Charging P4P batteries in car.

aerialimagery · May 5, 2018

Any recommendations regarding what I should buy? Does it take any longer to charge in a car (while running) than from a regular power outlet?

I found this at Home Depot for around $25.

I think Wal-Mart has some cheaper units, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for.

Florida Drone Supply · May 5, 2018

aerialimagery said:
Any recommendations regarding what I should buy? Does it take any longer to charge in a car (while running) than from a regular power outlet?

I found this at Home Depot for around $25.

I think Wal-Mart has some cheaper units, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for.

I think you would be better off using the Phantom 4 series car charger. It will definitely last longer than the inverter you linked to and is most likely going to be much quieter.

AerialEye · May 12, 2018

I use this BESTEK 300-Watt Power DC 12-Volt to AC 110-Volt Pure Sine Wave Inverter with 4.2-Amp Dual Smart USB Ports Car Adapter | eBay
Charges just as fast as at home.

Darren Gahan · May 12, 2018

I bought a 12V car charger to charge my Phantom batteries in the car. The one I got wasn't the OEM DJI model, but works just the same. The "Intelligent" battery means it is the battery that controls the charging for the most part. The biggest problem is getting 12V when the car is not running. I have 2 vehicles, on one the 12V socket is always on. On the other it turns off with the key making it impossible to get a full charge unless I leave the keys in the ignition. I wired a 12V adapter to be always on.

If the battery is to hot it won't charge, and remember it is a chemical "bomb" so always make sure to charge it in a fire proof container and keep it cool, or as cool as possible.

skiptv · May 12, 2018

DONT charge your drone batteries in your car, it WILL suck you car battery dry. I had a reality new "1 year old" car battery and charge three Phantom 4 Batteries with it out on a shoot in the desert. After I charged them and flew my mission, when I went to start my car it was dead. I now own a DroneMax 360 Field Charger, It will charge 4 batteries at the same time, "twice" You save on buying batteries and you can charge anywhere, you can also charge you mobile device and the controller DroneMax – Energen

aerialimagery · May 12, 2018

skiptv said:
DONT charge your drone batteries in your car, it WILL suck you car battery dry. I had a reality new "1 year old" car battery and charge three Phantom 4 Batteries with it out on a shoot in the desert. After I charged them and flew my mission, when I went to start my car it was dead. I now own a DroneMax 360 Field Charger, It will charge 4 batteries at the same time, "twice" You save on buying batteries and you can charge anywhere, you can also charge you mobile device and the controller DroneMax – Energen

Was the engine running while you were charging?

skiptv · May 12, 2018

aerialimagery said:
Was the engine running while you were charging?

No, but what was I going to do leave the car running for an hour while the 1 battery charged?

aerialimagery · May 12, 2018

That Drone Max Charger looks like a nice unit and I wouldn't mind having one, but at $500 I'd rather instead buy a few more batteries.

aerialimagery · May 12, 2018

skiptv said:
No, but what was I going to do leave the car running for an hour while the 1 battery charged?

That's what I intend to do if necessary. However what I'm hoping to do is charge the battery while I'm driving between jobs. I have three batteries, and could use three more, but am looking for a cheap way to get some more battery life during the day until I can budget to buy more batteries.

skiptv · May 12, 2018

aerialimagery said:
That Drone Max Charger looks like a nice unit and I wouldn't mind having one, but at $500 I'd rather instead buy a few more batteries.

Do the math, Phantom 4 Battery, $149 each. Say you start out with 2 batteries, that's not enough, then you get three, still not enough if you are out in the field, doing almost any kind of inspection, mapping, or film making. Without charging, you more than likely will need 3 more batteries for a total of 6. 3 more extra batteries cost you $447, plus if you still need more time, you still have to charge them, a car charger only does one at a time. Plus you have to carry all those extra batteries, and you still need to charge the controller, and tablet. I've already gone through it a bunch of different ways. Before I got the DroneMax, I had a Phantom 3, I have 6 batteries for that, I have 8 Batteries for my Inspire 1, then around the time I got the DroneMax, I got a Phantom 4 Pro Plus, I only have 3 batteries for that. Oh and my Mavic air just two batteries. Only passing on the errors and knowledge of my ways.

skiptv · May 12, 2018

aerialimagery said:
That's what I intend to do if necessary. However what I'm hoping to do is charge the battery while I'm driving between jobs. I have three batteries, and could use three more, but am looking for a cheap way to get some more battery life during the day until I can budget to buy more batteries.

You can only charge one battery at a time off a car charger, it takes an hour, so if it takes you an hour between jobs I guess that works, if not?

skiptv · May 12, 2018

aerialimagery said:
Any recommendations regarding what I should buy? Does it take any longer to charge in a car (while running) than from a regular power outlet?

I found this at Home Depot for around $25.

I think Wal-Mart has some cheaper units, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for.

Power Inverters in some cases do not have the wattage to power a charger, So what you are doing is converting you cars DC power to AC, then plugging in the Drone Charger to convert it back to DC, Phantom Chargers only charge one battery at a time. The power coming out of a car inverter is not "clean" power, if you get a voltage spike you could fry your drone charger and the battery.

aerialimagery · May 12, 2018

skiptv said:
You can only charge one battery at a time off a car charger, it takes an hour, so if it takes you an hour between jobs I guess that works, if not?

I have three batteries. The plan was that as soon as one was drained I would hook it up to the charger and drive around to other jobs, and by the time the the next two batteries were used up, the first one would be ready.

Seems reasonable, but I am concerned about what you said about power spikes, etc. I don't want to mess up my charger or batteries becasue of my $10 inverter.

skiptv · May 12, 2018

aerialimagery said:
I have three batteries. The plan was that as soon as one was drained I would hook it up to the charger and drive around to other jobs, and by the time the the next two batteries were used up, the first one would be ready.

Seems reasonable, but I am concerned about what you said about power spikes, etc. I don't want to mess up my charger or batteries becasue of my $10 inverter.

Remember, you can not charge a battery till it cools down, figure at least 15 minutes of cool down time.

HawkView · May 12, 2018

I built this portable charger over a year ago, works great. I can charge up to three P4P batteries at a time (with three DJI chargers) and it lasts all day. I have six batteries; after use first one goes into a small cooler with freezer packs, that goes on the charger when the second battery goes into the cooler, and so on. Works on the hottest days here in AZ (wish I could say the same for the iPad...)

This was built after literally melting a P3 car charger.

aerialimagery · May 12, 2018

I tried out my inverter today and didn't like the way the light on the battery was not blinking normally, so I decided to stop using it. I'll wait until I can find something better or buy more batteries.

I'm intrigued by skiptv's thinking, but it still seems to me that if I had the choice between buying three batteries (giving me six total) or buying that charger, that I'd be ahead by buying the batteries, considering that I would be wearing them out half as fast, or am I not taking something into consideration? (Also, I thnk that my controller would last all day. I use a P4P+ and I think it's only half discharged after using three batteries on the drone).