Expected use of remote mav pro 2 on battery charge

deleted member 877 · Nov 12, 2018

rickw said:
I think it is you that doesn't understand,no chargeing takes place from bottom usb port on rc

Having extensively researched this issue I certainly do understand what's going on.

Just to be sure, I tested it again this morning using both the Samsung S4 and S7. Using the bottom Type-A USB port does not, at least for me, stop the RC from charging the phone. What brand/type of phone/tablet are you using? What model of Drone are you using? Are you using DJI Go 4 or another app (such as Litchi) to control the drone?

I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who agrees with you based on their experiences.

deleted member 877 · Nov 12, 2018

Shows that using the bottom USB Type-A cable does not prevent the RC from charging the phone.
Solution - cut the black wire in the USB cable.

Solution - connect a power-bank to the RC which is a workaround - it doesn't stop the RC from charging the phone.

Avoiding charging your smartphone with the RC?

This thread contains a lot of conflicting information but there is a reference to an app that I think @rickw was referring to as follows:-

There is an app that stops USB charging but the phone needs to be rooted.. name is:
Disable ADB USB Charging ROOT
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.bramantya.stopcharging&hl=en

DanMan32 · Nov 12, 2018

"fast charging" can be ambiguous. USB 2.0 and below specs provide only 500ma however most power hungry devices could draw as much as 2A if the power source can provide it. The current above 500ma could be called "fast charge"
Then you have the QC specs that negotiate higher voltages to the device to increase watts without excessive current on the USB cable and connection.
However RC specs state it only provides 500ma Max.
Both ports can provide charge. At least all my Androids say so.
Funny thing though, if RC can prevent charging an iOS, should be no reason it cant withhold power for an Android. Only reason I can come up with is that iOS specs state power isn't required for data operations, but that at least some Android devices might not activate their USB port if there's at least some power supplied.

mnis · Nov 12, 2018

The best solution to the sometimes unwanted charging function of the remote control is a self-prepared USB cable. Take a suitable USB cable and remove the main sheath approximately midway so that all four wires are accessible. With some basic knowledge and soldering experience, the whole thing is accomplished in a few minutes. With the help of Wikipedia, for example, you can find out the pin assignment of the USB cable. Leave the two (mostly) thinner data wires untouched and cut through one of the two thicker power wires, regardless of whether you choose plus or minus. Insert a 100 ohm resistor into the severed line. Thus, you reduce the maximum power output from 2.5 watts (0.5A) to about 0.25 watts (0.05A). The Android device and the DJI app will continue to work with this cable, but the remote control will allow a lot more flights with one charge. Without a power line, so only with the data lines, the whole thing does not work, it must continue to flow some electricity. But by choosing the resistor, you can decide how much power the remote will deliver.

deleted member 877 · Nov 12, 2018

mnis said:
Without a power line, so only with the data lines, the whole thing does not work, it must continue to flow some electricity. But by choosing the resistor, you can decide how much power the remote will deliver.

The guy in this video (see link below) only had to sever the black wire in the USB cable - he didn't need to attach a resistor. I suppose there are plenty of different solutions depending on the RC/Phone combination in question...

mnis · Nov 12, 2018

I know ... This solution is not new, and not everyone will be able to implement it, but it is optimal when using a smartphone with good battery performance. No extra power bank and more cables are needed. And maybe there is a friend or colleague who can make such a special cable.

mnis · Nov 12, 2018

crystal-pete said:
The guy in this video (see link below) only had to sever the black wire in the USB cable - he didn't need to attach a resistor. I suppose there are plenty of different solutions depending on the RC/Phone combination in question...

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Without Resistor, the autostart feature of the DJi go app will not work. So the app will not start immediately after the start of the remote control. Without Resistor there is also this annoying USB Connect / Disconnect until DJi go was started manually. In short ... with Resistor the whole functionality remains as usual, but from now on the smartphone gets only 10% of the maximum charging current.

deleted member 877 · Nov 12, 2018

mnis said:
Without Resistor, the autostart feature of the DJi go app will not work. So the app will not start immediately after the start of the remote control.

So people who are not perfectionists will be happy to start DJI Go 4 with a single tap of the finger - especially those who don't know how to solder, don't own or know anyone who owns a soldering iron, and don't believe it's worth the trouble to source a suitable resistor. As always IMHO.

mnis · Nov 12, 2018

I had to add something in the previous text ... But of course you are basically right in saying that it is not equally suitable for every user. Nice, that it is finally realizable and can even be customized. If you can not do it yourself, but you still want it, you might have a capable buddy in your area

ff22 · Nov 12, 2018

rickw said:
I think it is you that doesn't understand,no chargeing takes place from bottom usb port on rc

I'm still pretty new but each time I connect the RC to my samsung tab and power stuff up, I get a charging notice and I'm using the bottom usb port.

zocalo · Nov 13, 2018

rickw said:
I think it is you that doesn't understand,no chargeing takes place from bottom usb port on rc

Maybe it depends on the phone, because the bottom port on the RC absolutely charges my Samsung.

FoxhallGH · Nov 13, 2018

zocalo said:
Maybe it depends on the phone, because the bottom port on the RC absolutely charges my Samsung.

Just tried this, and same with my [Android] Huawei P10 ... That gets charged from the USB 2.0 port on the bottom of the controller when I plug in a USB 2.0 to USB-C cable. I'm just going to make sure my phone is fully charged before I attach it to my controller ...

zocalo · Nov 13, 2018

FoxhallGH said:
Just tried this, and same with my [Android] Huawei P10 ... That gets charged from the USB 2.0 port on the bottom of the controller when I plug in a USB 2.0 to USB-C cable. I'm just going to make sure my phone is fully charged before I attach it to my controller ...

I suspect Android phones have a minimum current requirement before charging kicks in, with some being lower than others, or maybe the RC is just right on the threshold for whether Android will see it as worthing charging or not.

Anyway, now that I know I can charge the RC using a regular USB battery pack connected to the side port, I'm going to get the necessary magnetic cables (thanks for the Amazon link, BTW!) to re-charge both my phone and RC in the field from my battery pack. With a little luck, I can track down ~10cm one so I can use the connector to link my phone up to the RC's bottom port as well.

FoxhallGH · Nov 13, 2018

zocalo said:
I suspect Android phones have a minimum current requirement before charging kicks in, with some being lower than others, or maybe the RC is just right on the threshold for whether Android will see it as worthing charging or not.

Anyway, now that I know I can charge the RC using a regular USB battery pack connected to the side port, I'm going to get the necessary magnetic cables (thanks for the Amazon link, BTW!) to re-charge both my phone and RC in the field from my battery pack. With a little luck, I can track down ~10cm one so I can use the connector to link my phone up to the RC's bottom port as well.

Just purchased one of these to connect my USB-C phone to USB2.0 ... Fits perfectly!!! ... https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074QJW3SD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 That then leaves the side port free for the tip of the magnetic NetDot cable.

mnis · Nov 13, 2018

Just my opinion ... The remote control alone needs a lot of energy. You will extremely stress the battery of the remote control and the battery of the smartphone when you connect a power bank to the MicroUSB port of the remote control. This will lead to increased wear of all involved batteries. The devices will generate significantly more heat during use with a power bank, and this is fundamentally harmful to lithium batteries. This concerns the Mavic Pro / Platinum and the current models. This knowledge is probably for some exactly the reason for using a prepared USB cable ... In addition a smartphone with a strong battery and it should be perfect.

Johnmcl7 · Nov 13, 2018

crystal-pete said:
I think most people on this thread are confused.

When connected to an Android device the RC acts as a charger. As result, the RC battery drains faster than normal. There is no way to stop this from occurring – using the Type-A USB port on the underside of the RC to connect to the Android device makes no difference.

If your Android device supports Fast Charging, turning off that feature will dramatically slow down the draining of the RC battery – at least that’s how it works with my Mavic Pro and Samsung Galaxy S7. My experience is that the RC battery level drops to 15-20% after 5-6 flights – I’m happy with that.

That just doesn't make any sense though as the Mavic controller doesn't support fast charging so that setting technically makes no difference when connected to the Mavic controller, it would only come into effect when connected to a compatible quick charger and the phone will indicate that. When I've connected fast charging compatible devices to the Mavic Controller they charge at the slowest rate which is in line with the DJI information you posted above as 500mA is barely enough to charge a flagship device. That's not just well below quick/fast charging level, that's a very low rate even for standard USB charging.

I have a Sony Z Ultra (Qualcomm 800, no fast charge for some reason), Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (Qualcomm 805, Quick Charge) and Galaxy Note 8 (Eyxnos 9 8895, Samsung's quick charge implementation) but they all have a similar drain on the controller regardless of fast charging being enabled or not. None of them recognise the Mavic Controller as a fast charge compatible device.

Even if the S7 has some odd quirk with its fast charging implementation, it should still be limited to just 500mA current draw.

deleted member 877 · Nov 13, 2018

Johnmcl7 said:
That just doesn't make any sense though as the Mavic controller doesn't support fast charging so that setting technically makes no difference when connected to the Mavic controller, it would only come into effect when connected to a compatible quick charger and the phone will indicate that. When I've connected fast charging compatible devices to the Mavic Controller they charge at the slowest rate which is in line with the DJI information you posted above as 500mA is barely enough to charge a flagship device. That's not just well below quick/fast charging level, that's a very low rate even for standard USB charging.

I have a Sony Z Ultra (Qualcomm 800, no fast charge for some reason), Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (Qualcomm 805, Quick Charge) and Galaxy Note 8 (Eyxnos 9 8895, Samsung's quick charge implementation) but they all have a similar drain on the controller regardless of fast charging being enabled or not. None of them recognise the Mavic Controller as a fast charge compatible device.

Even if the S7 has some odd quirk with its fast charging implementation, it should still be limited to just 500mA current draw.

It makes 100% sense because that is exactly what happens with my S7. This behaviour has also been reported by others - it's not just me. You really can't make an informed comment in regard to the S7 until you have actually tested it.

Search for the word "fast" in the thread below:-

DISABLE Remote Controller from charging phone battery **POLL

Johnmcl7 · Nov 13, 2018

crystal-pete said:
It makes 100% sense because that is exactly what happens with my S7. This behaviour has also been reported by others - it's not just me. You really can't make an informed comment in regard to the S7 until you have actually tested it.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying it shouldn't happen as the Mavic controller is not a certified fast charge device which is why in turn I'm saying it doesn't make sense. The information you yourself provided stated the Mavic controller charges a USB connected device at 500mA at 5V which is almost the lowest level for USB which can do up to 2A at 5V whereas various quick/fast charging technology would be above 2A or 5V. Some people are claiming tablets can draw around 1,000mA (although not verified) but that's still around half the 2A USB limit.

When fast charging is enabled, does the S7 recognise the Mavic controller as a fast charging device? Also does the charging time change on the phone when fast charging is disabled?

To show what I mean and why it doesn't make sense, these screenshots show how the Note 8 behaves when connected to a charger. I've chosen it as it supports exactly the same fast charge system as the Galaxy S7 but it also shows an estimated time to charge which is useful, the Note 4 is also QC2.0 and while it behaves the same as the Note 8 it doesn't have the estimated time to charge so it's more difficult to see how much power it's using.

First up, the Note 8 connected to the Mavic controller using a cable that supports fast charging:

https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/General/i-fDWqCvk/0/3d1088da/L/Screenshot_20181114-012853-L.jpg

The Note 8 does not recognise the device as fast charging capable and instead shows a low current draw which is in line with the 500mA@5V spec you posted. With a fast charger connected, the Note 8 shows it's connected to a fast charger and the charge time drops significantly:

https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/General/i-TdNHj37/0/410cfef6/L/Screenshot_20181114-012926-L.jpg

Now this time fast charging is disabled on the Note 8, if the phone is drawing less power than the first screenshot then that recharge time should have increased:

https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/General/i-n2WDJPs/0/7d4f5de2/L/Screenshot_20181114-013122-L.jpg

It's slightly higher as the battery percentage has dropped while I was testing but it shows the phone is still drawing the same amount of current from the controller.

It would be interesting to see if your S7 treats the Mavic controller any differently if fast charging is disabled.

DanMan32 · Nov 13, 2018

Resistor could be a problem if the mobile can't regulate current draw below 500ma. If a device does attempt to draw more than 0.02A, voltage will drop lower than 5v. Technically any draw will drop the voltage the device sees, question is if the voltage drop is within tolerance.

Johnmcl7 · Nov 13, 2018

crystal-pete said:
It makes 100% sense because that is exactly what happens with my S7. This behaviour has also been reported by others - it's not just me. You really can't make an informed comment in regard to the S7 until you have actually tested it.

Search for the word "fast" in the thread below:-

DISABLE Remote Controller from charging phone battery **POLL

Did you read through that thread? Some people are claiming fast charging makes a difference but others are also claiming it doesn't (There's even some claiming their Android devices don't charge at all from the controller), there's no-one providing evidence either way but I suspect quite a few misunderstand what fast charging actually means. It doesn't literally mean faster charging, it's a specific technology that both the charger and phone have to support which allows them to either draw above the 2A USB limit or above the 5V limit depending on which technology it is.

There are several posts there that claim the Note 8 draws less power with fast charging disabled but you can see from the screenshots above this definitely isn't the case, it's drawing exactly the same power regardless of the fast charge setting. I perhaps should have added a fourth screenshot (the battery had dipped a bit which put out the estimated time) showing what happens with a fast charging setup and fast charging disabled, in this case it's much faster than when charging from the Mavic which again shows the 500mA figure is probably right as without fast charging it can draw around 2A at 5V. That's not quite as fast as fast charging but still much quicker than the controller's 500mA.

John