Now THIS is a real multi charger!

[flumpet]

My Mavic multicharger from lightake.com, time to ditch my DJI charging hub perhaps?



Love the sweet sight of the charger charging 3 batts and the RC at the same time!

Link here: Mavic Pro 5in1 Battery Charger USB Charger Battery Parallel Charger Smartphone Charger Smart Charging for DJI Mavic Pro

*I dont make any thing from posting the link, just purely sharing to the community*

 

[wnfaknd]

What charger is this? How much? How do you tell it these are lipo batteries?


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

 

[flumpet]

What charger is this? How much? How do you tell it these are lipo batteries?


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

It's from lightake.com
Search for the charger for mavic.

They have previously made multichargers for p3 and p4 batts as well. My drone club has been using them with no issues hence my decision to purchase this for my mavic.

 

[Kilrah]

Just watch out, someone has done a teardown on RCGroups and found out that its construction is pretty dodgy from an electrical safety point of view. Some components have leads that are a bit too close from touching the case for comfort, no insulating layer between the board and case which would usually be used to prevent such an issue, AND the case is not grounded to protect you in case it did touch. So don't squeeze the case

 

[Jazx83]

This is borrowed from Lynh Phan who posted this on a Facebook Mavic Group.

Today's Tip

Electrical safety with cheap charger.

The temptation to buy the cheapest charger is real, however there are hidden dangers which you should be aware.

Unlike DJI's original charger which has a polymer case and is double insulated the cheap chargers have metal case and potentially dangerous.

SAFETY MESSAGE.

This particular charger is extremely dangerous and a potential electrocution risk.
If you do decide to buy this charger, please make sure you Earth it as the original design "as is" can be fatal.
It has a metal case with no Earth and no double insulation.
This charger will not pass any electrical standards in all modern country.
So for your own and loved one's safety sake - make sure you Earth it if you still want to use it.

BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Earthing and double insulation

"Earthing and double insulation

Electrical appliances are earthed or double insulated for safety.
Earthing
close up of the cooker shows the live, neutral and earth wires going into the mains, and an extra wire coming from the earth socket connecting to the casing
Earthing of an electric cooker
Many electrical appliances, including cookers, washing machines and refrigerators, have metal cases. The earth wire creates a safe route for the current to flow through, if the live wire touches the casing.
You will get an electric shock if the live wire inside an appliance, such as a cooker, comes loose and touches the metal casing. However, the earth terminal is connected to the metal casing, so the current goes through the earth wire instead of causing an electric shock. A strong current surges through the earth wire because it has a very low resistance. This breaks the fuse and disconnects the appliance.
Double insulation
a small square inside a larger square
Symbol for double insulation
Some appliances, such as vacuum cleaners and electric drills, do not have an earth wire. This is because they have plastic casings, or they have been designed so that the live wire can not touch the casing. As a result, the casing cannot give an electric shock, even if the wires inside become loose."

Enjoy and stay safe.

Lynh Phan

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[flumpet]

Thanks for the tip. I'll be sure to plug in everthing first before even turnin on the power switch. and will prevent myself from touching the metal case till i turn off the power

 

[PropPilot]

Good tip. I have one of these due here any day. Search for 'Mavic 5in1' on eBay and you will find tons. Note the nut/bolt just to the left of the power connector. Solder a 2" wire to the empty terminal, crimp or solder a ring lug to the other end and put it under that nut. Scratch a little bit of paint off first and you will be good to go.

UPDATE : I received mine today. My tip on grounding the case will work HOWEVER the power cable supplied is only two wire so you would need to replace the power cable with a three wire cable (one that has a ground pin on the wall socket end).

I also noticed it is 110/220v. That is a super bonus for travelling !

 

[integlikewhoa]

Can anyone confirm the actual output in watts or amps when your charging 3 batteries? I know the stock charger when using the hub is only max 50w. What does this put out and how is the charge times with one or more batteries?

Also on Ebay i have noticed there is a black 3 in 1 vs. this 5 in 1. It is lacking the USB charge ports but seems to have more watts or charging power behind it. Anyone have any comments on that vs this 5-1 unit?

Thanks,

 

[Easty]

Good tip. I have one of these due here any day. Search for 'Mavic 5in1' on eBay and you will find tons. Note the nut/bolt just to the left of the power connector. Solder a 2" wire to the empty terminal, crimp or solder a ring lug to the other end and put it under that nut. Scratch a little bit of paint off first and you will be good to go.

UPDATE : I received mine today. My tip on grounding the case will work HOWEVER the power cable supplied is only two wire so you would need to replace the power cable with a three wire cable (one that has a ground pin on the wall socket end).

I also noticed it is 110/220v. That is a super bonus for travelling !

Just put a piece of plastic like packaging under the board and I'm sure it would be fine. You could also put a 15 amp fuse inline.

 

[integlikewhoa]

Well I ended up with the 5 in 1 off amazon. I connected the ground to the board and to the outer housing. Replaced the outlet cord with a 3 wire one. Also added my own shutoff switch.

Switch was 1.99 and 3 foot 3 wire cord was 3.95. Few inches of wire and solder I had already. Took atleast 1 hour of playing around with it.

I decided on no fuse but gave it a good look. Looking how the board slides into the chassis there is no reason for me to place plastic or anything else between the board and chassis.

 

[PropPilot]

Love your switch solution. I was toying with putting in an inline switch in the power cord. Had not even considered putting one on the case like you did. Will be done before sundown !

Love this charger. Works as promised and I use it for everything sitting around my desk....

 

[fcat]

Can you provide a link to where you got the switch and tell us a little how you installed it ?
thanks

 

[integlikewhoa]

Can you provide a link to where you got the switch and tell us a little how you installed it ?
thanks

I picked mine up local, but the store is www.frys.com

I installed it by unsoldering the "load" in, right next to where i soldered in the ground wire thats missing. I put the switch inline with the incoming hot wire before it gets to the board.

On the ground wire I soldered it from the plug to the board and to an eye that goes around the bolt that holds the 120v plug to the case. So I have a ground on the case and the board.

I might open it back up for pics later as i didn't think to take any while i was busy working.

The top I drilled a hole and used a square file to open it up to fit my Switch which pushes down and snaps in place.

I thought about putting the switch on the ends instead of top but with the vents it wasn't gonna sit right or look right. So i just put it in the top corner where there was an empty spot on the board and it left me room.

The switch was just a standard two pin, 10 amp mini or micro switch. I didn't get the fancy one thst lights up when on. Lol

 

[fcat]

I picked mine up local, but the store is www.frys.com

I installed it by unsoldering the "load" in, right next to where i soldered in the ground wire thats missing. I put the switch inline with the incoming hot wire before it gets to the board.

On the ground wire I soldered it from the plug to the board and to an eye that goes around the bolt that holds the 120v plug to the case. So I have a ground on the case and the board.

I might open it back up for pics later as i didn't think to take any while i was busy working.

The top I drilled a hole and used a square file to open it up to fit my Switch which pushes down and snaps in place.

I thought about putting the switch on the ends instead of top but with the vents it wasn't gonna sit right or look right. So i just put it in the top corner where there was an empty spot on the board and it left me room.

The switch was just a standard two pin, 10 amp mini or micro switch. I didn't get the fancy one thst lights up when on. Lol

Excellent , thanks for the info, gonna do mine next week

 

[PropPilot]

Integ....that was a great idea. Picked up a switch like yours today and did the ground wire and wired in the switch. WAY better as I was unplugging the charger after each use. Takes about 30-45 minutes total to do the modification and looks like custom. Great post.

 

[chippie]

How do you tell it these are lipo batteries?

No need to as they are intelligent batteries. Even the DJI chargers only just supply +/- to the batteries, the rest actually all happens on the battery itself

 

[CCDD]

I've seen similar chargers for my Inspire, actually bought one and noticed flight times dropped significantly and apparent cell damage occurred with repeated use. Some may argue that it doesn't matter what one uses to charge their batteries, I completely disagree. I've carefully monitored those batteries charged solely with the DJI charger and those charged with an aftermarket one. There was significant degradation with those charged with the latter. There's no reason to purchase such a charger, if you need "fast" turn around time either buy an additional DJI charger, or purchase extra batteries to ensure your day isn't interrupted with the down time needed to recharge. It's all has to do with proper planning and preparation before going out to fly.

 

[chippie]

I've seen similar chargers for my Inspire, actually bought one and noticed flight times dropped significantly and apparent cell damage occurred with repeated use. Some may argue that it doesn't matter what one uses to charge their batteries, I completely disagree. I've carefully monitored those batteries charged solely with the DJI charger and those charged with an aftermarket one. There was significant degradation with those charged with the latter. There's no reason to purchase such a charger, if you need "fast" turn around time either buy an additional DJI charger, or purchase extra batteries to ensure your day isn't interrupted with the down time needed to recharge. It's all has to do with proper planning and preparation before going out to fly.

Shame you experienced this. Most of the guys on RCGroups use them, especially the make posted above. Even the DJI staff use these, in fact they purchased the Mavic one as soon as it was released. But of course you should really stick to the DJI charger if you do not want to take any chances.

 

[DodgeP]

No thanks. I'm not in this much of a rush.

 

[MavicMo]

Yeah, I just bought another charger... The way I approached it was I can save a few bucks by buying a multi-charger or spend a few bucks more and buy a second OEM charger which won't void my warranty or question any potential warranty claim.

Sure it means I'm only charging two batteries at a time, but for my needs thats good enough or fast enough...

No thanks. I'm not in this much of a rush.