Charge Battery with Inverter

[Dal Little]

Hi

I fly in remote areas and would like to charge my P4 batteries from an automotive 12 volt battery using a NexTech 400 watt digital Inverter.
I was disappointed when the P4 batteries would not charge.
On the back of the inverter it says: Output Non-sinusoidal, neutral floating. I am not sure if this information is valuable. I have read the other posts and it appears that non-sinusoidal in not a true sin wave type and may cause issue. It appears to work on P3 batteries, but does not work with my P4 batteries.

Please recommend the type or model of Inverter I need in order to charge my P4 batteries from an automotive battery. Do I need a "pure sin wave inverter"?

Thanks
Dal

 

[mortenp]

I bought this, it works perfectly:
Battery Charger Intelligent Car Charger 17.5V 4A for DJI Phantom 4

You save the step of going to high voltage and down again, which should make your car battery last much longer

 

[28wins]

Why not just buy the DJI car charger?

Buy Phantom 4 - Car Charger Kit | DJI Store

 

[Dal Little]

I bought this, it works perfectly:
Battery Charger Intelligent Car Charger 17.5V 4A for DJI Phantom 4

You save the step of going to high voltage and down again, which should make your car battery last much longer

Thanks for the suggestion. It looks like just what I need.
dal

 

[28wins]

Thanks for the suggestion. It looks like just what I need.
dal

I will be getting it as well soon once I have some play money again.

Please hit that "Like" button on my post if it was helpful, I am trying to break a record.

 

[Erised]

I agree with getting the car charger. This is the most energy efficient way to charge your batteries. Pure sin wave inverters are more expensive and lose around 15% of the power just to generate the pure sin wave. Also you would be going from DC to AC to DC, better DC to DC.

 

[28wins]

Very informative. Thank you.

I never bought the bigger/ heavier inverters which will do a better job.
Instead, I like to avoid charging my toys in the car with an inverter because the current not being as clean as a A/C outlet tends to damage the electronics with extensive charging.

I have this PawTec car charger with a MagSafe for my MacBook Pro and I cringe when I have to use it.

 

[Alien Warrior]

This sort of thing won't work.
Tried it with a 300w inverter as well.
All the lights indicate charging but were still flashing 2 hours later.
Has to be in the lighter socket with engine running.

 

[28wins]

Wow!

 

[Erised]

I think the charge voltage from your car alternator is about 14 volts+. This may be the voltage needed for the charger to work. Good to know a 12 volt booster may not be enough.

 

[IBV]

A pure sine wave inverter is useful when you need to charge other gear or run a passenger monitor from a car- battery. With all the boosters, Headplay disaply , HDMI splitters, passenger monitor, etc.. there is plenty of need for a DC-AC converter. As somebody mentioned above: They are not cheap, especially you will need a "real sine".

 

[WRXJIM]

Why not just buy the DJI car charger?

Buy Phantom 4 - Car Charger Kit | DJI Store

I just used two for these traveling around Germany and France. They worked great.
They get hot, but charged batteries from 30% to full in just over an hour.

 

[tcope]

You don't mention why it would not charge. Did the inverter keep tripping for low voltage? If so, you need a quality inverter such as from Tripp Lite or Bestek. 400 watts should be enough.

 

[4wd]

You don't mention why it would not charge. Did the inverter keep tripping for low voltage? If so, you need a quality inverter such as from Tripp Lite or Bestek. 400 watts should be enough.

Agree, it doesn't need anything special to run a simple charger.
The DJI charger is only a power supply, the electronics for balancing and avoiding overcharging are in the battery.
I think it's very unlikely there would be any damage from any inverter provided it was rated at least 200w

 

[Kans]

Should be something with the inverter.
I use a bestek 150w and charges fine, and its not a sine wave one.

BESTEK Car Cup Power Inverter 150W Can Inverter 12V DC Cigarette Lighter Power Converter Adapter to 230V AC to Power Laptop Notebook With USB Port Compatible with iPad iPhone Charger MRI1513KL: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

[Zuzua]

I bought this, it works perfectly:
Battery Charger Intelligent Car Charger 17.5V 4A for DJI Phantom 4

You save the step of going to high voltage and down again, which should make your car battery last much longer

Definitely recommend these. I bought for of them at $16 each. Now I charge my batteries in the car no problem. I have a big inverter 1500w by energizer. It charges one battery with one oem dji charger fine but if I hook up a second charger, it won't work! I also have one of those 4 battery chargers and that won't work on the 1500w inverter either. So I would just buy a few of these car chargers instead if I were you.

 

[Vasekp]

Definitely recommend these. I bought for of them at $16 each. Now I charge my batteries in the car no problem. I have a big inverter 1500w by energizer. It charges one battery with one oem dji charger fine but if I hook up a second charger, it won't work! I also have one of those 4 battery chargers and that won't work on the 1500w inverter either. So I would just buy a few of these car chargers instead if I were you.

I found interesting that my car inverter was able to charge P3 battery with orig charger but not the P4 though i do not think the power consumption in P4 is reasonably higher.
Solved by buying car charger from aliexpress
Wholesale Product Snapshot Product name is DJI Phantom 3/4 Universal Car Charger 5A Phantom 4 Use Charger White Hot Selling Rc Replacement Accessories
Works fine.