or do you?
here is a weird thing: i fly a spark several times, nothing special. i charged the remote several times. no big deal. i changed to a more convinient shorter micro USB cable to charge the remote.
remote broken -->cant connect anymore nor open the wifi spot for phone to connect.

went to my DJI store, they confirmed its broken and send it in for replacement. kindly lend me another remote to fly. i tested it, everything fine. fly around in DJI store a minute to check. all good.
came home, charge the remote and its broken again!

went back to DJI store and inform them about my idea that my charger/cable might be faulty but they not interested to test that. so they replaced second remote and pretend it doenst happen.

if you charge your spark remote: use the original USB wire to prevent this problem

have a nice day crew

Strange... Charged remote with two differend chargers and cables, still works perfect

Good to know.

Sorry but I have to reject your conclusion.
Yes, it is advisable to use DJI charger. However, I have been using my Nexus phone charger to charge Spark remote many times. It still work perfectly. I guess you just happened to got the bad quality products twice.
The falling cases of Spark prove that there would be issue in quality control of Spark.

Phuong Do Posted at 2017-7-25 21:51
Sorry but I have to reject your conclusion.
Yes, it is advisable to use DJI charger. However, I have been using my Nexus phone charger to charge Spark remote many times. It still work perfectly. I guess you just happened to got the bad quality products twice.
The falling cases of Spark prove that there would be issue in quality control of Spark.

i would agree but how high are chances that i got 2 remotes with the same bug inside? i think pretty low. rather would be millionaire in lottery. like i said i fly spark weeks until change to another USB wire which somehow wrecked the wifi module inside remote. and when i got new remote i also checked it and fly with it. was totally fine and broken the same second i plug it in to charge.
i really think it have something to do with the micro USB cable since the spark remote was fine when i charged it with original wire in package.

but to make it more clear i would say: IF you charge with another USB cable - use good quality one.

i also charged the remote several times with my iphone USB charger and it was totally fine. i agree that it should not be a problem. but obviously there is a good chance to wreck the remote if you use a crappy USB cable.
anyway, interesting problem and i would never imagine something like this could happen. i will keep you guys updated when i get the third new remote from DJI these days and start to charge it.

djiuser_yoR1HA0 Posted at 2017-7-25 21:16
Strange... Charged remote with two differend chargers and cables, still works perfect

yes i did that too and it was totally fine. until i change to one cheap micro USB cable which i use to charge battery powerbanks usually.

i make sure i use good cables or charges when chagring anything...

eylneb Posted at 2017-7-25 22:19
i make sure i use good cables or charges when chagring anything...

me too. unfortunately i am living in china. buying "good" cable here is also play like lottery.  what annoys me that DJI is not interested to solve the problem and check my charger+cable like i offered to them. they only want replace remotes until infinity when the problem appears again... reaaaaaally strange company.

Just to verify, what cable are you using to cause a remote control broken when charging? If it is not the original one, we would suggest not using this cable for that as you had mentioned, it broke 2 remotes.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-26 04:08
Just to verify, what cable are you using to cause a remote control broken when charging? If it is not the original one, we would suggest not using this cable for that as you had mentioned, it broke 2 remotes.

there are many different cable people include me use. of course i wont use that specific cable anymore. strange is that i use the same cable to charge android phone every day. no problem whatsoever.
i will for sure check the charging process in my local DJI store to make sure the cable THEY SELL me is fine to charge.

the wire which maybe broke the 2 remotes is a very common USB micro cable everybody can buy in most small phone shops here in china. nothing special or different to others.
i will keep you updated.

i offered DJI to check my charger+ cable to make sure this wont happen again. but they not interested... *sigh*
thor how can i help improve things when DJI not want improve things?

anyway...ill try my best to not brake the damn remote again and let you know the result when my courier arrived with new remote.

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-7-25 21:59
i would agree but how high are chances that i got 2 remotes with the same bug inside? i think pretty low. rather would be millionaire in lottery.

I don't think it's an issue with using a different cable, I think it's an issue with your particular cable.  It's probably damaged and it's killing the RC. I've never even unwrapped the original cable my Spark came with and have usedat least 5 different cables and chargers to charge the RC with no issue.

figuren9ne Posted at 2017-7-26 09:17
I don't think it's an issue with using a different cable, I think it's an issue with your particular cable.  It's probably damaged and it's killing the RC. I've never even unwrapped the original cable my Spark came with and have usedat least 5 different cables and chargers to charge the RC with no issue.

maybe... but why i can use the very same cable to charge phone every day? connection to PC is also fine. its for sure strange

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-7-26 08:28
there are many different cable people include me use. of course i wont use that specific cable anymore. strange is that i use the same cable to charge android phone every day. no problem whatsoever.
i will for sure check the charging process in my local DJI store to make sure the cable THEY SELL me is fine to charge.

We always recommend using the original cable with good quality, because it is hard to control the quality of third-party accessory. Appreciate your advice, I will also inform this to our engineers to take attention for this.  

I use original DJI cable on quick charger...

Your headline 'DO NOT CHARGE..' is like click bait and misinformation.  Second time I see someone post something like this. Please use more consideration when writing new subjects.

Basically don't use cheap chargers you get from the checkout at a store because they are cheaply made and go faulty it's not worth it in the long run to get those.

I always use the cables provided.  I try to not use aftermarket cables since I'm always afraid it could mess up something.  

Good to know info right there, even though I try to use all original cables and chargers all the time.  
Thanks for the heads up!

Our New DJI Spark remote charged up fully first time out of box with correct cables.  once fully used and drained our remote never charged a 2nd time.  Dead remote, there has to be something wrong with this first batch of remotes.....

Having the same issue purchased two remotes from different suppliers  using factory cables & charger
first did charge once thought defective ,ordered an other controller different supplier doesn't`t charge at all.

when i owned the spark, i used anker battery bank and anker charger brick to top it all off..  no issues to report from that.. i also use high quality cables (and expensive) from anker..  i been using same power solutions for my mavic pro and nothing to complain about relating to power issues..

fans46160df4 Posted at 2017-9-2 11:54
Having the same issue purchased two remotes from different suppliers  using factory cables & charger
first did charge once thought defective ,ordered an other controller different supplier doesn't`t charge at all.

well it seems that the port connector was bent down on both controllers after repositioning  both controllers work not sure how they both were  bent . took very little pressure to reposition. seems a bit soft IMO .  most probably  operator error :-( perhaps DJI should invest in a tad more robust connector.

They should change from micro usb to Usb C port.
In special with this cheap square designed port.
You have to be carefull, to  prevent from pluging the cable in upside down

Aside of that, I load that RC via USB port from the adapter or my Notebook.
Either with the DJI cabel.or one of my data/charger cabel.from the phones I have.
Till now it works

In trying to minimize failure of anything with this drone; considering all the problems that can obviously occur, and they have, one thing I straight away wouldn't bother with is using other cables. I'd rather just eliminate any possibility and naturally use the cable that came with the product because it was specifically designed for it. These cables don't look like they were pulled from the generic stock pile, though it's easy to think it is the same as any other cable due to standardized plugs. Truth is, engineers take into account impedance, electrical flow, gauge, and other very specific considerations that wouldn't be visually apparent to consumers. Just because the cables look similar does not guarantee they will perform identically to OEM. This is my observation, I had studied product/industrial design. Yes, designers attempt to account for how consumers will use their product, of course they might inadvertently use other cables. There again, drones are stuffed with tech and the folks who use them should be fairly savvy.

I have a somewhat related question... The USB port on the bottom part of the Spark Remote is rectangular - no curved sides to it... USB Type C if I'm not mistaken... Yet when I purchased it second hand last week the previous owners told me that I can use a normal micro USB cable to charge it... Is that correct? Been scouring the net to find out, and came across this thread....

I suppose a microUSB cable could fit in the rectangular shaped Type C connector - but is that dangerous to try? Also, can I use that to connect the RC to my phone using a microUSB To male Normal USB port (PC side) and Female USB port (PC size) to microUSB adapter?

Thanks,

Reuben

The RC socket is micro USB-A
The "common" micro USB is micro-B
USB-C is the new one which you can plug in upside down

Micro USB-B is curved, micro USB-A was square, but -A and -B will fit.
And you can still damage with any of these plugs the socket, if you try it upside down and hard enough!

To the Topix itself:
My thoughts about damaging (blowing?) the battery is: to strong current during charging
Which should be dealt with, by the electronic
I try not to charge the RC with my phone powerchargers.
( I have blown a drift battery with it!)
Best, in my eyes, is at a notebook usb port, slow and safe!

THis is a strange post

My money is on the fact you have a dodgy cable.  You were lucky to get 2 replacement remotes as manufacturers always say only to use their cables.

I don’t know why you would expect DJI to check your after market cable for you.  Just don’t use the cable.

It may work with your other devices, but you are taking risks by continuing to use that cable on anything.   You should bin it and use the original or buy a better quality one.

Sharkey Posted at 2017-7-29 07:17
Our New DJI Spark remote charged up fully first time out of box with correct cables.  once fully used and drained our remote never charged a 2nd time.  Dead remote, there has to be something wrong with this first batch of remotes.....

It must be an ongoing issue.  I received a new Spark fly more combo last week.  The remote control Never did charge,  first using the DJI charger and cable.  Then tried a few different micro usb cables and chargers, still nothing.  It had enough charge on the battery from the factory so I was able to update the firmware.
Still nothing.  Back to the factory for the entire combo.

brian_b Posted at 2017-9-3 10:51
In trying to minimize failure of anything with this drone; considering all the problems that can obviously occur, and they have, one thing I straight away wouldn't bother with is using other cables. I'd rather just eliminate any possibility and naturally use the cable that came with the product because it was specifically designed for it. These cables don't look like they were pulled from the generic stock pile, though it's easy to think it is the same as any other cable due to standardized plugs. Truth is, engineers take into account impedance, electrical flow, gauge, and other very specific considerations that wouldn't be visually apparent to consumers. Just because the cables look similar does not guarantee they will perform identically to OEM. This is my observation, I had studied product/industrial design. Yes, designers attempt to account for how consumers will use their product, of course they might inadvertently use other cables. There again, drones are stuffed with tech and the folks who use them should be fairly savvy.

When my new Spark remote control would not charge, the first thing DJI service told me to try was a different cable and charger. It does not sound like a custom cable.