Why LIPO's in the transmitter?

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I get it - drones would not be possible without LIPO batteries. Other battery chemestries simply do not have the high discharge rate necessary.

But, as we all know, LIPO batteries have significant disadvantages, one of which is it being necessary to store the battery at 1/2 charge.

Since the transmitter does not require high-discharge rates, why the heck did they put a LIPO in it? How do we maintain it and change it?

My guess (and this is a guess only) the transmitter considers the battery fully charged when it is at 70% or so, and dead at 30%. That way, it is always 1/2 charged.

Any engineers out there who know for sure?
 
As an item that might need changing at some point, I can't understand why they made it so difficult to access. As for the actual battery, it appears to be two simple 3.7v LiPos, with two sets of +/- terminals connected to the main board. The charging socket is also connected to the main board, so I presume any magic is done on the board.

It looks like replacement with two 3.7v LiPos, similar to the one shown below, would be possible once you open the unit.

1S-lipo3a.jpg


1S-lipo.jpg
 
As an item that might need changing at some point, I can't understand why they made it so difficult to access. As for the actual battery, it appears to be two simple 3.7v LiPos, with two sets of +/- terminals connected to the main board. The charging socket is also connected to the main board, so I presume any magic is done on the board.

It looks like replacement with two 3.7v LiPos, similar to the one shown below, would be possible once you open the unit.

Now we know how to change it. Why the heck did they do it? They must have a good reason. DJI has become HUGE and they are no dummies.

While you have that thing cracked open, can you check the voltage? I'd be curious if they are truly at 100% of operating voltage when the transmitter indicates they are fully charged.
 
I get it - drones would not be possible without LIPO batteries. Other battery chemestries simply do not have the high discharge rate necessary.

But, as we all know, LIPO batteries have significant disadvantages, one of which is it being necessary to store the battery at 1/2 charge.

Since the transmitter does not require high-discharge rates, why the heck did they put a LIPO in it? How do we maintain it and change it?

My guess (and this is a guess only) the transmitter considers the battery fully charged when it is at 70% or so, and dead at 30%. That way, it is always 1/2 charged.

Any engineers out there who know for sure?

This doesn't sound right, all modern laptops use lithium polymer with software controls. My battery is almost never above 50%. Lithium Ion is an older technology.
 
Yes, Ion is older technology, but it is far from obsolete or being replaced by Li-Po. All laptops use Lithium Ion, even high-end. Check out the specs on these: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/alienware-17-r3

All MacBook Pros use Lithium Polymer. They switched from lithium ion. There's no better laptop in the battery category than a MBP.

Lithium Ion's are often still used in laptops that have replaceable (disposable batteries) because then can be made more cheaply and don't need to last as long. Lithium polymer it the technology you want to use if you never want to worry about about charge cycles, best percentage to leave at, etc.
 
All MacBook Pros use Lithium Polymer. They switched from lithium ion. There's no better laptop in the battery category than a MBP.

Lithium Ion's are often still used in laptops that have replaceable (disposable batteries) because then can be made more cheaply and don't need to last as long. Lithium polymer it the technology you want to use if you never want to worry about about charge cycles, best percentage to leave at, etc.

WOW! I looked it up and you're right. Thanks for the free education, but I'm still **** confused. Why do we need to care about percentage stored at, charge cycles, etc., with the Phantom batteries, if it is the same chemistry?
 
WOW! I looked it up and you're right. Thanks for the free education, but I'm still **** confused. Why do we need to care about percentage stored at, charge cycles, etc., with the Phantom batteries, if it is the same chemistry?

You really don't need to worry about it. People here are just being overly cautious, and many have had bad experiences with older setups so I think this has people doing all kinds of insane discharge/charge behavior. The software on the batteries should take care of everything. Of the 4 P3P's I've owned I've never done any battery calibration, battery draining or any of the rituals that man people practice. There are times when you should make sure your battery is full before take off (care when it's cold) but otherwise I wouldn't spend anytime thinking about batteries.

In the same way my older MacBooks pros just work for the last 8 years. It's up to DJI thought to make sure the firmware that controls batteries is properly written. If it was complete POS then you'd have to do something. Each battery has a little processor on it to manage all that for you.
 
Now we know how to change it. Why the heck did they do it? They must have a good reason. DJI has become HUGE and they are no dummies.

While you have that thing cracked open, can you check the voltage? I'd be curious if they are truly at 100% of operating voltage when the transmitter indicates they are fully charged.
Why did they do it? As usual, good enough, cheap enough. If they really engineered it thoughtfully, they analyzed flight lives of phantoms versus life of Lipo in the remote.
 

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