I picked up a Powerextra brand battery for my P3A on an Amazon lightning deal for $60. I know a lot of people swear against all off-brand batteries but this one had really good reviews (>4 stars) and figured at half the price of a DJI battery it was worth a shot.
I haven't had any problems with it not properly latching into the UAV as others reported in their reviews, but on the very first flight I got a "Battery Damaged" warning in the DJI app. I looked at the log on HealthyDrones and there were major cell deviations nearly constantly for that flight. I've probably flown 5-6 more charge cycles on this battery with absolutely no performance issues, and I only ever got the battery warning on that first flight, but the major cell deviations have persisted for every flight.
I'm not sure what to make of major cell deviations - I understand that it's bad when LiPos charge/discharge unevenly across the cells, but what is likely to be the outcome? Does this just mean shortened lifespan for my battery? Or is my P3A at risk of suddenly dropping out of the sky at any moment?
I'm starting to think the cheaper battery wasn't worth it purely from a confidence perspective. With my DJI batteries I don't even worry about it when I'm in the air, but I find I'm flying much more cautiously with this off-brand battery, and it's just not fun to fly when I'm nervous about the thing falling out of the sky without warning.
Thoughts? Any other experiences with this brand of batteries?
I haven't had any problems with it not properly latching into the UAV as others reported in their reviews, but on the very first flight I got a "Battery Damaged" warning in the DJI app. I looked at the log on HealthyDrones and there were major cell deviations nearly constantly for that flight. I've probably flown 5-6 more charge cycles on this battery with absolutely no performance issues, and I only ever got the battery warning on that first flight, but the major cell deviations have persisted for every flight.
I'm not sure what to make of major cell deviations - I understand that it's bad when LiPos charge/discharge unevenly across the cells, but what is likely to be the outcome? Does this just mean shortened lifespan for my battery? Or is my P3A at risk of suddenly dropping out of the sky at any moment?
I'm starting to think the cheaper battery wasn't worth it purely from a confidence perspective. With my DJI batteries I don't even worry about it when I'm in the air, but I find I'm flying much more cautiously with this off-brand battery, and it's just not fun to fly when I'm nervous about the thing falling out of the sky without warning.
Thoughts? Any other experiences with this brand of batteries?