Hi,

I'm curious if charging batteries from a vehicle is at all possible. I'm just imagining being on road trips with the drone (without a generator, if say I'm at a destination I had to fly to)
What's going to be the best solution to get these batteries charged up when not at the hotel or a restaurant but out in the field?

Get one of those huge AC powerbanks.

wa.jesse07 Posted at 10-14 17:46
Get one of those huge AC powerbanks.

Which one? What could support these TB51?

Could they be brought on a plane?

JJungPhoto Posted at 10-14 19:00
Which one? What could support these TB51?

Could they be brought on a plane?

The power station cannot be brought on a plane because it exceeds 100watts.  I always rent a youth hostel or cheap hotel in the area for 50-100 bucks just to charge my batteries and upload the footage from the limited 1tb ssd cards on the drone

You can certainly can charge batteries in the car, however, you will require a 12V inverter that changes the DC current of a car to AC for the charger. Something like 500W+ inverter will do the trick. This is something that I've actively doing if I need to charge things that can't be done so via USB C.

nevets348 Posted at 10-26 23:39
You can certainly can charge batteries in the car, however, you will require a 12V inverter that changes the DC current of a car to AC for the charger. Something like 500W+ inverter will do the trick. This is something that I've actively doing if I need to charge things that can't be done so via USB C.

Ok awesome! Great to know!

Yes it is possible. You can get the DJI car charger https://store.dji.com/li/product/inspire-2-car-charger?vid=22801.
You can also get a power station such as an Ecoflow that you charge at home and use in the car. They come in massive capacities. I find it more practical as they have a number of mains outlets and you can connect other things to it.

nevets348 Posted at 10-26 23:39
You can certainly can charge batteries in the car, however, you will require a 12V inverter that changes the DC current of a car to AC for the charger. Something like 500W+ inverter will do the trick. This is something that I've actively doing if I need to charge things that can't be done so via USB C.

There is a DJI car charger, no inverter needed.

Thinking Portable chargers…place in trunk.  Trying to figure out the watts thing.  Jim, Area51drones Las Vegas.

rogiervdheide Posted at 10-28 08:46
There is a DJI car charger, no inverter needed.

Only if you got limitless time. The dji car chargers are very, very slow and don't forget you need to charge 2 batteries to do a single flight...
An option is to build a second car battery in the car and use a inverter directly from it.

Why use a second battery and not plug a inverter into a 12v outlet or directly to the main battery?
First of all most 12v lines in the car are not buily for high voltage transfer. So you could kill the safety fuse or even melt the wiring (speaking from experienec ;). Without a second battery and protection circuit you also risk to empty the cars main battery, which can leave you with a non working car somewhere in the wild. If your car has automatic transmission you will then not be able to push start your car.

Real production options:

- Buy or rent the TB51 batteries you need for the job done
- Get a generator with a stabilized Synus curve (cheap generators can kill your charging device. (only stationarly loading without driving. Noise might disturb the production space)
- Get a decent car charging setup with a second car battery (Can not charge while driving)
- Get a large powerbank that will help you trough the job (Can charge while driving)  
- Plan a nearby place where you can charge batteries and buy enough chargers to get you the needed batteries in time (Hotels, airBnB, restaurants. Needs more planning).  

Coyut Posted at 10-30 05:16
Only if you got limitless time. The dji car chargers are very, very slow and don't forget you need to charge 2 batteries to do a single flight...
An option is to build a second car battery in the car and use a inverter directly from it.

All great input, thanks for sharing! I use an Ecoflow power station and charge my batteries just as fast as charging them connected to mains. It works great but it costs about US$2000

rogiervdheide Posted at 11-1 06:02
All great input, thanks for sharing! I use an Ecoflow power station and charge my batteries just as fast as charging them connected to mains. It works great but it costs about US$2000

That's cheaper then buying 4 more DJI TB51 batteries.

Which model did you get and how many watts does that power bank have?

Ideally I3 owners are going to need a power bank with at least 2000Watts to charge two intelligent battery power stations along with two controllers

Is it really noisy?  It's not gas powered is it?

Josephsmith Posted at 11-8 10:58
That's cheaper then buying 4 more DJI TB51 batteries.

Which model did you get and how many watts does that power bank have?

Never mind I found it,

EcoFlow DELTA Max 2000 Portable Power Station 2016Wh Capacity,Solar Generator 2400W AC Output for Outdoor Camping,Home Backup,Emergency,RV,off-Grid

Excellent!

If anyone else has tried a different brand and recommend it or not pls share.

Josephsmith Posted at 11-8 11:29
Never mind I found it,

EcoFlow DELTA Max 2000 Portable Power Station 2016Wh Capacity,Solar Generator 2400W AC Output for Outdoor Camping,Home Backup,Emergency,RV,off-Grid

I use the Jackery 3000 Pro power station.

It lets me fly all day with both the m300 and Inspire 3 batteries.

I didn't mention it as you can't take it on a plane for travel, but if you are car based it works very well.
Don't buy it full price - it regularly comes on sale for 25% off.

Coyut Posted at 2023-10-30 05:16
Only if you got limitless time. The dji car chargers are very, very slow and don't forget you need to charge 2 batteries to do a single flight...
An option is to build a second car battery in the car and use a inverter directly from it.

Sorry, no offense but with your obvious lack of knowledge you really shouldn't mess with any electrical systems, nor should you provide any advice on that topic.

djiuser_m93Ax6XBcq23 Posted at 9-10 23:13
Sorry, no offense but with your obvious lack of knowledge you really shouldn't mess with any electrical systems, nor should you provide any advice on that topic.

What did they say that was so wrong?

The DJI Car charger will take forever to charge a pair of TB51's, because you can only get 30-40w @ 12v out of a cigarette lighter, so that's 3 hours per battery.

A second battery is a great way to ensure that you don't flatten your primary and leave yourself with a car you can't start (been there, done that).

An inverter means you can get upwards of 2000w of clean, reliable power and you can then use the DJI charging hub and be fully charged in 90 mins with a pair of batteries. Even faster if you have a charging station.

I personally use an inverter and leisure battery in my vehicle for charging drone batteries on location.

The only thing that is important and potentially bad is if you cheap out and buy a low quality inverter which doesn't have pure sine wave. Cheap inverters use square wave and this can damage sensitive equipment.

So, what exactly was the lack of knowledge from that guy? I'm intrigued to learn from you, as you appear to be the all knowing on this subject.

To be fair to DJI, I bought two of the the DJI Power 1000. I did not know about EcoFlow at the time.

I have 8x TB51. With those fully charged and the Power 1000s fully charged, I get a good 6 hours of flying. After the fully charged batteries have been used down to 20% or less when close to the LZ, I am happy to fly  90(or at least 80)/20 percent. With four pairs, it is pretty easy to keep a bird in the air.
I always find a spot (usually the closest hotel) to charge the discharged power 1000, even when it is not needed.

CloudVisual Posted at 11-3 02:08
What did they say that was so wrong?

The DJI Car charger will take forever to charge a pair of TB51's, because you can only get 30-40w @ 12v out of a cigarette lighter, so that's 3 hours per battery.

I'm kinda surprised nobody has mentioned this....

https://store.dji.com/product/dj ... er-fast-car-charger

ScooterC5 Posted at 12-29 23:15
I'm kinda surprised nobody has mentioned this....

https://store.dji.com/product/dji-power-1kw-super-fast-car-charger

That's an inverter/charger for the DJI power system, so you'd need to buy that $250, plus the DJI Power $700, just to top off a couple of batteries, which a $200 inverter could manage quite easily with the TB51 charging hub.

CloudVisual Posted at 2024-12-30 01:52
That's an inverter/charger for the DJI power system, so you'd need to buy that $250, plus the DJI Power $700, just to top off a couple of batteries, which a $200 inverter could manage quite easily with the TB51 charging hub.

You can find the DJI Power 1000 for $379 often, like it was today. It also quickly charges the TB-51s from 10% to 95% in about 28 minutes, much faster than the DJI charging hub even in fast mode. The Power 1000 can also be fully recharged in 70 minutes, and can recharge up to 6 pairs of TB-51s before it needs to be recharged again.