Mavic 2 USB charger -crowd funding idea

[Mikerobertsn]

Hi Everyone,
Quite a popular topic always which is always brought up is the lack of a USB charging capability for mavic drones. Perhaps DJI don’t want people whinging that their batteries take so long to charge.

However I believe to a lot of people, a USB charger for mavic batteries would provide quite a bit of utility, perfect for hiking with the drone. Personally I have 3 batteries as I got the flymore kit but additional batteries are around $200 AUD, quite expensive. The mavic 2 battery is around 60Wh and I can buy a xiaomi 20Ah powerbank (74Wh) for around $20 AUD, they are so cheap lol.
Given most people wouldn’t discharge their batteries below around 20% (50Wh of power needed), a 74Wh powerbank should almost be able to deliver a full charge taking into account boost converter efficiencies, Peukert's law etc. 26Ah powerbanks are also popular too. Imagine if it had a little Peukerts switch to control the rate of charge lol.

In terms of parts all you really need is a boost converter and charging circuit, I can’t believe no aftermarket companies have done his yet (hint hint).
It could be quite basic and just use a standard 5V, 2A usb output, or it could also make use of newer QC standard, like some of them can deliver up to 45W etc.

Since USB powerbanks and usb charging in general has really became an unofficial standard for all electronic devices it would be great if there was a product which could utilise all the ultra cheap high capacity powerbanks on the market.

My purpose in writing this is to get people talking about it more, and perhaps an engineer (with more time than me) may want to crowdfund this idea to create a product, or even a 3rd party charger manufacturer may want to steal it.

Technically it could be done and from $5 or so of parts you could easily sell it for around $50 at least.

Cheers
Michael

 

[BingErr]

Here's a better option.

Amazon.com: Smatree Mavic 2 Pro 148Wh Portable Charging Station High Speed Docking Compatible for DJI Mavic 2 Pro/Mavic 2 Zoom Drone Intelligent Flight Battery: Gateway

Buy Smatree Mavic 2 Pro 148Wh Portable Charging Station High Speed Docking Compatible for DJI Mavic 2 Pro/Mavic 2 Zoom Drone Intelligent Flight Battery: Battery Chargers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[brett8883]

Hi Everyone,
Quite a popular topic always which is always brought up is the lack of a USB charging capability for mavic drones. Perhaps DJI don’t want people whinging that their batteries take so long to charge.

However I believe to a lot of people, a USB charger for mavic batteries would provide quite a bit of utility, perfect for hiking with the drone. Personally I have 3 batteries as I got the flymore kit but additional batteries are around $200 AUD, quite expensive. The mavic 2 battery is around 60Wh and I can buy a xiaomi 20Ah powerbank (74Wh) for around $20 AUD, they are so cheap lol.
Given most people wouldn’t discharge their batteries below around 20% (50Wh of power needed), a 74Wh powerbank should almost be able to deliver a full charge taking into account boost converter efficiencies, Peukert's law etc. 26Ah powerbanks are also popular too. Imagine if it had a little Peukerts switch to control the rate of charge lol.

In terms of parts all you really need is a boost converter and charging circuit, I can’t believe no aftermarket companies have done his yet (hint hint).
It could be quite basic and just use a standard 5V, 2A usb output, or it could also make use of newer QC standard, like some of them can deliver up to 45W etc.

Since USB powerbanks and usb charging in general has really became an unofficial standard for all electronic devices it would be great if there was a product which could utilise all the ultra cheap high capacity powerbanks on the market.

My purpose in writing this is to get people talking about it more, and perhaps an engineer (with more time than me) may want to crowdfund this idea to create a product, or even a 3rd party charger manufacturer may want to steal it.

Technically it could be done and from $5 or so of parts you could easily sell it for around $50 at least.

Cheers
Michael

Great idea unfortunately the Mavic batteries requires at least a 17v 3.5 amp charge. Those charging banks are designed to produce a 5v 2 amp charge at best. It’s easy to boost voltage at expense of amps or step up amps at the expense of volts. To get to at least 17 amps you would need 4 charging banks in series and to get to 3.5 amps you’d need two in parallel. But you can’t put mismatched cells in parallel so you’d have to match the first 4 in series with another 4 in series and now that you have 8 power banks you now have enough power to charge a single mavic battery. So 8*20= $160 which is more than one of those Smatree things above and now you know why they are so expensive.

I’m not trying to burst your bubble I love the creativity but I thought I was better to tell you why it wasn’t gonna work rather then just say it won’t work.

 

[Former Member]

Great idea unfortunately the Mavic batteries requires at least a 17v 3.5 amp charge. Those charging banks are designed to produce a 5v 2 amp charge at best. It’s easy to boost voltage at expense of amps or step up amps at the expense of volts. To get to at least 17 amps you would need 4 charging banks in series and to get to 3.5 amps you’d need two in parallel. But you can’t put mismatched cells in parallel so you’d have to match the first 4 in series with another 4 in series and now that you have 8 power banks you now have enough power to charge a single mavic battery. So 8*20= $160 which is more than one of those Smatree things above ☝and now you know why they are so expensive.

I’m not trying to burst your bubble I love the creativity but I thought I was better to tell you why it wasn’t gonna work rather then just say it won’t work.

Hmmm so youre saying its impossible in the given scenario?

 

[Mikerobertsn]

Great idea unfortunately the Mavic batteries requires at least a 17v 3.5 amp charge. Those charging banks are designed to produce a 5v 2 amp charge at best. It’s easy to boost voltage at expense of amps or step up amps at the expense of volts. To get to at least 17 amps you would need 4 charging banks in series and to get to 3.5 amps you’d need two in parallel. But you can’t put mismatched cells in parallel so you’d have to match the first 4 in series with another 4 in series and now that you have 8 power banks you now have enough power to charge a single mavic battery. So 8*20= $160 which is more than one of those Smatree things above ☝and now you know why they are so expensive.

I’m not trying to burst your bubble I love the creativity but I thought I was better to tell you why it wasn’t gonna work rather then just say it won’t work.

I don’t think what you are saying is quite right. If you boost the voltage, sure its at the expense of amps, but that doesn’t really matter (only affects charge time). To charge batteries you need the correct voltage but you can charge at a lot less current. In ideal scenario 5v, 2a gives you 10w. If you say you need 17v to charge that gives you 10/17=0.58A, in reality a bit less, sure it might take 8 hours to charge but I think thats a worth while trade off, given the application. You could also argue giving the batteries an 8 hour charge vs 2, is better for their longevity, might only be a small amount though.

As I mentioned if you made use of newer tech such as QC (which many powerbanks support you could do the charge in a couple hour QC is rated up to 45W).
Maybe there could be a cheap standard usb 8 hour charger and a fast QC 2 hour charger etc.

 

[Mikerobertsn]

Here's a better option.

Amazon.com: Smatree Mavic 2 Pro 148Wh Portable Charging Station High Speed Docking Compatible for DJI Mavic 2 Pro/Mavic 2 Zoom Drone Intelligent Flight Battery: Gateway

Buy Smatree Mavic 2 Pro 148Wh Portable Charging Station High Speed Docking Compatible for DJI Mavic 2 Pro/Mavic 2 Zoom Drone Intelligent Flight Battery: Battery Chargers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Thanks for that, I’ve seen things like it but haven’t seen that model. Doesn’t ship to Australia lol like a lot of things.
I found local sellers selling it for around $250.
Also my concern with these types of things is that its a bit of money on something that will go outdated (most likely won’t work with mavic 3 etc). I’d prefer to spend money on a battery which can be used for anything and then get a cheaper device specific charger. I almost bought one of these (below) but it was just going to be too big and bulky (has inverter and everything).
The xiaomi powerbanks are great cheap simple and compact (mainly just battery).

Cool but bulky powerpack

Power Generator Camping Generators for sale | Shop with Afterpay | eBay AU

Get the best deals on Power Generator Camping Generators. Shop with Afterpay on eligible items. Free delivery and returns on eBay Plus items for Plus members. Shop today!

www.ebay.com.au

 

[BingErr]

Thanks for that, I’ve seen things like it but haven’t seen that model. Doesn’t ship to Australia lol like a lot of things.
I found local sellers selling it for around $250.
Also my concern with these types of things is that its a bit of money on something that will go outdated (most likely won’t work with mavic 3 etc). I’d prefer to spend money on a battery which can be used for anything and then get a cheaper device specific charger. I almost bought one of these (below) but it was just going to be too big and bulky (has inverter and everything).
The xiaomi powerbanks are great cheap simple and compact (mainly just battery).

Cool but bulky powerpack

Power Generator Camping Generators for sale | Shop with Afterpay | eBay AU

Get the best deals on Power Generator Camping Generators. Shop with Afterpay on eligible items. Free delivery and returns on eBay Plus items for Plus members. Shop today!

www.ebay.com.au

I get it. You want to buy something universal, but I did buy something like this from Smatree for my Mavic Air and used it a LOT. Last summer it was probably my most used drone accessory. And if I ever sell my Mavic Air I'd just have to sell my battery with it. But at this point, I've used it so many times I already feel I've got my money out of it.
To charge the Spark battery by USB it took a while (which is 1480 mAh compared to the Mavic 2 battery at 3850 mAh) and I think it would take FOREVER to charge the Mavic 2 battery by USB.