How Do YOU keep your iPhone charged?

[jamesgb]

Okay, thank you.

Then I'm confused on why people are mounting batteries to the back of their setup and doing this. I suspect, as you indicated, that the controller has some draw on the phone which can be reduced with a battery.

I ordered a new 7plus, but I'm not sure if it'll be with me as soon as I'm going to need it for an upcoming trip. Currently, my fully charged phone will get me through 2 mavic batteries, in non freezing temps.

I think people are doing this simply because the controller battery is draining before they are running out of Mavic batteries and they want to be able to fly longer. In my experience the controller neither supplies nor takes power from the phone/tablet.

 

[plrogers1126]

This thread reads like there are two different conversations happening. One, phone battery getting killed. My iPhone six would go from 89% to 8% in one flight. Then as soon as I plugged the phone into the charger it immediately showed it had 70+% left. Clearly some type of conflict as this does not happen with my iPhone 7+. The second conversation seems to be about how to make the controller battery last longer which doesn't seem to have anything to do with phone batteries. Am I reading this correctly?????


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

 

[SteveT]

My guess is that the rc and device batteries try to balance voltage,, so which ever is highest would supply the other. A battery pack should supply the rc which then supply the device. I haven't tested this but from reading all the threads it sounds viable.

 

[plrogers1126]

I have seen no evidence the phone draws any power from the controller.


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

 

[jamesgb]

This thread reads like there are two different conversations happening. One, phone battery getting killed. My iPhone six would go from 89% to 8% in one flight. Then as soon as I plugged the phone into the charger it immediately showed it had 70+% left. Clearly some type of conflict as this does not happen with my iPhone 7+. The second conversation seems to be about how to make the controller battery last longer which doesn't seem to have anything to do with phone batteries. Am I reading this correctly?????


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

The OP was asking how to keep his iPhone charged while flying. The problem is, you plug your iPhone (iPad, Android phone/tablet, etc.)'s charging port into the Mavic's controller while flying so it can receive data (video feed, telemetry, etc.) from the controller and display it on the screen so you can't plug your device into an external power supply.

Someone commented that if he plugged an external power source into his Mavic controller (through the Mavic controller's second USB port) that it would charge the Mavic controller while it was in use AND it would supply power to his iPhone. However, several people have commented that this isn't true - the Mavic controller appears to never supply power to the connected device through any of its USB ports.

For your specific situation, it would appear to be that you have a problem with your iPhone 6 battery, or you were flying in colder temperatures. I was out with a friend on Sunday and towards the end of the day the temperatures dropped rapidly and his iPhone 6 battery also drained quickly. He put his phone in his pocket to warm it up and it jumped about 20% in just a few minutes.

 

[stuffonastick]

Perfectly happy using my iPhone 7+ with my remote. I don't really mind that it doesn't charge it at the same time.

 

[TuT]

I use an LG V20 phone with my Mavic. Carry a spare battery in my pocket. One of the few phones that still allow you to swap out the battery

 

[KiterTodd]

So, my old iPhone 6 was awful. One or two batteries would drain it. Granted... a fully topped off 100% iphone I would maaaaybe get through 3 batteries, but at the end the phone would be toast and it was at risk of shutting down mid flight.

I got a new iPhone 7+ and I went through 3 batteries today in 24 degree temps and the phone was still around 80% after.

I guess the only solution is to buy a new phone. ? I have seen lightening cable splitters now. So it may be possible to connect to the controller and a power pack.

The controller, on the other hand, seems to have great battery lift. I went through 3 batteries with it and I think it was at 85% or something silly.

 

[Red_Raven]

I have an idea / solution that in theory should work and we'd be able to charge our iPhones!

Ikea have product called "VITAHULT" it's simply a iPhone cover that adds red features to the iPhone (the cover uses the lightning port) it adds a qi wireless function and has a micro usb charging port....

My thinking was to use the cover and add small type of qi charging plate under the remote, and voila.... Phone connects the remote via the charging port on he cover and recieves juice for the batt from the qi wireless.

Could work? It's at least worth the try and is quite budget friendly...

 

[SteelFlyer]

I have an IPhone 6s and also a case from Apple that has a battery built in. The battery essentially doubles the battery life on the iPhone. Power is drawn from the case first until it is depleted so most of the day my phone stays at 100%. I usually take this case off so the phone can fit into the controller but you could use it with the controller with a slight modification to the foam inserts in the controller arm. The battery back has a lightning connector on the bottom so it can be used with the controller just fine.

All that being said, a single battery does not drain my phone any more than around 10% so I can fly 3 Mavic batteries with no problem.

 

[dougdeu]

1st day of flying went well. Stayed in Beginner mode, got used to controls, but was unfortunately surprised to find out that the controller does NOT charge the iPhone? (I tried the side and then the bottom connector). As most of you know, when you plug in the phone, the charge indicator appears and then quickly goes away.

I thought this was a fluke, did some web searches, and found out it's unfortunately a "feature."

Was wondering if there are any hacks to allow the controller to charge the phone, and if not, how do others solve this problem?

My iPhone6 has some miles on it and I found the battery gets discharged incredibly fast.
I put the phone in Airplane mode, which helped me squeak more life out of it, but then of course I don't have GPS updates and other connectivity I need to keep in touch with the family.

Be curious to know tips for keeping it charged and using in cold weather (I read about heating pads)?

I suppose I could just buy an iPad Mini or something and use it as a dedicated control screen.

How are other Apple users resolving this issue?

Thanks!

I ran into this issue shooting a live rugby match this weekend. I had 4 mavic batteries charged and ready to go - successfully landed, quick swap and back in the air again... when my iphone 6s with a 4 week old battery, began to die. That is when I discovered that, indeed NO - the DJi controller does not charge the iPhone - I had to land and charge up my phone with my external battery before I could get up and fly again. I spoke to a guy who is doing development work with DJi - he is going to ping them this week to discuss.

 

[KiterTodd]

I ran into this issue shooting a live rugby match this weekend. I had 4 mavic batteries charged and ready to go - successfully landed, quick swap and back in the air again... when my iphone 6s with a 4 week old battery, began to die. That is when I discovered that, indeed NO - the DJi controller does not charge the iPhone - I had to land and charge up my phone with my external battery before I could get up and fly again. I spoke to a guy who is doing development work with DJi - he is going to ping them this week to discuss.

Yeah, it's a problem. And since the single Apple port is connected to the remote...you can't even connect the phone to an external power supply while flying.
Maybe I missed a post about lightening connector splitters...when I looked for some for my new 7plus (headphone on one side, lightening on the other... not good for this purpose) all the reviews said they were unreliable.

 

[RamiAgonistes]

My Mind Mix gets automatically charged from the controller as have all my previous Android phones when connected to DJI controllers. Never gave it any thought as the controllers had sick batter life (P3A) but I notice that this controller loses battery significantly faster. Combined with the fact that the MAVIC batteries keep you in the sky longer this can be an issue

 

[dougdeu]

Have you tried connecting your phone via the USB Port on the bottom of the controller and then plugging the micro usb into a portable power source? This may charge both your phone and your controller at the same time but I'm not sure.

Wait - I misunderstood your post. That is worth a try. Will check it out.

 

[DodgeP]

After further and heavy use of the Mavic my suggestion is not to use the Micro USB port on the side of the controller because it drains your device rather quickly. I have been using the bottom usb port and an iPhone 6+ and iPad Mini 4 and have flown 3 batteries back to back and only seeing a 20% - 25% battery drain on both the controller and device.

 

[Flying Irish]

My phone battery is clearly not as good as yours, Chris. My battery will not outlast the controller. This seems like a pretty common concern. While I can certainly understand why you would not want this, it's clear many would like enough of a boost from the controller to hold a charge.

Open to any Apple device suggestions folks may have.
THANK YOU!

Maybe you have apps on your phone (probably more than one) that are constantly running in the background 24/7. With apps tracking your location, your battery will definitely suffer.

 

[KiterTodd]

Maybe you have apps on your phone (probably more than one) that are constantly running in the background 24/7. With apps tracking your location, your battery will definitely suffer.

Thanks. In my case, I think it was just an old battery. I had closed everything first and disabled their background GPS refresh, didn't help much. As noted later in this thread I have since updated to a 7+ and get much better results. I have now flown more than 3 batteries yet (becuase that's all the batteries I have) but a fully charged iPhone leaves plenty of battery left.

I did find, though...that the iPhone 7+ screen is not bright enough in direct sun when I was out in a snow covered field. I could kind of see what was going on, but not as much as I wanted...I'd have to take off my sunglasses to see the screen, but then I'd get snowblinded and couldn't see anything else. I don't know what that has to do with this topic, but, it just came to mind. Sorry. I guess the point is that max screen brightness uses more battery. And you definitely need to be at max brightness.

 

[dougdeu]

Won't work on iPhone - only 1 port..

Wait - I misunderstood your post. That is worth a try. Will check it out.

Just checked it out - no, does not work. When I plug my iphone in through the USB port, it vibrates, the battery charging indicator turns green for a split second, then back to the normal 'not charging' indication. I plugged in both an external battery, and the actual DJi charger into the micro port on the controller.. It appears that the controller only charges when it is turned off. Also, no charging voltage passed to the iphone. :-(

 

[plrogers1126]

It will not charge your iPhone!!! It's not supposed to charge your iPhone!! Enough already.

 

[allen.engler]

Does anyone have a update for this post?