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Charging while flying.

bonmot

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I was playing with my Mavic 2 Zoom last night in the house without flying it.
Just to test the charging port and data port configurations.

This is my configuration:
DJI charging power pack plugged into the side micro USB on the side of the remote.
iPhone connected to the bottom USB-A with a 1 meter Apple data cable.

I was able to get the remote charging icon showing charging on the remote LCD, and iPhone being charged too.

I didn't have a lot of time to verify the charging speed. But seems to be slow, which makes sense because both remote and iPhone are working and charging at the same time.
My feeling is that the charging current will able to maintain the battery level or charging the batteries very slowly, which is a good news to me.
I will do more test to confirm that.

But during the test I did have an occasion the iPhone got disconnected from the remote. I turn off the remote and terminate the DJI Go 4, and restarted them to fix the problem.
It only happened once. I was not able to reproduce it.
Not sure if anyone else had the same experience. (For now, I take it as I didn't plug in the lightning cable tight enough).

But overall, charging both remote and iPhone while flying seems to be an OK solution.
 
I was playing with my Mavic 2 Zoom last night in the house without flying it.
Just to test the charging port and data port configurations.

This is my configuration:
DJI charging power pack plugged into the side micro USB on the side of the remote.
iPhone connected to the bottom USB-A with a 1 meter Apple data cable.

I was able to get the remote charging icon showing charging on the remote LCD, and iPhone being charged too.

I didn't have a lot of time to verify the charging speed. But seems to be slow, which makes sense because both remote and iPhone are working and charging at the same time.
My feeling is that the charging current will able to maintain the battery level or charging the batteries very slowly, which is a good news to me.
I will do more test to confirm that.

But during the test I did have an occasion the iPhone got disconnected from the remote. I turn off the remote and terminate the DJI Go 4, and restarted them to fix the problem.
It only happened once. I was not able to reproduce it.
Not sure if anyone else had the same experience. (For now, I take it as I didn't plug in the lightning cable tight enough).

But overall, charging both remote and iPhone while flying seems to be an OK solution.

You do know that you can turn off phone charging on the M2, this way you would only be charging the TX from the power brick, mind you with the way the app eats phone batteries maybe its best to try and charge both at once, that said the battery in the remote alone will last for around 4 batteries.
 
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did you have the app on as well i don't think it will work once the app is open because you can't use the bottom USB to device and have something plugged in to the charging port
 
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You do know that you can turn off phone charging on the M2, this way you would only be charging the TX from the power brick, mind you with the way the app eats phone batteries maybe its best to try and charge both at once, that said the battery in the remote alone will last for around 4 batteries.
Yes, that is my purpose. I want to get both charged or supported by a known good power source.
 
did you have the app on as well i don't think it will work once the app is open because you can't use the bottom USB to device and have something plugged in to the charging port
The App is on and working.
But if you have the that short cable plugged in side micro USB port, App will not connect to the remote. But the a normal micro-USB cable is OK. It seems that in the short DJI cable there is something (resistors) to tell the remote that the micro-USB is in use.
I will double check between the DJI short cable and charging cable late.
 
is there a reason why you would want to charge the remote and device that way if i have my RC and ipad fully charged i can fly 5 batts no problem even in the cold weather we are having at the moment i have a MPP and i still have 50% battery left in the RC and 60% left in the ipad after flying 5 batts down to 40% or 18 to 20 mins per flight
 
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is there a reason why you would want to charge the remote and device that way if i have my RC and ipad fully charged i can fly 5 batts no problem even in the cold weather we are having at the moment i have a MPP and i still have 50% battery left in the RC and 60% left in the ipad after flying 5 batts down to 40% or 18 to 20 mins per flight
Yes, because in Winter, I would like to fly the drone when it is around 0C/32F. I don't have a iPad Mini. I use my iPhone 7. But in cold, the phone's battery life shrinks dramatically. I just want to be sure that both the remote and phone are powered.
I just got my iPhone 7 battery replace 2 days. But cold is still cold, and it is known problem for LiPo batteries.
 
The Mavic Pro remote can be changed while in use by using the bottom USB A port to connect a device. I’d be shocked if it was different on the M2.

USB and Lightning ate digital protocols meaning when two devices are connected there is a digital “hand shake” between the two devices that makes them recognize each other. There are different types of hand shakes that enable different types of sharing profiles. An iOS device can only share data and power with one other device at a time.

A “data” handshake is when two devices want to share data back and forth but not power. When you choose in the app that you don’t want the remote to charge the phone this is the type of handshake it uses. The remote and mobile device can only be connected to one only device at a time via a data handshake.

There is a power only handshake which allows a device to receive power without taking up its ability to receive data from another source.

There’s “data and power” which means the two devices share both data and power.

There’s a “Music” handshake which means the iOS device can share music to one device without taking up the data or charging digital ports. This is why you can get splitters that allow you to play music to a device while charging from any other. The additional lighting port on that adapter can only be used for receiving power and not data even though it is the same plug.

Likewise, on the Mavic Pro remote it can share data from the USB-A port while receiving a power hand shake from the side USB port. It cannot share data from both ports at the same time however it can get power from the side port and share data and power from the USB-A port. I’d be shocked if it’s different for the M2
 
Brett. thank you! This information about the "hand shake" is exactly what I am looking for. Very good write up! +1
Is there a length limit for data exchange on the lightening cable?
 
The Mavic Pro remote can be changed while in use by using the bottom USB A port to connect a device. I’d be shocked if it was different on the M2.

USB and Lightning ate digital protocols meaning when two devices are connected there is a digital “hand shake” between the two devices that makes them recognize each other. There are different types of hand shakes that enable different types of sharing profiles. An iOS device can only share data and power with one other device at a time.

A “data” handshake is when two devices want to share data back and forth but not power. When you choose in the app that you don’t want the remote to charge the phone this is the type of handshake it uses. The remote and mobile device can only be connected to one only device at a time via a data handshake.

There is a power only handshake which allows a device to receive power without taking up its ability to receive data from another source.

There’s “data and power” which means the two devices share both data and power.

There’s a “Music” handshake which means the iOS device can share music to one device without taking up the data or charging digital ports. This is why you can get splitters that allow you to play music to a device while charging from any other. The additional lighting port on that adapter can only be used for receiving power and not data even though it is the same plug.

Likewise, on the Mavic Pro remote it can share data from the USB-A port while receiving a power hand shake from the side USB port. It cannot share data from both ports at the same time however it can get power from the side port and share data and power from the USB-A port. I’d be shocked if it’s different for the M2

I can confirm that the Mavic 2 will connect to a mobile device via the USB-A port while charging through the side micro-USB port.
 
Another way you could do this is to charge the iOS device wirelessly if your device supports wireless charging. You can get a little pad that sticks to the back of the device.

For this to work, however, you must set the remote not to charge the iOS device. It can’t be charged via lightning and wirelessly at the same as that breaks the rule that the device can only be charged by one source at a time.
 
There’s a “Music” handshake which means the iOS device can share music to one device without taking up the data or charging digital ports. This is why you can get splitters that allow you to play music to a device while charging from any other. The additional lighting port on that adapter can only be used for receiving power and not data even though it is the same plug.

I have seen these adapters that let you plug a separate power bank and earphones into an iPhone and had wondered whether these adapters could be used to receive Data from the USB-A port on the bottom to communicate with the DJI Go 4 app while at the same time charging the iOS device using the power bank. Here is a link to such an adapter on Amazon:
Amazon.com: ANGORADO Adapter Compatible with iPhone X Xs Max Xr 7 8 Plus Ipad Ipad Pro, 2-in-1 Adapter for Headphone Jack Audio + Charge + Sync + Music Control Adapter Compatible IOS 11 or Later: weimikeji

WIth your explanation of how these different handshakes work, it seems that this adapter would only allow music to be connected while a separate power bank is used to charge / power the iPhone (or iOS Tablet).

@brett8883 post suggests that it should be possible to have a handshake between iOS and a power bank for power, and a separate handshake for Data with the controller bottom port. If so, do you (or anyone else) know of a suitable Data/Power Y-Adpater that could be used so that the app talks to the iOS device while a power bank charges it? Any link to such an adapter on Amazon or other online store?
 
I have seen these adapters that let you plug a separate power bank and earphones into an iPhone and had wondered whether these adapters could be used to receive Data from the USB-A port on the bottom to communicate with the DJI Go 4 app while at the same time charging the iOS device using the power bank. Here is a link to such an adapter on Amazon:
Amazon.com: ANGORADO Adapter Compatible with iPhone X Xs Max Xr 7 8 Plus Ipad Ipad Pro, 2-in-1 Adapter for Headphone Jack Audio + Charge + Sync + Music Control Adapter Compatible IOS 11 or Later: weimikeji

WIth your explanation of how these different handshakes work, it seems that this adapter would only allow music to be connected while a separate power bank is used to charge / power the iPhone (or iOS Tablet).

@brett8883 post suggests that it should be possible to have a handshake between iOS and a power bank for power, and a separate handshake for Data with the controller bottom port. If so, do you (or anyone else) know of a suitable Data/Power Y-Adpater that could be used so that the app talks to the iOS device while a power bank charges it? Any link to such an adapter on Amazon or other online store?
You’d have to find one that SPECIFICALLY says it will charge on one end and sync on the other.

Just because it is possible doesn’t mean there’s actually an adapter that is programmed to do it. In any other instance I can think of a data connection also charges the device through the same connection. Music is the only instance I can think of where the iOS device is the “host” and the accessory doesn’t charge the iOS device. There may be others but they are few and far between so who knows if they make an adapter that can do it, but I bet you can find one.

My understanding is there are little chips in the actual adapters that facilitate the handshakes so it’s not just a matter of finding an adapter that has the plugs you want. This is why some cheap low grade chargers won’t work with newer iOS devices. Because they don’t have authentic keys that allow the cord or charger to communicate with the iOS device. Apple wants that ? wether they make the cord or not. Lightning is not open source.
 
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