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aftermarket batteries for phantom 3
- Thread starter Phantom fisher
- Start date
Ask yourself this...
Why do you want an aftermarket battery? Lower cost?
Also ask yourself this...
How many times have you read about random fly aways or unexplained crashes?
Do you know whether or not they had an after market battery? Does the DJI app tell you 100% that the battery, or the prop, or whatever is the cause? No!
Based on how many people defend aftermarket batteries in this thread I'm willing to bet that several crashes / flyaways had them.
I'm not saying they were caused by the aftermarket batteries at all but neither do do you. To be honest no one will ever know.
However I am saying that at least if you have a genuine DJI battery you know its up to their standards and you can for one rule out it being a cheap corner cutting battery.
Plus again DJI can see the battery serials in the logs, why would you want to give them an excuse to blame your battery in the event something happens?
Say your DJI battery catches fire and burns your bird or even causes property damage. You have some leverage and arguing points since its all DJI stuff.
Say that same situation happens and you have an aftermarket battery. Guess what they are going to say. "Your bad for buying that battery. Take it up with the manufacturer of that company. We have disclaimers stating to use genuine batteries"
Lastly have you not seen videos of LiPo battery fires? There are reasons people buy LiPo storage boxes.
It is common knowledge that LiPo batteries are a fire risk. Why buy an unknown aftermarket one.
The way I see it I would rather spend the little extra to make sure I buy a battery that was designed and tested by the same company that made the product.
Yes I know the battery is sourced by DJI to another company to make it that's how manufacturing works. It still was designed and tested by DJI etc.
He said that time and time again people are coming here complaining about crashes due to aftermarket batteries, which turned out not to be all that true.
Im also willing to bet that several of them had no more than 3 children and their wife's dyed their hair. IOW, there is no proven correlation and most likely no correlation at all. That there may indeed be some occurrences, despite not having seen one, or you having shown even one, is mostly due to sheer number of such incidents, which says more about DJI than aftermarket batteries.
If a drone falls out of the sky, and particularly if the logs show thats due to low voltage, I might blame an aftermarket battery if that is what was used. But the cases Ive seen where that exact thing happened was always with the original battery. A phantom flying a away, Im sorry, I dont buy that could ever be due to a faulty battery. Thats about as likely as using the wrong brand of SD card.
As for warranty; if DJI doesnt stand by its products and takes responsibility for its flaws regardless of your shoe size or the brand of battery you use (in so far they couldnt possibly be the cause, like with a fly away), consider if you ought to be buying from that company in the first place. Or defend its practices.
Anyway, for me, yes I'll take the chance, because I paid €350 for my used P3A. 2 extra original batteries would cost me more. If I had paid list price and had any hope of getting warranty if I needed it, I might reconsider, but I certainly wouldnt feel good about being forced to overpay for a DJI sticker on my battery to get the support I think I deserve for buying their not so cheap toys.
Whilst I agree that auto parts which come out of the OE manufacturers plants without the VW/Ford et al stamp on, will perform as well as the branded part because they are identical to the OE part, plus 95% of those will not cause a critical failure. The battery in a Phantom is a critical part and, unlike the auto parts cited here, have in-built DJI owned intelligence and they own that intellectual property. I believe this is the reason that DJI have protected their product. A number of years ago, China infuriated the world with its total disregard for Western businesses IP, copied everything and made cheap products which the world was happy to buy. I think a strong international corporation like DJI have the same rights as those in the west and therefore should not be berated for applying the same rules the west were outraged that Chinese businesses continually broke and ignored.
I fully understand why those who've purchased aftermarket (copied) batteries feel annoyed, but the differential in cost it seems is no longer that great.
For instance - today, you can get original DJI P3 batteries on AliExpress for £95 ($134) delivered or on Amazon.com in the US for $118 (£83). On Banggood today, the latest non-OE battery that is "Compatible with the latest version (insert the word "current" here) DJI GO APP" is $90. Is a $28 really worth the hassle and potential problems that could arise with your A/C with running a battery that effectively has "cracked" firmware?
I fully understand why those who've purchased aftermarket (copied) batteries feel annoyed, but the differential in cost it seems is no longer that great.
For instance - today, you can get original DJI P3 batteries on AliExpress for £95 ($134) delivered or on Amazon.com in the US for $118 (£83). On Banggood today, the latest non-OE battery that is "Compatible with the latest version (insert the word "current" here) DJI GO APP" is $90. Is a $28 really worth the hassle and potential problems that could arise with your A/C with running a battery that effectively has "cracked" firmware?
$28 difference wouldnt be too bad, but if I look at the amazon listing for $118:
Amazon.com : DJI DJI-P3-Battery Intelligent Battery for Phantom 3 Drones (White) : Camera & Photo
The first comment I read is "This is not a DJI brand battery and is different from the pics showed in this listing".
If you click the 1 star reviews, its almost always because they figured its a fake, or because DJI blocked the battery. Not because it caught fire. Still the product gets mostly 5 star reviews, so its probably no worse than the original. DOA's happen with original batteries too. So its just a little more expensive than buying a clone knowingly with no advantages. Id rather buy from a seller who is honest about it.
And if you think the ones on Aliexpress are real.. well, I got a bridge to sell to you.
Amazon.com : DJI DJI-P3-Battery Intelligent Battery for Phantom 3 Drones (White) : Camera & Photo
The first comment I read is "This is not a DJI brand battery and is different from the pics showed in this listing".
If you click the 1 star reviews, its almost always because they figured its a fake, or because DJI blocked the battery. Not because it caught fire. Still the product gets mostly 5 star reviews, so its probably no worse than the original. DOA's happen with original batteries too. So its just a little more expensive than buying a clone knowingly with no advantages. Id rather buy from a seller who is honest about it.
And if you think the ones on Aliexpress are real.. well, I got a bridge to sell to you.
Seems there could be some confusion because the OE batteries from China, oddly, are covered in Chinese!
Yeah, and if the label is in proper english in the correct color, you can bet its an original battery 
I wonder how many here swear by using original batteries only, yet have unknowingly been flying with fakes or grey market batteries. In that sense, I can actually understand DJI app trying to ID the battery so you can know if you got fooled or not. I do not condone them deciding for me whether I can fly my own drone with a a different battery though. And not allowing flight is also what leads the clone sellers to circumventing the ID system, which helps no one. The app should just report its not a DJI battery and let you fly it at your own risk.
I wonder how many here swear by using original batteries only, yet have unknowingly been flying with fakes or grey market batteries. In that sense, I can actually understand DJI app trying to ID the battery so you can know if you got fooled or not. I do not condone them deciding for me whether I can fly my own drone with a a different battery though. And not allowing flight is also what leads the clone sellers to circumventing the ID system, which helps no one. The app should just report its not a DJI battery and let you fly it at your own risk.
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BTW, DJI is a chinese company that produces in China and obviously also sells in their domestic market. If you are then buying from a chinese reseller like banggood or aliexpress, If anything, it would be more surprising that even the original batteries had english rather than chinese labels. Dont know if that is actually the case, but it proves nothing either way.
My 3rd and 4th genuine batteries fulfilled though Amazon UK have both Chinese and English text. That is what I mean re the confusion.
I just checked, the one that came with my P3A also has both languages. Anyway, regardless of the language on the labels, its clear the cheap amazon listing is for fake ones, as according to the reviews they where identified as such by the latest software and least some even looked different. I honestly dont know a way to be sure a battery is genuine, other than ordering directly from DJI and paying the full price.
I don't think you can say that, as many purchasers have reported theirs are 100% genuine!
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re buying from amazon;
I bought one from amazon.de and got it shipped for £90 total. I was concerned about fakes but as this was supplied and shipped by amazon I felt I could be fairly sure it was original, and I think that's all you can do when buying from amazon. just avoid amazon market place sellers maybe.
Not sure if serious. If you are being sarcastic, next time add a smiley
.In case you are not being sarcastic: how would they know? 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.
Sigh.... I was being serious. To answer your question, its because they still work after the fake battery detection was introduced by DJI?Not sure if serious. If you are being sarcastic, next time add a smiley
In case you are not being sarcastic: how would they know? 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.
To quote myself: Remember, the cloners have already figured out how to circumvent the GO app fake battery detection.
So yes, you can buy fakes even ones that are openly being sold as fakes, yet that work just fine with the current version of GO.
Ahhhhh, right.... so in my case what you're saying is, these fake manufacturers are so **** clever, they'd managed to circumvent the fake battery detection update before they knew it was going to be introduced and even before they'd worked out how it worked?! Wow! Now that really is impressive....!
