Tolerable Battery Swelling?

[James L.]

How much swelling is tolerable, if any?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

All Lipo batteries will swell to a point over time. If you can feel like a bubble inside one of those circles it might be to the point it needs replacing. If you have a hard time sliding it in the battery compartment it needs replacing.

 

[James L.]

All Lipo batteries will swell to a point over time. If you can feel like a bubble inside one of those circles it might be to the point it needs replacing. If you have a hard time sliding it in the battery compartment it needs replacing.

Thank You! That makes me feel a bit better!

 

[bjtap]

I recently had a battery replaced. My first clue was, as Augustine said, that it kind of stuck on inserting and pulling it out. The bulge did not appear to be very much, but Autel replaced it after I sent in a photo of the 'bulge'. I then bought the battery into an auto-supply store who took it for proper disposal... I hope.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

The more adventurous me would have taken the shell off, desoldered the smart board and disposed of the Lipo battery part. To get any aftermarket lipo battery you will need the smart board and outside case to make it work in the X-Star.
That's the mad scientist in me coming out
I do not recommend anyone try this if you have no idea of what you are doing. Lipos can be very dangerous

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Typically if it has swelled it is time to replace it. Don't underestimate lipo batteries as they are not your average household alkaline. These require some knowledge about their care & storage.

 

[lightman]

Hi Agustine, maybe you can help me out a llittle, I live in Sunny Cyprus (cant get batteries ship to here from anyone) I have only 1 battery left and it's starting to swell a little, what after market battery can you recommend (I have a fried who is an electrical engineer) he will do all the connecting for me, we have many RC hobby shops here so an after market battery can be picked up
Any help would be great mate...
Thanks...

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I have searched many after market batteries that come close to the specs of stock batteries but none of them are the proper size to fit back inside the case. I have also email a couple of companies that do cell replacement on Lipo batteries ans i guess business must be pretty good as neither has returned my emails. I was really hoping I could find a 4S Multistar High Capacity lipo battery but all are to big.
For best results it would have to fit back into the case, and be 4S with pretty close mAh and C rating.So far I have not found one that would work for my needs.

 

[Busdriver]

I have had pretty good luck with batteries (not always the case it appears). I own 4 new (at the time) and won 2 more in a poker game. Both of those have subsequently failed and were replaced by CS regardless. One of them was operating fine, then it wasn't. During a flight it suddenly dropped from 59% to 39% to 8% in a matter of 60 seconds. I pulled the battery and put it on the charger to see what would happen and contacted CS. They suggested a course of action and eventually concluded it was toast. After the first charging post-incident, I noticed a small amount of swelling in the case but not enough to cause it to get stuck in the XSP. It never really would charge correctly subsequently and I was concerned of another incident.

After all of that, Here's what I do to manage my batteries:

1. I label each of them with a number. If I replace one, I do not reuse that number but rather assign it the next number in the sequence.
2. Once a month or so, I take screen shots of the battery statistics from Starlink and save it off for reference. I save the file with date and battery number for reference. If someone has a better way, I'm all ears.
3. I adopted Autel's recommended maintenance procedures including:

Perform a deep cycle every 3 months or every 20 cycles (which ever comes first).

Drain the battery to 7% by flying at a very low altitude. From that point, re-charge the battery to it's full capacity. Fly or discharge to recommended storage specs.
​

FYI - I don't play poker with her anymore.

 

[Busdriver]

By way of follow up, I also check for swelling on all the batteries after charging by placing the battery on a flat surface and testing for "rocking". This short video indicates that swelling has occurred even though it's difficult to detect visually. I wouldn't necessarily discard this battery on this test alone. Instead, I would check the battery condition in Starlink more frequently and look for a declining "fully charged voltage." I also might not send it out over water since the battery is suspect and, if it acts up, will likely land immediately i.e. Splash and Burn.

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[KunBow]

The more adventurous me would have taken the shell off, desoldered the smart board and disposed of the Lipo battery part. To get any aftermarket lipo battery you will need the smart board and outside case to make it work in the X-Star.
That's the mad scientist in me coming out
I do not recommend anyone try this if you have no idea of what you are doing. Lipos can be very dangerous

So if you keep the smart board, you can use another battery type?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

So if you keep the smart board, you can use another battery type?

That was my thinking but I never ventured into finding out.

 

[chris.jackson]

So if you keep the smart board, you can use another battery type?

I plan to find out. I am going to disect a donated battery (when it arrives) to see how it's assembled. I will remove the circuit boards first. Per the Starlink app, there should be 4 individual cells in the battery pack. I hope to find compatable cells and assemble a battery pack that fits the original housing. If not, I plan to do some testing to make 2 battery packs and mount them externally on opposite sides, while still using the smart circuitry. Something like on the picture (only as an example) but a pack on both sides to equal the load. This will require proper wieght and balance testing too. I'll post results when I get started.

Chris

 

[KunBow]

Use 18650 battery. Thinking of that I looked at 12 18650, would fit in the bay. but a little overhang. But if that worked... would be one hell of a battery

 

[chris.jackson]

Ok folks, It the battery is hard to put in, or take out of the drone, DO NOT CHARGE IT!

Link to Autel
How do I safely use and store X-Star Premium batteries?

How do I safely use and store X-Star Premium batteries? : Autel Robotics

• Stop using or charging the battery immediately if the battery starts to swell, smoke, or leak.

IMPORTANT: If you notice any battery swelling or deformities DO NOT CONTINUE USE. Please dispose of the battery at your local electronics store.

They mean it too.

Here's why:

This was my swolen, 12-15 minute battery. It was cold, had not been flying with it, just hadn't charged it since last flight. You can see in the first picture where it was scraping the paint off the battery from the swelling.

It was charging 10 minutes or so, started hissing, smoking, and.....

I threw it out back and got away from it after I took the 1st 2 pics, thought it might blow. The last pic is how it ended up, I didn't open it.

Messing with a swolen battery is a BAD IDEA.

Glad I didn't leave it anattended. See pics.