Phantom 2 Aftermarket Batteries - chargers

[hskb]

Hi all,
Newb here, I am interested in buying a P2 with/without the gimbal. The reason it holds me back is the 'built-in' battery.

I don't have the patience to wait for the battery to charge. Normally, when I charge LIPOs, i want to do it quick since I'd like to attend while charging for safety reason. I want to be able to balanced charge 4-6 5000+mA batteries within 30-40 mins or so and I already have power-supply and charger for it.

Now my questions are:
1. Can the P2 use regular after market batteries? I understand that I will give up the percentage report from the small LED.
2. What does the small wire in this connector do? I am thinking of finding a way to fool the controller if these wire providing a mean of Battery is on or off.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 ... power.html

I tried to search but nothing came up for p2 battery mod.
Thank you very much for your inputs.
hskb

 

[LuvMyTJ]

There are ways to use an aftermarket charger if it has the right settings or there are ways to charge multiple P2 batteries at the same time. As far as another option for the battery itself I dont know of other options... Yet. They will come I'm sure. I was on the fence too but went with the P2 for the firmware and ease of upgrades for things like FPV and gimbals, etc.

 

[Fink]

I have yet to see any aftermarket batteries, nor any aftermarket battery accessories with the exception of a parallel charge adapter on Amazon that looked like a 12 year old made it in shop class and the car charger that's posted in the topic on the homepage, but that won't speed things up for you. I'd recommend just getting another battery or two along with an extra charger for each and have them all going at the same time.

Is your biggest gripe just that it takes so long to charge? I have multiple 3S (11.1v) LiPos and a balance charge from a decent charger (Thunder AC680) from around 20% charge takes right around the same amount of time that the DJI charger takes. For me, it's about peace of mind that the battery I'm using will communicate well with the Phantom and provide the performance that I need out of my $700 that's flying around from Lord knows how high up.

Just my $.02.

Fink

 

[hskb]

Yes, I can't see myself waiting to charge 3-4 batteries with the included charger for sure. Anyone knows what that little wire in the battery connector does?
Below is a snapshot of my charger in action. I can do continuous charging at over 40A rate and be done with them in no time

I also store all my batteries in a fireproof box outside of the house, and not leaving in the car or house unattended.

 

[Bugsbunnyheli]

The Phantom 2 battery has no external wires.
We are stuck until a company makes a compatible battery.. :?

 

[hskb]

The Phantom 2 battery has no external wires.
We are stuck until a company makes a compatible battery.. :?

One could solder an external connector (i.e. XT60) and try a way to secure the battery to the shell?

 

[LuvMyTJ]

As I recall there is another problem. The Phantom Naza will only accept Phantom 2 batteries. Using a non-Phantom branded Naza fixes that problem.

 

[Amra]

That's a nice charger, the Cellpro Powerlab 6, was considering getting one myself and use my 12v leisure battery as input.