Why we are forced to buy intelligent chip everytime we purchase DJI Battery ?

[N017RW]

My Hyperion charger from 8 years ago allows my packs to stay connected non stop. Trickle charges when needed to keep them at the right voltage.
Why doesn’t DJI and their 150$ batteries do that now? Hmmmm

Hmmmmm is right.

Are you sure that is for LiPos?

I find that dubious (and dangerous) so I’m apt to believe you are conflating that with programming options for NiCd and NiMH battery types as well as ‘Float V’ for Lead Acid types.

 

[With The Birds]

My Hyperion charger from 8 years ago allows my packs to stay connected non stop. Trickle charges when needed to keep them at the right voltage.
Why doesn’t DJI and their 150$ batteries do that now? Hmmmm

You don’t “trickle charge” LiION chemistry. The intent of trickle charging is to counteract self discharge of cells, it does have applicatiom with SLA however is a very bad idea with LiION, keeping the cells at terminal voltage (full SOC) might lead to fire in the worst case scenario and will definitely age the cells faster. Unlike other chemistry types LiION should not be stored at 100% charge.

 

[With The Birds]

Hyperion makes the best Lipo chargers and lipos. I used this brand exclusively for years and years with zero problems. Never once put a “storage charge” on them. They always sat fully charged for sometimes months.... They would still, after years of abuse, out preform the latest and greatest brand new 1 million C batteries.

The smart batteries are a joke. The fuel gauge on the back is the only useful feature.

I discovered in another thread that the supplied charger is in fact not a charger. It’s a power supply or as some stated, a voltage booster, lol. Anyway, your paying for a new charger with each battery, on top of the other stuff in there.

It’s a complete marketing technique and has nothing to do with safety or longevity of the battery.

The battery monitoring electronics are no joke- they are a very useful feature that has everything to do with longevity and safety with many other benefits.

Do you enjoy the luxury of knowing available capacity and time remaining to empty in flight with 99% precision? It’s better than using a wristwatch or timer and measuring cell voltages when landing to estimate your flight times. Would you rather routinely measure IR and capacity etc in use or is it better that the pack tracks its health and reports condition accurately throughout the service life. An unexpected failure in use without a heads up is no fun.

The auto discharge routine will almost certainly prolong the service life of your packs.

Incorporating the BMS and charge electronics allows manufacturers to be comfortable that users won’t damage the packs with a faulty or inadequate charger or lack of knowledge- it makes it very convenient to use also.

 

[With The Birds]

The in fligt telemetry has nothing to do with the smart battery . Any 20$ Chinese flight controller will tell you your voltage and mah.

My problem with the smart technology is that it doesn’t work as advertised. 2 of my batteries were destroyed because I was lead to believe they were “smart”.
They self discharged to a voltage so low they are now useless. A normal lipo would not be dead in the amount of time my DJI batteries sat.
I’ll say it 100000x times over and over....power tools last YEARS in subzero temps, extreme heat, getting dropped, and sometimes sitting for months. They are just regular 8-12 18650 cells for 3$ each. 40$ total.
The guy above was right. I bought into the system, that was my mistake. Never again.

Open up a battery from a recently manufactured power tool of reasonable quality and you will find they have plenty of electronics, not dissimilar in operation and performance to that employed in your DJI batteries.

It is well known they LiPO format cells have a shorter service life and prove more temperamental than 18650 style. They are lighter and generally provide significantly better sustained and peak current performance making them ideal for RC models. There is no free lunch.

It is not known what happened with the two packs you are upset about however it is extremely unlikely the smart electronics caused them to fail.

 

[Douggieboy]

So what is intelligent Battery ? Apart from regular power bank, it has some electronic chip to keep tab on stats of battery consumption and might have some other intelligent features. My question is, why can't DJI keep the electronic chip which process intelligent features, separate from battery ? Why we are forced to buy same chip along with battery ? How hard is it to keep the intelligent chip on drone, rather than battery ? This way cost of battery will come down to just 20% .. but no, DJI want to sell chip every time we purchase battery. Isn't this is kind of fraud to fool people ?

It’s called RIPOFF! I have several paperweights that were working perfectly in my P3 Pro, after an upgrade, they give this [Language Removed] error. Why doesn’t SOMEBODY create a solution to this problem, with either a hardware or software modification????

 

[LuvMyTJ]

It’s called RIPOFF! I have several paperweights that were working perfectly in my P3 Pro, after an upgrade, they give this **** error. Why doesn’t SOMEBODY create a solution to this problem, with either a hardware or software modification????

Are they genuine DJI batteries?

 

[Ross Pearce]

My battery died within 12 months, I was told tough [Language Removed]

 

[With The Birds]

My battery died within 12 months, I was told tough [Language Removed]

If I recall correctly DJI will try and enforce a 6mth manufacturer warranty period on batteries. Most people get significantly longer than 12months with reasonable care. For
Most they will last significantly longer than a bare LiPo pack without having to fuss over them. The battery management chips provide advantages.

 

[Simzy666]

A fun hobby should be expensive, that's the fun part of the hobby

 

[With The Birds]

A fun hobby should be expensive, that's the fun part of the hobby

Depends on your definition of fun, it’s a matter of perspective. I doesn’t have to be expensive for me to enjoy it.

 

[BigAl07]

LOL some of us have dozens of DJI Batteries with hundreds of charges and over 2 years of use and still going strong (relatively).

Just because you have a couple that bombed out doesn't make the whole series junk and it also could be from something you did wrong in the process. The "Smart Chip" can only do so much to prevent the user from damaging the unit.

 

[RunningWithScissors]

I have had 2 batteries die in less than a year that were maintained

Very sorry to hear about your less than optimum experience with the batteries. I don't know what your battery maintainence schedule is, so I can't speculate as to the real issue. There's a lot of good insight provided by very experienced pilots in this forum that you probably don't care to hear. Although my experience pales in comparison to others in this forum, my three oldest genuine DJI batteries were all purchased new and were manufactured in 8/16, 9/16, & 10/16 respectively. I've logged well over 100 flights collectively between the three batteries during the past year. All three batteries currently are reporting at or near 100% life, with a high number of charge cycles, and without a ridiculously high level of maintainence and care. In fact, probably less maintainence than some of the more vigilent members here. As for the high cost, I've never paid more than $85 for genuine new DJI batteries on ebay, and I'm happy with that. Do I wish the batteries were cheaper? Sure I do, but, it is what it is. It costs money to play any sport. But then, I knew that going into it.

 

[Erised]

LOL some of us have dozens of DJI Batteries with hundreds of charges and over 2 years of use and still going strong (relatively).

Just because you have a couple that bombed out doesn't make the whole series junk and it also could be from something you did wrong in the process. The "Smart Chip" can only do so much to prevent the user from damaging the unit.

YEP! I one of those guys, I have 4 dji batteries, one was replaced on warranty because of a low cell voltage. I still have 4 lights on for battery life on all 4. Flew over 8 million feet between the four, almost 500 flights, I store using dji charging hub, full charge on fly day and try not to go lower then 20% and store in a cool place. So far they kept my craft in the air so the dji smart battery works well for a reasonable price for what you get.

 

[BigAl07]

So what is intelligent Battery ? Apart from regular power bank, it has some electronic chip to keep tab on stats of battery consumption and might have some other intelligent features. My question is, why can't DJI keep the electronic chip which process intelligent features, separate from battery ? Why we are forced to buy same chip along with battery ? How hard is it to keep the intelligent chip on drone, rather than battery ? This way cost of battery will come down to just 20% .. but no, DJI want to sell chip every time we purchase battery. Isn't this is kind of fraud to fool people ?

Somehow I never read the last couple of sentences of the OP. LOL

First of all you're not "Forced to buy" anything from DJI. You are under your own free will to buy another brand of product. If you FREELY chose to buy from DJI you are accepting the fact they use proprietary equipment (batteries, chargers, Transmitters, flight controllers, etc etc) and you might very well have to purchase the exact same ones from DJI should the need arise. I stress "may" because in some instances work around (aka Knock Off/Copies) have been found/created.

Fraud? Exactly how much do you "think" this magical "chip" costs? I don't see removing it bringing the cost of the battery down by 80%... not even remotely realistic.

Because there is ZERO redundancy in the "Electrical Propulsion System" on this aircraft (and so many others like it) DJI have built into it certain "Safety Features" to try and take the "Human Element" out of the flight/maintenance equation. This enables people who have ZERO experience in anything R/C to go to the store, plop down their credit card, and within a matter of minutes be in the air without having to learn/understand battery chemistry. People are willing to PAY for "SMART TECHNOLOGY" so all they have to do is slide the card and sign the receipt.

I see no difference in making a SMART battery to help take some of the "education" out of battery maintenance than I do seeing them updating the Flight Controller to not start the aircraft when the battery is too cold or to AutoLand the aircraft when the battery gets critically low on energy capacity. It's DJI simply trying to dummy down the RC Flying Experience so just about anyone can do it and have fun doing so.

 

[Douggieboy]

Somehow I never read the last couple of sentences of the OP. LOL

First of all you're not "Forced to buy" anything from DJI. You are under your own free will to buy another brand of product. If you FREELY chose to buy from DJI you are accepting the fact they use proprietary equipment (batteries, chargers, Transmitters, flight controllers, etc etc) and you might very well have to purchase the exact same ones from DJI should the need arise. I stress "may" because in some instances work around (aka Knock Off/Copies) have been found/created.

Fraud? Exactly how much do you "think" this magical "chip" costs? I don't see removing it bringing the cost of the battery down by 80%... not even remotely realistic.

Because there is ZERO redundancy in the "Electrical Propulsion System" on this aircraft (and so many others like it) DJI have built into it certain "Safety Features" to try and take the "Human Element" out of the flight/maintenance equation. This enables people who have ZERO experience in anything R/C to go to the store, plop down their credit card, and within a matter of minutes be in the air without having to learn/understand battery chemistry. People are willing to PAY for "SMART TECHNOLOGY" so all they have to do is slide the card and sign the receipt.

I see no difference in making a SMART battery to help take some of the "education" out of battery maintenance than I do seeing them updating the Flight Controller to not start the aircraft when the battery is too cold or to AutoLand the aircraft when the battery gets critically low on energy capacity. It's DJI simply trying to dummy down the RC Flying Experience so just about anyone can do it and have fun doing so.

The problem DJI created has nothing to do with battery[emoji367]chemistry. It’s in the firmware, and any battery that’s not OEM DJI WILL NOT WORK!!!

We are free as consumers to buy any battery we wish, but if you get a non DJI battery, you got a paperweight.

I just bought two new OEM batteries to continue flying this drone. I’ve tried for 3 years to find a way around DJI’s battery screw-job, and there isn’t any.

11 flight and 3 flights, respectively. I have the 2 batteries on eBay now at $33 each with free shipping. Nobody want them. Why do you think that is??

I have 2 P4’s with 9 batteries. 2 don’t even show the green light when I try to turn them on— they won’t charge, and 2 more give the bad cell error.

If you own DJI drones plan on qopfing up $$$$ for new batteries every year.

 

[BigAl07]

The problem DJI created has nothing to do with battery[emoji367]chemistry. It’s in the firmware, and any battery that’s not OEM DJI WILL NOT WORK!!!

We are free as consumers to buy any battery we wish, but if you get a non DJI battery, you got a paperweight.

I just bought two new OEM batteries to continue flying this drone. I’ve tried for 3 years to find a way around DJI’s battery screw-job, and there isn’t any.

11 flight and 3 flights, respectively. I have the 2 batteries on eBay now at $33 each with free shipping. Nobody want them. Why do you think that is??

I have 2 P4’s with 9 batteries. 2 don’t even show the green light when I try to turn them on— they won’t charge, and 2 more give the bad cell error.

If you own DJI drones plan on qopfing up $$$$ for new batteries every year.

You do realize this isn't just a DJI issue? Many of your higher end "Consumer" grade UAS use proprietary battery design. It's a GREAT business model BTW.

If you don't want to buy DJI batteries don't buy DJI aircraft. That's your option as a 'Free Consumer" but once you buy a DJI system you're going to be buying DJI batteries. It's your choice from the get-go.