Flip 3rd Generation Camcorder Replacement Battery 3.7V 1200mAh

Flip M3160 / F460 3rd Generation — 3.7V Li-ion Replacement Battery (LP553450)

This is a 3.7V, 1200mAh Li-ion cell built to replace the original battery in the Flip Video 3rd Generation camcorder, F460, and M3160 models. The Flip pocket camcorder draws steady current during video capture, and the original cell typically degrades within two to three years of regular use. This replacement restores full operating power to the camera body.

• M3160, F460, and 3rd Gen platform: These models share the same battery bay dimensions, connector pinout, and 3.7V nominal voltage rail. The LP553450 cell format — 50.20 x 36.70 x 5.50mm — seats correctly in all three without modification.
• Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell through charge and discharge cycles on the M3160 body. The BMS accepted the cell without fault codes, and voltage held stable across sustained recording loads at the 3.7V nominal rail.
• First-cycle initialisation on the Flip body: Insert the new cell and run one full charge cycle through the camera's own USB charging circuit before heavy recording. The Flip's charge management IC maps the remaining-battery indicator against a full charge baseline — skipping this step can cause the indicator to read incorrectly from the start.

Why the Flip 3rd Gen shows a dead battery icon on a new cell

The Flip camcorder uses a simple voltage-threshold method to estimate remaining charge — it does not have a sophisticated fuel gauge IC. A new Li-ion cell shipped at storage voltage (typically 3.6–3.8V) can sit just below the camera's "full charge" threshold, triggering a low-battery or dead indicator on first insertion. Charging the cell fully via the camera's USB port before recording resets this. Once the camera has seen a complete charge cycle, the indicator tracks correctly.

Battery percentage dropping suddenly mid-recording session

During continuous video capture, the Flip's processor, sensor, and write buffer all draw current simultaneously. If the cell's internal resistance is elevated — either from age or from a shallow first cycle — voltage sags under combined load, and the camera's threshold comparator interprets that sag as a sharp drop in charge. The fix is to complete a full charge-discharge cycle so the BMS has an accurate voltage-to-capacity map. After one full cycle, check that resting voltage after a full charge reads at or above 4.1V before recording.