aftermarket batteries for phantom 3

Vertigo · Jun 14, 2016

You're saying Im supposed to know when you purchased your battery? This isnt about your battery. Besides, yes its entirely possible not all fakes where ever detected by the GO update. Some cloners might have been lazy and not flashed a valid ID, or where honest to flash it with their own OEM ID and got blocked, while others just copied everything from DJI and therefore where never detected in the first place. I dont have the details and no way of knowing. But apparently you do and you are certain. Good for you. It still only applies to batteries you have already bought, anything you buy now, how will you know if its genuine, unless you order from DJI and pay full price?

Numone · Jun 14, 2016

Vertigo said:
You're saying Im supposed to know when you purchased your battery? This isnt about your battery. Besides, yes its entirely possible not all fakes where ever detected by the GO update. Some cloners might have been lazy and not flashed a valid ID, or where honest to flash it with their own OEM ID and got blocked, while others just copied everything from DJI and therefore where never detected in the first place. I dont have the details and no way of knowing. But apparently you do and you are certain. Good for you. It still only applies to batteries you have already bought, anything you buy now, how will you know if its genuine, unless you order from DJI and pay full price?

<sigh> So when you say, and I quote "..... How would you know your battery isnt a good fake ? Remember, the cloners have already figured out how to circumvent the GO app fake battery detection.." please, do prey tell Vertigo.. where, exactly, are you not referring to my battery? As for all the "fakes" being sold on that link on Amazon.com, out of 370+ reviews gaining a total of 4.5 stars, do you really not think the'd be huge numbers of people saying "it worked yesterday, now it doesn't - I'm returning for a refund". Do use your common sense. I'm dropping out of this thread now.... I'm bored.

Big_A · Jun 19, 2016

Vertigo said:
Im about to order a few clone batteries from banggood, half the price of DJI's. The app detection issue is supposedly solved, but may return on a future update. I'll report back when I get them.

As for why take the chance; the prices DJI charges are simply ridiculous, an original battery costs over €150 here. A similar sized and specced 5200 4S battery (lipo only) costs about 1/4th that on hobbyking, and Ive used them plenty, also on craft that cost a lot more than a phantom, and they work just fine. Granted, DJI puts some additional electronics in there (that Id rather not have to pay for and or carry its extra weight), but that doesnt justify the price.

The clones could cut corners, they arent very accountable, thats true, but even at half DJI's price they have ample profit margin that they dont need to. I wouldnt even be surprised at all if they are the exact same batteries that DJI sells, from the exact same factory, just put in different cardboard boxes and not flashed with DJI's ID or serial numbers (something they fixed now i suspect, to circumvent their detection by software). This happens all the time in China, where the factories produce more than the OEM ordered and sell them in to a grey channel.

So I'll take my chances and I'll just keep an eye on the voltages. After all, more than one phantom pilot lost their drone when it fell out of the sky with empty original batteries misreporting capacity.

I have been using Banggood batteries four off them. They are half price here in the UK. I can get 20 minute flights with care, most time 18 minutes.
Dont Upgrade beyond 1.8.80 (aircraft) and dont upgrade with a banggood battery in the aircraft. DJi will poke something into the battery memory to disable it. It should be illegal to do this. Warranty?. My P3A is out of warranty . When it was new the gimbal would not level. DJI would not honour the warranty then, said I crashed it, in spite of me sending video and logs. So their warranty is not worth a light as far as I am concerned.

Vertigo · Jun 19, 2016

1.8.80? As it turns out, thats the firmware on my craft, but I thought that was the latest up until a week or so ago. Does the quite recent firmware disable these batteries again?

Big_A · Jun 20, 2016

Vertigo said:
1.8.80? As it turns out, thats the firmware on my craft, but I thought that was the latest up until a week or so ago. Does the quite recent firmware disable these batteries again?

Mine is 1.8.80 and the four batterys I have do work fine. I will not be upgradeing, not only because of the battery issue but as other people have said "If it aint broke dont fix it"

Vertigo · Jun 20, 2016

But it is broken, its just that the fix isnt out yet

Vertigo · Jun 29, 2016

My banggood battery arrived. It works fine with 1.8.80 (and probably newer). It came balanced at 3.72v per cell. It charged with no problems. It fits perfectly and I did a short test flight with no problem.

I cant say anything meaningful yet about endurance (likely almost identical) or longevity, but so far, it works exactly like the OEM battery. With one notable exception, the auto discharge function reportedly doesnt work/exist.

Numone · Jun 30, 2016

Vertigo said:
My banggood battery arrived. It works fine with 1.8.80 (and probably newer). It came balanced at 3.72v per cell. It charged with no problems. It fits perfectly and I did a short test flight with no problem.

I cant say anything meaningful yet about endurance (likely almost identical) or longevity, but so far, it works exactly like the OEM battery. With one notable exception, the auto discharge function reportedly doesnt work/exist.

Well that's good news..

Big_A · Jun 30, 2016

Yes I found that the auto discharge did not work but that function is programmed by DJI during updates. Now during update to 1.8.8 it will disable a Bangood battery. So use a regular one during that update. I use a battery then leave it discharged until a few hours before I know I need to fly.

Vertigo · Jun 30, 2016

I dont think the discharge circuitry is even in there. AFAIK they dont claim to have that functionality. Not a problem for me, I have 30 or something lipo's that dont have this function

and I also consider it a small fire hazard. You can only discharge a battery by producing heat, and even though the DJI discharge process is appropriately slow, Im not sure I like a battery doing that on its own at some point that Im not quite aware off.

Numone · Jun 30, 2016

Vertigo said:
I dont think the discharge circuitry is even in there. AFAIK they dont claim to have that functionality. Not a problem for me, I have 30 or something lipo's that dont have this function and I also consider it a small fire hazard. You can only discharge a battery by producing heat, and even though the DJI discharge process is appropriately slow, Im not sure I like a battery doing that on its own at some point that Im not quite aware off.

Yup, that makes sense.