutes later I went into my car to get the drone for another quick flight. When I opened the bag the drone was ON!! and it and the battery were very HOT!@. Hot enough that I didn't want to fly that drone and instead pulled my Evo 1 for the flight.

I figure the button on the battery must have gotten pressed when I put it in the bag and the drone turned on. The odd thing was that the battery only had about 10 minutes left on it when I shut it down and put it in the bag. I don't understand why it turned back on, why it didn't die after 10 minutes, and why it was so HOT.

Luckily I came back in less than an hour as I can only imagine what would have happened.....bag on fire, car on fire, etc.

After pulling the battery, both the drone and battery cooled down. Going to test everything today to make sure no issues......but that is the last time I leave a battery in a drone in my bag....no matter how short the storage.

the exact same situation happened to me for leaving the battery inserted on the evo 1
if you really have to do it, put it upside down
I will never do it again I always take out the battery

 

[Eagle's Eye Photo]

if you really have to do it, put it upside down

Tried that, and (at least for the Evo II batteries) they do not fit in the airframe upside down.

 

[mixchief]

The above comment is spot on, DJI has the dual press routine to power up the battery for just this situation. I had my battery turn on in the case once precisely for this reason. Now as to the comment about when flying. The airlines guidelines will allow for 2 spare batteries and one on the drone as far as I remember, and that is how I have traveled in the past when having the drone in cabin, however when the drone is going in the cargo hold all batteries must be removed and taken on board carry on luggage with the contacts covered with electrical tape or (best practice) in individual LiPo safe bags. All my batteries are in LiPo safe bags except the one on board the drone.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

The above comment is spot on, DJI has the dual press routine to power up the battery for just this situation. I had my battery turn on in the case once precisely for this reason. Now as to the comment about when flying. The airlines guidelines will allow for 2 spare batteries and one on the drone as far as I remember, and that is how I have traveled in the past when having the drone in cabin, however when the drone is going in the cargo hold all batteries must be removed and taken on board carry on luggage with the contacts covered with electrical tape or (best practice) in individual LiPo safe bags. All my batteries are in LiPo safe bags except the one on board the drone.

hi chief, you realize none of the tsa documents support anything you said, right? perhaps you got on a particular airline that is more restrictive than the tsa or perhaps you thought it was best to be "extra cautious" but I'm just not finding what you posted in the usa airlines.

 

[mixchief]

No I don’t realize it, that was the information I found in the JetBlue website last time I traveled out of the country, granted it was 3 years ago and maybe things have changed, actually JetBlue doesn’t travel to my country any longer they surely have changed. I don’t know if said limitations were exclusively for international travel, but that is exactly what they were.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

No I don’t realize it, that was the information I found in the JetBlue website last time I traveled out of the country, granted it was 3 years ago and maybe things have changed, actually JetBlue doesn’t travel to my country any longer they surely have changed. I don’t know if said limitations were exclusively for international travel, but that is exactly what they were.

ok, sorry I didn't realize you were out of country. you are correct, the rules vary by airline and by international vs domestic. also by checked vs carry-on and installed vs. spare. the evo ii li-po battery is rated 82Wh 7100mAh. for example here is delta usa airlines for domestic travel:

Size Limits for Lithium Batteries:

Passengers are permitted to travel with lithium ion batteries that contain a maximum of 160-watt hours per battery. Any lithium ion battery containing more than 160-watt hours is prohibited from carriage on all passenger aircraft. Lithium ion batteries installed in a personal electronic device can be transported as checked or carry-on baggage. Lithium ion batteries not installed in a device (spares) must be in carry-on baggage and no more than two (2) spares between 100 and 160-watt hours are allowed.

Quantity Limits for Lithium Batteries:

Each person is limited to a maximum of 20 spare batteries.

 

[mixchief]

I traveled with 3 120 Wh inspire 1 batteries and the TSA guys almost took out a magnifying glass to read the Wh, it’s written in the smallest print China could find LOL. The guidelines you posted are very similar to Jet Blue’s, however I don’t remember seeing anything about 20 batteries per person, now I know how the fpv pilots can carry all that firepower LOL