Received my Limefuel Battery today

[Damon]

OK, just checking.

 

[phantomi]

I think you're talking of the battery update that it is not an autoupdate. But in recent days dji update the Central Board to firmware 1.0.2.8 and this one is an auto update and it makes batteries with old firmwares unusables.

No. I'm fully updated. The battery worked before and after the update (including CB firmware 1.0.2.8).

What I am trying to say was I was instructed to remove aftermarket batteries before doing ANY firmware updates, and that all should work fine after that. So far, that has been my experience.

It's also possible that there's been a change to the battery (I just got mine under two weeks ago), in which case, affected battery owners should contact Limefuel.

Ok. I also ordered one from their last batch that must receive on friday. I hope not to have problems with it, altough I don't have 1.0.2.8. What do you think means the first item in the Limefuel description at Amazon. It states "DJI firmware battery update has been removed from the Assistant program as of 10/30/14; Limefuel Air is compatible with all DJI firmware updates".

 

[Damon]

My guess is you will not see a blue highlighted link in Phantom Assistant, to accidentally click on and thus brick the battery. Just a guess

 

[GhostMaster]

´
PHANTOM 2 VISION+ Product Release Notes
© 2014 DJI. All Rights Reserved. 1
Firmware Updates on November 28
Overview：
a) Central board firmware updated to v1.0.2.10.
Major New Features
a) Fixed potential gimbal issues that may arise when the remote controller signal is lost.
b) Improved the communication between the smart flight battery and the Phantom.
c) Fixed issues in communication between the smart flight battery and the compass.

Same thing... I bet third party lipos are now block and the genuine ones work as expected...

 

[GhostMaster]

Re: Limefuel battery users

PHANTOM 2 VISION+ Product Release Notes
© 2014 DJI. All Rights Reserved. 1
Firmware Updates on November 28
Overview：
a) Central board firmware updated to v1.0.2.10.
Major New Features
a) Fixed potential gimbal issues that may arise when the remote controller signal is lost.
b) Improved the communication between the smart flight battery and the Phantom.
c) Fixed issues in communication between the smart flight battery and the compass.

Same thing... I bet third party lipos are now block and the genuine ones work as expected...

 

[GSSP]

After reading this entire thread, my head hurts,,,, I pre ordered the 6000 and have the latest battery firmware,,, so I guess that was a waist of time and money

 

[Happyflyer]

After reading this entire thread, my head hurts,,,, I pre ordered the 6000 and have the latest battery firmware,,, so I guess that was a waist of time and money

I don't think so. If you don't update the actual battery, you may/should be OK. Just be sure you are not connected to the internet with that 6000 battery in the quad. Have an old DJI one in there.

 

[RobertMfromLI]

After reading this entire thread, my head hurts,,,, I pre ordered the 6000 and have the latest battery firmware,,, so I guess that was a waist of time and money

Limefuel claims they have fixed that "issue" and, so far (on v1.0.2.8), my very new battery works fine.

Hoping it stays that way, since I ordered two of the 6,000 mAh batteries.

And follow what Happyflyer (and I) said above. Keep around an OEM DJI battery to use for ANY AND ALL firmware updates. Never run any firmware updates with an aftermarket battery in the copter.

 

[GSSP]

Email response today from Limefuel:

NOV 28, 2014 | 10:15AM MST
Sarah replied:


Hi Gregory,
Thank you for your inquiry! This update must be done manually to the battery. Since you have not yet received the units, this means you have not applied the battery firmware update and they will work as expected with your DJI. Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,
-Team Limefuel



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOV 28, 2014 | 07:47AM MST
Original message
gsp171 wrote:


I have the latest DJI battery firmware and heard that this battery will NOT work. If this is true, please cancel my order.

 

[yawnalot29]

Re: Limefuel battery users

PHANTOM 2 VISION+ Product Release Notes

c) Fixed issues in communication between the smart flight battery and the compass.

I really wonder what exactly does that mean and what does one thing got to do with another.

 

[GSSP]

Probably means "install that **** aftermarket battery and I will crash and burn you and blame it on the battery"

 

[yawnalot29]

Probably means "install that **** aftermarket battery and I will crash and burn you and blame it on the battery"

Well, gz, I will take a pass on that upgrade.

 

[Droner_Aus]

Interested in seeing how this goes.

 

[Hughie]

Isn't this a non-starter?

DJI can lockout any competition because the main controller has to query the battery. If the battery status is not what the main controller expects, that battery cannot be used.

As far as I can see, the only way around this is to avoid updating the firmware which is sensitive to checking the battery.

This is not a viable business model for Limefuel surely. Their market size cannot grow because all new Phantoms will have later firmware applied, and many of the ones already out there will have done so too. The market is small and diminishing.

Perhaps a better way of breaking the DJI battery stranglehold is not to use cloned batteries, but instead to leave the DJI battery electronics as is and attempt to replace the battery cell unit itself.

 

[RobertMfromLI]

DJI can lockout any competition because the main controller has to query the battery. If the battery status is not what the main controller expects, that battery cannot be used.

I suspect, that with all the flack out there, DJI won't do that. I am also kinda sure they will make little to no effort to ensure their battery firmware updates won't brick an aftermarket battery. But, with the bad publicity in a quickly growing market (quad copters), I doubt they will try any longer to ensure aftermarket batteries don't work. I could be wrong.

That aside, we are nearing the point where I think firmware updates will slow to a crawl.

Perhaps a better way of breaking the DJI battery stranglehold is not to use cloned batteries, but instead to leave the DJI battery electronics as is and attempt to replace the battery cell unit itself.

Some people are already trying this. I bought dual Phantom 1 battery "shelves" to try the same thing. I was planning two 3s 3,400 mAh batteries attached to a DJI cap. The weight increase wouldn't be drastic (an extra 80g - 120g), but the power increase would be 1,600 mAh.

Either way, if the market is big enough (which I think it is, especially with all the Phantom 2 variants) v1, Vision, Vision+, Vision V2+, etc), I suspect that aftermarket battery manufacturers will do their best to continue to try to reverse engineer the electronics and keep their batteries compatible. Sure, that means there may be some problems along the way, but at some point, it becomes a losing battle for DJI that starts to cost them more money than it is making them.

A perfect example can be seen in laptops - specifically Dell crap, with the chargers that communicate with the laptop and report a "non OEM charger connected - charging rate limited" (and CPU throttling enabled). Aftermarket manufacturers kept at it, and Dell stopped trying to change things to make aftermarket chargers cease functioning. Now, there are a ton of clone aftermarket chargers.

 

[Hughie]

DJI can lockout any competition because the main controller has to query the battery. If the battery status is not what the main controller expects, that battery cannot be used.

I suspect, that with all the flack out there, DJI won't do that. I am also kinda sure they will make little to no effort to ensure their battery firmware updates won't brick an aftermarket battery. But, with the bad publicity in a quickly growing market (quad copters), I doubt they will try any longer to ensure aftermarket batteries don't work.

I dont think DJI could care less about popularity and flack. If they did they might invest a bit into customer support. Also I think that restricting to their own batteries could be argued as a reasonable thing to do from their point of view 1) so they are not being forced into replacing parts affected by third party batteries, and 2) as part a valid business model (post sales income).

 

[Droner_Aus]

Anyone ordered the 6000mAh version to be released shortly?

 

[Hughie]

I see that the L54P is now claiming to be compatible with DJI firmware updates.

*1/1/2015 New Release- Limefuel Air is compatible and upgradeable with DJI firmware updates.

http://www.amazon.com/Limefuel-Replacem ... roduct_top

 

[J.James]

Looks like a nice law suit being its against US federal law for any manufacture to make it so that some one can not use after market parts or consumables in there product and they also can not suggest that using another makers parts will void any warrantys which DJI has been doing. and is considered to also be defamation of others products being it makes the user think that non oem parts are inferior or not as good. and the law says they can only force you to use the oem parts and consumables if they are provided from from the oem. They also are guilty of breaking the law if they ever put it in writing that using another brand after markets parts will void a warranty. All of which dji has done and there are people that have the copys of it in black and white. an all the proof that would be needed if there was ever any law suits. and I sure as heck having seen DJI saying they will give any one free battery's to keep some one from voiding any warranty or using any one elses battery's. So they would not have any leg to stand on in any US court as far as being able to put up any defense to them violating consumer product laws.

 

[Hughie]

True, but then again its a global market not a US one.
And somehow I have this feeling that DJI dont give a toss

Interesting though that the battery f/w update seems to have gone, around about the same time that LimeFuel claim compatibility from 1/1/15.