Good car charger?

[Chirp]

Is there a dependable car charger that would be able to recharge a Mavic Pro battery in about 1.5 hours or so?

If there is a charger that would charge multiple batts in that 1.5 hours?

Thanks !

 

[RKX]

Just get a good power inverter and use what you do at home. Read the wattage use on your charger and get an inverter that will work with it. should be able to get a good deal from 10-30 bucks.

 

[AeroMirage]

Or, get a DJI car charger. I would not trust and 3rd party ones as batteries cost too much and look what's at stake.
$49 and it charges a battery in 54 minutes.
Mavic Pro Car Charger - DJI Store

 

[BerndM]

According to the specs on the above mentioned DJI charger, it is virtually useless in most automotive situations.
The INPUT voltage has to be a minimum of 12.7V. This is higher than what you'd find on most resting car batteries with the motor OFF. In order to use this charger you would have to have the engine running, which is ridiculous.
Why DJI designed a car charger with such a lousy input voltage requirement is beyond me.
As mentioned above by RKX, a decent 12v DC to 120v AC inverter works beautifully, but you need to be careful not to suck too much power out of your car battery that you won't be able to start your car.
Many car inverters have a built in low voltage cutoff so theorhetically you'll always have enough battery left to start your car.

 

[matth1000]

Or get a dc to dc converter for $20 off ebay.
Get one with 10 to 15v input and 13.8v out put.
I got one and it works a treat and is alot less strain on your car battery than running an inverter.
If u run an inverter u should be leaving the car running anyway so u might as well use the supplied dji car charger.
Think about the inverter
U are going from 12v or under resting car battery to 120 or 240v car charger then that is going back down to 12v or so to charge the battery. Very inefficient.
Go the dc to dc converter.

 

[stonecherub]

In the field (the southwest desert), I work out of a 2001 4runner which now has the largest battery that will fit the space. A battery monitor (called PriorityStart - $110) allows me to use its reserve capacity until the voltage reaches 11.7, sufficient power to start the engine.

On field trips this spring, I flew five to six batteries mornings and evenings, recharging them on return to camp. Two Anbee chargers allow me to charge 3 mavic batteries simultaneously, drawing as much as 16 amps. My charging harness connects directly to the battery (eliminating drain from car accessories) and I recently extended the wire through the firewall so that I no longer need charge the batteries in the often hot engine compartment.

After the Mavic batteries are full, I fill-up the power packs that recharge my controller and iPad while I am hiking from one flying site to another.

My field season is effectively over because of rising temperatures in the desert but I am going out on the solstice to take advantage of the maximum northern azimuths of the rising and setting sun. I expect to run a home-made evaporative cooler on the poor old battery's reserve capacity after everything else is full. We'll see.

As an aside: I have been working Tecolote volcano off and on for 45 years and have walked everywhere walkable. Three months of flying my Mavic in the sharp light of early morning and late afternoon have revealed structures that I was never able to see on the ground in the past.

Like BerndM, I wonder what the DJI engineers were thinking when they designed a car charger requiring 12.7V input. I have been successful using third-party chargers but would be interested in any EVIDENCE (hard evidence, not feelings) that they are damaging my batteries.

 

[Chirp]

Thanks for the good advice...
I was thinking the charger below would do what I need since it charges multiple batteries simultaneously.
I'll still need and inverter though. It's around $42 and the ad says it will re-charge all the batteries in an hour.
I did a search on "FS LABS", the maker of this charger, on this forum and I didn't see any bad press.

$42

Google Express

 

[stonecherub]

Thanks for the good advice...
I was thinking the charger below would do what I need since it charges multiple batteries simultaneously.
I'll still need and inverter though. It's around $42 and the ad says it will re-charge all the batteries in an hour.
I did a search on "FS LABS", the maker of this charger, on this forum and I didn't see any bad press.

View attachment 38362 $42

Google Express

I have two 12V chargers, each capable of charging two batteries simultaneously in a little over an hour. I just got the second one yesterday and have not yet run any tests trying to charge 4 batteries from my reserve capacity. I don't like to use an inverter because it takes too much electricity just to run.

The day blew up on me about an hour ago so I plan to run my tests tomorrow morning. I will sign in to this thread when I have some numbers.

 

[RKX]

Thanks for the good advice...
I was thinking the charger below would do what I need since it charges multiple batteries simultaneously.
I'll still need and inverter though. It's around $42 and the ad says it will re-charge all the batteries in an hour.
I did a search on "FS LABS", the maker of this charger, on this forum and I didn't see any bad press.

View attachment 38362 $42

Google Express

I've got this charger (branded Yx) and love it so far. It also is under the wattage requirement of my power inverter (12 volts pumping out 5amps = 56watts) Even my cheap 10 dollar 75watt inverter will run this perfectly.

 

[ftttu]

I have a couple of inverters I use, and they charge a battery in less than an hour. I'm not against the DJI car charger, but since I had the inverters already, I didn't want to pay extra for the charger.

 

[Empato]

Anyone able to recommend a good (and safe) inverter thats available in the UK?

 

[stonecherub]

I just finished a quick test of multiple battery charging. The current draw is highly variable and my in-line ammeter was designed for solar power so it measures sporadically. One battery drew 7.8A max, one more drew 10.1A, one after that drew 18.1A and all four drew 20.5A max. The harness is fused with at 20A and did not blow. This was a short test of a couple of minutes, i am storing the batteries partially discharged.

My next trip is in a month to catch the sun at maximum north azimuth. While the important photography is to be done in the cool just after sunrise, I plan some mid-day flying in the hot Arizona sun. We'll see.

 

[tictag]

Anyone able to recommend a good (and safe) inverter thats available in the UK?

www.victronenergy.com

Best inverters on the planet ... but not cheap.

 

[Chirp]

Thanks again all!
I'm sure the answer is in here somewhere but my electronics is not what it used to be.

Can someone tell me what the wattage would need to be in an inverter charging 3 batteries?
I have other chargers to handle the iPad and MP RC so it will just be the 3 batteries.

Thanks!!!

 

[tictag]

Can someone tell me what the wattage would need to be in an inverter charging 3 batteries?

Inverting DC to mains to only then rectify back to DC will never be as efficient as a good quality DC-DC converter. If you need mains, choose an inverter. If you need DC, either buy one of the many battery packs that charge drone batteries (e.g. Energen) or use the DJI 12V charger.

To answer your question, though, Mavic batteries usually charge individually at around 6A at 13.x volts (during the constant current stage), that's around 80W. Three batteries charging simultaneously would be around 240W.

 

[Chirp]

Inverting DC to mains to only then rectify back to DC will never be as efficient as a good quality DC-DC converter. If you need mains, choose an inverter. If you need DC, either buy one of the many battery packs that charge drone batteries (e.g. Energen) or use the DJI 12V charger.

To answer your question, though, Mavic batteries usually charge individually at around 6A at 13.x volts (during the constant current stage), that's around 80W. Three batteries charging simultaneously would be around 240W.

Thank You... What I need is to be able to re-charge 3 batteries after a mission on the way to the next mission which is about 1~1.5 hours away by car. I ordered the FS Labs charger that charges 3 batteries in about an hour and now I need to get a good but inexpensive (for now) inverter to run the charger in the car. I will look into the DC-DC converter you speak of. It's all new to me...

 

[matth1000]

3-500 watt inverter should be all you need.
If you a running the car while you are charging should be sweet.
Always best to get a bit bigger inverter than what you need.
I’m not a big believer in getting the exact spec you need. I always go one or 2 steps more.

 

[tictag]

now I need to get a good but inexpensive (for now) inverter to run the charger in the car.

Just for info, most cheap invterters use what's known as a 'modified sine wave' to invert DC to AC, these are fine for things like kettles but can cause problems with electronic gear. If an inverter is the way you're going, I would recommend getting a 'pure sine wave' inverter. These tend to be more expensive.

Where do you live? I actually have a spare Victron Energy 350W pure sine wave inverter, it's brand new, never been used but it has a UK socket.

 

[MavikMatt]

Hi tictag. I’m interested if Chirp doesn’t want it?
I’m in Surrey.

Cheers

M

 

[Boss_Vyc]

Hi

If you have some electronic knowledge you can make your own charger. The best part is you can use with all types of voltage batteries or transformers (dc 8-30volts and minimum 4 amps)
For this is required one step up/down convertor (10amps). It cost around 6€.
Some mini display voltage (1€/piece)
Mp connectors for batteries. I use now modifyed hub charger.

I charge with this one 3 batteries at the same time in 70 minutes in the car, i have some flex batteries (18v and 4-5amps) to charge on the field , and so on.

For complete project i spent around 20€

Good luck.