How to permanently power an M2P/E/Z?

[iammikec]

Fun little POC here at work. I've brainstormed with a teammate for a short time (we're software engineers, not electrical) and this all seems feasible, but I suspect someone on here has tried similar and will be able to provide a clear answer before we spend any money or burn down my home office.

We want to have a permanently powered Mavic 2 sitting on a desk.

Would something like DJI Mavic Pro Battery Adapter coupled with ToolKitRC ADP100 100W 20.0V 5A Power Supply Unit w/ XT60 Output do the trick? This thread leads me to believe the demands of the drone should be met, but isn't there some sort of ID embedded in the batteries that will throw an error if not found? Or perhaps this is bypassed by also having a legitimate battery installed at the same time?

 

[brett8883]

Fun little POC here at work. I've brainstormed with a teammate for a short time (we're software engineers, not electrical) and this all seems feasible, but I suspect someone on here has tried similar and will be able to provide a clear answer before we spend any money or burn down my home office.

We want to have a permanently powered Mavic 2 sitting on a desk.

Would something like DJI Mavic Pro Battery Adapter coupled with ToolKitRC ADP100 100W 20.0V 5A Power Supply Unit w/ XT60 Output do the trick? This thread leads me to believe the demands of the drone should be met, but isn't there some sort of ID embedded in the batteries that will throw an error if not found? Or perhaps this is bypassed by also having a legitimate battery installed at the same time?

Full disclosure I don’t have a Mavic 2 and haven’t tried any battery hacks but I have been active on the software side and been exposed to lots of people doing battery mods.

I think your idea should work in theory. I believe the tricky part to most battery mods is to have the battery voltage correctly show in the app. If running off battery obviously this is important. However, if you aren’t running off battery and don’t care about that then you should be good especially if you are going to keep an OEM battery installed.

The part I don’t know about is you probably need to be able to supply more than 5 amps to keep it in the air. I have no idea how this works with constant power though. In my experience the Mavics can easily draw more than 10 amps while in flight. That other thread you reference shows just a small sample while the aircraft is hovering. In what conditions and altitude, what atmospheric pressure with what battery voltage and age who knows.

The other thing is if you keep the OEM battery installed how you prevent it from draining the original battery.

I would also go in with the debug version of Assistant 2 1.1.2 and switch it to non-dji battery mode just to be safe.

Hopefully someone with more experience comes along and gives you more insight.

 

[iammikec]

Thanks for the reply and vote of confidence. To clarify, this will not be going in the air; it'll be permanently wired up to a computer running a simulator.

I didn't know there was a way to enable third party batteries. That solves one problem I anticipated! Then if I don't need the OEM battery installed (for ID purposes) I've no concern of draining it.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Why do this?
I would be somewhat concerned about heat dissipation, I know there is a built in fan but ........


When downloading DAT's etc, I direct the output of a fan over the drone. The draw from the battery us greatly reduced when the motors are not running so a full battery would last a long time in a 'just sitting' drone.

 

[iammikec]

Why do this?

To automate testing of a GCS application.

I can easily measure temperatures, but not much of a concern; the drone doesn't overheat when sitting idly. It won't be doing any meaningful amount of processing.

 

[brett8883]

Thanks for the reply and vote of confidence. To clarify, this will not be going in the air; it'll be permanently wired up to a computer running a simulator.

I didn't know there was a way to enable third party batteries. That solves one problem I anticipated! Then if I don't need the OEM battery installed (for ID purposes) I've no concern of draining it.

Yea if you don’t even need it to take off I believe you should be good just connecting it to power. Probably don’t even need to change it to non-DJI battery mode.

Thinks I don’t know about are if there needs to be some kinda of regulation as to not fry the board.