battery not charging

[Playakiin]

I have a drone tello. I tried it and it worked fine, but then the 4th time I tried to use it, I charged it with a fast charger and my battery got swollen. In the DJI store here in Cancun, recomended me to charge it with the computer and buy a new battery. I bought a new battery. I plug it with the computer and never got charged, then I plug it with a charger of 5 V 1 ampere and it didn´t got charged. I read the manual and it says that it has a safety feature that the drone doesn´t allow to over charge it, But then why it got swollen the first battery. Then I read the manual again and it recommended that the charger should be 5V 2 amperes or more. I used it. It blink as it should slowly blue. I waited 2 and a half hour, although the manual says it should be done in 1 1/2 hour, but I tried to turn the drone on, but didn´t work. I started the application of the drone in my phone and it shows a empty red battery. What am I doing wrong?
Is there a way to check if the battery is fully charged?
Please help

 

[Flydrone]

My advice is to charge the batteries externally from the tello with the original charger and a 5 Volt 2 Amp power supply.
the fully charged battery must have a maximum voltage of 4.35 volts and must not drop below 3 volts during discharge.
You can check the voltage directly from pin 1-3
The battery swelled because it was badly charged. When you are not using the drone, do not leave the batteries charged or discharged, but take them to 3.85 volts.


See example of voltage reading.
View attachment 20201003_142556-01.jpeg

 

[Playakiin]

Thank you very much, I will check as soon I am at home. Even though is a new battery and haven't use it, but since I've tried to charged it several times, I hope I haven´t over charged it. Is there a way to know if it´s still working? to me it looks that is starting to swell a little bit.

 

[Flydrone]

I have been using the DJI external charger for years and I have never had problems with swelling ... if the battery is not faulty it is difficult for it to swell during a charge with a specific charger.

Never underestimate the danger of lipo batteries, even if it is small and seemingly harmless, but if it swells excessively it can catch fire at any moment and hurt you or worse (remember it burns very fast and at high temperatures, so it's a moment does damage).

1 - NEVER charge or discharge the batteries too much ... they would be irreparably damaged (3V the cell discharges !! 4.2V / 4.35 for the LI-HV the cell is charged !! never go out of this range)
2 - NEVER keep the batteries charged or discharged for too long (1-2 days). The battery MUST be "stored" when not in use, which means that the Battery must always be kept "half charged" when not in use (3.80 V and 3.85 Volt).
Leaving a discharged battery, or worse charged, for a few weeks stresses its chemistry, compromising its duration. The advice is to charge the batteries the day before their use or the same day and store them after each flight at 3.80 V. This type of accumulators have a minimum self-discharge and are able to maintain a charge for a long time.

 

[Tpribanich]

I bought 5 Tello drones 2 years ago… I never opened them… I just opened 1 to try it out and none of the batteries will charge.., are the batteries shot or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Tpribanich]

I plug in the batteries and on 1 set of charging batteries they all remain red ( all 3). I had them on overnight with no change.
On a second set I get 1 battery red, 1 battery yellow or white light and the last green… none are charged though.
They were all brand new. Never used. Due to Covid I could not use them in my classroom for 2 years. Just trying to set them up and this is what get.
Any help would be appreciated.
Tim

 

[Hacky]

Did you try with the external charger?

 

[Tpribanich]

Yes... That is what I am referring to in my previous post...

 

[AMJSOFT]

Give the battery a "shock". Connect (+) with (+) and (-) with (-) on a polling source larger than battery (up to 12V) for at least 1 min. I did it with a 12V one and it started charging again.

 

[elalik]

I have a drone tello. I tried it and it worked fine, but then the 4th time I tried to use it, I charged it with a fast charger and my battery got swollen. In the DJI store here in Cancun, recomended me to charge it with the computer and buy a new battery. I bought a new battery. I plug it with the computer and never got charged, then I plug it with a charger of 5 V 1 ampere and it didn´t got charged. I read the manual and it says that it has a safety feature that the drone doesn´t allow to over charge it, But then why it got swollen the first battery. Then I read the manual again and it recommended that the charger should be 5V 2 amperes or more. I used it. It blink as it should slowly blue. I waited 2 and a half hour, although the manual says it should be done in 1 1/2 hour, but I tried to turn the drone on, but didn´t work. I started the application of the drone in my phone and it shows a empty red battery. What am I doing wrong?
Is there a way to check if the battery is fully charged?
Please help

hi there, i had the same problem and i found the solution on the internet from a gut from Argentina: The real problem is the app, to update the firmware you need to install the tello app v1.1.1 on android only (you can find it online) and a charge battery.
Without the battery press and hold the power buttom and conect the charger, keep holdin the power buttom and insert the battery, when the green led turn off release the power buttom. It will turn a pulsing red light, connect the tello to your device and procede to install the firmware from the app.
this work for me and i hope works for you.

 

[logicdon]

I found that my batteries were all showing red when I tried to charge them in the multi charger. What I did was briefly charge them in the drone one at a time (i have 3) you get blue flashing. This seemed to kick them back to life - then when I placed them back in the multi charger (the black charger with 3 slots) they were charging fine again. I Didn't use the drone for over a year.

 

[McLovin]

hi there, i had the same problem and i found the solution on the internet from a gut from Argentina: The real problem is the app, to update the firmware you need to install the tello app v1.1.1 on android only (you can find it online) and a charge battery.
Without the battery press and hold the power buttom and conect the charger, keep holdin the power buttom and insert the battery, when the green led turn off release the power buttom. It will turn a pulsing red light, connect the tello to your device and procede to install the firmware from the app.
this work for me and i hope works for you.

This worked for me as well.

 

[steven1105uk]

hi there, i had the same problem and i found the solution on the internet from a gut from Argentina: The real problem is the app, to update the firmware you need to install the tello app v1.1.1 on android only (you can find it online) and a charge battery.
Without the battery press and hold the power buttom and conect the charger, keep holdin the power buttom and insert the battery, when the green led turn off release the power buttom. It will turn a pulsing red light, connect the tello to your device and procede to install the firmware from the app.
this work for me and i hope works for you.

Tried this and it runs update successfully but when I try and turn drone on again it does nothing. Slow flashing blue light when cable is plugged in and no light when cable unplugged. Do these batteries fail often?

 

[quaddamage]

Do these batteries fail often?

All li-po batteries fail when left discharged.

For Li-po batteries which are designed for large current draw, their BMS chips often stop allowing you to recharge after discharged below 3V. Simply because damaged cells = higher internal resistance = higher internal heating of the battery.

Though the 3V border is kind of arbitrary. All the cells I had which were really damaged, had less than 2V on them.

On the other hand, not much of a difference - the battery self-discharges from 3V to 2V in less than a month. When it goes below 3.2V that basically means it's completely flat, and starts dropping the voltage quite fast.

Anyway, Tello batteries have no built-in BMS, just a rudimentary circuit which detaches the cell below some voltage (probably around 2.9V). So if you charge the cell directly, it will "come to life". But if it's damaged already, you will see either "battery error - landing" message, or some other error message, or the battery will just turn off during normal flight. Or it may even go fireworks, if the internal temperature sensor doesn't work properly.

 

[steven1105uk]

All li-po batteries fail when left discharged.

For Li-po batteries which are designed for large current draw, their BMS chips often stop allowing you to recharge after discharged below 3V. Simply because damaged cells = higher internal resistance = higher internal heating of the battery.

Though the 3V border is kind of arbitrary. All the cells I had which were really damaged, had less than 2V on them.

On the other hand, not much of a difference - the battery self-discharges from 3V to 2V in less than a month. When it goes below 3.2V that basically means it's completely flat, and starts dropping the voltage quite fast.

Anyway, Tello batteries have no built-in BMS, just a rudimentary circuit which detaches the cell below some voltage (probably around 2.9V). So if you charge the cell directly, it will "come to life". But if it's damaged already, you will see either "battery error - landing" message, or some other error message, or the battery will just turn off during normal flight. Or it may even go fireworks, if the internal temperature sensor doesn't work properly.

Thank you for the reply, that was extremely informative , I appreciate your help. Looks like I’m forking out for a battery .

Thanks again

Steven

 

[christiaan]

One thing is sure, to use the fast charger is safe. Been using it for years and didn´t cause any damage. I also have a regular 4er charger too. I charge the batteries with a fast charger first and when all leds green, then I put them into the regular charger. This works very good. Just flew 12:34 with a new battery. And relative quick, I have 8 batteries, to charge all takes a lifetime...

 

[Daniel Wellborn]

My advice is to charge the batteries externally from the tello with the original charger and a 5 Volt 2 Amp power supply.
the fully charged battery must have a maximum voltage of 4.35 volts and must not drop below 3 volts during discharge.
You can check the voltage directly from pin 1-3
The battery swelled because it was badly charged. When you are not using the drone, do not leave the batteries charged or discharged, but take them to 3.85 volts.

View attachment 6796View attachment 6797
See example of voltage reading.
View attachment 6799

How do you check the voltage?

 

[gapi]

If I have a charging adapter rated for 5v 4A output, is there a PCB to throttle back the 4A to 2A. I have a few Oneplus phone Warp Chargers.

 

[quaddamage]

Unlike all other DJI drones, the Tello battery doesn't have a built-in BMS, therefore it does not also include li-po charger.

In other words, you need to connect a li-po charger to it, rather than a power brick (aka switching power supply). Connecting it directly to 5V output would be extremely dangerous, as li-pos shouldn't be charged beyond reaching 4.2 V on a cell.

For how much current your charger will draw from the supply - that is specific to the charger. I bought one which claimed it can draw 3 amps and even boost the voltage using QC standard; it does boosts, but even then it's charging each battery at 500mA and not more. I bought another which claimed 2 amps and 5V only, and it charges the batteries two times as fast.

 

[gapi]

Thanks, I read in the manual the battery over charge & over current protection, what ever thats worth.
The wall adapter I have in mind is for Oneplus phone Li-Po batteries rated or claimed output is 5v-2A and it has a higher Warp Charge that only operates on Oneplus phones. Its charging from the 15% to full to full in 50 mins. Not even warm. So maybe its not getting up to or past 10W.

Edit: Charged two more batteries alone in the charger and it was 35 minutes each. Must have been in error on my start time on the 1st report.

Yes I'm a total new flyer. Great drone to learn to fly with. TelloFPVapp makes it even better. Thanks.