Replacement battery for P3A controller?

[Numone]

Hi .. where in Surrey are you ? I am over in West Byfleet

Surbiton....

 

[topmarks]

Hi everyone .. its been a while ! Happy New Year to you all, I hope your flying has been going well.

OK .. an update on my controller not charging and replacement battery issue.
Summary ... my controller would not go past the second/third light when charging regardless of how much it was used or left on charge. I would have to keep putting it on charge after the charge lights went out , this would take forever ... eventually getting it up to 50-60%.
My first move was to purchase a used battery for the controller (Phantom3 PRO version) which I found in the US ... fairly cheap and from a DJI store ... which I received no problem, installed and started the process again. BUT no luck ... same issue ! So it was not a battery problem.
At this stage I was thinking about trying a new battery as the DJI one uses a chip and I wanted to move away from that .... but I decided to go the proper route and return to DJI.

Luckily the controller was within the initial year return period .... I took it down to Maplins and they sent it back.

Also .. I didn't want to be without a controller and was not sure what DJI would do ... so I purchased another controller .. again from the US and at a very good price.
The controller was received after a week .... no issues and fully functional. It charges up as it should and also charged up the second battery. The controller works as expected .. I don't see any difference from the original I had ... so I don't have any issues at the moment.

And ... I also received a brand new controller from DJI .. so lucked out all around so far for not a big cost.
I might sell the new controller on EBAY or keep for a while .. not sure yet.

As DJI are holding us all to ransom with regards to using specialised batteries I am still considering adding an external generic battery to the controller .. as shown on google (use google to locate the American dude who shows you how). I dislike this approach by companies ... Apple use the same mentality ! but as things are working ok I will leave that for another day.

Hi there have a novice question you might think but I’m not even a basic electronics know how, could you tell me if I replace the dji controller battery with a gineric one that has a balance cable like the one the American guys does in the previous videos does the dji controller charger and charge port become redundant, is so do I need to purchase a charger to use on the balance lead, Mark

 

[Numone]

Hi there have a novice question you might think but I’m not even a basic electronics know how, could you tell me if I replace the dji controller battery with a gineric one that has a balance cable like the one the American guys does in the previous videos does the dji controller charger and charge port become redundant, is so do I need to purchase a charger to use on the balance lead, Mark

Which Mark are are you asking, Mark?

 

[solentlife]

Hi there have a novice question you might think but I’m not even a basic electronics know how, could you tell me if I replace the dji controller battery with a gineric one that has a balance cable like the one the American guys does in the previous videos does the dji controller charger and charge port become redundant, is so do I need to purchase a charger to use on the balance lead, Mark

To be honest - if the balance lead of a generic LiPo is accessible - that is a far better way to charge - slow but guaranteed proper full balanced charging of battery. Because there are balance lead only chargers available and for about $10 ... you don't need access to the main power lead of the battery.

One aspect that needs to be remembered .... on the Pro / Adv versions - the Controller charge lead supplies 17.4V and the controller drops that back to level needed to charge the battery ... I believe (needs confirmation) that the controller board has the voltage regulator ...... but I would still check carefully output to the battery connection to make sure its not still 17.4V ... because if its the battery board - then the generic battery without board will be 'fried' ...

Nigel