Battery Stuck
- Thread starter SkySpy
- Start date
Okay.......Major Update! I just got the battery out of the tray. I positioned the drone on my lap with the terminal end of the battery facing me. I put my thumbs on the terminal end of the battery and applied pressure. After several attempts of applying far more pressure than I wanted to, the battery shot out across the floor. I examined the battery to see if i could identify the cause. No swelling or distortion, but then I noticed very distinct black skid marks on the bottom of the battery where it slides against the tray. I compared this to another battery, no such marks. I turned the battery over and found another disturbing sign. It appears that the battery got hot enough to melt the upper tray area entrance which looks like it adhered to the battery. The corresponding area of the drone shows evidence of this as well. As I mentioned earlier, I ordered this battery directly from Yuneec to insure a current shelf life. My concern is that since this drone is no longer in production, are they allowing expired inventory to be sold as new? Do any of you have current working phone number for Yuneec support or customer service?
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Here is a photo of the terminals. I see no evidence of arcing. As for the plastic end of the battery becoming hot enough to melt the plastic tray. Different plastics have different melting points. I would expect the batteries to have a plastic that is resistant to higher temperatures, not so much for the aircraft, but one would think the battery tray should be. Unfortunately, It appears as though the battery tray is made of the same plastic as other parts of the air frame. As for now, this battery will not be used until I talk with yuneec. My next step is to reassemble the bird and see if she still flies after my unqualified abuse. Will keep you posted. Thank all of you for your input!
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I have to say the problem appears heat related. Were the terminals adhered to the battery casing? or just the areas that have the black from the battery cage? The contacts themselves look clean and show no sign of heat stress (no bluing or char).
Does the other battery fit ok without binding now?
@SkySpy,
Remember you had other anomalies during this flight, including a broken propeller that broke FORWARD, as if the motor had suddenly stopped HARD for an instant, a period of low voltage indication that cleared, and erratic flight at the end that may have been caused by more than just the damaged prop.
I would advise against another flight until you upload the telemetry files to see if the problem recorded itself in the logs. One possibility is a bad ESC that briefly put a terrific load on the system, then cleared. Temporarily.
You probably already know it, but sometimes I like to nag:
Please be aware the affected battery should be considered "guilty until proven innocent". Even if not the cause of the issue, it certainly was affected by whatever happened. Do you have an aftermarket charger that can give you readings to help evaluate the condition of the battery? Preferably outdoors, for safety sake.
By the way, whenever the next flight, REMOVE THE CAMERA. Save you some money if things go wrong.
Remember you had other anomalies during this flight, including a broken propeller that broke FORWARD, as if the motor had suddenly stopped HARD for an instant, a period of low voltage indication that cleared, and erratic flight at the end that may have been caused by more than just the damaged prop.
I would advise against another flight until you upload the telemetry files to see if the problem recorded itself in the logs. One possibility is a bad ESC that briefly put a terrific load on the system, then cleared. Temporarily.
You probably already know it, but sometimes I like to nag:
Please be aware the affected battery should be considered "guilty until proven innocent". Even if not the cause of the issue, it certainly was affected by whatever happened. Do you have an aftermarket charger that can give you readings to help evaluate the condition of the battery? Preferably outdoors, for safety sake.
By the way, whenever the next flight, REMOVE THE CAMERA. Save you some money if things go wrong.
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Your the man Tom! Thank you for taking so much interest in us, the less experienced pilots. I will follow your advise.
Another update. As I posted earlier, I found the battery had became hot enough to melt the battery cage just enough to prevent me from be able to remove the battery. I had to remove the upper half of the fuselage to remove it. I contacted yuneec customer support since i had recently purchased this and another battery from them. normally they will replace a battery within 30 days of purchase. My purchase was a little over that but they were nice enough to replace this one.? One note, I was surprised to learn that there is no stamp or indication of the production date for these batteries. Yuneec does not have that information either. I have the drone back together, but I will not fly it until I have the telemetry record reviewed as suggested by WTFDproject. I will post the results.
Several forum members are very good at reading the telemetry files, including @h-elsner, the guy that wrote both the analysis program and the instructions for using it. If you post the file to this thread, you may get faster information than by sending it to Yuneec.
Also, maybe take a look at the motor associated with the broken prop. The ESC is at the bottom, under the LED lens cover. You may be able to see something, or there might be a faint burnt smell. Maybe.
Also, maybe take a look at the motor associated with the broken prop. The ESC is at the bottom, under the LED lens cover. You may be able to see something, or there might be a faint burnt smell. Maybe.
Hi Tom, i'm trying to send you this telemetry file. I must be doing something wrong. I copied the file as per the instructions. I pasted it to my computer. I added .txt to the file name as instructed. When i go to attach it and open the folder I get, "No Items Match your search". What should i do?
On the file selection screen, look to the right of the file name box, for a grayed out box named something like "custom.." Click on it and select "all files", see if your file shows up.
I can open the file with my computer, but Microsoft office ask me for my license. i refuse, then it opens. I can only view it. I cannot change it or save it. could that be the problem?
Not sure. It sounds like you are trying to "open" the CSV file, and don't have Microsoft excel installed? Give me a few minutes. I will take some screen shots of the "easy way" to upload only the last telemetry file, and post them. Are you using a MAC or a PC?
Try renaming the file extension for the last telemetry file from (example) Telemetry_00003.csv to Telemetry_00003.txt.
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