Repurposed UPS to Charge Drone Battery’s.

[DroneJI]

I know 12v inverters will not power the Mavic 120v Battery charger because of the Dirty voltage, and a Pure Sine Inverter is needed and they are very Expensive! I have Several APC UPS’s with dead batteries and thought hey these UPS boxes provide a very Clean and Stable 120v output since they are designed to power Computers and other sensitive electronics in the event of a power failure! I just took one of the old APC 350s apart disabled the power loss buzzer and put a Cigarette adapter and Alligator clips on the Battery leads it actually powers the DJI home Battery charger, these UPS’s cost a lot less than a Pure Sine-wave inverter, and seem to be much more efficient than a inverter! How long they will last being in a power loss mode making 120v is yet to be determined but this UPS has powered my Desktop, Cable modem, LCD monitor, and router for over 30 minuets at a time more times than I can recall! You can actually buy a new one for less than a Dji Car charger, and power several chargers at once! A Mavic, Phantom etc! I have done it 3 times while driving to a new location without a issue I just have to remember to disconnect it not to kill my vehicle battery when it’s not running! Just a thought on power while on the road and not having to invest in Separate 12v chargers for everything I’m hauling with me.

 

[Wcordes]

Good idea but I use the inverter built into my truck with no problems. May try using truck 110 volt outlet to charge ups.

 

[Kilrah]

I know 12v inverters will not power the Mavic 120v Battery charger because of the Dirty voltage, and a Pure Sine Inverter is needed

Totally incorrect.

 

[DroneJI]

Totally incorrect.

I have tried at least 5 different brands of Non Pure sine wave inverters and the Dji charger refused to work! Maybe a off brand house charger will work? I did a lot of research on the issue I had, A lot of people couldn’t get the provided Mavic charger to work unless they sprung for a much more expensive Pure SineWave inverter! The cheap inverters have square waves that some electronics don’t like and some can be damaged by them, I have stereo equipment in my home I use a power conditioner to protect it! Maybe a little overkill today since my equipment is getting old and it’s new counter parts cost a lot less but when I invested in it I spent $6000.00 on the Onyko receiver alone! What run of the mill inverter did you get a Dji charger to work with? I tried a lot from Walmart, Harbor Freight, Various Truck stops (TA , Pilot, etc) Sears even Advanced Auto and Autozone and none of them would work!

 

[DroneJI]

Good idea but I use the inverter built into my truck with no problems. May try using truck 110 volt outlet to charge ups.

My SUV is to old I wish it had a inverter built in! They made a Hybrid version of the Yukon that may have had them but not the 5.3s I have tons of room to mount one permanently out of site once I get the details worked out like extra cooling and auto power off, I found a lot of information about modifying a UPS for this use adding bigger mosfets and a cooling fan to make it more reliable.

 

[Kilrah]

Been fine here with 2 standard inverters plus one that can be set to output HVDC (skipping the chopping that's pointless for most current PSUs anyway)

 

[DroneJI]

Been fine here with 2 standard inverters plus one that can be set to output HVDC (skipping the chopping that's pointless for most current PSUs anyway)

Are you in Switzerland? Maybe it has to do with your locations power requirements? They built the Inverters different? I have 2 MPPs and neither charger would work with any inverter I tried, I got tired of returning them since they won’t do what I want them for, they all work I can charge my DeWalt 20v batteries with them it’s just the Dji charger won’t even show any signs of life . From what I have read some people are having luck with modified some wave inverters but apparently they are not good for certain electronics, neither are the standard units, these are people who work in the field for a living.

 

[Kilrah]

Well my inverters are 230V yes, maybe that could matter...

 

[DroneJI]

Well my inverters are 230V yes, maybe that could matter...

We are 120v 60 hz that could make a big difference in how the chargers react to the source voltage. I know the US does things a bit different than the rest of the world.

 

[MavicCF]

I have tried at least 5 different brands of Non Pure sine wave inverters and the Dji charger refused to work! Maybe a off brand house charger will work? I did a lot of research on the issue I had, A lot of people couldn’t get the provided Mavic charger to work unless they sprung for a much more expensive Pure SineWave inverter! The cheap inverters have square waves that some electronics don’t like and some can be damaged by them, I have stereo equipment in my home I use a power conditioner to protect it! Maybe a little overkill today since my equipment is getting old and it’s new counter parts cost a lot less but when I invested in it I spent $6000.00 on the Onyko receiver alone! What run of the mill inverter did you get a Dji charger to work with? I tried a lot from Walmart, Harbor Freight, Various Truck stops (TA , Pilot, etc) Sears even Advanced Auto and Autozone and none of them would work!

I've used one of the cheap Harbor Freight inverters (this one) to charge while on the road without a problem (although I'm sure it isn't very efficient), I wonder if you tried a different one. Anyway, a cool and creative idea you came up with!

 

[DroneJI]

I've used one of the cheap Harbor Freight inverters (this one) to charge while on the road without a problem (although I'm sure it isn't very efficient), I wonder if you tried a different one. Anyway, a cool and creative idea you came up with!

I just realized something! I never had my vehicle running when I tried ! Maybe these inverters don’t put out enough when the vehicle voltage is below a certain level? I do have a New Optima Yellow Battery in my Vehicle so I wasn’t worried about killing it with a inverter during a brief test! I know the Dji car chargers won’t work unless the vehicle is running because it wants 13.5v or above (I forget the exact voltage) but maybe the 120v charger is acting the same way because the inverter is not putting out 120v when the alternator is not pushing out more juice (my Alternator An reach 14.5v then drop to about 13.8 ) but with the key off then voltage it about 12.5. maybe the inverter is only putting out 90v or 100v? I never tested the output since I was on the road and hitting every place I could find a inverter!

 

[MavicCF]

I just realized something! I never had my vehicle running when I tried ! Maybe these inverters don’t put out enough when the vehicle voltage is below a certain level? I do have a New Optima Yellow Battery in my Vehicle so I wasn’t worried about killing it with a inverter during a brief test! I know the Dji car chargers won’t work unless the vehicle is running because it wants 13.5v or above (I forget the exact voltage) but maybe the 120v charger is acting the same way because the inverter is not putting out 120v when the alternator is not pushing out more juice (my Alternator An reach 14.5v then drop to about 13.8 ) but with the key off then voltage it about 12.5. maybe the inverter is only putting out 90v or 100v? I never tested the output since I was on the road and hitting every place I could find a inverter!

That sounds like the issue! It does make total sense as I was looking into making a portable battery bank to charge the Mavic battery via the car charger, however just like you said, the car charger doesn't work unless the engine is running so I had to change my idea from 3s lipo (11.1v) to 4s (14.8v).
Hope it all works for you now! -CF

 

[DroneJI]

That sounds like the issue! It does make total sense as I was looking into making a portable battery bank to charge the Mavic battery via the car charger, however just like you said, the car charger doesn't work unless the engine is running so I had to change my idea from 3s lipo (11.1v) to 4s (14.8v).
Hope it all works for you now! -CF

Apparently there’s step ups to raise the voltage available to get around this issue! I’m looking into them right now, I hate buy stuff like this off amazon or eBay because some of it’s just junk and can cause issues or worse catch on fire! Sorry if my typing is bad just had my eyes dialated can’t see my IPad lol

 

[MavicCF]

Apparently there’s step ups to raise the voltage available to get around this issue! I’m looking into them right now, I hate buy stuff like this off amazon or eBay because some of it’s just junk and can cause issues or worse catch on fire! Sorry if my typing is bad just had my eyes dialated can’t see my IPad lol

Keep me posted as I would like to use something similar to charge off the 12v plug in our camper when we're staying in one spot and not running the truck often.-CF

 

[AForceone]

I just realized something! I never had my vehicle running when I tried ! Maybe these inverters don’t put out enough when the vehicle voltage is below a certain level?

You do NEED to have the car running. Many 12v ports will not even power without it running. Even if it does, it will not have enough to power your invert. You would not want to run down your car battery either even if it worked.

I used such inverter in the past to charge laptops, back when the battery capacity was a few minutes.

 

[MavicCF]

You do NEED to have the car running. Many 12v ports will not even power without it running. Even if it does, it will not have enough to power your invert. You would not want to run down your car battery either even if it worked.

I used such inverter in the past to charge laptops, back when the battery capacity was a few minutes.

In my case I could use a step-up for in the camper which has two large deep cycle batteries and dual solar panels/generator for charging. It has several 12v plugs wired in, but the voltage isn't high enough to charge Mavic batteries without a step up. I do totally agree with you as far as cars go though, if you want to charge a Mavic battery in them you should definitely have the car running and not be using a step-up. Especially as car batteries are not meant for deep cycling. -CF

 

[DroneJI]

In my case I could use a step-up for in the camper which has two large deep cycle batteries and dual solar panels/generator for charging. It has several 12v plugs wired in, but the voltage isn't high enough to charge Mavic batteries without a step up. I do totally agree with you as far as cars go though, if you want to charge a Mavic battery in them you should definitely have the car running and not be using a step-up. Especially as car batteries are not meant for deep cycling. -CF

That’s why I paid $389 for a Yellow top Optima Battery for my SUV it has 12v plugs everywhere 3 in the dash one in the back to the console and one behind the rear hatch door, I wanted to put a sold Panel on the roof to keep the battery charged and be able to charge the mavic! While parked during a trip into BLM land later this year! I hate to get a generator just to charge the drone batteries! I now have a few other drones so I have to figure out a way to charge them while camping off grid!

 

[DroneJI]

You do NEED to have the car running. Many 12v ports will not even power without it running. Even if it does, it will not have enough to power your invert. You would not want to run down your car battery either even if it worked.

I used such inverter in the past to charge laptops, back when the battery capacity was a few minutes.

I purchased a Yellow top Gel Cell Battery for my Vehicle just for this reason! They are designed to be drained! (All my 12v ports work with the Key off I think all Yukon’s And Escalades are like this) I wanted to use a solar panel to recharge it during the day and charge the drone batteries at night while camping on BLM land! But Dji didn’t think of people that may be off grid using there products! If I can’t figure it out I will need to get a Inverter Generator to charge the batteries! These are the only Gennys I trust with electronics,I just didn’t want to bring extra fuel just to charge batteries when solar is free! And having a Yukon XL I have a lot of roof space to set solar panels while parked! I got a SUV tent to attach to the rear door! So normally a car battery is not meant for this but the Optimas Yellow is! And at $389.00 it better work as it claims! Something like this may be my only option https://www.lowes.com/pd/Generac-i...table-Generator-with-Generac-Engine/999924976 this one is a bit high they have lower output Inverter Generators for about $450.

 

[MavicCF]

That’s why I paid $389 for a Yellow top Optima Battery for my SUV it has 12v plugs everywhere 3 in the dash one in the back to the console and one behind the rear hatch door, I wanted to put a sold Panel on the roof to keep the battery charged and be able to charge the mavic! While parked during a trip into BLM land later this year! I hate to get a generator just to charge the drone batteries! I now have a few other drones so I have to figure out a way to charge them while camping off grid!

Nice! I missed that you had that battery in there. So I guess we are in the same boat again. With a solar panel you could disappear with your drones for a couple years! You could also check this thing out, I asked if it would charge with the car off and as long as the 12v outlets stay powered, it appears it will work! -CF

 

[DroneJI]

Nice! I missed that you had that battery in there. So I guess we are in the same boat again. With a solar panel you could disappear with your drones for a couple years! You could also check this thing out, I asked if it would charge with the car off and as long as the 12v outlets stay powered, it appears it will work! -CF

I saw that on amazon it’s a lot cheaper than the Dji one! I might try it even if it doesn’t work at idle voltage! But it’s starting to look like I will need a inverter generator for the trip! I wanted to be as quiet as possible during the night ( don’t want to attract any bad attention with all this equipment with me) and the extra fuel I would need having a suv makes it hard to carry gas cans unless I put them on the roof or get a hitch thing(I forget what they are called?) to carry stuff behind the bumper.