I bought 2 spark batteries today at Best Buy. The batteries are old. 5/17 and 6/17. They were BARELY within the safe zone for lipos. Thinking about returning. Opinions?
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Driverman930
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If it were me I would return not worth putting your spark at risk. Or falling out of the sky and doing damage or hurting someone. Year old and I am guessing they just sat till you got them?
Soarmax
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Did you get a really good price?
Where they in hibernation mode?
What do you mean by barely within the safe zone?
Were they lower than 3.7 v per cell? Were the cells incredibly out of balance? What?
Lipos that have been setting around for awhile need to be cycled a few times to show their true colors.
On batteries that old, I'd be more worried about if they have the old small retainer locks, not the new larger ones.
I have batteries that old and they are still going strong. If you got them at a reduced price, it was probably a good deal.
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Soarmax
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If it were I. I’d be sending ‘em back. No reason to pay full price for old stock. Plus they have the small lock tabs.
Good Luck on what ever your choice.
I love my Spark!
I think you should return them, because of this retainers issue.
DJI has changed them, so your batteries are dangerous for pop out mid flight.
I have 6 batteries all purchased at different times and they were all manufactured in 6/17.
I haven't had a problem yet but with the paranoia of it happening, I too went the battery clip or O ring to secure the battery.
You may find it difficult to find the new generation battery as there are a bazillion of the first ones still out there. Best Buy only carries a few at a time and you can't tell the battery is new or old by the packaging so you're going to have to go to a lot of stores to physically see if the battery is 1st or 2nd generation and Best Buy probably doesn't know ether.
Good luck.
I haven't had a problem yet but with the paranoia of it happening, I too went the battery clip or O ring to secure the battery.
You may find it difficult to find the new generation battery as there are a bazillion of the first ones still out there. Best Buy only carries a few at a time and you can't tell the battery is new or old by the packaging so you're going to have to go to a lot of stores to physically see if the battery is 1st or 2nd generation and Best Buy probably doesn't know ether.
Good luck.
I would return them immediately. You can get 2nd generation batteries (improved retention clips and springs) direct from DJI on their website, official Amazon store or official eBay store.
Genuine DJI batteries are rarely less than $45 unless they are old stock, gray market or copycats.
From the looks of Best Buy stores I've visited they are preparing to exit from drone sales. They are selling previous generation drones instead of current models and the accessory display racks are empty. They even sell the GoPro Karma which was recalled and then discontinued years ago. Your battery was old meaning they haven't ordered new ones for a LONG time.
Genuine DJI batteries are rarely less than $45 unless they are old stock, gray market or copycats.
From the looks of Best Buy stores I've visited they are preparing to exit from drone sales. They are selling previous generation drones instead of current models and the accessory display racks are empty. They even sell the GoPro Karma which was recalled and then discontinued years ago. Your battery was old meaning they haven't ordered new ones for a LONG time.
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