While the Mavic 2 drone batteries MAY be intelligent, whoever is handling the bloated battery situation at DJI thus far certainly is not.
I picked up my Mavic 2 Pro from the DJI Flagship store on September 3rd, 2018. My Fly More package arrived a little later on Sep 7th along with my 4th, and what I hoped would be my final, Intelligent Flight Battery.
The Fly More package was the cheapest way to get ahold of two extra batteries and a four battery charger. As a professional photographer and drone operator, I needed to ensure I could get through a half day of shooting so I took the plunge and invested roughly $500 USD into three extra batteries for my Mavic 2 drone. I had run 6 batteries for over a year on my DJI Spark with no issues so I figured I would be setup with enough power for the life of my Mavic.
I first noticed the battery bloating this Summer (2019) when I landed my drone after a flight in Victoria and saw my battery had actually popped out of the drone slightly! Upon closer investigation I could clearly see that the underside of the Mavic 2 Intelligent Battery was puffed out. A convex bulge that didn’t allow the battery to sit flat and flush. I examined my other batteries and noticed they all had some degree of swelling.
Fairly new to the world of high performance lithium ion batteries, my biggest concern at the time was that they may no longer fit intoo my drone or might pop out in flight and my Mavic would free fall into a forrest or lake to never be found again. DJI Care doesn’t cover unrecovered drones.
It doesn’t take much research into into “lithium-ion batteries bloating” to realize that these things are a freaking time-bomb waiting to happen. A quick youtube search will yield pages of videos showing what happens when a lithium-ion battery pack goes off. If you haven’t seen an example, imagine setting off a military grade flare inside your living room, the kind that burn a few thousand degrees for 2-3 minutes.
These inherently unstable batteries could explode or ignite during charging, transport, flight or even while at rest. Everyone advises that you stop using and immediately dispose of the battery at the nearest lithium-ion collection point.
Cases of Mavic 2 batteries bloating are just as easy to find on youtube, in DJI forms and on the internet in general. CAMERADO and Jamie Wanger have some Mavic 2 Bloating Battery videos with 1.9k and 1.2k views respectively. As of this writing DJI did little more than blame it on user error and offer a 15% rebate on new batteries. Alex Rex posted a video where he deflates the batteries using a pin which is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND NOT ADVISABLE. If you want to risk your life and your home for a few hundred bucks have at it.
The drone forums are rife with the issue of swelling batteries. This 18 pager titled “Swelling Batteries” MavicPilots has at least one success story where persistant customer eventually got DJI to replace his batteries free of charge.
My favorite article to date is by Andy Hutchinson titled “Is There a Design Flaw with DJI’s Mavic 2 Intelligent Flight Batteries?“. Australia has very progressive consumer protection law and when he informed DJI he was not afraid to challenge their decision not to replace his batteries under this law they quickly wrote back saying new ones were in the mail free of charge.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been envious of Australian consumer protection. In a similar blog post to this where I called out Apple for orange blotches that appear on their 2016 – 2018 MacBook Pro screens many Australians have been able to have their issues fixed free of charge while the rest of us hope for an extended warranty program or class action.
In my research I have found other drone operators quick to blame their fellow droners citing user error and the following interrogation:
-Did you wait for the battery to cool down before charging?
-Did you stress the battery by flying erratically or at high sustained speeds?
-Did you store that batteries above 60% capacity for more than a few days?
-Did you make sure to cycle the battery frequently yada yada yada?
The interrogation frustrates me. DJI is clearly aiming their entry level Spark, Air and Mavic lineup directly at the novice market. They show adverts of kids flying these things around at their pool party. They named the freaking battery “Intelligent Flight Battery” and built in a ton of safety mechanisms so that the average consumer wouldn’t need to be a battery scientist to keep the drone running.
It’s reasonable to expect that the end user not leave their batteries on the car dash in the sun. It is unrealistic to expect them to discharge their lithium ion batteries to 60% if they aren’t going to fly for a few days. If the above points are so critical to battery care, then DJI needs to put big yellow labels on the batteries explaining the proper care procedures for us to follow that will ensure a healthy battery lifespan.
So here is my contribution to the discussion. A page that I hope will make its way up that ranks for searches about swollen DJI batteries. A page where I encourage everyone to share their story so that we might eventually have enough of a case to push DJI to do the right thing and extend the warranty on all these seemingly faulty Mavic 2 Batteries.
I will now email DJI support and start what I fear will be a long uphill battle to get my four Mavic Batteries replaced free of charge. Below is the info for each of the batteries. I will keep you updated on my progress.
MY DJI MAVIC 2 INTELLIGENT FLIFHT BATTERY STATS
Battery: #001
SN: 0P2AF8753400KA
Date: 2018-7
Cycles: 69
Battery: #002
SN: 0P2AF7453408BY
Date: 2018-7
Cycles: 62
Battery: #003
SN: 0P2AF7453408CJ
Date: 2018-7
Cycles: 59
Battery: #004
SN: 0P2AF82534004N
Date: 2018-7
Cycles: 54
I’ve had the same experience. I’m based in Sydney and use the Mavic 2 a lot for commercial work. I noticed December 2019 that the battery had half popped out of the drone during flight. I then realised 4 of my batteries were like this. They were well out of warranty and after research found your article and many others reporting similar issues. I asked DJI support for a replacement and they resisted as it was out of warranty. I then informed them i’d be chatting to the ombudsman and they changed their tune immediately and asked to send the batteries in for testing. A few days after i sent them in i was informed they would all be replaced free of charge. Great outcome!
I have the same issue with 4 of my M2P batteries. What’s weird is I let them sit for months bloated at 3/4 charge and some of them started to reduce swelling yet they all stayed at 3/4 charge. Eventually I cautisouly tried using one of them after it reduced its swelling to only a little bit and it seemed to work fine, but at the end of flight it was swollen again and bulging out the drone. To me it appears that their “intelligent batteries” are flawed and not so intelligent after all.
No no no no just because the swelling subsided does not equate to everything is fixed. They will swell next time you fly, only remedy is to replace the battery. Also whatever you do don’t put a small tiny hole thinking it will release the pressure, that will result in utter mayhem(the hot spicy kind of mayhem).
Excellent article, thanks for taking the time to write it. Just reading it gives me some peace of mind, after seeing my 3 batteries swell out of use in less than a months time. All while my older Mavic Pro batteries are doing perfectly fine. I live in Mozambique and the world is in the middle of a lockdown, I will not even bother to try get them replaced free of charge, would be a utterly frustrating waste of time. I’m swallowing this massive DJI frog and buying new batteries. Capitalism sucks!
Sorry you’re having the issue too. I’m about to update the post with my repair story.
Hi Greg, were you able to get them replaced by any chance?
I’m currently in the same situation and my batteries are from the same time frame.
Just about to update the blog post with my repair experience.
Same problem here. We have three bloated batteries and decided to replace two of them. At ±$150 each, it is not an easy decision. DJI needs to address this issue immediately and provide free replacements since this is a KNOWN ISSUE.
Hey Greg! Thanks for sharing this. I’m having a similar issue (after similar battery cycles) and am looking forward to hearing how DJI handled this.
I’m a property Inspector in Arizona, USA. I have the same problem. Bulging batteries! I bought my Mavic 2 with 3 batteries in May 2019. I guess I should feel lucky I have made it that far. I am fearful of the drone falling out of the sky at this point. I just ordered 2 replacement batteries to get me by until I resolve the issue. My last drone was a DJI Phantom. Although bulky and slow charging, I had no problems with the batteries. I look forward to reading your updated post. Thanks for sharing.
I have a Mavic 2 pro and I have bloated Batteries quick fix Zip tie the battery to the drone works fine . 2 zip ties work well the only problem is you have to carry a knife or scissors to replace the depleted battery after use.
Nice hack for those times when you have no choice but to fly on a bloated battery.
Having the same experience with all three of my batteries.
I live in the Caribbean and of course it is a hot climate. The issues started with my first Mavic Pro about 2 years ago and now with my Mavic 2 as well. 3 out of 4 batteries are swollen, but 2 of the Mavic Pro batteries deflated to normal status again after storing in an air conditioned room for several months and could be reused. It is clearly a potentially dangerous and well known problem, causing much frustration to loyal customers!
Hello Greg, Yes thank you for your article. I just started my search to figure out why and what I possibly could do about my bloated batteries. Evidently your article has moved up to the top since this is the first thing I’ve clicked on. I have had less than half the use of my batteries than you have had at 25, 30, and 31 charges, plus another lost battery, hopefully, in my car, after flying yesterday and deciding that would be the last time on theses batteries as it returned from the last flight with the battery popped up. Two have Production Dates of 2018-7 and one 2018-6 and probably the same for the lost battery. Please let me know if you have any luck with DJI replacing your batteries and I will start contacting DJI myself.
Any updates on the replacement?
Sorry been meaning to write about the outcome for a while. I will try and get it done this week.
I had the same issue with all 3 batteries of the fly more combo and I was successful on getting them replaced, but 1 of my new 3 batteries with only 24 charges has already bloated, what should I do since it was a year in August since I got them?
I’m going to post how I resolved it soon. Basically just keep writing them!
Great article. I have only one such bloated battery, and I even fly with it, but every time with fear. I don’t expect THE DJI to swap the batters for me, so I don’t think I’m going to waste time and nerve-racking discussions with DJI staff. I’ll try creating a fair YouTube video on this subject. Let’s see and thanks again for the great post. Andrejs from Latvia.
Please share the link to the video here when you are done!
I have two batteries swollen now. First may have been heat related sitting in a car, second was absolutely not. Ran it for a 22 min flight today recording video for a house sale. Battery reached 15% landed and I noticed it was swollen more than even the other one I had. All batteries auto discharge, and I keep them inside air conditioned areas. These batteries cost way too much to be this disposable.
Hi Greg, I had the first Mavic pro that I had zero issues with. The Mavic Pro 2 I bought the day after it was released, with the fly more package at their shanghai flagship store. All three of my batteries had/ have bloat to some extent except for the one I replaced. DJI is most certainly denying responsibility for what is most definitely a design flaw. We should try to organize a class action suit. This is not a case a few people have experienced, but rather widespread. I would guess from the number of posts online regarding the battery bloat issue that this is the rule and not exceptional. For Mavic pro 2 owners that haven’t experienced this, I suppose they haven’t used it in a long time or just aren’t aware of it yet.
As a side note there also seems to be great variation in the lens build and rather poor quality control. After a my drone crashed a replacement was issued through DJI care. The camera on the replacement drone shot in focus photos but the right side 1/3rd portion of the frame was consistently blurred. I brought it back to DJI and they replaced it again. This camera had the same issue on the left 1/3rd. This process repeated 4 times until the 5th drone replacement had a lens that was free of excessive blurring in one given area of the frame.
Dear Greg and all contributors to this page, wanted to say a big thank you. My Mavic 2 batteries started swelling recently. Contacted DJI without much hope since warranty had long expired and various reports about their lack of service. I referred to this page and to this page only. To my big surprise they were very friendly and helpful and within a week I have three replacement batteries free of charge. Many thans once again!
That’s fantastic news! I hope everyone does this.
I am a semi-professional drone pilot and have had the same experience. Three out of six Mavic 2 batteries I own have developed swelling. None of the batteries have been abused or subjected to user error (over-charging, improper storage, non-DJI chargers, high heats, high stress flying, etc.) None of the batteries have over 90 recharge cycles. I don’t recall this being an issue with the batteries available when the Mavic 2 Pro was first released. Something has changed with the batteries manufactured later. Frequency of my flying has decreased lately, not sure I have interest in pursuing free replacements and suspect success of that effort is low.
I have this very same problem. 4 Batteries. I’ve kept mine ready almost at 100%, 100% all the time as I do not know when I will be called out for SAR. To invest in batteries for a free operation gets expensive: fast! Please let me know how this ended up for you and what the solution inevitably was…
More of the same. I have had non stop issues with swelling replacing 3 batteries then 2 more, all from same swelling issue. These are way too expensive for this to go on for years. This week had one pop off during flight, causing of course a fall from sky. Fortunately, it soft landed in brush. I do not fly over populated areas at all, all very much in open space, and this is one reason I wouldn’t.
They replaced all 4 of my batteries(each battery had around 65 cycles). They required I submit photo evidence showing the serial number and swelling. Minor issue all 4 of the replacement batteries are showing significant signs of swelling and they are out of the warranty window. Still they helped with the first four without issue.
did the drone not accept the bloated battery showing system power error?
It accepted it BUT it was on the verge of popping out.