Phantom / Battery Firmware mismatch OK?

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I have a P3P and P3A. I run my P3A using Firmware 1.4.01. I do not want to upgrade the firmware on the bird itself, but I do want to upgrade my batteries to the latest for the better battery management. Is there any problem in upgrading the batteries but leaving the Phantom itself with an older version?
 
I won't tell you it's right or wrong, but suggest keeping a battery or two separate. One for each drone, not mix and max. Unless you wish to update all of your intelligent flight batteries, and they should both still be good/safe to use in either of your Phantom 3 drones.
If your drones are both trouble free, as my awesome Phantom 3 Pro has been/is, updating shouldn't be an issue for you. But if you are happy, flying on any of the previous versions, that's up to you. Enjoy!!
Some updates May and very well, eventually Will be mandatory. You might get 5-6 flights before the drone won't fly without the fresh firmware or app.
I prefer to just stay current, and enjoy the luxury of not having to be concerned about which of my 4 intelligent flight battery is usable or not. ;-) just charge and go.
Imagine someone with two or three different models of previous Phantoms, and now their need for three different sets of batteries.
You're lucky, both drones can fly on the very same packs.
Just update, and be done with it. Or buy more!! Hahaha

RedHotPoker
 
How would you go about upgrading batteries only? I don't think it's possible. The bird and the batteries will update for 1.6.
 
Read the OP question again. He has two Phantoms, so update all batteries, to the most current firmware. And they should still be usable in the drone running older firmware.

RedHotPoker
 
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@Chris Vedeler Did you go through with this? Flying 1.6 batts with 1.4 firmware? Does the battery management work better, even in the drone with older firmware?
 
@Chris Vedeler Did you go through with this? Flying 1.6 batts with 1.4 firmware? Does the battery management work better, even in the drone with older firmware?
I didn't do it. I'm working off the idea that if it isn't broken, don't fix it. I have hundreds of flights with the current firmware and only occasionally have a premature alert to RTH that I override. I don't want to introduce potential other problems and have to test using dozens of flights to have confidence everything works as expected.
 
Dji updated my p3p from 1.19 to 1.5 which i am still pissed about. When it came back they updated the 1 battery it went with and then i updated the other battery i have since downgraded to 1.41 but have not flown it yet due to the weather i have no idea if it will be ok or not.
 
I didn't do it. I'm working off the idea that if it isn't broken, don't fix it. I have hundreds of flights with the current firmware and only occasionally have a premature alert to RTH that I override. I don't want to introduce potential other problems and have to test using dozens of flights to have confidence everything works as expected.
I took the plunge and updated my 10 batteries in a friend's bird. I have 1.4 and will never update. Performance seems unaffected.

What was fixed exactly in this 1.6 battery update?
 
I don't know if you will gain much just updating the batteries. In the new firmware the batteries tell the drone to reduce power consumption to prevent the batteries from shutting off mid flight, the old bird firmware may not support this.
 
I tested v1.6 on the batteries on a 1.4 bird. Don't upgrade the batts: when my bird was far away, I got a "Critically low power, the aircraft will land now" tip. The bird was perfect, battery power was perfect, but it was cold and the bird decided to just land (at 60% batteries). I couldn't cancel the landing either. So 1.6 batt FW introduces this "safeguard" independently of the firmware on the bird. This is very annoying, as this means long flights are risky. I'll get old batteries now :(
 
What were the individual cell voltages? If one was low, that is the critical battery - % remaining doesn't matter. What was the battery & outside temps? A forced landing beats the battery power off any day.
 

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