BATTERY WARNING!!!!!!

[jason]

Reading various threads and youtube vids, it seems if a battery is below 90 percent useful life, it runs a much increased chance of failure, regardless of what the lamps or asst software indicates.

Batteries can fail at any time no matter what percentage. What will happen as batteries age your flight time will decrease. I have two batteries which are 20 months old with 87 & 85% battery life but only fly for 6 to 7 minutes and both are just under 50 charges.

 

[Mako79]

Ok... now you made me VERY nervous about buying a spare battery. I want to stick with OEM batteries, I've never trusted aftermarket. How long ago did you get those? Think I'd be ok getting one now?

I was the same as you 2 yrs ago. I was an advocate for DJI battery, feeling assured that nothing would be better than then tried and tested OEM batteries. Ask me now and i'll tell you to avoid them. The battery in the P2 are in a fake 3cell 3x2 parallel-serial config. The parallel config makes it bad for balancing and hides battery issues until its under load.

I have Venom 5400 with the LCD. I would much rather the limefuel but its too costly to be delivered to Aus.

 

[jason]

I was the same as you 2 yrs ago. I was an advocate for DJI battery, feeling assured that nothing would be better than then tried and tested OEM batteries. Ask me now and i'll tell you to avoid them. The battery in the P2 are in a fake 3cell 3x2 parallel-serial config. The parallel config makes it bad for balancing and hides battery issues until its under load.

I have Venom 5400 with the LCD. I would much rather the limefuel but its too costly to be delivered to Aus.

So what makes Venom or Limefuel any better there still made the same way series-parallel and the only difference is the mah over DJI's batteries. What DJI needs to do is for their batteries is bring back a reworked battery firmware to replace the v2.6 that was introduced with the v3.6 P2 assistant software back in October 2014 and pulled shortly there after.

I upgraded all 5 of my batteries with v2.6 update 2 of which where auto landing at 45% and had under 30 cycles which still fly to this day and auto land at 7 percent. A few days ago while fly with one of those old batteries I wasn't paying attentions to the battery level and at 100 feet up the low battery warning was flashing between 10.7 & 10.65 volts at 7% needless to say I landed safely and have the DVR footage to prove it. So sure that v2.6 battery firmware saved my batteries at a cost to those who were using aftermarket and brick them when they used the update. But was that DJI fault? No. Did they do anything wrong? No.Was it their fault that the aftermarket batteries were not using the same electronic circuity as DJI? Once again NO.

 

[tccraiger]

completely wrong... the problem with dji batteries is they take two, three - cell packs and hook them together in parallel; so now the cells are not properly balance charging... there are three sets of two cells tied together and you can't properly balance charge cells in parallel.
Essentially, there can be a total of three cells in each dji pack that are completely dead and their built in electronics can't detect it; the only way you will know is because of shorter flight times.

 

[kenjancef]

I need an extra battery pretty soon, and you guys aren't exactly giving me a good feeling. So should I trust a DJI battery now? I don't mind spending the money for an original, but if they are pretty messed up, then I'm not sure what to do...

 

[tccraiger]

there are only two options:
a)stick with the dji batteries and just be careful with them when you get around 40-50 cycles.
b) buy the maxamps unlocked endcap; but realize that you will then have to purchase a balance charger and you won't have the clean look of the phantom anymore. You do get many more cycles out of aftermarket batteries with a proper charger though. There is a bit of a hassle factor though.​

 

[jason]

there are only two options:
a)stick with the dji batteries and just be careful with them when you get around 40-50 cycles.
b) buy the maxamps unlocked endcap; but realize that you will then have to purchase a balance charger and you won't have the clean look of the phantom anymore. You do get many more cycles out of aftermarket batteries with a proper charger though. There is a bit of a hassle factor though.​

You know this quads do not run voltage alone. Running batteries in series will give you voltage but no increase amps. Now running batteries in parallel will give ample amps but on increase in voltage. So it stands to reason you can't have your cake and eat it too.

So your solution is maxamp well that's if you were flying a stripped down quad but it's not ideal when a gimbal, camera, TX iOSD and cabling are add. So by adding between 1420 to 1550 grams of weight to a camera platform and FPV system you are really overburdening the quad that was designed for a takeoff weight of 1300 grams which cut down on flight time. At 1361 grams with a new fully charged battery your looking at 15 minutes flight time.

 

[dirtybum]

300 flights out of it! Payed for itself!
$1000 dollars of resaleables & a new Audi & a wife! You're doin pretty good for yourself, now smile & go out tomorrow & reward yourself ! Buy a p3 & fly on FX

 

[Stathis]

Has anyone a battery with 100 cycles that is still good?

 

[dougmckenzie]

If I knew how, I would make and sell a parachute that deploys with a sensor that can detect a sudden rate of rapid decent that is compact and attaches to the center top of the quad copter.?

I'm a skydiver and have been wearing something akin to what you are advocating on my reserve parachute for over 35 years. They used to be simple mechanical barometric devices; now they are highly sophisticated electronic systems.
Parachutes are available for drones - google it.

 

[kenjancef]

I'm a skydiver and have been wearing something akin to what you are advocating on my reserve parachute for over 35 years. They used to be simple mechanical barometric devices; now they are highly sophisticated electronic systems.
Parachutes are available for drones - google it.

Wouldn't the props get tangled in or cut the parachute rope? Unless it mounts under the Phantom and deploys when the power cuts out...

 

[regdawg]

So I'm a new P2 owner so this is a concern of course. When your flying though, how can you tell if your battery is low? I know you can tell by the lights on the phantom but if you have the upgraded remote is there a way to tell there? Do you have to basically just keep tabs on the time?

 

[antares]

So I'm a new P2 owner so this is a concern of course. When your flying though, how can you tell if your battery is low? I know you can tell by the lights on the phantom but if you have the upgraded remote is there a way to tell there? Do you have to basically just keep tabs on the time?

Best way is to have FPV with OSD which has a voltage indicator!

 

[lsnook]

I have seen a couple problems with P2 batteries.
1. There is a "soft" failure with battery life. Some of my batteries exhibit this at only 37 charges, others at 100 charges. What happens is that the battery depletes rapidly at about 60% charge and starts to Auto-land.
To check this, hold the battery power button until it starts to blink. Look at the 4 charging lights. If the last one on the right is not lit, you only have 90% battery life, this is when the soft failure starts to happen. Do not use a battery with only 90% life in situations over water or when retrieving the thing would be difficult.
2. Batteries sometimes last for 100 cycles, others less than 40.

 

[tylerwalts]

@kenjancef I would recommend trying one of the 3rd party batteries for the P2. I tried 1, then saw it getting significantly more charge than the 2 than came from DJI with the Phantom, so then I got 2 more: http://amzn.to/1YbcWAn

I rarely burn through all 5 batteries in a single flying session, and I like to hand off the controller to my wife or friends to use the Phantom stock batteries since they don't last as long!

The actual charge varies. I usually do the standard charge option, and how long it takes and how much it charges it depends on how empty you run them out on the previous flight.

Phantom stock batteries: ~1800-1900mAh
Turnigy batteries: ~2100-2300mAh

Also, if you don't already have a multi-cell charger that can tell you how much power goes into your charge, and even has options to balance the cells, etc, try this one: http://amzn.to/1kwIPF2

 

[Kubelwagen]

@kenjancef I would recommend trying one of the 3rd party batteries for the P2. I tried 1, then saw it getting significantly more charge than the 2 than came from DJI with the Phantom, so then I got 2 more: http://amzn.to/1YbcWAn

I rarely burn through all 5 batteries in a single flying session, and I like to hand off the controller to my wife or friends to use the Phantom stock batteries since they don't last as long!

The actual charge varies. I usually do the standard charge option, and how long it takes and how much it charges it depends on how empty you run them out on the previous flight.

Phantom stock batteries: ~1800-1900mAh
Turnigy batteries: ~2100-2300mAh

Also, if you don't already have a multi-cell charger that can tell you how much power goes into your charge, and even has options to balance the cells, etc, try this one: http://amzn.to/1kwIPF2

Did I miss something here? The battery linked is a standard, raw LiPo. How did you integrate this into the P2 battery housing? Plus it's less than half the rated mah of the stock battery. Like the charger though.

What about a battery like this? http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Batte...sr=8-1-spons&keywords=phantom+2+battery&psc=1

 

[jason]

Did I miss something here? The battery linked is a standard, raw LiPo. How did you integrate this into the P2 battery housing? Plus it's less than half the rated mah of the stock battery. Like the charger though.

What about a battery like this? http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Batte...sr=8-1-spons&keywords=phantom+2+battery&psc=1

There is a way to use two lipo batteries mounted on the outside of a P2 but there really isn't any advantage to doing so except for cost.

@kenjancef I would recommend trying one of the 3rd party batteries for the P2. I tried 1, then saw it getting significantly more charge than the 2 than came from DJI with the Phantom, so then I got 2 more: http://amzn.to/1YbcWAn

I rarely burn through all 5 batteries in a single flying session, and I like to hand off the controller to my wife or friends to use the Phantom stock batteries since they don't last as long!

The actual charge varies. I usually do the standard charge option, and how long it takes and how much it charges it depends on how empty you run them out on the previous flight.

Phantom stock batteries: ~1800-1900mAh
Turnigy batteries: ~2100-2300mAh

Also, if you don't already have a multi-cell charger that can tell you how much power goes into your charge, and even has options to balance the cells, etc, try this one: http://amzn.to/1kwIPF2

But i think he is talking about batteries for either a FC40 or the P1 and not the P2

 

[jason]

I have seen a couple problems with P2 batteries.
1. There is a "soft" failure with battery life. Some of my batteries exhibit this at only 37 charges, others at 100 charges. What happens is that the battery depletes rapidly at about 60% charge and starts to Auto-land.
To check this, hold the battery power button until it starts to blink. Look at the 4 charging lights. If the last one on the right is not lit, you only have 90% battery life, this is when the soft failure starts to happen. Do not use a battery with only 90% life in situations over water or when retrieving the thing would be difficult.
2. Batteries sometimes last for 100 cycles, others less than 40.

There is no easy solution as to how long a battery will last but you can't blame P2 as all the manufactures whether original or aftermarket have the same problem. In order to have both current and voltage batteries will be wired series/parallel as you cannot have one without the other and that's basic electronics.

 

[tylerwalts]

Did I miss something here? The battery linked is a standard, raw LiPo. How did you integrate this into the P2 battery housing? Plus it's less than half the rated mah of the stock battery. Like the charger though.

What about a battery like this? http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Batte...sr=8-1-spons&keywords=phantom+2+battery&psc=1

You are right, about the Phantom 2 *Vision*, and it comes with the proprietary battery connection (I am not a fan of the unnecessarily complex and proprietary DJI battery plug system).

I have the less expensive Phantom 2 (non-Vision), and it comes with just the standard 2-pin plug, and it is much easier to find extra batteries for it. I've got a GoPro for post-flight video, and am looking into adding on a FPV system with goggles next, as an alternative to getting the FPV Vision system out of box. Eventually want to migrate the add-ons to a 250mm racer type.

 

[pomonabill220]

Did I miss something here? The battery linked is a standard, raw LiPo. How did you integrate this into the P2 battery housing? Plus it's less than half the rated mah of the stock battery. Like the charger though.

What about a battery like this? http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Batte...sr=8-1-spons&keywords=phantom+2+battery&psc=1

I looked at that battery and saw a VERY confusing spec.
they list it as weighing 5.9 ounces and the original 5400 mah battery weighs 13 ounces.... seems a little fishy to me or they got their specs wrong.
Then they list the shipping as 1.2 lbs. hhmmmmmm