Reconditioning batteries

@yorlik - Glad you got it, at least you are interested in seeking more answers. I wish you luck in finding any.

I'm sneaking up on one year with the batteries, so it's expected results for the others. Thanks for the head's up.

FWIW, I would run my batteries typically down to <20% more often than not. Reading @justin00 tales of batteries, I'd have to say that I over did it. Live and learn, but that would mean 10min flight time with my units. That's far from advertised. Further, battery #1 is my originally supplied battery for the P2V+. Numbers 2 & 3 were purchased separate, I've wondered if the quality was less with these...appears so.

It would be interesting if someone came up with a battery by-pass for the smart side of things. I don't think I will be replacing phantom batteries into the future. I've decided to pursue another platform that is better suited for my needs to tinker. I do look forward to your findings, so will check-in as time permits.
 
Phantom is still in pieces from bit of an overhaul / secret mod (will disclose once confirmed) I was doing before I went away. Started putting it back tigether last night. Weather is bad atm so not in a hurry. Will post up assistamt data in nxt couple of nights for those interested.

Its my bday on thus so gf is going to get me a new battery.....interesting your thoughts on 'extra' batteries Rich....hopefully not true :) all thhough my p2v+ deal included extra battery and its worked exact same as the one in the box.

Sounds like a P3 is amazing... on an unrelated topic.. just a shame its $2k aus and my bday limit is a few $100... very grateful for the few $100... just wish P3 was 20 times cheaper. No point me messing around with modding wifi module now :/ had sum nice tricks id figured out to..
 
Explanation to the supplemental battery theory.... I sell commercial grade battery operated tools, Li-ion. My direct competitor went with a third party battery platform, good technology with all the bells and whistles. Problem they had, Home Depot sells the identical battery, part number wise . Customers were picking up replacements from HD, cheaper and convenient. Anyway they got what they paid for, the batteries had a shorter battery charge and pooped out in half the time. Competitor put out a bulletin "expressing" the differences and not to buy retail batteries.

Battery assembly and testing is multi-tiered for expected quality. You basically have 1st, 2nd and trash quality once assembled. They know, by testing, what battery will perform to spec's.

A battery manufacture marketing their own battery is less likely to sell anything less than 1st quality, if they want to sell batteries long term. Private labeled stuff will start with 1st and then turn to 2nd quality if not monitored. I could go on further, it's my theory for the battery market. In the end the consumer loses by supporting these practices, typically unaware.

As a side note, the batteries I sell have a 5 year warranty and are priced competitive to my competition that carries a 2 year warranty. Wish the RTF market would provide greater than a tail light warranty.
 
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Richwest, I have to run to an appointment, ut did first round of tests. confirmed dji data on capacity left; full dji charge yesterday to 3800mah capacity, just now ICE discharged at 1C rate for 54 minutes, when it cut off on hi temp (I set 90C on case). It pulled out 3629mah, had 284mah left, so right at 3800 like dji says. batt resistance is good 68milliohms. all 3 cells differ by upto 40mv - THIS is why dji opens 'bad cell' window, and prob why it is only 3800mah... unbalanced cells.

Next will be to open her up and charge/discharge EACH cell pair to see if my theory is correct and they balance again - which then MAY bring capacity back to like new! But need more time!
 
I am open to any ideas what and how to test everyone!

I think my next step will not be individual charge/discharges of each cell group, but stick with dji charge then individual discharge of each cell; see WHERE exactly the 3800mah capacity is stored.... I am guessing it will mostly be in the higher voltage cell and so the lower voltage ones are dying and dropping off quickly to make it drop quick at the end of a flight. That is my thesis to prove or disprove....
 
JUst finished with a couple cells from a defective battery (not worn out like this) on another thread:

http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/send-me-your-defective-battery-for-testing.39820/

So back to yours Rich. I showed that dji assistant data was very close and matched your last shown on sn 2733, so that was good. 3800mah capacity left.

I just took case off it and will now discharge each of the 3 cell groups to see how they fair....

I charge at 1C, similar to dji, and disharge at 2C (so 10.4a, so not too far less than a typical real flight) down to 3.2v as end point.

BTW, wish someone would back engineer the schematic of these. Under the case, the pcb has a RED LET lite - probably showing the bad cell info.... more when I get data. Off to discharge.
 
B3 set: 3667mah total (sparky 2-3.2ah)
B2 set: 4942 sweet discharge curve
B1 set: 4472 not bad curve; like most, nose dive at end = means 3.2 is too low??

So as I figured, one set is holding the other 2 sets down to limit total batt capacity. Remember, this is only from dji charge.

Next I will charge EACH set independently then discharge them to see if they can be made to balance once again to the highest number rather than the lowest number as it appears today.

I took pix of the discharge in case anyone wants to see them and see what I mean by 'sparky' - that needs research.

It is interesting to note that pulling 4472mah (86% of a new battery, or said another way, discharge fully charge batt to 14%) took 27 minutes @ 10 amps..... sorta jives with fly time we typically see...

I do bet that by taking one lead loose from smart cpu board we can 'reset' it to new - if capacity comes up and the make the 'bad cell' message go away accordingly.

I could be all wet and wasting my time, but.....
 
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Oh no - now you've done it.. RECYCLING.. pretty soon we'll make those crazy Chinnese help with the clean up of the Pacific Gyr. :) Seriously though.. there are some fundamental issue associated with shipping "damaged" lithium batteries through the mail... It's a good point and worth looking into but an even better battery is a SuperCapacitor which has NO LITHIUM in it... just Carbon...Hmm.. Let's not for forget Solar or even the Sterling Engine (it's good enough for Satellites.
 
...but an even better battery is a SuperCapacitor which has NO LITHIUM in it... just Carbon...Hmm.. Let's not for forget Solar or even the Sterling Engine (it's good enough for Satellites.

We wish!

Unfortunately, super caps are not capable of storing much ENERGY; just power. So they are great for filling in the gaps in POWER during an acceleration for instance, but NFG for storing energy efficiently. Pop one the same size as our dji battery in its place and maybe get 1 minute run time out of it.... But don't take my word for it, google it and find examples like this:

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/5634/supercap-compared-to-a-battery

And I hope the day comes that we can have a solar cell that will fit on the top of the phantom that can deliver 30 amps@ 12volts (360watts) like we use, rather than today's capabiliy of about 0.01 amp @3volts (0.03watts) for that size!
 
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Note on Richwest batt I have been testing and charginging cells individually on... My post #47 cell capcities have proven very consistent thru multiple charge/discharge cycles. So cell B3 group is holding the others back. On this battery, I see it as the gating factor for the total cell capacity. dji does not use the additional capacity in the other cells, but instead limits all 3 sets to the lowest capacity... Hence this battery reports 3600mah full capacity...

I had hoped the low cell group could be charged back up independently of the others and thus come back up to their capacities. But that did not happen with this batt...

Not sure if this is how ALL batts will be or if this one is unique with a lower capacity cell group. I Need more than 1 batt to test to see.

Since I have 2 good/like-new 5200mah cells, I may replace this low cell set and see if dji then calls this batt the next lowest (4472mah capacity)...

MIght be time to search for supplier of these cells to be able to replace them all with new for much lower cost than a new battery... Anyone find the battery supplier yet? I listed the cell names and model numbers earlier in case anyone wants to start researching it....
 
A little research will help us all folks - come one and help!

I found new cells for as little as $ 1.20 each on Alibaba. I see them for $ 12.00 on ebay. surely you guys can find these for a few bucks available in low volume! Am I the only one that wants this?
 
wow $68 for a new LCD display model, and with the newer 27mah cells to boot! Guess when time comes I probably will buy one of THESE as my next replacement! thanks for link.

BTW, I am finding a lot of 2600 & 2700mah CELL replacements via google from China (where they all seem to be made). Prices offered from $1 to 15. Even $14 cells on ebay (probably someone who also searched and found the low cost ones and is reselling them).
 

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