6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight times)

[justin00]

Re: 6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight time

The smart board thing you mounted with hot glue in the first few pics... is that the normal DJI item ??
Did you basically just connect in a bigger battery ? Didn't need any other components ??
And the Phantom just accepts it and the app just adjusts ?? Appears so from your pics.

Quite amazing really.. Very jealous... Come to Australia for a holiday (and mod mine please)
You get almost double the time the I get !! :/

 

[DBS]

Re: 6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight time

The smart board thing you mounted with hot glue in the first few pics... is that the normal DJI item ??

Yes... It is the smart board yanked right out of a stock battery...


Did you basically just connect in a bigger battery ?

basically yes... There's some serious connections to be made there with the mod but it works out as a direct hookup


Didn't need any other components ??

JST connector...
Deans connectors for the mains...
Solder...
Heat shrink tubing...
I think that's about it... :ugeek:


And the Phantom just accepts it and the app just adjusts ?? Appears so from your pics.

the app doesn't adjust... The smarboard adjusts and sends data to the app... And there's some issues with it creating an accurate curve for a 6600mAh battery... So I make sure to press record on each launch to start the on screen timer so I have an accurate time measurement to go by on each flight.

Quite amazing really.. Very jealous... Come to Australia for a holiday (and mod mine please)
You get almost double the time the I get !! :/

**** bro... Thanks for the kind words... Wish I could come down under and do some modding... I know two other guys who would join in on that session ...

"DBS Down Under kick starter" maybe :?: :idea:

 

[ToThePoint]

Re: 6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight time

I have done the same mod as you now DBS.
I can still use a DJI battery and i made a parallel connection on the data wires.
Did you see that the data pins switch place ?
The outside data pin on the 6 wires connector is the negative and it goes to the orange wire on the main PCB.
Still have to finish the reassembling though and test.
If it explodes, well that would be it then LOL.

 

[justin00]

Re: 6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight time

Any way us not so electronically err inclined people can do something similar... like some how connect a smaller battery to the main battery and run in parallel or something ?
Have you done any testing/work with anything of that nature. forgetting about the weight issue, could you hook up 2 DJI batteries ?

I thought the guys who bought that 6000mah Phantom batteries were only getting like 19 mins.. You get ages with your 6600.. Like I said I don't know much about electronics but I would of estimated you would need 8000mah to get ~27 mins.. just cause we/I ? get ~15 mins with the stock battery. So yeah very nice work!

 

[ToThePoint]

Re: 6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight time

Any way us not so electronically err inclined people can do something similar... like some how connect a smaller battery to the main battery and run in parallel or something ?
Have you done any testing/work with anything of that nature. forgetting about the weight issue, could you hook up 2 DJI batteries ?

I thought the guys who bought that 6000mah Phantom batteries were only getting like 19 mins.. You get ages with your 6600.. Like I said I don't know much about electronics but I would of estimated you would need 8000mah to get ~27 mins.. just cause we/I ? get ~15 mins with the stock battery. So yeah very nice work!

Justin you can run a smaller battery in parallel with a DJI one.
For that matter the battery PCB board will work if you swap the actual battery cells.

Let me summon up what i have experimented with.

Run a DJI battery and a DJI battery parallel. One plugged in the original way and one underneath the bird.
It works but due to the extended weight the bird will come down on approx 60%.
It doesn't have the lifting power anymore to carry that extra +- 360gr.
Therefore to make that work you have to get writ of weight. So it works and doesn't work.
As DBS and i are long distance guys the solution is to have more power on the same weight.

You can opt a different solution.
Some use 2 smaller battery's in parallel and the battery PCB board.

Conclusion.

It would work but even if you want to forget the weight its the nr 1 critical factor to extend the flying time.

 

[Kag49601]

Re: 6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight time

Looks like this thread has died. Any new updates on these battery mods? Do you have a diagram you can provide that shows how to wire the balancing plug as well as the communication circuit (2 pins for stock battery) to the aftermarket lipo? Any update on the battery percentage issue? Great stuff! I put a hold on my long distance runs due to aging batteries and winter here in Michigan. Thx!

 

[justin00]

Re: 6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight time

Thanks for the info DBS and ToThePoint

If you ran 2 batteries in parallel.. like the DJI battery and smaller battery (or larger, either way) the App can only get a battery % reading from the DJI battery as its the one with the smarts/"data" connection, yeah ? If thats the case.. how would you recommend monitoring battery life ? Just experimenting and then using a timer or something to that affect ?
Would it be possible to get the DJI battery to take both batteries readings into the data it sends to the app regarding battery % ?

Thanks again!

I have done the same mod as you now DBS.
I can still use a DJI battery and i made a parallel connection on the data wires.
Did you see that the data pins switch place ?
The outside data pin on the 6 wires connector is the negative and it goes to the orange wire on the main PCB.
Still have to finish the reassembling though and test.
If it explodes, well that would be it then LOL.

 

[StangLuvr]

Re: 6600mAh Stealth Battery Mod ... (27.5 minute flight time

Awesome mod. Still getting comfortable with. Flying my P2V+ so 25+ flight times would kill my nerves.

Anyway you could put the battery level lights on each side of that beautiful bird of yours? Would look sweet with lights on both sides. I know it would add so,e extra grams of weight, but she sure would be pretty. On second thought, could you custom build a board with any color LED lights? Would love to have duel blue battery lights coming out the gills!

 

[kaka]

Here I go again with one of my pain in the *** mods

The Task at Hand

#1) Get more flight time....
#2) Don't mess up the look of the Phantom...
#3) Don't add more weight....
#4) Don't f@#% this up!!! :|



Research first...

Find a battery with more power... sized fairly decent to still squeeze in the battery bay... and not too heavy...

Ended up with this 6600mAh deal that was made for the Blade QR-X350 Pro ... measurements looked ok... weight looked good...
Took the plunge and ordered a couple.... Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles, Coupons and More | eBay



Next thing... was to tear apart a DJI Battery and figure out the wiring specifics...
That wasn't so bad... shoulda waited till the other batteries showed up from China... Ended up stuck with just one battery for a couple weeks there

The battery is pretty straight forward... Two PC boards... top one is the smart one doing all the work... bottom one is just a router bringing all the cells together and sending power and data to the quick connectors... A simple six wire flat cable uses four wires for balance leads and two wires to send data to the infamous spring pads on the battery quick connect hub... The two fat black wires are the switched negative to turn the Phantom on and off... Positive is always connected when the battery is installed...

My plan was to ditch all that "quick connect spring pin ****" ... and go with solid Deans Connectors and solder data wires direct ... I wanted solid... I wanted dependable... and I wanted MORE :twisted:




Snip Snip Clip Clip....

Got the main smart board removed from the battery and started working out a location for permanent mounting... This required a complete teardown... didn't really wanna do it... but then again... wanted to do it right... so there it went... gutted that baby

Inside the battery bay I found a good spot...

For my long range setup I have moved the stock DJI antennas outside the hull anyway... boom... done ... snipped out some plastic ribs that held the antenna and it fits like a charm... weird... like it belongs there

Got it all cemented in place and JST connector soldered and shrunk to the 4 "smart wires"...
ground main soldered and shrunk and layed out...

Moving on...

With that I could start reassembly ... solder in positive main... solder in negative switched main... solder and shrink data wires...
And start finishing things up with this little bad boy....

View from the battery door shows why I wanted to hide all this crap...

Next was cleanup...

Solder and shrink Deans Connectors... Hollow out battery cover and glue power button back in place for that "stock" look...
Contact cement and some shaped EPP foam to make the battery sit tight in the bay...
Slide a battery in the bay and plug everything in and cross my fingers...

pro-tip ... always plug the mains in first... then the JST connector




And That's a Wrap...

Snap things together and wait for decent weather to test fly...
(which happened tonight btw... Screenshot at bottom of post)

And you can't even tell it's there...

First test...

First charge on this battery...
First flight jitters hoping it would work out ok....
Just landed a little while ago and snapped a Screenshot... started video record right after I took off and Screenshot right after I landed so this is pretty **** accurate... and I didn't baby the thing and just hover the whole time... I flew around quite a bit and it was pretty breezy as well... I mean, I wasn't hammering it the whole time but I'm totally stoked with this... it was still light out when I launched this baby!! :twisted:

I figure this will get a bit better too... you know how Lipos are on a first date ... After a few charges and cycles we'll see how she settles in and get a good average of airtime...


.


.

Now **** gets real... going for a new distance record and this battery setup will get me there...




How far can YOU fly???



.


.



.

NoW thats what i was looking for . U r best. I will try it .

 

[yorlik]

kaka, if you do, try operating a tad different than dbs did. he disconnected the battery and charged it OFFLINE FROM THE SMART DJI BOARD - I am pretty sure from my studies on the dji smart board that is why he had major % charge reading issues.

the smart battery seems to use a scheme called 'coulomb counting' for telling charge level: it actually counts each amp that goes out AND IN: so dbs defeated its capability to tell charge correctly by charging separate from this board.

I now do allmy charging with a separate smart charger - so I can charge at much lower current - I never heat up the batt at all during charge now. I simply turn on the dji smart battery, then put my smart charger into the +/- pins - it charges with the dji board in series.

The result is the dji smart board still keeps track off all energy going in and coming out. THAT probably would have solved dbs's issue.

BTW, I believe charging at lower than 1C rate and never discharging to that silly 8% level contribute to both my batteries, at around 30 cycles, having capacity of around 5400mah - better than new.

 

[jonnied]

kaka, if you do, try operating a tad different than dbs did. he disconnected the battery and charged it OFFLINE FROM THE SMART DJI BOARD - I am pretty sure from my studies on the dji smart board that is why he had major % charge reading issues.

the smart battery seems to use a scheme called 'coulomb counting' for telling charge level: it actually counts each amp that goes out AND IN: so dbs defeated its capability to tell charge correctly by charging separate from this board.

I now do allmy charging with a separate smart charger - so I can charge at much lower current - I never heat up the batt at all during charge now. I simply turn on the dji smart battery, then put my smart charger into the +/- pins - it charges with the dji board in series.

The result is the dji smart board still keeps track off all energy going in and coming out. THAT probably would have solved dbs's issue.

BTW, I believe charging at lower than 1C rate and never discharging to that silly 8% level contribute to both my batteries, at around 30 cycles, having capacity of around 5400mah - better than new.

Yorlik, I'm with you on not using the DJI charger and charging at a low rate. I adapted one of my DJI charger cords so I can plug into my Thunder Power charger and always charge my DJI batts at 1 amp. It will be interesting to see if they last longer. Same with all of my other Lipos. I always charge them low and slow.

 

[HD pilot]

Here I go again with one of my pain in the *** mods

The Task at Hand

#1) Get more flight time....
#2) Don't mess up the look of the Phantom...
#3) Don't add more weight....
#4) Don't f@#% this up!!! :|



Research first...

Find a battery with more power... sized fairly decent to still squeeze in the battery bay... and not too heavy...

Ended up with this 6600mAh deal that was made for the Blade QR-X350 Pro ... measurements looked ok... weight looked good...
Took the plunge and ordered a couple.... Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles, Coupons and More | eBay



Next thing... was to tear apart a DJI Battery and figure out the wiring specifics...
That wasn't so bad... shoulda waited till the other batteries showed up from China... Ended up stuck with just one battery for a couple weeks there

The battery is pretty straight forward... Two PC boards... top one is the smart one doing all the work... bottom one is just a router bringing all the cells together and sending power and data to the quick connectors... A simple six wire flat cable uses four wires for balance leads and two wires to send data to the infamous spring pads on the battery quick connect hub... The two fat black wires are the switched negative to turn the Phantom on and off... Positive is always connected when the battery is installed...

My plan was to ditch all that "quick connect spring pin ****" ... and go with solid Deans Connectors and solder data wires direct ... I wanted solid... I wanted dependable... and I wanted MORE :twisted:




Snip Snip Clip Clip....

Got the main smart board removed from the battery and started working out a location for permanent mounting... This required a complete teardown... didn't really wanna do it... but then again... wanted to do it right... so there it went... gutted that baby

Inside the battery bay I found a good spot...

For my long range setup I have moved the stock DJI antennas outside the hull anyway... boom... done ... snipped out some plastic ribs that held the antenna and it fits like a charm... weird... like it belongs there

Got it all cemented in place and JST connector soldered and shrunk to the 4 "smart wires"...
ground main soldered and shrunk and layed out...

Moving on...

With that I could start reassembly ... solder in positive main... solder in negative switched main... solder and shrink data wires...
And start finishing things up with this little bad boy....

View from the battery door shows why I wanted to hide all this crap...

Next was cleanup...

Solder and shrink Deans Connectors... Hollow out battery cover and glue power button back in place for that "stock" look...
Contact cement and some shaped EPP foam to make the battery sit tight in the bay...
Slide a battery in the bay and plug everything in and cross my fingers...

pro-tip ... always plug the mains in first... then the JST connector




And That's a Wrap...

Snap things together and wait for decent weather to test fly...
(which happened tonight btw... Screenshot at bottom of post)

And you can't even tell it's there...

First test...

First charge on this battery...
First flight jitters hoping it would work out ok....
Just landed a little while ago and snapped a Screenshot... started video record right after I took off and Screenshot right after I landed so this is pretty **** accurate... and I didn't baby the thing and just hover the whole time... I flew around quite a bit and it was pretty breezy as well... I mean, I wasn't hammering it the whole time but I'm totally stoked with this... it was still light out when I launched this baby!! :twisted:

I figure this will get a bit better too... you know how Lipos are on a first date ... After a few charges and cycles we'll see how she settles in and get a good average of airtime...


.


.

Now **** gets real... going for a new distance record and this battery setup will get me there...




How far can YOU fly???



.


.



.

Impressive. You are very patient.

 

[Matt Glandorf]

Was wondering if anyone has ever tried replacing DJI batteries with some Good 18650 Panasonic batteries? They work great In RC planes just wondering if they work as replacement thanks enjoyed the post

 

[Doru Brad]

Followed your lead and managed to save a dead Ttongr aftermarket battery by reusing one dead original DJI battery and replacing the electronics. Only thing is that the data and ground are reversed in the Ttongr BUT after looking at the pictures here for a few times I realised that eventually and my phantom now sees my 5400 mah all stock looking Ttongr battery as a original one. I will do my first test flights and under 8% recalibration and see what happens.

Thanks man for the work you put into this!

 

[Mugenski]

Great post! Was just looking at my P3P batteries and thinking something like this should be a relatively easy mod to do. Any new security measures in place with the newer batteries?

 

[Mark The Droner]

Another option: I saw a 6500 mah P2V battery on Amazon a few weeks back.

Ahh here it is: Amazon.com: phantom battery 6500 mah

Personally I'd prefer some more good reviews before I bought it.

 

[peleap]

i make battery board broken . i want to khow data and data ground wiring

 

[shr00m]

Is it possible when the dji phantom 3 pro battery is old/worn out to just replace the cells with a standard matched lipo? or for that matter mod the holder so it just lets you plug in a standard battery with the smart board? i want to keep the bird stock and dont want anything on the outside of it either dont mind stock flight times just mind the crazy expensive batteries. i cannot find info on this anywhere will this work with current firmware? what is a good drop in replacement? or possibly a little bigger that fits with a tiny bit of modding.

 

[Sandris]

Is it possible when the dji phantom 3 pro battery is old/worn out to just replace the cells with a standard matched lipo? or for that matter mod the holder so it just lets you plug in a standard battery with the smart board? i want to keep the bird stock and dont want anything on the outside of it either dont mind stock flight times just mind the crazy expensive batteries. i cannot find info on this anywhere will this work with current firmware? what is a good drop in replacement? or possibly a little bigger that fits with a tiny bit of modding.

Hi, I`m new here. Just got P2 and one of my batteries are having issue with early landing, it has 30 something cycles on it, but nothing seems to help. So I`m thinking of doing something similar to this mod, avoiding super expensive dji batteries. Nice mod.

 

[Jean-Francois Aubin]

Another option: I saw a 6500 mah P2V battery on Amazon a few weeks back.

Ahh here it is: Amazon.com: phantom battery 6500 mah

Personally I'd prefer some more good reviews before I bought it.

Hi,
Me to. I would reviews on 6500mah bat . I find 2 make Ultrax 11.1V 6500mAh 72.15wh and dronebattery.com, but i would informations on quality. Also, if it possible to have more information on this good modification wirh 6600mah.

Regards
J-F