A bit surprised, submitted a claim for 1 swollen battery to yuneec within warranty period, then in a final email reply my 2nd battery had swollen too!

[jandjfrench]

My tree was the direct result of a system failure fly away, and well documented in this forum a couple years ago. Search back in December 2016 for the thread. RC experience has been continuous since 1977, with aero modeling of other types going back to 1960. On the RC side, there were quite a few crashes as auto pilots, gyros, and accelerometers were not present during that time. You really had to fly the aircraft in all aspects yourself. My multirotor experience only goes back to 2012 or so with design, development, and testing so I suppose some may feel that experience might be limited. OTOH, that experience was enough to allow becoming a part of the development process with this one. Yes, I have crashed multirotors. Discounting indoor micro quads, 4 times to be exact. One, the first, was totally my fault. Two were the result of unstable, experimental designs during test flights, and the last was the fly away two years ago. Should you have any more sarcastic allegations we can address them with enlightenment.

I didn't see this reply prior to posting my last. I was aware that you weren't new here and was surprised that it was an H that ended up in the tree. I thought perhaps it had something to do with a failure of the obstacle avoidance and just thought you'd like to share the details. As far as going through old posts; whenever I've been doing this I keep coming across things that divert my interest and seldom get to what I'm searching for. And do you have any of that info regarding those PCs.

 

[PatR]

I've never used the OBS system. I don't fly close enough to things to need it. The cause was a GPS/compass failure, and handled by Yuneec afterwards. One really good lesson learned from the event was to never turn off the ST-16 after "misplacing" an H in flight, as the ST-16 continues to display the transmitted position of the aircraft if it is still within range. That makes it real easy to use Google Earth to pin point the aircraft's location for retrieval.

I revised the post you originally quoted to better address mgrs1.

 

[Mrgs1]

My tree was the direct result of a system failure fly away, and well documented in this forum a couple years ago. Search back in December 2016 for the thread. RC experience has been continuous since 1977, with aero modeling of other types going back to 1960. On the RC side, there were quite a few crashes as auto pilots, gyros, and accelerometers were not present during that time. You really had to fly the aircraft in all aspects yourself. My multirotor experience only goes back to 2012 or so with design, development, and testing so I suppose some may feel that experience might be limited. OTOH, that experience was enough to allow becoming a part of the development process with this one. Yes, I have crashed multirotors. Discounting indoor micro quads, 4 times to be exact. One, the first, was totally my fault. Two were the result of unstable, experimental designs during test flights, and the last was the fly away two years ago. Should you have any more sarcastic allegations we can address them with enlightenment.

No sarcasm, just pointing out that we all start somewhere, no one is born knowing everything and never does know everything, if you read it right I "Said knowledge is power" and comes mostly overtime and learning from our mistakes, since you didn't elaborate the tree incident, and people are constantly having mishaps and learning from them, but hey if you think that then I don't care.

 

[PatR]

I didn’t feel there was a need to elaborate the tree event. The reason it was mentioned was to qualify the reason for a deeply discharged battery, and how long it had sat there without discharging to a zero state. Sorry if I misinterpreted your intent.

Yes obtaining experience requires time, but we don’t have to gain experience and knowledge the “hard way” anymore. The internet makes what used to be hard to research quite easy. We but need to make use of it before jumping into an activity with both feet

 

[jandjfrench]

UPS delivered the replacement battery for the one that would not charge initially.
The bar code on the battery ended in 163903474 The equivalent digits of both of the original batteries started with 17. After removing the shipping label I see a small piece of white tape under the "Date of Manufacture" text. The ST16 indicated it had 15.8V. I checked and it charged properly in approx. 1 hour.
I checked the included data sheet and it specified that the Warranty Period is that it will be free of defects at the date of purchase; no duration specified. They state that how it's honored is up to their discretion.
In all caps they specify that they don't inspect or repair batteries. And further state "NEVER SHIP BATTERIES TO YUNEEC."
I checked and couldn't find any guidance on ongoing battery maintenance. From what I've read it seems that just leaving the battery as is until charging prior to next use, unless a low battery warning was given. If a warning was indicated probably a partial charge depending on how discharged.

 

[PatR]

Charge the ST-16 and store it fully charged. It uses a li-on battery, not a li-po. Li-on’s are designed to be stored at full charge. That cannot be done with a li-po.

This site is flat loaded with battery care information. In fact, there’s a sticky dedicated to the subject at the top of the H “How To” forum.

 

[jandjfrench]

I've never used the OBS system. I don't fly close enough to things to need it. The cause was a GPS/compass failure, and handled by Yuneec afterwards. One really good lesson learned from the event was to never turn off the ST-16 after "misplacing" an H in flight, as the ST-16 continues to display the transmitted position of the aircraft if it is still within range. That makes it real easy to use Google Earth to pin point the aircraft's location for retrieval.

I revised the post you originally quoted to better address mgrs1.

Being new to this I didn't understand how Google Earth could be used to locate the drone and I'm still not. But as long as both units have good GPS data and are talking it seems that by using the displayed distance and the green arrow when the distance is minimum you'd be standing directly beneath the stuck drone. I'll keep this in mind.
And speaking of unfortunate events I went out to the coast (Moss Landing, CA) yesterday to fly and check out the surf. The surf didn't seem much different than normal but while over flying the water I saw the drone amidst three groups of birds; two pelicans, several dark colored birds and a flock of seagulls. I immediately brought the drone back to me and landed, half panicked. In reviewing the footage it was less than five feet from one of the seagulls.

 

[PatR]

Pelicans usually don’t much care but gulls are beyond inquisitive and fearless if they think an easy meal is available.

As for Google Earth shoyld you ever need to use it, input the GPS data displayed on the ST-16 screen into the search location box in Google Earth.

That green arrow on the screen is telling you which way to move the right stick to fly the aircraft back to you. It’s not pointing to the aircraft.

 

[jandjfrench]

Pelicans usually don’t much care but gulls are beyond inquisitive and fearless if they think an easy meal is available.

As for Google Earth shoyld you ever need to use it, input the GPS data displayed on the ST-16 screen into the search location box in Google Earth.

That green arrow on the screen is telling you which way to move the right stick to fly the aircraft back to you. It’s not pointing to the aircraft.

In this case you would be the one doing the moving.

 

[PatR]

Whatever, but it would be a long walk if you went in the direction the arrow was pointing...

 

[jandjfrench]

Whatever, but it would be a long walk if you went in the direction the arrow was pointing...

I find it very difficult to imagine someone making that mistake but have no doubt they would soon realize it.

 

[RatBob]

I just received two replacement batteries from Yuneec under warranty, originals were shipped with a refurb Typhoon G completely out of balance and unchargable with the OEM, now I have a total of 8 batteries, either new or less than 3 flights each. I believe I have the dates of manufacture figured out from the serial numbers, if so, even the new batteries were nade at least a year ago.

 

[TyphoonPete]

I purchased a "Manufacturer Refurbished" Pro kit late last year.
The 2 batteries that were included started getting "spongy" after a couple of cycles and cell 1 in both gave an extremely high resistance reading at that time.(40+)
After consultation with my retailer and he with Yuneec, I was allowed one replacement battery at my shipping expense.
At that time I purchased 2 "new" batteries from a retailer and have cycled them a few times.
The Yuneec authorised replacement came to me here in Oz from somewhere in Florida and was in a crumpled cardboard box lightly wadded with thick paper and FULLY CHARGED. It did have battery stickers on the outside!! No idea if it is a used battery or not
It appears to be in new condition and has no abnormality whatsoever.
ALL 5 batteries are dated 2016 and therefore some 3 years old and absolutely NO knowledge as to how/where/etc they were stored/used.
At this point in time I have 5 batteries, 4 are somewhat mildy puffy (by my observation), still within the confines of the plastic frame and no distortion.
And one "as new"
The original 4 still charge/storage as per normal and resistance reading are acceptable.
A few weeks back I charged 2 ready to fly and then storaged after not flying.
I took a resistance reading and cell 1 on one battery was showing 99 and the other was showing 75.
Overnight they both returned to a "acceptable" resistance reading and have remained so.
We were having extreme heat cycles day and night at that time which may have had some effect
Any further batteries I purchase will be GT batteries (Lowest amp rating) as they are the most reasonably priced available and which I can import with free shipping
My guess is that all typhoon h batteries are at least 3 years old with no indication as to their history and should probably be avoided if at all possible, and especially considering there are a number of aftermarkets at much more reasonable pricing.
Cheers