Battery Mod Info

[damoncooper]

1) BENEFITS

- 100% protection against DJI main battery shutdown (for any reason) in flight, cell failures, voltage sags, weather induced problems etc. Even if the TB4X main battery SHUTS OFF, the Inspire will keep flying on auxiliary battery power to get you home safely.

- Longer flight time. This thread documents flights on the Inspire v1 with an X3 camera of over 30 mins to 10%. Your rig and battery config will vary but you can definitely stay up longer.

- Less strain on main DJI TB4X batteries. Because DJI batteries are 10C, and with X5 and X5R putting more strain in these low C batteries, connecting up higher C external batteries significantly lessens the strain on the main battery as all batteries discharge together, providing power to the aircraft.

2) HOW TO

- For do-it-yourselfers:

Dropbox - Battery Mod DJI inspire.pdf

Credit to Michael Head for putting together the how to PDF.

- If you don't feel like doing the modification yourself, there are companies out there now that will do it for you for a fee, usually in the $75/battery range. I am aware of these two, ping me if you know of others and I can add them here:

In the US:

- Inspire 1 Power Mod - Midwest Horizon FPV Antennas

- FlyHighUSA - includes new white TB48, mount, mod, etc: DJI Inspire Battery Mod TB48

- FlyHighUSA - includes new black TB48, mount, mod, etc: DJI Inspire Battery Mod TB48

In the UK:

- FlyHighUSA will ship worldwide, see link above.

- Inspire 1 3 Power Mod V2

3) HOW TO ATTACH EXTERNAL BATTERIES

Methods can vary but are a lightweight but strong battery holder plate for folks with the X3, X5 or X5R camera I helped design with Neil Watts. (I get no remuneration from this, just glad to help others who want to do the mod get going quickly):

DJI Inspire 1 X3/X5 Dual Battery Plate - Aero3D

4) ADDITIONAL TIPS:

- if you are connecting one 6S or two 3S's (via series harness), you only need one set of wires coming out of the battery.

- If connecting two 6S's (my personal preference due to the Inspire's unique design and the ability to more easily mount and balance them), you can plug one in on either side of the modified battery OR connect the 2 X 6S external batteries via parallel harness first, then plug into one side of the modified battery.

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

thank you. what size (amps) batteries do you normally connect and how much extra flight time to you get if I may ask ??
I have seen people attaching 2 x 1300 amp, 2x 1800 and even 2 x 2200.. so I wonder..

 

[damoncooper]

I haven't had a lot of time to do testing but flight time on batteries I have tested so far have been in the 25 minutes range. 2 x 1300 6S batteries will get you there.

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

thanks. So if I strap on 2 x 2200 amps along with a TB48 I should be able to get at least 20 min on an i. pro. what do you think?
one more question. I guess you have fixed a kind of saddle underneath the battery compartment to stick out each side and to sustain the 2 side batteries. How did you fix that ? with the 2 screws at the bottom + the 1 central screw holding the sonar, or glue or??
one one the things I want to achieve is either a removable saddle o one that you can fold (hinged) up when you want to place the inspire in its bag or not using the additional side batteries. Any ideas.. suggestions??

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

I found these on the net.. somebody else experimenting in this direction

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

or these from UK

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

ideally a lightweight (carbon ??) hinged version like last pic which can be folded close on the 2 sides of battery compartment when not in use should be a nice option

 

[Carlsberg]

I'm super curious as to what the app says about the battery when energized?

 

[damoncooper]

After a bunch of experimentation, here's my current mounting solution. Weights almost nothing but I can pick up the entire aircraft by the external LiPo it's so strong. But it HAS to be 3M Dual Lock. It's rated at 1.5LB's per square inch for 10,000 hours at 200F. Do NOT try this with velcro. Your batteries could detach, hit the props, and puncture, resulting in a fire or mid air explosion. That would be bad.

 

[damoncooper]

I'm super curious as to what the app says about the battery when energized?

GO app looks like this when using extra batteries. Flight time + time remaining to home point is what to watch (17:30 + 9:47 in this example) and % remaining:

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

Thanks Damoncopter! Interesting !
so actually it looks like the go app takes into account in the remaining flight time calculation also of the remaining juice in the additional batteries, correct ?

 

[Alessandro beccaria]

what battery types and size are these 2 green ones shown in the pics?? 17:30 min remaining flight time with 42 % of battery percentage left looks amazing ! what didi it show when the batteries were 100% charged ??

 

[Kauaigene]

GO app looks like this when using extra batteries. Flight time + time remaining to home point is what to watch (17:30 + 9:47 in this example) and % remaining:

View attachment 4588

Your solution seem to not have the wires sticking out theories of the batteries if so how did you do that? (Sorry if you have answered this before)

 

[damoncooper]

Your solution seem to not have the wires sticking out theories of the batteries if so how did you do that? (Sorry if you have answered this before)

Sorry for the confusion there is a picture with a unmodified battery above but that was just to show positioning. The others show the modified battery powered on with the extra batteries and the wires do in fact extend from the modified main battery.

 

[damoncooper]

what battery types and size are these 2 green ones shown in the pics?? 17:30 min remaining flight time with 42 % of battery percentage left looks amazing ! what didi it show when the batteries were 100% charged ??

The green batteries are multistars. The screenshot above however is from a flight using two 6S 1300mah Nano techs

 

[keith whitehead]

I saw somewhere where they strapped on two 3s 1.3mah batteries and it was wired in series in the tb47 battery. think horizon hobby charges to do it. so you sure the capacity has to match?

 

[damoncooper]

I saw somewhere where they strapped on two 3s 1.3mah batteries and it was wired in series in the tb47 battery. think horizon hobby charges to do it. so you sure the capacity has to match?

Capacity absolutely does not have to match.

The screen shot I posted above was with the 2 x 6S 1300mah you just mentioned. Works great. I know in my case my TB48 is modified and got me 25:17 flight time with that exact setup.

 

[keith whitehead]

thanks for the info