Mini 3 & 4 battery compatibility.

OldGuy · May 11, 2024

I have a Mini 3 and have recently purchased the Mini 4 Pro. I got a good deal on the Mini 4 Pro plus I already had my Mini 3 batteries which were compatible with the new mini 4 Pro. So I only had to buy the 4 Pro with one battery which was a good saving. However today I decided to fly the Mini 3 with the Mini 4 Pro battery and got the following message on the tablet screen “Incompatible battery version. Change battery”. The Mini 3 batteries do work with the Mini 4 Pro but the 4 battery does not work with the Mini 3. Has Anyone else had this experience?

Lifeisfun · May 11, 2024

Are these genuine DJi batteries? Known issue after latest update if not.

msinger · May 11, 2024

OldGuy said:
The Mini 3 batteries do work with the Mini 4 Pro but the 4 battery does not work with the Mini 3. Has Anyone else had this experience?

As advertised in the DJI Store here, Mini 4 Pro batteries are only compatible with the Mini 3 Pro.

OldGuy · May 11, 2024

Lifeisfun said:
Are these genuine DJi batteries? Known issue after latest update if not.

Yes, I always buy genuine DJI batteries.

Vic Moss · May 12, 2024

Might be a firmware issue. Make sure the firmware matches.

JimSteadman · May 12, 2024

I got the same message when I tried to use m3p batteries in an m4p.

Ken1403 · May 12, 2024

Yes the batteries will work in both but the firmware is different and you will need to update the batteries each time if you change aircraft models. I had a Mini 3 pro and use the batteries in the mini 4 pro after updating.

OldGuy · May 13, 2024

Vic Moss said:
Might be a firmware issue. Make sure the firmware matches.

Will get my young tech friend to help me with that. Thanks.

Kilrah · May 13, 2024

As mentioned previously according to the store page the Mini 4 Pro battery works in the Mini 3 Pro but not in the Mini 3.

OldGuy · May 13, 2024

Kilrah said:
As mentioned previously according to the store page the Mini 4 Pro battery works in the Mini 3 Pro but not in the Mini 3.

The Mini 3 Pro has lots of bells and whistles compared to the basic Mini 3 but I wouldn't have thought that the batteries would be different. It doesn't make sense!

Droning on and on... · May 13, 2024

OldGuy said:
The Mini 3 Pro has lots of bells and whistles compared to the basic Mini 3 but I wouldn't have thought that the batteries would be different. It doesn't make sense!

It does when you understand that they aren't simple batteries, but have an embedded processor that's running the BMS, and as others have noted there is firmware involved.

OldGuy · May 14, 2024

Droning on and on... said:
It does when you understand that they aren't simple batteries, but have an embedded processor that's running the BMS, and as others have noted there is firmware involved.

If it's a firmware issue then I should be able to somehow make it compatible with the Mini 3?

Kilrah · May 14, 2024

OldGuy said:
If it's a firmware issue then I should be able to somehow make it compatible with the Mini 3?

No, DJI would need to. They would have if they could/wanted.

Droning on and on... · May 14, 2024

OldGuy said:
If it's a firmware issue then I should be able to somehow make it compatible with the Mini 3?

See posts 5, 7.

The battery BMS participates in the remaining time calculation, and this is tuned for each drone model. As such, you need battery firmware specific to the model for correct operation of the drone.

It's quite a plus to even be able to use Mini 3 Pro batteries in the 4 Pro. This is rare with DJI products. I'm very grateful to DJI for spending the engineering cost to make this work, it allowed me to truly upgrade to the 4 Pro from the 3 Pro FMC, and spend much less.

I suspect I'm not alone here

OldGuy · May 15, 2024

Droning on and on... said:
See posts 5, 7.

The battery BMS participates in the remaining time calculation, and this is tuned for each drone model. As such, you need battery firmware specific to the model for correct operation of the drone.

It's quite a plus to even be able to use Mini 3 Pro batteries in the 4 Pro. This is rare with DJI products. I'm very grateful to DJI for spending the engineering cost to make this work, it allowed me to truly upgrade to the 4 Pro from the 3 Pro FMC, and spend much less.

I suspect I'm not alone here

I'm also grateful that I can use my Mini 3 batteries in my new Mini 4 Pro with the appropriate saving. I was just surprised that the reverse was not possible. As I only have 1 Mini 4 battery and 2 Mini 3 batteries it's no big deal. Cheers.

lvisz87 · May 16, 2024

The batteries for the 4 Pro are slightly lighter than the ones for the 3 Pro. The 4 Pro will exceed 249gr with the 3 (Pro) batteries, thats the reason for the error. It’s about a non-conformity for this 249gr class. Aftermarket plus batteries will not work in the 4 Pro - blocked in firmware updates.

OldGuy · Friday at 4:18 AM

lvisz87 said:
The batteries for the 4 Pro are slightly lighter than the ones for the 3 Pro. The 4 Pro will exceed 249gr with the 3 (Pro) batteries, thats the reason for the error. It’s about a non-conformity for this 249gr class. Aftermarket plus batteries will not work in the 4 Pro - blocked in firmware updates.

My problem is that the Mini 4 battery will not work in my Mini 3.
My Mini 3 batteries including a plus battery do work in my Mini 4.

Droning on and on... · Friday at 10:06 AM

OldGuy said:
My problem is that the Mini 4 battery will not work in my Mini 3.
My Mini 3 batteries including a plus battery do work in my Mini 4.

Got it. DJI, for reasons of their own that might be technical, doesn't want to support then in the Mini 3.

Since they seem to have no problem spending development resources to provide forward compatability for the Mini3P batteries, my money's on some significant technical obstacle that they're not going to spend a bunch of engineering resources on fixing.