Hi all,
A little education from the traditional RC Community.
All LiPos are not created equal and quality can very greatly. Plus I have not seen mention of one of the key features DJI builds into their intelligent batteries that I'm pretty sure no other 3rd party to date is doing as was evident by one of the previous write ups (Heaters, read below).
Education:
C Rating - LiPos have what is called a C rating (higher better) which basically equates to their ability to discharge current at a rate high enough to get the work done. As batteries age this C rating goes down faster with poor quality batteries and your flight time goes down but even worse the ability for your Quad Copter to respond sags.
Cell Balance - When battery packs are built cells are matched in good quality batteries so they discharge at a constant rate and their voltages will not very by more than a 0.1V average. This insures none of the cells are stressed more than another which can lead to a premature death of the entire pack (1 bad overly discharged cell basically kills the entire pack.) Phantom 2 packs had 3 cells; our new Phantom 3 packs have 4 cells providing for another chance of cell failure.
Temperature - The colder a LiPo cell is the less "capacity" to discharge it will have. We in the traditional RC keep our LiPos in our pockets during the winter to keep them warmed by our body until we use them to fly.
Storage - It is known that a LiPo stored with a full charge for a long time will degrade the internal chemistry of the battery and reduce it's C rating prematurely.
Charging - A 1hr charge time is basically a 1C charge rate which provides the healthiest way to charge a battery. Slower is even better which is what our P3S chargers provide. There is also balance charging that insures each individual cell reaches full charge together so no one cell is over charged (which can very easily lead to a battery fire that does not go out when splashed with water; seriously [We've had LiPo car fires at the field; I store my LiPos in an ammo case to protect my house during non-use]). Temperature of the battery during charging should be considered (all things I believe DJI's charging circuitry does but as we have read someone had a third party battery that reported an overcharged state and then proceeded to die (which luckily did not result in a fire).
3rd party batteries may work fine...
Hear is where I think they differ right now:
- These are all smart batteries. They track charge counts. If a DJI battery dies (and obviously the DJI Go app does tell you not to use it anymore [your choice to ignore]; DJI will replace it under warranty based on the stored use data. You get their great warranty for the extra $$ and therefore a replacement battery.
- DJI clearly balance charges each cell. Since the charger is built in, other brands appear to not balance charge (per a previous post). Buy a premium brand 3rd party.
- DJI discharges automatically for long term storage, other 3rd party batteries do not (Make sure you leave the battery discharged after a flight if you don't plan to use it in the next 10days.
- Not saying DJI does not have bumps and the road has been paved with silk, but I believe that as I see the advances DJI has taken in building their battery designs I will be spending the extra for the OEM battery and gain their warranty to protect my investment.
I expect them to last longer or be replaced under warranty.
I appreciate the long term storage automatic discharge for better longterm battery health.
I appreciate the expectation that if there is a fatal battery failure with no pre-warning that DJI will stand behind their product (yes I know of a case).
I have $500 in the air with my P3S and don't feel like having it fall out of the sky without warning, no warranty to protect my investment because I used a non-DJI battery and the possibility of it causing damage to personal property (yes, chicken little).
It's not worth the difference in cost to me (risk).
3rd party batteries may work as good, better, or worse. We have already seen cases of the third party battery not updating firmware, being overcharged (with it's own internal charger), and even if it seems fine now the battery could still fail well before it's rated life because the quality is not there and you won't know until late in the game.
Bottom line, all batteries are not the same. All the smart technology wrapped around the battery (balance charging, auto discharging, temp sensing, ...) is not the same or even missing. C rating of cells being enough, balance matching the cells of the final pack, a healthy longevity of the packs, ability to self discharge for better longevity, ...
Your choice. I understand cost can be a differentiating factor. Be Safe. OEM DJI for me.
A little education from the traditional RC Community.
All LiPos are not created equal and quality can very greatly. Plus I have not seen mention of one of the key features DJI builds into their intelligent batteries that I'm pretty sure no other 3rd party to date is doing as was evident by one of the previous write ups (Heaters, read below).
Education:
C Rating - LiPos have what is called a C rating (higher better) which basically equates to their ability to discharge current at a rate high enough to get the work done. As batteries age this C rating goes down faster with poor quality batteries and your flight time goes down but even worse the ability for your Quad Copter to respond sags.
Cell Balance - When battery packs are built cells are matched in good quality batteries so they discharge at a constant rate and their voltages will not very by more than a 0.1V average. This insures none of the cells are stressed more than another which can lead to a premature death of the entire pack (1 bad overly discharged cell basically kills the entire pack.) Phantom 2 packs had 3 cells; our new Phantom 3 packs have 4 cells providing for another chance of cell failure.
Temperature - The colder a LiPo cell is the less "capacity" to discharge it will have. We in the traditional RC keep our LiPos in our pockets during the winter to keep them warmed by our body until we use them to fly.
Storage - It is known that a LiPo stored with a full charge for a long time will degrade the internal chemistry of the battery and reduce it's C rating prematurely.
Charging - A 1hr charge time is basically a 1C charge rate which provides the healthiest way to charge a battery. Slower is even better which is what our P3S chargers provide. There is also balance charging that insures each individual cell reaches full charge together so no one cell is over charged (which can very easily lead to a battery fire that does not go out when splashed with water; seriously [We've had LiPo car fires at the field; I store my LiPos in an ammo case to protect my house during non-use]). Temperature of the battery during charging should be considered (all things I believe DJI's charging circuitry does but as we have read someone had a third party battery that reported an overcharged state and then proceeded to die (which luckily did not result in a fire).
3rd party batteries may work fine...
Hear is where I think they differ right now:
- These are all smart batteries. They track charge counts. If a DJI battery dies (and obviously the DJI Go app does tell you not to use it anymore [your choice to ignore]; DJI will replace it under warranty based on the stored use data. You get their great warranty for the extra $$ and therefore a replacement battery.
- DJI clearly balance charges each cell. Since the charger is built in, other brands appear to not balance charge (per a previous post). Buy a premium brand 3rd party.
- DJI discharges automatically for long term storage, other 3rd party batteries do not (Make sure you leave the battery discharged after a flight if you don't plan to use it in the next 10days.
- Not saying DJI does not have bumps and the road has been paved with silk, but I believe that as I see the advances DJI has taken in building their battery designs I will be spending the extra for the OEM battery and gain their warranty to protect my investment.
I expect them to last longer or be replaced under warranty.
I appreciate the long term storage automatic discharge for better longterm battery health.
I appreciate the expectation that if there is a fatal battery failure with no pre-warning that DJI will stand behind their product (yes I know of a case).
I have $500 in the air with my P3S and don't feel like having it fall out of the sky without warning, no warranty to protect my investment because I used a non-DJI battery and the possibility of it causing damage to personal property (yes, chicken little).
It's not worth the difference in cost to me (risk).
3rd party batteries may work as good, better, or worse. We have already seen cases of the third party battery not updating firmware, being overcharged (with it's own internal charger), and even if it seems fine now the battery could still fail well before it's rated life because the quality is not there and you won't know until late in the game.
Bottom line, all batteries are not the same. All the smart technology wrapped around the battery (balance charging, auto discharging, temp sensing, ...) is not the same or even missing. C rating of cells being enough, balance matching the cells of the final pack, a healthy longevity of the packs, ability to self discharge for better longevity, ...
Your choice. I understand cost can be a differentiating factor. Be Safe. OEM DJI for me.
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