Welcome, Autel Pilots!
Join our free Autel drone community today!
Join Us

Damaged battery message

Terry B50

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Messages
20
Reaction score
2
Age
73
Hello,
I have an Evo 1, with 3 batteries. I hadn't flown it for some time. The last time I flew it, all 3 batteries performed as they should. Then after the period of no flying, I charged the batteries, and took it out to fly. Two of the batteries had issues, and I got a damaged battery message. The drone immediately initiated a return to home. I looked on this site for some ideas as what to do about it. I tried one solution, and charged all of the batteries. One of them worked fine. The other 2 batteries again gave the damaged battery message, and the drone returned to home. I flew the drone anyway about 20 feet up, a short distance away from me, and the battery discharged normally. The drone stayed in the air for a normal length of time. Are these batteries kissed? They don't have a lot of discharge cycles. What do you think?
 
It's normal. If you let your batteries sleep unattended, even for a month, they eventually discharge naturally and after a certain discharge threshold, they are dead. My four Evo 1 batteries are from 2019 and are all still in great shape, but I charge them every month and then put them back in storage for the following month.
It's like the battery of a car, let it sleep for a year in the back of the garage and try to restart. You will see.
Internet research, LiPo battery maintenance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EBEPLS
It's normal. If you let your batteries sleep unattended, even for a month, they eventually discharge naturally and after a certain discharge threshold, they are dead. My four Evo 1 batteries are from 2019 and are all still in great shape, but I charge them every month and then put them back in storage for the following month.
It's like the battery of a car, let it sleep for a year in the back of the garage and try to restart. You will see.
Internet research, LiPo battery maintenance.
 
I just hate to give up on them. They did hold a charge and keep the drone flying for a usual duration. I was afraid to fly too far away though. Thanks for the input.
 
I just hate to give up on them. They did hold a charge and keep the drone flying for a usual duration. I was afraid to fly too far away though. Thanks for the input.

I think you are pushing your luck with them. If they start swelling then its time to give up on them. One thing you can try is fully discharging them all the way to zero then recharging them. To safely discharge them to zero, take the props off of your EVO, place it outside away from your house (for fire prevention reasons), turn on the EVO and let it sit until it finally dies (typically about an hr or two later). Then put the batteries on the charger and let them fully recharge.

It is possible the balancing circuit just can't get all of the cells back within tolerance levels and a deep discharge and recharge may fix it. If it is a balancing issue and you do not manage to resolve it, the EVO could suddenly fall out of the sky or rapidly discharge at the worst possible time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EBEPLS
I think you are pushing your luck with them. If they start swelling then its time to give up on them. One thing you can try is fully discharging them all the way to zero then recharging them. To safely discharge them to zero, take the props off of your EVO, place it outside away from your house (for fire prevention reasons), turn on the EVO and let it sit until it finally dies (typically about an hr or two later). Then put the batteries on the charger and let them fully recharge.

It is possible the balancing circuit just can't get all of the cells back within tolerance levels and a deep discharge and recharge may fix it. If it is a balancing issue and you do not manage to resolve it, the EVO could suddenly fall out of the sky or rapidly discharge at the worst possible time.
Thanks for the suggestion. I followed your advice and it worked. The batteries show no sign of swelling. No more damaged battery message, and the drone flew normally. I didn't fly too high or very far away. I will fly a few more times conservatively, for awhile. Thanks for your help.
 
It's normal. If you let your batteries sleep unattended, even for a month, they eventually discharge naturally and after a certain discharge threshold, they are dead. My four Evo 1 batteries are from 2019 and are all still in great shape, but I charge them every month and then put them back in storage for the following month.
It's like the battery of a car, let it sleep for a year in the back of the garage and try to restart. You will see.
Internet research, LiPo battery maintenance.
Thanks for your input.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I followed your advice and it worked. The batteries show no sign of swelling. No more damaged battery message, and the drone flew normally. I didn't fly too high or very far away. I will fly a few more times conservatively, for awhile. Thanks for your help.

I think you are in good shape, just check the batteries each time you get them off the charger for any signs of swelling since they are older. You can also check the app under the battery section to see how many times they have been recharged. 100-200 cycles and 2-3yrs is average for these batteries. If you are lucky you could get as much as 5yrs out of them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EBEPLS
Best Buy has these batteries for $30 each on closeout. Good time to grab them for your Evo 1
 
Hello,
I have an Evo 1, with 3 batteries. I hadn't flown it for some time. The last time I flew it, all 3 batteries performed as they should. Then after the period of no flying, I charged the batteries, and took it out to fly. Two of the batteries had issues, and I got a damaged battery message. The drone immediately initiated a return to home. I looked on this site for some ideas as what to do about it. I tried one solution, and charged all of the batteries. One of them worked fine. The other 2 batteries again gave the damaged battery message, and the drone returned to home. I flew the drone anyway about 20 feet up, a short distance away from me, and the battery discharged normally. The drone stayed in the air for a normal length of time. Are these batteries kissed? They don't have a lot of discharge cycles. What do you think?
Normal, common issues all been covered here to many times to even care about at this point. The only thing that saved mine was paying attention to batteries when not in use. Some have stated batteries have been saved, turned around what ever. I tried every home remedy suggested and I hated to give up as well. I tossed the bad ones. 3. I have 10 good working batteries now 5 new which I purchased at Best Buy a few months ago 2 for 59 then I seen a clearance for 39 so I bought 3. Only thing I can think of is check with Best Buy. Just go to their page and search Autel battery. I'm guessing they washed their hands of Autel but you may get lucky. Free delivery too. Hope this helps. One other thing, I stopped updating firmware after first update and drone works flawlessly, I too don't trust it though.
 
Hello,
I have an Evo 1, with 3 batteries. I hadn't flown it for some time. The last time I flew it, all 3 batteries performed as they should. Then after the period of no flying, I charged the batteries, and took it out to fly. Two of the batteries had issues, and I got a damaged battery message. The drone immediately initiated a return to home. I looked on this site for some ideas as what to do about it. I tried one solution, and charged all of the batteries. One of them worked fine. The other 2 batteries again gave the damaged battery message, and the drone returned to home. I flew the drone anyway about 20 feet up, a short distance away from me, and the battery discharged normally. The drone stayed in the air for a normal length of time. Are these batteries kissed? They don't have a lot of discharge cycles. What do you think?
I just checked Best Buy. They have a combo 2 batteries, set of props and a soft bag for 66 in stock. They also have single batteries for 30 but is says not available close by. I don't know what that means. Maybe it is not close to me? I have the closest store listed as my store. You may be able to search where these batteries are physically located and buy it from that particular Best Buy. Or check the after market battery listed on amazon on another post.
 
I had one of my 3 batteries to give a low battery warning when I climbed fast or demanded a lot of power from the Evo. As long as I flew it slow, everything was fine. To further check it, I checked the cell voltage as I climbed and it was dropping significantly. I landed, shut it down and removed the battery and while holding the release button down, I slid the battery in and out several times to clean the terminals. This helped a lot.
Also, I read where you should discharge your batteries down to 8% ever so often. This helps with cell balancing when its charged back up.
 

Latest threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
11,228
Messages
102,655
Members
9,818
Latest member
redwingaerials