Replacement Lithium Ion battery for Drift Stealth 2

[TomS_]

Hi everyone, self confession: Ive been living under a rock and really dont understand anything about lithium ion batteries, configurations, options etc.

I have a Drift Stealth 2 camera which I attach to my helmet when riding a motorbike, you know, incase anything happens, like pedestrians stepping out in front of me while filtering through traffic and spilling their frappuccino all over me after I run in to them... true story. Its a couple of years old now and the battery is shot - I'll be lucky to get 20 minutes recording time out of it, which barely covers half of my commute. Drift wont supply replacement parts, apparently they cannot facilitate DIY repairs. So for a while I have resorted to sticking it under the nose of my bike with a USB cable to power it while riding. But I really want it back up on my helmet because the view is better, and its more of a "it records what I am seeing/looking at" kind of aspect.

Blah blah blah ....... To the point...

Attached is a photo of the battery inside the unit. I wonder if anyone can suggest a similar replacement. I dont mind if it wont be the same capacity, the crucial thing is that it fits within the camera itself, and if I know what to look for in the future I could easily replace it again when needed. 103443 seems to be a reference to the dimensions of the battery? But trying to find a battery that size seems difficult. Its not even listed on the manufacturers website.

The 3rd wire seems to be for a temperature sensor, so that is something I'd like to maintain, as it seems some batteries only have 2 wires?

Thanks!

[jaredwolff]

You're lucky, seems like the battery has most of the information you need to find a replacement.

It's a typical LiPo - 3.7V
It's 1500mAH
It even looks like the manufacturer's name is on there.

You have the battery so you know how big it is. Bear in mind that LiPo batteries do swell. So when looking for a new one definitely aim to find one that is the same size if not smaller than this one with the same capacity.

The yellow wire is typically a temperature sensor. This is the tricky part. Without seeing exactly what's expected on that input it could prevent your camera from turning on. Some battery packs, just like this one, have a NTC on board but most cheap off the shelf packs, as you observed, do no have this.

So, if you connect a pack with a different NTC, it may be fine it may not be. The NTC is there for safety, so unless you have an exact replacement I'd shy away from DIY..

Thus, I suggest you can request some samples or just outright ask to purchase a sample from the company. A Google search should reveal their website and contact information. Just look for the sales email. You have the model number (103443) so they should be able to understand what you need. Though, if this is a custom pack, you will likely not be able to get samples and that will stop your project right there.

[SMdude]

If you find a suitable size cell, and the temperature sensor is incorrect, you can always re-use the old protection circuit from the old battery.
Just be careful when soldering as the cell is live, you don't want to short anything out.

To determine what temp sensor is used, you can measure its resistance at different temperatures and match it to one. It is most likely 10k ntc.