I thought as much, it's just the charger that I have requires that a balancing cable be hooked up to start the charging.
Dual Battery Mod
- Thread starter Rocket_Aus
- Start date
Is it a digital charger? Most digital chargers will allow you to choose "charge, "vs "balance"charge some like yours tho may not.. sounds like to me you will need another charger :/
You can buy the venom pro duo like I have for 80-100$ on amazon and eBay. Hobby stores your looking about 100$.. but really all you need is any digital screened charger, even a cheap hobbyking one will work
Yah unfortunately that one won't work.. you need one that has more settings .. this one should be just fine.. I have seen ppl use these and other than the fans being very noisy they work just fine.. they don't have the highest amp rate settings but they get the job done and can be used for lots of different battery's
As you can see in this link.. the display allows for different settings like balance, charge, discharge, storage.. etc.
Only US$16.64, IMAX B6 80W Multi-function Professional Intelligent 1-6 Cells XT60 LiPo Battery Digital Balance Charger - RcMoment.com
Go back a page in this thread and check out my YouTube video.. It will show you exactly what to do when you get yours.. cuz every charger is basically setup the same.
Only US$16.64, IMAX B6 80W Multi-function Professional Intelligent 1-6 Cells XT60 LiPo Battery Digital Balance Charger - RcMoment.com
Go back a page in this thread and check out my YouTube video.. It will show you exactly what to do when you get yours.. cuz every charger is basically setup the same.
Thanks for the reply and help, I should have gone with the B6 Mini to began with. Didn't want to buy an extra power supply for another $10 or $20., that's why I went with the other as it plugs right into 120v ac.
Last edited:
No problem. and 80watt is plenty for a starter. Anything 80watt or above is good, I wouldn't get anything lower than 80 watt tho as it wouldn't discharge or storage charge very fast.. and you would be limited to prolly around only 4amps as a charge rate when parallel charging .
Always happy to help bro. Let us know which charger you end up with. And check eBay/Amazon lots of super good deals on lipo chargers right now.
Some chargers can accept ac or dc.. such as my venom, So when I'm out in the field all I gotta do is connect it to a jump box or car battery with the gator clips it came with and charge away. Needs at least 10v minimum to work properly
EDIT: I think I messed up man. Don't think that specific charger is a lithium high voltage charger.. which means it won't charge the phantom 3 battery fully, it will only charge it to 4.2v per cell.. which is ok to do, but you won't ever get a fully charged pack, only about 90% charges pack.
But idk if that bothers you.. but if you do indeed want one that charges LIHV like the p3 battery's then just make sure the charger you choose can charge both LIPO and LIHV and that it is at least an 80watt charger and you will be set..
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2015
- Messages
- 1,064
- Reaction score
- 309
I use 2 of these: Turnigy Accucel-6 80W 10A Balancer/Charger LiHV Capable
and 1 of these: HobbyKing 350w 25A Power Supply (100v~120v)
and 1 of these: HobbyKing 350w 25A Power Supply (100v~120v)
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2015
- Messages
- 1,064
- Reaction score
- 309
2x 4480mah (8960mah) aftermarket (PowerExtra) P3 batteries (LiHV) de-shelled and wired in parallel (661 grams with the 3M Dual Lock).
Not a lot of space left under the battery, maybe half an inch. I'll be takin it out to test flight time and handling this afternoon. I also have another single de-shelled DJi OEM battery (321 grams with the 3M Dual Lock) I'll test under there as well. I'll likely secure the batteries with some packing tape to the P3 on the sides as well. I don't completely trust the 3M Dual Lock although it is a pretty secure lock up.
Not a lot of space left under the battery, maybe half an inch. I'll be takin it out to test flight time and handling this afternoon. I also have another single de-shelled DJi OEM battery (321 grams with the 3M Dual Lock) I'll test under there as well. I'll likely secure the batteries with some packing tape to the P3 on the sides as well. I don't completely trust the 3M Dual Lock although it is a pretty secure lock up.
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2015
- Messages
- 1,064
- Reaction score
- 309
That's awesome. This is the one thing I haven't done, curious how the time is with it. That's a lot of lihv mah for the weight, amazingly good ratio if it works out. Keep us posted2x 4480mah (8960mah) aftermarket (PowerExtra) P3 batteries (LiHV) de-shelled and wired in parallel (661 grams with the 3M Dual Lock).
Not a lot of space left under the battery, maybe half an inch. I'll be takin it out to test flight time and handling this afternoon. I also have another single de-shelled DJi OEM battery (321 grams with the 3M Dual Lock) I'll test under there as well. I'll likely secure the batteries with some packing tape to the P3 on the sides as well. I don't completely trust the 3M Dual Lock although it is a pretty secure lock up.
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2015
- Messages
- 3,534
- Reaction score
- 2,041
- Age
- 47
2x 4480mah (8960mah) aftermarket (PowerExtra) P3 batteries (LiHV) de-shelled and wired in parallel (661 grams with the 3M Dual Lock).
Not a lot of space left under the battery, maybe half an inch. I'll be takin it out to test flight time and handling this afternoon. I also have another single de-shelled DJi OEM battery (321 grams with the 3M Dual Lock) I'll test under there as well. I'll likely secure the batteries with some packing tape to the P3 on the sides as well. I don't completely trust the 3M Dual Lock although it is a pretty secure lock up.
Fresh new ideas keepin this thread alive! I love it! Thanks phantom75.
Would ya mind postin a couple more pics of the wiring so I can see what you mean by "wired in parallel".
Any tips for soldering to those thin tabs?
Btw, I also use white elec tape to strap to the top of the bird in addition to the dual lock. Good work man!
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2015
- Messages
- 1,064
- Reaction score
- 309
I don't have any pictures of the finished product uncovered but I do have one with everything done except for the 3 balance wires from the 2nd battery to the first battery. I'll post that this afternoon. I'm about to head out to fly it now.
It's a pretty simple process though. There's a YouTube video of a guy doing it on a couple 4s batteries. He covers most things but is a little vague in some areas. I just googled parallel and series wiring for lipos and found the info. You'll want to double check each step with a volt meter and be extra careful not to cross connections either with exposed wiring or tools (soldering iron). I'll post the picture and more info when I get back.
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2015
- Messages
- 3,534
- Reaction score
- 2,041
- Age
- 47
I got a couple 50+ charged DJI bats that show 88%, for that reason they aren't really useful as main bats for long distance. Do you think if I skinned them out and made externals that they still would be poor batteries? Or does the smart board calculate the battery life by the amount of charge cycles or the actual health of the cells ?
Sorry for being a bit off topic here, but as you guys are into battery mods and therefore have good knowledge on battery charges as well, I have a real simplistic question. When comparing two battery chargers both capable of 1C charging rate for a battery in question. What's the difference in one being a higher wattage charger than the other? So for sake of argument let's say the battery is 3000 so my charge rate would be set to three amps. So what's the advantage of having a higher wattage charger if the lower wattage charger is capable of the same amperage output that you're going to use.
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2015
- Messages
- 645
- Reaction score
- 184
- Age
- 57
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2015
- Messages
- 1,064
- Reaction score
- 309
It is very very windy today, 20-25mph gusting to 30mph+. These two flights were mostly hovering and out maybe 1,500 ft and back several times, no real distance flying.
I opened the P3A up and ran a + and - cable (XT60) to the mainboard leads. Batteries are mounted underneath the VPS module (turned off).
Single de-shelled DJi OEM battery (4s LiHV 4480mah)
100% battery to 50% - 17minutes 15 seconds. The craft handled just fine without issue, as expected
2x new de-shelled PowerExtra aftermarket P3 batteries (2x 4s in Parallel 8960mah)
100% battery to 51% - 20 minutes 29 seconds. The craft handled poorly but controllable if you pay close attention. The wind was an absolute bear. I kept the P3 pointed directly into the wind and never put her nose with the wind. Heavier batteries like that along with the crazy wind and I believe I would risk the craft backflipping when it came to a braking stop.
Here are a few observations I made that I didn't realize when dealing with that heavier offset rear weight and such high wind.
1) Arming the motors in a strong wind (pointed directly into) can cause the P3 to rock backwards when the motors pulse right after arming. My P3 did not hit but after this happened once, even without an external battery, I paid attention and was quick on the forward stick even when it was on the ground to catch it from tilting back and having the rear props hit the ground.
2) Braking sensitivity in the GO app matters in heavy wind especially with external batteries. I told myself with the larger battery on there I would adjust the braking all the way down to avoid sudden braking stops and a backflip. Well in the wind even in GPS mode this affects the P3's ability to hold GPS position. The P3 will drift with the wind if this is too low and wind is too high. Once I realized this I watched it drift at the lowest setting then hold steady at the highest setting as I dialed it up in flight realtime. This was news to me and a bit shocking. I had the P3 out there a ways and looked down for a minute to check data. I looked up and the thing was drifting with the wind, I couldn't believe it. No it was not in ATTI mode it was still in GPS. Glad I know this now.
3) Heavy weight in high winds means the P3 is harder to control even in GPS mode. When moving it will drift and jerk trying to maintain level. It can be surprising. My advice is to stay in GPS mode and make short moves then hands off the sticks to let the P3 stop and GPS hold (braking of course adjusted as noted above). Making longer movements means it's effectively out of GPS lock and is susceptible to drift and the natural jerking back and forth in the wind as the craft tries to stay somewhat level.
In hindsight today was probably not a good day to fly period much less with external battery loads. I'll have to go out again sometime this week or next weekend and hope the wind is under 10mph instead of 20-30mph+. It looks like the 8960mah external battery performed not as good as expected, only ~4 minutes more of flight time. But I'm not sure I'd call this a valid test. It was so windy I was mostly hovering with that battery as opposed to flying out 1500ft and back and in circles with the smaller battery. I would hope the larger battery would get 7 minutes more than the smaller battery under ideal conditions.
I opened the P3A up and ran a + and - cable (XT60) to the mainboard leads. Batteries are mounted underneath the VPS module (turned off).
Single de-shelled DJi OEM battery (4s LiHV 4480mah)
100% battery to 50% - 17minutes 15 seconds. The craft handled just fine without issue, as expected
2x new de-shelled PowerExtra aftermarket P3 batteries (2x 4s in Parallel 8960mah)
100% battery to 51% - 20 minutes 29 seconds. The craft handled poorly but controllable if you pay close attention. The wind was an absolute bear. I kept the P3 pointed directly into the wind and never put her nose with the wind. Heavier batteries like that along with the crazy wind and I believe I would risk the craft backflipping when it came to a braking stop.
Here are a few observations I made that I didn't realize when dealing with that heavier offset rear weight and such high wind.
1) Arming the motors in a strong wind (pointed directly into) can cause the P3 to rock backwards when the motors pulse right after arming. My P3 did not hit but after this happened once, even without an external battery, I paid attention and was quick on the forward stick even when it was on the ground to catch it from tilting back and having the rear props hit the ground.
2) Braking sensitivity in the GO app matters in heavy wind especially with external batteries. I told myself with the larger battery on there I would adjust the braking all the way down to avoid sudden braking stops and a backflip. Well in the wind even in GPS mode this affects the P3's ability to hold GPS position. The P3 will drift with the wind if this is too low and wind is too high. Once I realized this I watched it drift at the lowest setting then hold steady at the highest setting as I dialed it up in flight realtime. This was news to me and a bit shocking. I had the P3 out there a ways and looked down for a minute to check data. I looked up and the thing was drifting with the wind, I couldn't believe it. No it was not in ATTI mode it was still in GPS. Glad I know this now.
3) Heavy weight in high winds means the P3 is harder to control even in GPS mode. When moving it will drift and jerk trying to maintain level. It can be surprising. My advice is to stay in GPS mode and make short moves then hands off the sticks to let the P3 stop and GPS hold (braking of course adjusted as noted above). Making longer movements means it's effectively out of GPS lock and is susceptible to drift and the natural jerking back and forth in the wind as the craft tries to stay somewhat level.
In hindsight today was probably not a good day to fly period much less with external battery loads. I'll have to go out again sometime this week or next weekend and hope the wind is under 10mph instead of 20-30mph+. It looks like the 8960mah external battery performed not as good as expected, only ~4 minutes more of flight time. But I'm not sure I'd call this a valid test. It was so windy I was mostly hovering with that battery as opposed to flying out 1500ft and back and in circles with the smaller battery. I would hope the larger battery would get 7 minutes more than the smaller battery under ideal conditions.
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2015
- Messages
- 1,064
- Reaction score
- 309
Nice. I might try that. I noticed you have an aftermarket carbon fiber gimbal mount? Do you know if the stock DJi mount is flippable as well?
