Slightly Swollen H Battery

[Joseph Corrado]

I took a flight yesterday and when I was done I pulled the battery and noticed that it was a bit swollen. I let it rest and the swelling went down a bit. I'm going to dispose of it. Any best practices? it still has a bit of a charge. I don't have a means apart from use to discharge the battery.

All ideas are welcome.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Search is your friend...

What is the proper method of disposing a Lipo?

 

[AH-1G]

Save it for news years eve then burn it, it should give you a good show.

 

[Paladin]

I took a flight yesterday and when I was done I pulled the battery and noticed that it was a bit swollen. I let it rest and the swelling went down a bit. I'm going to dispose of it. Any best practices? it still has a bit of a charge. I don't have a means apart from use to discharge the battery.

All ideas are welcome.

If your drone is still under warranty I would contact Yuneec. You may be able to get a new one.

 

[Texy]

How much is "slightly?" I have one doing this too, but I'm not sure if it's an issue or if it was just really hot up there in the Texas summer sky. Mine had about 1 or 2 mm of "puffy" feeling plastic membrane. ???

 

[PatR]

Post a picture shot at an angle that will show the relationship of the case to the wrapper label. Even a hot battery should not swell unless it got way too hot.

 

[Skeets]

My opinion is that since the battery is hard cased, swelling is restricted. So if you do notice swelling, it is already beyond it being "slightly" swollen since it has swelled enough to push the plastic out. However, unless yours has already gone beyond reasonable usage, it doesn't necessarily mean you HAVE to stop using it but flight time and power will probably be decreased and will probably keep decreasing over time.

 

[FlushVision]

A swollen battery is an unpredictable battery. The best and safest option is to dispose of it safely. If the disposal option is not done, then only use it for things like calibrations and such like...don't fly it.

I still think disposing the battery is the favored option: the price of a new battery against the possibility of watching your house burn down is a no-brainer IMHO.

 

[PatR]

Indeed. There was a report in local news this morning of a garage fire that started inside a refrigerator. Not at the back, but inside. First thing I thought of was a lipo being kept in cold storage going off.

 

[Bonesamy]

I took a flight yesterday and when I was done I pulled the battery and noticed that it was a bit swollen. I let it rest and the swelling went down a bit. I'm going to dispose of it. Any best practices? it still has a bit of a charge. I don't have a means apart from use to discharge the battery.

All ideas are welcome.

I had a similar issue, mine swelled up and shot it self out of the drone, I was over desert so luckily it just crashed in waste land, drone total loss, I sent it back but honestly they didn't believe me at first. Got the drone and battery replaced.

 

[Robert007]

I have read to not fully charge batteries until you are ready to fly , as fully charged batteries sitting around have a tendency to swell over a period of time .

 

[PatR]

I had a similar issue, mine swelled up and shot it self out of the drone, I was over desert so luckily it just crashed in waste land, drone total loss, I sent it back but honestly they didn't believe me at first. Got the drone and battery replaced.

To be candid, I don't believe it happened like that either. The battery well inside the H is rather copious and the battery would need to enlarge dramatically to even generate resistance between the aircraft and battery frame. There's also a need for the latch mechanism to be lowered in order for the battery to exit. If the battery swelled that latch tab would only fit tighter inside the H, making self separation impossible if the battery had been correctly installed prior to flight.

My guess is the battery was not properly installed, fell out and sustained damage when it hit the ground, which caused the swelling, and Yuneec went over the top and took care of you despite the crash being your fault.

 

[Bonesamy]

To be candid, I don't believe it happened like that either. The battery well inside the H is rather copious and the battery would need to enlarge dramatically to even generate resistance between the aircraft and battery frame. There's also a need for the latch mechanism to be lowered in order for the battery to exit. If the battery swelled that latch tab would only fit tighter inside the H, making self separation impossible if the battery had been correctly installed prior to flight.

My guess is the battery was not properly installed, fell out and sustained damage when it hit the ground, which caused the swelling, and Yuneec went over the top and took care of you despite the crash being your fault.

Reply:
So since that episode, after being repaired the Drone just stopped and hit the ground, it was found to have a fracture in the main frame, and this time replaced, I also bought another H as a back up , now the interesting thing here is I also got new batteries, and now when I load them there are two distinct clicks with the new batteries, more reassuring, but these batteries do get extremely hot, as noted in the instructions. Oh and I live in the desert...117+f

 

[PatR]

Batteries generate heat when they are discharged. You get to add the ambient temp to the increasing thermal state during discharge. We can't change common physics but we can learn and understand them.

The stock H battery has always provided two clicks when inserted. You just need to go slower for the insertion to hear both of them. Nothing has changed in the battery shell design. Perhaps you are now just paying more attention

 

[Bonesamy]

Batteries generate heat when they are discharged. You get to add the ambient temp to the increasing thermal state during discharge. We can't change common physics but we can learn and understand them.

The stock H battery has always provided two clicks when inserted. You just need to go slower for the insertion to hear both of them. Nothing has changed in the battery shell design. Perhaps you are now just paying more attention

That's defiantly true after that first escapade !

 

[Robert007]

patr , I have seen several lipo batteries swell , cause by overcharge. And not being used for periods of time . You have guessed wrong of them . Since batteries can only go in one way.pilot just has to make sure there locked in.

 

[Morpilot]

Puffed LiPo batteries are not safe to use.they should be disposed properly. One thing need to stress is, never puncture LiPo batteries.

 

[PatR]

They make great rifle targets

Robert,
Read my post again, I said there was no way it had swelled inside the H and pushed itself out. If the battery was properly latched I stand by that. I have had a few lipos puff myself.

 

[DB1]

I have 3 H batteries and they have all been used pretty much the same amount of times and they are the only H batteries I have. When I fly I fly till I use up all 3 batteries. They all get charged the same. They are all stored at about a half charge (~15.4v) if I know I won’t be flying for a while. They have all been used and charged less than 30 times each - same care and handling. They all last and take about the same amount of time to charge.


One of the batteries has a puffy top label (flexes up about 1/16" at center) but the hard plastic casing has no bulges or anything showing signs of swelling and it slips in and out of the H as easily as the other 2. It has been that way for at least 4 months and the battery is now 7 months old. I haven't flown or used those batteries for nearly those same 4 months as I only started flying again about 1-2 weeks back. I've used all the batteries about 5-6 times in those last 1-2 weeks with no problems. There is no 'stiffness' to the rise of the label just touching it is enough to push it to the under case but the label will not 'stick' in place flat. It wont peel away because the outer case border surrounds all the edges of the label. I would really like to see an H battery case opened up (but not by an explosive force) to see how it is constructed.


I originally thought that it was just a case of a loose label (and it may only be that) and didn't worry about it when I put all my gear away in March. Then I noticed a mention of this puffy battery issue in a forum. I called Yuneec and they said it was probably a bad battery and I shouldn't use it and batteries are only warranted for 30 days. Even if I would have called them when I first noticed it the 30 days had already past.


Most laptop manufacturers give at least a 6 month battery warranty. While I do understand that batteries do require proper care to remain useful and safe for their normal life; 30 days is far too short for a company to stand behind their product.

I have Ryobi portable power tools, lawn tools, lights, etc and have gotten several years of use from the 8 LiPo Ryobi batteries I have. The oldest ones aren't as peppy as the newer but that is to be expected. I store 5 of them at half charge all winter in the house but in summer they are all in a smart charger in the garage or a tool. I will probably pick up another two when Home Depot puts them on their summer sale (2 for $100) next June. Ryobi LiPo's are smart batteries though they do sell 'dumb' Ryobi LiPo bats too. I really don't know what the Warranty is on Ryobi LiPo batteries is - I haven't had a reason to find out. . . . I wonder if I could rig up an adapter to use Ryobi 18v batteries in my H . . . naw.

For the amount of money that Yuneec charges (no pun intended) for a battery they should be 'smart' batteries that have a state of charge meter, intelligent charge circuitry built in and even count the amount of charge cycles like many manufacturers have. I don't know what the drone industry standard is for LiPo battery warranties but I expect more than 30 days from Yuneec. I was shocked (pun intended). But maybe Yuneec is buying their batteries from the lowest bidder. I will most likely chat/write some more with Yuneec about this BS 30 day warranty. Yuneec has been pretty good regarding warranty issue from what I hear and have experienced but their whole policy and design regarding batteries (30 day warranty, 'dumb' batteries) is a disappointment.

I got and started using an Imax charger this week and this battery tests good. I also bought a couple charge bags and I don't think I will use the Yuneec charger for this battery and maybe the other 2 batteries any more. I will probably use the 'status unknown' battery for doing calibrations and such unless I find that the puffy label is a nonissue. If I fly with it I won't fly at any altitude over 10 feet and definitely wont fly with it over my lake.

AND I ordered 2 of the new Powerextra batteries that come with their own charge bag (and a one year 'limited quality related issues' warranty). I was just going to stick with Yuneec OEM batteries when I bought my H but if Yuneec wont trust their batteries for more than 30 days - I won't either.

 

[kd4pbs]

There's a major difference between the Ryobi lithium battery and the LiPo the H uses.
Ryobi, and other cordless power tool manufacturers use A123 style batteries - while still a lithium-based battery, it's a totally different chemistry that has several major advantages over a LiPo, except the one thing we want that's very important, and the main reason we use LiPo instead of LiFePo4; being lightweight.
Lithium Ion laptop batteries are basically the same as a LiPo, except in a different case. The main difference is that they are not subjected to the same kind of rapid, high-current discharges and charges that we subject our RC aircraft LiPo batteries to, so it's pretty easy to see why they can give longer duration warranties to them.