Do car chargers have any practical value?

[Skybuyer]

A car charger comes with the M2 fly more kit. As car chargers go it appears to be pretty well made. But lets face it, the M2 battery stores and needs charging of 3850mAh . The regular A/C charger that comes with the kit charges 4 batteries, 3 of which should under normal conditions provide a solid one hour of actual flight time. So if you were out in the field, and had no access to A/C power, would this car charger get a battery charged fast enough to make a difference? It would seem that if you were using your car as the charging hub it would have to be running.

Under what circumstances is the car charger practical?

 

[Mrmund]

Road trips.

 

[iaincaradoc]

Under what circumstances is the car charger practical?

In my car, the rear 12V port (in the cargo area - it'd be a "trunk" if it weren't a hatchback) isn't switched. It's "always on." When I'm on location, I usually have the hatch open anyway to get cameras, tripods, lighting, etc. in and out, so I also have a couple of DC-powered battery chargers in there.

I can think of a *lot* of ways a DC-powered MA2 charger would come in handy - which is why I now have one in that box.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Under what circumstances is the car charger practical?

• When you're driving from location to location
• When you have enough batteries that you're not waiting for #2 or 3 (of only 2-3)
• Road trips! as Mrmund says. That means you're driving anyways, so you can charge while you go.
• Also road trips: However, I have advanced from "charging as you go with the car charger" to "having a large power bank that is always plugged into the cars power (always topping off while driving) and I now charge my batteries from it. This is a Goal Zero Yeti 400 with a slave battery, so it has a lot of charge in it. Also, I have a large, folding solar panel that I charge it with while parked, such as at a camp spot or just pulled over for at least an hour.

Chris

 

[Skybuyer]

In my car, the rear 12V port (in the cargo area - it'd be a "trunk" if it weren't a hatchback) isn't switched. It's "always on." When I'm on location, I usually have the hatch open anyway to get cameras, tripods, lighting, etc. in and out, so I also have a couple of DC-powered battery chargers in there.

I can think of a *lot* of ways a DC-powered MA2 charger would come in handy - which is why I now have one in that box.

Aren't you afraid of draining your car battery, or does it have so many amps that 3800mah is nothing in comparison?

 

[iaincaradoc]

Aren't you afraid of draining your car battery, or does it have so many amps that 3800mah is nothing in comparison?

I'm also an amateur radio operator. The car has an auxiliary battery for most things - the radios, the power ports, etc., with the main battery reserved for actually operating the car.

I haven't drained either of them yet.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

We make longer road trips and I like the MA to be "ready for take off" if we see a spot or have an opportunity to fly. I like the fact that when I drain one battery (or two) I can have them charged while driving to another location, so I again have 2 or 3 batteries available.

 

[Camino Ken]

Aren't you afraid of draining your car battery, or does it have so many amps that 3800mah is nothing in comparison?

Most car batteries are 100Ah (amp-hours) or more so with the 3.8 A draw It will drain half of the battery in about 13 hours.

 

[Skybuyer]

Most car batteries are 100Ah (amp-hours) or more so with the 3.8 A draw It will drain half of the battery in about 13 hours.

Good to know. I have to examine my car to see if I have a 12v port in the trunk I know there was one in my old car which was an SUV. My car since October has been a sedan and I haven't check for one yet. I can see where it might come in handy at times.

Thanks guys.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

A car charger comes with the M2 fly more kit. As car chargers go it appears to be pretty well made. But lets face it, the M2 battery stores and needs charging of 3850mAh . The regular A/C charger that comes with the kit charges 4 batteries, 3 of which should under normal conditions provide a solid one hour of actual flight time. So if you were out in the field, and had no access to A/C power, would this car charger get a battery charged fast enough to make a difference? It would seem that if you were using your car as the charging hub it would have to be running.

Under what circumstances is the car charger practical?

It sound good int theory - yet in practice I've never used mine -nor does it sound like anyone here actually uses it either.

Kinda like that round latex thing we keep in our wallet - just in case. However never used mine either.

 

[Dave Maine]

If the car is running, the drain from charging the battery will be provided by the alternator. No battery drain will occur.

 

[julius13]

I work out of the back of my SUV. When completing a flight I usually charge a battery on my way to the next launch. This way it charges while car is running. I rotate my batteries as well.

 

[Cosmos 5]

the drone batt is approx 1/29th of my car batt capacity.. so no issue

Aren't you afraid of draining your car battery, or does it have so many amps that 3800mah is nothing in comparison?

 

[jwt873]

I'm also an amateur radio operator.

Same here..

I've never used my car charger in the car, but, I do use it frequently. I have a 35 Amp 12V power supply that I use for my station at home. The supply has a 12V power socket that the car charger can plug in to. This lets me charge two batteries simultaneously.. One with the 110V charger and the other with the 12V charger.

I find this is very handy if I haven't flown for over 10 days and all my batteries have gone through the self discharge process..

 

[Skybuyer]

Same here..

I've never used my car charger in the car, but, I do use it frequently. I have a 35 Amp 12V power supply that I use for my station at home. The supply has a 12V power socket that the car charger can plug in to. This lets me charge two batteries simultaneously.. One with the 110V charger and the other with the 12V charger.

I find this is very handy if I haven't flown for over 10 days and all my batteries have gone through the self discharge process..

It would be great if there was an inexpensive 12 v power supply that one might use with the car cable that comes with the fly more kit. But I have no use for one other than charging drone batteries.

 

[DanMan32]

Most car batteries are 100Ah (amp-hours) or more so with the 3.8 A draw It will drain half of the battery in about 13 hours.

That's 3.8AH, not amps. Charger actually draws 6A once the battery starts charging.

 

[DanMan32]

Note that the charger draws 6A and a car battery tends to dip to 12v at its terminals when car is off and the charger cutoff voltage is about 11.2v. Car wiring from battery to outlet is usually sufficient that at 6A, there's enough of a voltage drop in the wiring that the charger cuts out when the battery starts to actually charge.

 

[iaincaradoc]

Same here..

I've never used my car charger in the car, but, I do use it frequently. I have a 35 Amp 12V power supply that I use for my station at home. The supply has a 12V power socket that the car charger can plug in to. This lets me charge two batteries simultaneously.. One with the 110V charger and the other with the 12V charger.

I find this is very handy if I haven't flown for over 10 days and all my batteries have gone through the self discharge process..

I use an awful lot of "car" accessories at my desk - I have a rack-mounted Pyramid PS52K here, which runs my radio gear with about 30A to spare, which charges my array of 12V gel-cells for battery backup and field use. Among other things.

 

[Eat More Possum]

You may have noticed that the car charger charges a battery faster than the wall charger. I often use mine to charge batteries on the way to the field because I often forget to charge them before leaving. I bought two car chargers thinking I could charge two simultaneously. Wrong. And I can’t charge even one unless my car is running — even after I put in a new car battery. Maybe there is a current limiter between my in-cab 12V ports and the battery?

 

[Skybuyer]

You may have noticed that the car charger charges a battery faster than the wall charger.

I can't answer your question about the power distribution of your car, but I wouldn't have thought that the car charger charges faster. I'm wondering, I have some wall chargers that I used to use to charge 12v mototcycle batteries. I'm wondering if I could hook up a car plug to one of those chargers and use my car adapter to charge one of my DJI M2 batteries?