Difference in battery appearance

[Riseandrun]

Hi guys, I did a search on this and read a 4 page fight between aftermarket and authentic batteries. I'm not sure how to tell the difference, other than my aftermarket won't connect to my phone (I think) and the battery life test. holding the red button down for five seconds till it blinks and see how may green bars you get as demonstrated by the deaf dude on you tube. They all look identical. All I know is the one battery I have that I can do the battery life test I can fly FPV. The other two which I can't do the test with I can't fly FPV.
Any help appreciated!
R&R

 

[Mark The Droner]

It would help if you'd post a photo of your battery in question

 

[NYroadside]

I've looked at hundreds of aftermarket P3 batteries during the past 12 months, and the one thing that stands out to me is the aftermarket batteries don't have the wording "Phantom" printed on one of the long sides of the battery. The aftermarket versions typically have the wording "PH-3" or something else where the word "Phantom" is found on the genuine DJI batteries. In fact, i've seen a large number of sellers (intentionally) hide that fact by not showing all 4 sides of the battery. A few sellers even go so far as to advertise aftermarket batteries as DJI brand, and then include one photo of a genuine DJI battery along with photos of the aftermarket battery. By sorting out the fakes from the DJI batteries, I've purchased 4 new (zero charges) genuine DJI batteries during the past 12 months, all for less than $90 each. Good luck.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Yes, I've noticed that too. And those with "Phantom" on them have generally been in the $100 range. That makes sense since if it's genuine, it will cost more than aftermarket. But over the past six months, I've noticed the batteries with "Phantom" printed on them appearing on eBay and they are significantly cheaper, like around $50 or less. Here is one I bought in June on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5FCJ29/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So is it genuine? They don't say it's genuine. But it seems to be operating perfectly. The only thing that seems off is the lamps aren't quite as bright as my OEM. But I'm still not convinced that it's not genuine. It seems as if it may be genuine. At any rate, I'm happy with it.

 

[NYroadside]

Ordinarily, i'd say it's genuine based on the criteria I mentioned earlier but, a couple of flags have me thinking otherwise. It appears that battery is an Altimay (?) brand battery, based on the item description. The other thing I noticed is, even though the word Phantom appears on the battery, it's located upside down at the bottom of the battery, versus right side up at the top like on a genuine battery. Based on all of that, I'd be cautious. There are some good deals out there on new DJI batteries. You just have to look for them. I just bought a new genuine DJI Phantom 3 battery for around $60 with shipping. One other concern I noticed is this battery is advertised as a Phantom 2, not Phantom 3, battery. Are you looking for P3 or P2 batteries?

 

[Mark The Droner]

You're right, I didn't notice those photos on the bottom. Mine - the one I bought from this listing and is in my possession looks like the photo at the top. The print is right-side-up. The print is exactly like OEM.

P2 or P3? I've got both so I'm looking for both :-D

 

[Riseandrun]

I'm looking for P2. Did you understand me when I tried to describe my the life of the battery test? You hold the red button down until it starts blinking. The green bars light up as to how much "life" the battery has. The red light continues to blink 10 times. I only have one battery that does that. Of the three I have. I don't have FPV with the aftermarket batteries unless I need to do something different. My phone tells me I'm connected to an unsecured line but no input. Thanks for all the replies

 

[Riseandrun]

I just looked at the link and all three of my batteries have the word Phantom at the top. I downloaded the phantom assistant 3.8 to check the battery life, but it says I'm missing the driver...that will be my next post if I can't find it. Lol

 

[Mark The Droner]

Okay I just checked my two OEMs and also the amazon battery I bought last June. On the OEMs, the red lamp blinks 3-4 times. But on the Amazon, the red lamp blinks 10 times.

However, I don't have any issues with the battery. It's perfect.

 

[Riseandrun]

Wow! Now I'm really confused, but thanks for checking! My info on the battery check comes from a deaf guy on you tube. So from what you said, do you think you have one original and two aftermarkets?
But either way all yours fly with FPV... P2?
Have you ever used the PT2 3.8 assistant to check battery life? I'm just wondering if my batteries are dead. I bought my P2 used. I bought a P2 battery on eBay (aftermarket?) that has 19 minutes of flight time but no FPV...

 

[Mark The Droner]

Re P2 batteries, I am sure I have at least two OEMs and maybe three. I have four others that are definitely aftermarkets. That doesn't include the ones that have been retired.

My FPV works great for all seven of my batteries. Every once in a while I'll get a battery error but nothing ever happens.

Back in the good old days we could buy aftermarkets that were high in mAh and were solid batteries, but these days, the only ones I can find have issues. I have given up on finding good quality high mAh batteries and am sticking with 5200s which are OEM or which I think have a good chance of being OEM. I am done with obvious aftermarkets.

Re the "battery life", I ignore it. What I'm worried about is what the actual mAh is on a full charge, and the cell balance.

 

[Riseandrun]

Thanks for all ur responses Mark. If you ignore battery life how do you know how long the battery will last? You don't want to buy something on line that is worn out right? all my batteries are 5200's. Out of curiosity, is the P2 battery and the P3 the same?
I must have something else going on with my drone if I'm not connecting for FPV

 

[Mark The Droner]

I know the battery is ready to be retired when the mAh is no longer high enough for my needs or if the cells are out of balance. Or sometimes they will begin to misbehave (e.g. critical autoland at 29% for no particular reason).

The P3 battery has four cells and is 15.2 v nominal charge.

Yes, I agree, something else is going on with your FPV problems...