Using smart charger Imax B6 type for Mavic Mini

[raulmavic]

Is there any way to use my old and reliable Imax B6 lipo charger for Mavic Mini batteries ?

That way, I could perform a quick or a slow charge depending of my needs and setting batteries to storage mode when unused, as I used to do with all of my Lipo's.

I saw Amazon selling cables for other drones, see this one for Mavic 2: Amazon.com: iMax B6 Charging Cable Adapter for DJI Mavic 2 Battery B6 B8 B6AC Balance Charger Lead Adapter Connect Cable Drone Accessories: Electronics

Any thougts ?

 

[brett8883]

Is there any way to use my old and reliable Imax B6 lipo charger for Mavic Mini batteries ?

That way, I could perform a quick or a slow charge depending of my needs and setting batteries to storage mode when unused, as I used to do with my all of my Lipo's.

I saw Amazon selling cables for other drones, see this one for Mavic 2: Amazon.com: iMax B6 Charging Cable Adapter for DJI Mavic 2 Battery B6 B8 B6AC Balance Charger Lead Adapter Connect Cable Drone Accessories: Electronics

Any thougts ?

View attachment 90354

I’m sure there will be others with different opinions, I don’t profess to have the only correct answer, but in my opinion if you are gonna be charging through the normal charging port on the intelligent battery I don’t see much point.

The battery regulates its own charging so it won’t constant charge unless it’s getting what it wants from the charger. I would be afraid you might trick or mess up the intelligent chip which monitors charging and uses that information to relay the health of the battery.

On the other hand you could solder in connectors between the intelligent chip and the actual cells but it’s risky business and might cause the chip to report the cells are bad and won’t let the ac take off. That’s a better idea when there’s already an issue with the battery and you have nothing to lose by bypassing the intelligent chip.

You can always use after market lipos and fly with them directly. You won’t be able to see the voltage in flight unless you solder in a DJI intelligent chip. If the intelligent battery deal is too boring for you there’s all kinds of battery mods to wet your whistle.

 

[raulmavic]

Ok. I understand you. What you want to tell me is that it's not possible to access balance ports throught DJI battery connector. Balancing is performing by batteries chip inside.

Nonetheless, in my opinion, could be interesting using a B6 type smart charger for setting batteries to storage mode (50% of charge) to keep it for long periods.

Best regards.

 

[raulmavic]

I found this little inexpensive Mavic Mini battery charger at Amazon.

I'm planning buying it, for dissasambling, discarding all electronics inside except Mavic Mini connector. Then, welding a pair of cables (positive and negative) to my Imax B6 charger. That way, I can control charging current and, over all, put batteries to storage level when unused.

What is your opinion ? Please, help me with your comments and advices.

Raul.

Amazon.com: Neige for DJI Mavic Mini Battery Charging Hub, Portable Accessories Drone Accessories, Intelligent Charger Rapid Battery Smart Charger for DJI Mavic Mini (Black): Sports & Outdoors

 

[raulmavic]

Hi all,

I'm still into this proyect, but I need a bit of help

Can somebody point me a wiring diagram of Mavic Mini battery connector pins ?



Thanks in advance

R.

 

[raulmavic]

Answering myself...

Battery mod thread
The connector pinout is
Data - + + - data

Battery mod thread
A nice picture


Thanks anyway

R.

 

[aeromedved]

I charge my MM battery with the B6 charger all the time. Don't have the connector yet so I folded some 0.1mm nickel strips to match the 0.4mm pin thickness on the drone and plug them directly into the battery connector. My B6 is flashed with a custom firmware (cheali charger fw) that allows to charge lithium batteries without connecting the balance plug, not sure if the stock fw permits this. Also the BMS disconnects the battery just above 8.4V so you may get a "battery disconnected" error at the end of charge depending on the parameters you set.

 

[raulmavic]

I charge my MM battery with the B6 charger all the time. Don't have the connector yet so I folded some 0.1mm nickel strips to match the 0.4mm pin thickness on the drone and plug them directly into the battery connector. My B6 is flashed with a custom firmware (cheali charger fw) that allows to charge lithium batteries without connecting the balance plug, not sure if the stock fw permits this. Also the BMS disconnects the battery just above 8.4V so you may get a "battery disconnected" error at the end of charge depending on the parameters you set.

@aeromedved ,

Thanks a lot for your answer, very interesting stuff !

I know well cheali-charger firmware. I burned it last year into my B6-clone charger for bringing it a second life.



I plenty understand the way you wired Mavic Mini batteries to B6 charger, but I still have lot of questions for you:

Could you tell me what parameters works right for mavic mini batteries at cheali-charger firmware ?

Is it possible to charge / discharge mavic mini batteries at different current rates, if your are in a hurry ?

Any problem to carry mavic mini battery to storage voltage ?

Thanks a lot for your help.

R.

 

[aeromedved]

I'm charging it with 1.2A to 4.2V/cell with minIc = 100mA. DJI BMS disconnects the battery at the end of charge if lower minIc is used.

I didn't try higher currents as I'm using only 2 power pins out of 4, although the manufacturer rates the connector at 5A/pin. The maximum and recommended charge current should be stated in the datasheet for the cells(get the cell model number from one of the battery teardown posts/videos). It should be fine to use higher discharge current as MM pulls about 5A in hover.

Bringing the battery to storage voltage always worked fine for me. I also did fast charge the battery with the drone itself by feeding 9V at 2A into the microusb port of the drone from a bench PSU, but totally don't recommend doing so.

I was going to 3d print a connector but found the following charger on aliexpress and decided to mod it with xt30 connector so that it can be used as adapter as well as a charger when needed.

 

[raulmavic]

I'm charging it with 1.2A to 4.2V/cell with minIc = 100mA. DJI BMS disconnects the battery at the end of charge if lower minIc is used.

I didn't try higher currents as I'm using only 2 power pins out of 4, although the manufacturer rates the connector at 5A/pin. The maximum and recommended charge current should be stated in the datasheet for the cells(get the cell model number from one of the battery teardown posts/videos). It should be fine to use higher discharge current as MM pulls about 5A in hover.

Bringing the battery to storage voltage always worked fine for me. I also did fast charge the battery with the drone itself by feeding 9V at 2A into the microusb port of the drone from a bench PSU, but totally don't recommend doing so.

I was going to 3d print a connector but found the following charger on aliexpress and decided to mod it with xt30 connector so that it can be used as adapter as well as a charger when needed.

@aeromedved ,

I took note your recommended cheali-charger parameters.

You had a great idea using that aliexpress cheap charger for getting a suitable Mavic Mini battery connector. Into a previous post of this thread I suggested something similar

I'll follow your steps, please keep us informed.

All the best

R.

 

[raulmavic]

Hi,

I found a good offer for getting up to three Mavic Mini battery connector for about 20 eur.

I'm talking about this car charger, you can buy at amazon:

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B085G795T4



As a bonus, if you have a 12 volt wall power supply you can dispose car cigarrette plug and use charger at home.

I bought one of them, still waiting for deliver

R.

 

[raulmavic]

I received my StartRC Mavic Mini car charger StartRC home page

I got three high quality Mavic Mini battery connectors for building a cable adaptor.

I succesfully charge/discharge/storage Mini batteries using an Smart Charger Thunder AC6, an IMAX B6 clone as you can see here:

R.