Aftermarket Battery??

[Jarrettc24]

I am wondering if it is even remotely possible to purchase an 4s lipo and hook it up manually and use it to fly. Though it won't be pretty looking. Will it even work? I don't think it would without a way for the drone to communicate to the remote its percentage but I would love to hear any input.

 

[cynfab]

It is possible, not easy, but it can be done and it flies. And yes there is communication to the Solo as to current draw, voltage and remaining capacity.
However with the price of Solo batteries today, it is hardly worth the effort. In the future when there are no more Solo batteries, maybe.

 

[Freebird32]

Your best bet would be to have the internal PCBs (from an existing stock battery) to connect to your replacement 4S cells. There was someone who tore one apart on this forum (New Solo! Bad day.... attery errors?) and has pics of those PCBs. I agree that you might not need to making your own just yet, since there seems to be a plentiful supply right now. In the future if there are no replacements this would have to be the way to recycle old spent batteries. Hopefully they don't just get discarded.
There was also a recent thread where they were able to read the smart battery data off the battery. (Success! Reading smart battery data)

 

[STMPNGRND]

interesting...
Cameron Sino selling Solo compatible batteries on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Cameron-Sino...=1480790923&sr=8-10&keywords=3dr+solo+battery
Maybe I missed it discussed earlier but is Cameron Sino the battery manufacturer that supplied 3dr??? https://www.cameronsino.com/profile.aspx

 

[Marich]

Seems the best thing to do right now is simply stock up on original Solo batteries at 50 bucks a pop. It's kinda weird paying 1/3 the price we did originally.

 

[Jarrettc24]

Thanks for the replies! Seems you guys are right that at $50 you may as well just stock up on batteries. It just seemed to good to be true to pay $25 for a 4s pack and simply plug it in and go.