Powerbank to Charge Mavic Batteries

[cacherjoe]

Has anyone used a power bank to charge the Mavic batteries when flying remotely. I'm looking at the Omnicharge20 as an option. Has any tried this and how long does it take to charge up a battery.

Omnicharge | FIRST SMART POWER BANK WITH AC/DC OUTLET

 

[DodgeP]

At $200 for the larger 100w charger you could buy 2 more batteries and probably the car charging adapter. If you have only one battery you should probably buy more. If you have the fly more package you've got three batteries, for approximately an hr of flying time. It's highly unlike that you'd ever be able to fly and charge with any regular frequency because at some point you'll be waiting on a battery to charge, probably a full hr.

I think the car adapter charges faster than the AC adapter but what do I know, I haven't used my car adapter yet.

 

[cacherjoe]

I know all that. I should have explained that remotely means I won't be near my vehicle and I'm looking for options to get more flight time out of the 3 batteries I have when hiking. I can often be away from any power (vehicle or other) for 8-12 hours. The power bank should allow me to recharge on the go.

 

[rajun50]

Has anyone used a power bank to charge the Mavic batteries when flying remotely. I'm looking at the Omnicharge20 as an option. Has any tried this and how long does it take to charge up a battery.

Omnicharge | FIRST SMART POWER BANK WITH AC/DC OUTLET

The largest one (Omni20) is 73 Watt hours. A Mavic battery is 43 Watt hours. After charging losses, you won't be getting much more than one battery's worth of charge out of it. You'd be better off buying two more Mavic batteries.

 

[cacherjoe]

That makes sense rajun50. Thanks!

 

[Joymaker]

Now wait a minute. DJI says the Mavic Air intelligent flight battery capacity is 2375 mAh. My Ravpower powerbank says its capacity is 23000 mAh. Even given charging losses, there should be at least five charges in there.

Only problem is, the Ravpower outputs at 9, 12, 16, 19, or 20 V. On one of these forms I read that the intelligent flight battery charges at 13.7 V. So one would have to figure out how to step down the voltage, or to be daring and discover that 12 or 16 will work anyway.

By the way, I've never seen an offering for a car charger. If it exists for the Mavic Air, could someone please post a link?

 

[Kilrah]

My Ravpower powerbank says its capacity is 23000 mAh

This is conveniently specced at 3.7V(1s) so marketing can put the biggest number.

You have to divide that by 3, then remove maybe 20% for conversion losses. Leaves you with 6100, so 2 charges. And you'd need a charger/regulated supply inbetween.

Car charger not released yet, most likely that will come at some point.

 

[kevinh]

Now wait a minute. DJI says the Mavic Air intelligent flight battery capacity is 2375 mAh. My Ravpower powerbank says its capacity is 23000 mAh. Even given charging losses, there should be at least five charges in there.

Only problem is, the Ravpower outputs at 9, 12, 16, 19, or 20 V. On one of these forms I read that the intelligent flight battery charges at 13.7 V. So one would have to figure out how to step down the voltage, or to be daring and discover that 12 or 16 will work anyway.

By the way, I've never seen an offering for a car charger. If it exists for the Mavic Air, could someone please post a link?

Here you go mavic air car charger.

DJI Mavic Air - Car Charger

 

[kevinh]

Here you go mavic air car charger.

DJI Mavic Air - Car Charger

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB185G...-1-spons&keywords=mavic+air+car+charger&psc=1

 

[daisy-girl]

Has anyone used a power bank to charge the Mavic batteries when flying remotely. I'm looking at the Omnicharge20 as an option. Has any tried this and how long does it take to charge up a battery.

"The new DroneMax 360 from Energen was released this morning at CES and is the most complete portable charging solution ever designed. It provides Phantom, Mavic, and Yuneec charging capabilities as well as USB-A, USB-C and a dedicated 12v port. If that was enough ways to charge your gear, it also features two 120vac outlets for powering anything else you might want to drag along with you out in the field." --

Rick is still researching whether you could plug a 100W Phantom charger into a 120vac outlet on the rear instead of using the outlets on the front to charge four intelligent batteries, which are only 20% faster than the standard charger.

My 100W Phantom charger ($55 + $5 for the power cord) with Advanced Mavic Pro hub (also $55) can bring 4 MP batteries from 30% to 100% in about 2 hours.

Note: Rick's post is dated Jan 2018, which is before the Air was introduced.

 

[droneuser]

here is what I use its cheaper and yes its bigger BUT it has a lot of functions .... usb ports, 120 ac inventer, jump start, air compressor 12 volt outlet.

of course this would not be ideal if you are hiking

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everstart-1200-AMP-Jump-Starter-with-Power-Inverter-and-Inflator/55503213

 

[Joymaker]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB185G...-1-spons&keywords=mavic+air+car+charger&psc=1

Serious? It can be that cheap? And it's not going to fall apart in three months?

Now, can somebody knowledgeably compare that to the effectiveness of plugging my standard 120 V AC Mavic Air charger into this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MDXS0...25&hvtargid=aud-416395350856:pla-391702780059

 

[Joymaker]

This is conveniently specced at 3.7V(1s) so marketing can put the biggest number.

You have to divide that by 3, then remove maybe 20% for conversion losses. Leaves you with 6100, so 2 charges. And you'd need a charger/regulated supply inbetween.

So Kilrah, I think you're telling me that Watt hours (Wh) are a more trustworthy unit of battery measurement than mAh. That they are the truer measure of energy capacity. I'd been wondering about that. If so, why do we see mAh so often quoted?

And if you're right, Ravpower should be busted for false advertising! The lowest voltage their battery will output is 9 V, so to use 3.7 V as a reference number is completely false and misleading!

 

[Kilrah]

Yes, Wh is what you should be using.

mAh never made much sense for a power bank, alas "mAh referenced to 3.7V" is what every power bank manufacturer has been using for years so that's how it is.

 

[Grindeddown]

I have the Omni 20 actually and a fly more combo. I’m gonna try a few tests using both the sequential charger and a 3rd party simultaneous charger this weekend with 3 batteries. I’ll report back in a few days what the actual results would be.