2nd Bricked Battery - Help!

[Jason E Dorf]

Duplicating a post I made in the DJI Spark forums over here for additional exposure and hopefully resolution.

Looking for some assistance, after doing some thorough reading and researching on old threads. I bricked a new battery (two middle LEDs stuck on, drone would NOT power up) about a week and a half ago. Went through DJI Support, got a new battery yesterday. What happened? Yep, bricked another new battery. Same failure mode, same everything. Two middle LEDs are stuck on, battery will not power the drone up.

My process has been pretty "normal", as far as I know. Power up, know that I'll get "inconsistent firmware" found. Slide to update, uploads SLOWLY to 99%, then hangs....and hangs.....and hangs. Until I start getting "Connection Timed Out. Please retry connecting aircraft or controller" message repeatedly. At that point, I did try bouncing over to my home wifi (with internet), as opposed to the controller wifi only (no internet), and that didn't do anything. It was really desperate times, desperate measures type of deal, as I let the whole process run out about two hours. So, it wasn't for a lack of patience.

My questions - first, what am I doing wrong? Secondly, has anyone had any success unbricking a battery, or am I at the mercy of DJI Support for repair/replacement again (assuming they'll honor a second one, and not assume there is some MAJOR user error going on).

Thanks!

 

[DesertWindAero]

Duplicating a post I made in the DJI Spark forums over here for additional exposure and hopefully resolution.

Looking for some assistance, after doing some thorough reading and researching on old threads. I bricked a new battery (two middle LEDs stuck on, drone would NOT power up) about a week and a half ago. Went through DJI Support, got a new battery yesterday. What happened? Yep, bricked another new battery. Same failure mode, same everything. Two middle LEDs are stuck on, battery will not power the drone up.

My process has been pretty "normal", as far as I know. Power up, know that I'll get "inconsistent firmware" found. Slide to update, uploads SLOWLY to 99%, then hangs....and hangs.....and hangs. Until I start getting "Connection Timed Out. Please retry connecting aircraft or controller" message repeatedly. At that point, I did try bouncing over to my home wifi (with internet), as opposed to the controller wifi only (no internet), and that didn't do anything. It was really desperate times, desperate measures type of deal, as I let the whole process run out about two hours. So, it wasn't for a lack of patience.

My questions - first, what am I doing wrong? Secondly, has anyone had any success unbricking a battery, or am I at the mercy of DJI Support for repair/replacement again (assuming they'll honor a second one, and not assume there is some MAJOR user error going on).

Thanks!

Are the two middle battery lights lit? If so, keep trying.

 

[Jason E Dorf]

Are the two middle battery lights lit? If so, keep trying.

Yes, the middle two LEDs are still on, still stuck, zero response. Being that this started yesterday, when I go back into the DJI Go App, the "Update Firmware" and "Update Log" files are long gone, and it just starts at "Enter Device" - which I can't power on, because the battery is unresponsive. This is the same reason I can't convert over to DJI Assistant 2 to finish out the firmware update - the AC won't power up.

 

[Mark DeVilbiss]

I had the same problem with a new battery that had only been used once. I'm waiting for the replacement battery. I have no idea what happened to it.

 

[Twed]

Have you tried connecting to a computer and using DJI Assist?

 

[Mark DeVilbiss]

I tried that with no luck. My replacement battery will be delivered tomorrow.

 

[mimixtz]

Oh, I hope you'll have more luck with new batteries.
I have allways updating everything via Assistant on WIN10.
I didn't even try doing it with app.
And after reading this I certainly won't.
I just bought 3rd battery yesterday. After charging it for a while, I tried to update it via Assistant. assistand started to do something then after a while there was warning in the sense of ''Battery not charged enough. Charge the battery and try again''. After checking, battery was only 38% charged. assistant obviously noticed that. After charging the battery to 65%, update went without a problem - using Assistant of course.

 

[MannyCAM2001]

Most likely already know this but are you waiting for the batteries to cool down before charging them?

 

[mimixtz]

Until now there was no need for that. They are "smart", if they were too warm they wouldn't allow spark to take off or charger to charge them. At least that's what manuals are saying.
Yesterday evening I was playing with app and Spark was connected all the time, I was spinning motors (props were not installed) and similar. After 30 minutes app was showing battery temp. 43 degrees Celsius, Spark and battery were quite warm when touched. I inserted the battery in charger and chargin started as usual - after few seconds.
It shouldn't be a problem up to 50 degrees Celsius. My other lipos ( cheap Zippys from Hobbyking) for my other RC stuff are usually much more warm and there is never a problem. Besides that, charger is charging them with app. 2 Amps and since Spark batteries are around 1,5 Ah, that means that charging current is a little above 1C. That's really low, ANY lipo wthstands 1C charging despite being on 43 degrees Celsius.
What I usually do before store Spark batteries is to charge them between 3,7-3,9 Volts per cell. That is suitable storage Voltage for any lipo - even LiHV like Spark's batteries are.

 

[MannyCAM2001]

You know the science behind them. I still let them chill a bit myself. I haven’t had any problems with the four I have. I do use the provided charging accessories exclusively. I never use any of the iphone cables etc. So sorry to hear about your experiences with DJI branded batteries. Gotta be a pain. The only other link to check is the actual aircraft itself. Would be great if you had a friend that could try it on their Spark.

 

[Jason E Dorf]

Appreciate all the replies! My second replacement is coming Tuesday, and it's been heard loud and clear - firmware update via Assistant! Thanks again, happy flying!