Charging in the field...

Joined
Aug 26, 2016
Messages
139
Reaction score
44
I'm looking for a way to charge my batteries while out flying. I'm not talking about a car charger, but a portable power bank. I saw one by Energen, called the Dronemax P40, but I can't find it for sale or even a price for it.

Does anyone have something they use to charge while out of the car?

Thanks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zacksomeone
I've got a small inverter that I hook to a lawnmower battery. Then plug one of my regular chargers into it.
 
That may be good. How long does it take to charge the Phantom battery and how long does the battery last?
 
A lawn tractor battery will last for several hours just depends on the capacity and draw. Charging the phantom battery takes the same amount of time regardless. Even better would be to buy a marine deep cycle battery. They are designed for long term, continuous drain like from a trolling motor.
 
I've got a small inverter that I hook to a lawnmower battery. Then plug one of my regular chargers into it.

The problem with this is that those batteries are not designed to be discharged and charged. If they drop below something like 8 volts the battery will loose much of it's capacity. Deep cycle batteries are made for this reason. Perhaps a person will get lucky and the conventional battery will last awhile. But the design says it won't. Perhaps they are cheap enough to replace every few months.
 
This works.. get a 4s LiPo twice the mHh as the DJI battery , make a patch cord with one end to match the battery and the other end a female cigarette lighter. (Not the one down at your favorite watering hole) Plug your DJI car charger into that. You could even go to a 5s battery. The car charger can handle up over 20 volts.. good luck [emoji1]
 
I get paying for convenience, but man . . . $300 for that is just short of bat$hit crazy!
I got it on indiegogo for like 149, or something like that. It's definitely worth it for its size. It'll even power your xbox one if you are interested in that.
 
This is a quick top-of-my-head thought without doing the math, but what about the simple auto 12v inverters at Walmart?
ab29de7334d104ee0c463fbbc21f00f9.jpg
 
Read the very 1st comment .. Guzziknight is looking for a practical, lightweight solution to more power out in the field without spending a bundle of money on the purchase of an additional battery. I'm all about having plenty of batteries. I have 5 each for the Mavic and Phantom [emoji106][emoji106] $$
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nestmac
If your planning on being more than a short distance from the car I would avoid using a lead/acid battery as your power source. Consider LiFePO4 cells. Very good energy density (low weight for capacity) with high cycle count and the ability to be requently discharged to low capacity without significant harm. They are a lot less fragile than LiPO's. While more expensive than many other batteries the benefits make them good value in the long run.
 
Read the very 1st comment .. Guzziknight is looking for a practical, lightweight solution to more power out in the field without spending a bundle of money on the purchase of an additional battery. I'm all about having plenty of batteries. I have 5 each for the Mavic and Phantom [emoji106][emoji106] $$

Who? Me? What's not lightweight and practical about a $49 inverter capable of plugging the stock DJI charger into? Am I missing something? They're pocket sized and that's $49 is CDN. Probably $30 US.
 

Recent Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,352
Members
104,933
Latest member
mactechnic