USB Fan

smbishop · Oct 25, 2023

I ordered this fan from Amazon: Amazon.com
It has a USB A, so I used a USB C converter.
The drone stayed cool throughout the firmware update.
First I connected it to the drone, but it turned off when the drone turned off.
So, I connected it to the battery pack, and it worked great!

Rchawks · Oct 25, 2023

I never knew about a USB fan before, wow what will they think of next, lol ! Thanks for the link.

kiley · Oct 26, 2023

Connecting the USB fan to the drone would only make the drones battery get hotter anyway. Not a good Idea to connect it to the drone itself. Your cooling the drone, but making it hot at the same time.

I never worry about the heat when doing firmware updates. If the drone could get damaged from the heat, the drone company wouldn't recommend drone updates without advising the buyer to use something to cool the drone during updates.

old man mavic · Oct 26, 2023

@kiley its not about the fact, that the drone could be damaged ,during an update ,but because if it reaches a certain temperature, it will shut down ,and the update will not take place
there is no internal fan in the Mini drones to assist with cooling ,so having a small desk fan, blowing over the drone prevents the issue from arising

Yogi053 · Oct 26, 2023

After reading about possible harm being done to the 5.8ghz chip by heat in the Mini 2 during updating I always stick mine in the fridge until update completes. Have had no issues. Yet!

Landshark99 · Oct 26, 2023

I do the same, a small fan helps a lot

BigAl07 · Oct 26, 2023

kiley said:
Connecting the USB fan to the drone would only make the drones battery get hotter anyway. Not a good Idea to connect it to the drone itself. Your cooling the drone, but making it hot at the same time.

I never worry about the heat when doing firmware updates. If the drone could get damaged from the heat, the drone company wouldn't recommend drone updates without advising the buyer to use something to cool the drone during updates.

The USB fan isn't going to pull enough "juice" to greatly increase the heat created from the battery. Remember this setup is designed to power 4 high draw motors non-stop during flight. The draw from a small USB fan is miniscule in comparison to how the system is designed.

Adding "external cooling" is a very good idea IMHO.

kiley · Oct 27, 2023

BigAl07 said:
The USB fan isn't going to pull enough "juice" to greatly increase the heat created from the battery. Remember this setup is designed to power 4 high draw motors non-stop during flight. The draw from a small USB fan is miniscule in comparison to how the system is designed.

Adding "external cooling" is a very good idea IMHO.

Good point

kiley · Oct 27, 2023

old man mavic said:
@kiley its not about the fact, that the drone could be damaged ,during an update ,but because if it reaches a certain temperature, it will shut down ,and the update will not take place
there is no internal fan in the Mini drones to assist with cooling ,so having a small desk fan, blowing over the drone prevents the issue from arising

Didn't know that. Thanks for enlightening me.

Cafguy · Oct 27, 2023

kiley said:
I never worry about the heat when doing firmware updates. If the drone could get damaged from the heat, the drone company wouldn't recommend drone updates without advising the buyer to use something to cool the drone during updates.

You mean the same company that doesn't include a Battery charger with a storage charge option. Shortening the life of them unless you know better

kiley · Oct 30, 2023

Cafguy said:
You mean the same company that doesn't include a Battery charger with a storage charge option. Shortening the life of them unless you know better

That reminds me. Wouldn't the warranty cover the drone if damaged during a firmware update do to heat buildup? This may not be related, but I recently had a fly away with a mav 3 enterprise. I took off to 50ft, then suddenly a mesage popped up on the screen, I don't recall what it said. The drone then suddenly turned, decreased altitued and landed in a swamp. It was unretrievable. I sent the flight logs to DJI. They determined it to be a mechanical/computer malfunction and sent a brand new enterprise to me for free, under warranty. I couldn't believe it. I didn't have to use my care refresh.

Cafguy · Oct 30, 2023

kiley said:
kiley said:

That reminds me. Wouldn't the warranty cover the drone if damaged during a firmware update do to heat buildup? This may not be related, but I recently had a fly away with a mav 3 enterprise. I took off to 50ft, then suddenly a mesage popped up on the screen, I don't recall what it said. The drone then suddenly turned, decreased altitued and landed in a swamp. It was unretrievable. I sent the flight logs to DJI. They determined it to be a mechanical/computer malfunction and sent a brand new enterprise to me for free, under warranty. I couldn't believe it. I didn't have to use my care refresh.

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