DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

New Air2S $30 battery mod giving 35% extra battery life. Lightweight 1800mah 70c Battery Attached - 7-29-2021

I just looked up the payload capacities of the MA2 and The Mav2Zoom, the sheet says they are both 500grams. That can't be right, because, when I fly a MA2 with the same payload as I place on a Mav2Zoom the flight time on the MA2 drops by 50%, while the Mav2Zoom drops by 20%. They may be able to lift the same weight on the data sheets, but the effect of the weight on their flight times is significantly different. Statistical data can be very misleading. The MA2 can lift 500 grams yes, but it has to use a lot more power to do it than the Mav2Zoom. Get it?
Very interesting.
I suspect they just flat out got the "payload capacity" wrong for the MA2; based on some of the firmware/release incompatabilities I've seen (probably due to lack of regression testing), it wouldn't be a complete surprise.
 
Good to know. Can you post the weight and dimensions of that battery?
I'm only seeing ~20% (and that might be generous) increase in battery life with my implementation (on the MA2), but you are using a significantly higher capacity (about 3x) battery...which means more weight.
Check out the pro-tek graphene lihv 11.4v 4500mah
 
Check out the pro-tek graphene lihv 11.4v 4500mah
Just did.
Looks like I can use my LiPo charger...although I won't get full capacity (but still more than I'm getting now). My only concerns are:
  • they are still heavy (>200g)
  • even the "shorty" is a bit longer than my current one (by >20mm)
I'll have to think about it, but thanks for mentioning.
Edit: gotta have that XT60 connector!
 
Last edited:
Just did.
Looks like I can use my LiPo charger...although I won't get full capacity (but still more than I'm getting now). My only concerns are:
  • they are still heavy (>200g)
  • even the "shorty" is a bit longer than my current one (by >20mm)
I'll have to think about it, but thanks for mentioning.
Edit: gotta have that XT60 connector!
I shortened the cable and added my own XT60, however, I think I may just solder it to the original battery and remove the xt60 adapter, or solder an xt60 female plug onto the battery
 
I shortened the cable and added my own XT60, however, I think I may just solder it to the original battery and remove the xt60 adapter, or solder an xt60 female plug onto the battery
I like the bolded (by me) part, but I don't see the value in eliminating connector: just makes it hard to add/remove. Either way, probably have to solder the connector on to the existing cable (or battery).
 
I like the bolded (by me) part, but I don't see the value in eliminating connector: just makes it hard to add/remove. Either way, probably have to solder the connector on to the existing cable (or battery).
Just trying to eliminate as much weight as possible. I managed to procure another intelligent flight battery for $89. I will disassemble it and wrap with electrical tape.
The guy in this video disassembled the battery and I see a cable I’m assuming is the balance cable, and a (+) and (-) lead. Can anyone confirm that I can remove the bms and power button, and can just solder a male xt60 connector to those leads, and use the balance connector to charge with my lihv charger?
 
I have never played with the DJI batteries but played plenty with the Autel X-Star batteries. Anytime I have removed the bms from the equation the drone App would give a unknown battery error and not allow flight.
 
I agree. So, you're really gonna try this mod too? Great! We will have to share our results. It's like we are the only ones interested in doing this. I did have a Mav Air 2 but it fell into salt water. It was ruined. But compared to the Air2S it seemed to have more flight time than the 3 minute difference between the 2 drones. Flight time i'm just not willing to give up. My frustration got the best of me. So, I started looking into these battery mods. I'm amazed not more people are doing it. It's simple, inexpensive and has been shown to work without risk since 2018. One guy even got a Mini 1 to fly for 80 minutes in a hover. 80 minutes! It's on you tube. He kept adding different battery types and MAh ratings until he finally got 80 minutes. That's incredible.
I'm finding this interesting butam happy with the stock flight times, though might try it later. You guys are great. Thanks.
 
The guy in this video disassembled the battery and I see a cable I’m assuming is the balance cable, and a (+) and (-) lead. Can anyone confirm that I can remove the bms and power button, and can just solder a male xt60 connector to those leads, and use the balance connector to charge with my lihv charger?
Sorry it took me so long to view/respond!
That does look like a "balance" cable/lead (has the correct number of pins for a 3S1P battery pack), and I believe you could solder an XT60 connector to those 2 leads...but I'm confused as to why there are 4 cells in that pack (and not 3)?!
There were some comments in the YouTube video about maintaining power to the controller, and may be some issues with the welding vs soldering...but I think you are on the right track.
I wish there was a (easy) way to integrate/build a bigger battery pack (which would require the ability to access/modify the controller), because simply adding capacity to the existing pack via an XT60 connector (like we have been doing) doesn't allow for proper monitoring/processing of the extra capacity.
 
Sorry it took me so long to view/respond!
That does look like a "balance" cable/lead (has the correct number of pins for a 3S1P battery pack), and I believe you could solder an XT60 connector to those 2 leads...but I'm confused as to why there are 4 cells in that pack (and not 3)?!
There were some comments in the YouTube video about maintaining power to the controller, and may be some issues with the welding vs soldering...but I think you are on the right track.
I wish there was a (easy) way to integrate/build a bigger battery pack (which would require the ability to access/modify the controller), because simply adding capacity to the existing pack via an XT60 connector (like we have been doing) doesn't allow for proper monitoring/processing of the extra capacity.

Hi there,

I read this whole thread and I am very intrigued. I have built custom drones using standard XT60 packs and I am looking at pulling the trigger on an Air2 or Mavic 3. I would love to use my parts/batteries.chargers I have to extend fly time of the Air 2 vs paying and extra 1k for the M3. Any thoughts? How has the extended battery mod been working?
 
Hi there,

I read this whole thread and I am very intrigued. I have built custom drones using standard XT60 packs and I am looking at pulling the trigger on an Air2 or Mavic 3. I would love to use my parts/batteries.chargers I have to extend fly time of the Air 2 vs paying and extra 1k for the M3. Any thoughts? How has the extended battery mod been working?
The truth is, I haven't used the "extended flight time" much because I haven't needed it. However, it does work (with the connector/adapter mentioned in this thread) with the caveat that flight times/data reported by the (base) battery are wholly incorrect. These 3S1P battery packs are useful for many things (powering laptops and even jump-starting cars--if it's an EV), so I continue to experiment with it from time to time.
 
Hi, resurrecting a dead thread here I know, but does anyone know where I could get one of the startRC adapters (or equivalent) to do this mod? I got my hands on the batteries but the startRC site doesn’t list the adapter anymore and when I google it, it comes up on aliexpress but says “unavailable.”

I really want to add the extra batteries to my air 2S, as I had a very scary near-disaster tonight when a battery malfunctioned - went from 30% to “shutting down” suddenly - and I lost my drone for a harrowing half hour until finally finding it in the field next to my house. I’m thinking the extra 20-30% would have saved my bacon in this sort of unusual situation.

Or if you could point me in the direction of another write up on how to do this with another adapter, I’d appreciate it! Thank you!
 
I bought one also from aliexpress but have no idea where it is now. Never used it and probably at the bottom of my drone junk drawer lol
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,592
Messages
1,554,161
Members
159,593
Latest member
mini2+