Hello People Smarter than Me,

I've been flying the Mavic for awhile now.  No issues charging up in the car, both with the 12V socket chargers and/or the 150W inverter built into my 2015 Jeep Wrangler.  Purchased the Phantom 4 Pro, and the battery simply will not charge via the car.  Plugged into the inverter and I get 1 LED blinking 18 times then all 4 blink then nothing.  This cycle keeps repeating, but no normal charging going on.  I find it odd that the factory inverter will not allow for the battery to charge, but I'm guessing that 150W just isn't adequate.  So trying to find a solution here.  Will DJI's car charger allow for the 12V socket charger to work, or is there just insufficient juice.  Would an aftermarket inverter work?   I tried that as well with a 300W BESTEK Inverter and it gave me the same result.   Perhaps it isn't a full sine inverter?

Anyone who has any ideas on the best and easiest way to get this battery to charge in my Jeep wins a cookie.  Everything else charges fine, but the P4P just doesn't seem to like the setup.  

The Mavic has 3S batteries and its charger is 13.05V
The P4 has 4S batteries and uses a 17.4V charger.
Could that be a factor?

It is possible the Jeep inverter is not a pure sine wave inverter. The 'charger' for the Phantoms are switch mode power supplies and hate simple inverters. See if you can borrow a pure sine wave interter and test it out, a 300 Watt unit would be best.

Labroides Posted at 2018-1-21 17:35
The Mavic has 3S batteries and its charger is 13.05V
The P4 has 4S batteries and uses a 17.4V charger.
Could that be a factor?

Indeed.  I think you've probably hit the nail on the head here.  That'a probably exactly the issue. Thank you!

Geebax Posted at 2018-1-21 18:00
It is possible the Jeep inverter is not a pure sine wave inverter. The 'charger' for the Phantoms are switch mode power supplies and hate simple inverters. See if you can borrow a pure sine wave interter and test it out, a 300 Watt unit would be best.

Thanks very much for the prompt reply.  I will get my hands on a pure sine wave inverter and see if that does the trick.  Appreciate it!

Cheers

Inverters ..... wasted energy .....

Best is DC - DC converter - less energy waste .... instead of a 12v source being ramped up to 110 / 240V and then your charger bringing it back to 17.5V .... the losses and waste is significant.

Plenty of Car lighter socket chargers online ...

Example :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6A-Qui ... :g:N0MAAOSwKM9ZqTnF



Nigel

Is the 150w rating peak or continuous, if it’s peak then the continuous rating is probably about 65-75 watts which is way to low as the power supply is 100 Watts. 17.5v x 5.7amps is just under 100 watts.
I use a Belkin 300-600 watt inverter which for the price I doubt is pure sine wave and it works fine.
https://www3.belkin.com/au/press ... 20Anywhere%20PB.pdf

Labroides Posted at 2018-1-21 17:35
The Mavic has 3S batteries and its charger is 13.05V
The P4 has 4S batteries and uses a 17.4V charger.
Could that be a factor?

IF the OP thinks about using the Mavic car charger for the P4P batteries, of course it would not work (BTW, is the plug to the batttery the same?)... but  a P4 series car charger would.

solentlife Posted at 2018-1-21 23:23
Inverters ..... wasted energy .....

Best is DC - DC converter - less energy waste .... instead of a 12v source being ramped up to 110 / 240V and then your charger bringing it back to 17.5V .... the losses and waste is significant.

Thanks much for the suggestions Nigel.  That would definitely be the easiest and cheapest way to go....  Will try it!

mic75 Posted at 2018-1-22 03:50
Is the 150w rating peak or continuous, if it’s peak then the continuous rating is probably about 65-75 watts which is way to low as the power supply is 100 Watts. 17.5v x 5.7amps is just under 100 watts.
I use a Belkin 300-600 watt inverter which for the price I doubt is pure sine wave and it works fine.
https://www3.belkin.com/au/pressroom/bulletins/uploads/AC%20Anywhere%20PB.pdf

Hmmm... I'm guessing it's peak.  I'll check on the manual.  Will investigate that inverter as well.  Thank you!!

Antonio76 Posted at 2018-1-22 04:41
IF the OP thinks about using the Mavic car charger for the P4P batteries, of course it would not work (BTW, is the plug to the batttery the same?)... but  a P4 series car charger would.

Sorry, I did a lousy job of explaining.  I'm using the supplied charger for the P4P battery.  Just trying to charge it via an inverter I have, and also with the AC power plug in the Jeep itself.  Neither will provide enough juice to charge the P4P battery with it's charger.  The Mavic battery must need less power because it charges (with it's respective charger) just fine.  

One of the reasons I always suggest the direct DC - DC car chargers .... imagine you are not running the engine while charging.

That inverter is supplying the mains chargers needs plus losses ... then the charger itself is generating heat and losses as it reduces the voltage down to required level.

Your car battery is covering all that ....

The direct DC - DC charger though will be stepping up the car battery voltage and incurring far less losses in the process.

It may seem only a small difference - but having boats and RV's - that difference is worth it !!

Nigel

Nigel is a pretty smart fella.  

solentlife Posted at 2018-1-22 11:22
One of the reasons I always suggest the direct DC - DC car chargers .... imagine you are not running the engine while charging.

That inverter is supplying the mains chargers needs plus losses ... then the charger itself is generating heat and losses as it reduces the voltage down to required level.

Thanks to your suggestion I've ordered the car charger.  Here's to hoping the Jeep gives it enough oomph!!!

mm737cap Posted at 2018-1-22 11:02
Sorry, I did a lousy job of explaining.  I'm using the supplied charger for the P4P battery.  Just trying to charge it via an inverter I have, and also with the AC power plug in the Jeep itself.  Neither will provide enough juice to charge the P4P battery with it's charger.  The Mavic battery must need less power because it charges (with it's respective charger) just fine.

OK, then probably the inverter does not provide enough power. If it is rated at 150 W then probably it gives out something less than that, so one with a higher rating might do -but there would still be a question mark re sine wave vs pulsed output... I think the car battery should be enough to drive the car charger, so that is what I would recommend.., A Jeep is not one of the pocket-sized cars you normally see on european roads (personally none of my cars has had less than 90 Amps battery, but they were diesels, which normally have stronger batteries)

Antonio76 Posted at 2018-1-23 00:34
OK, then probably the inverter does not provide enough power. If it is rated at 150 W then probably it gives out something less than that, so one with a higher rating might do -but there would still be a question mark re sine wave vs pulsed output... I think the car battery should be enough to drive the car charger, so that is what I would recommend.., A Jeep is not one of the pocket-sized cars you normally see on european roads (personally none of my cars has had less than 90 Amps battery, but they were diesels, which normally have stronger batteries)

Much thanks.  Will give the car charger a whirl first and see how it goes!

Tip:

Engine running - voltage is anywhere from 13.8 to 15V .... but that's fine ...

Engine not running - voltage is anywhere from 11.5 to 13.4V about ....
Better to have engine running - but as long as you have a full charged car battery - you can charge couple of flight packs with no problem.

If you start charging with engine off - you may find when you start engine - it stops charging. This is because of the power drain on battery to turn that engine over ... all you do is start charging again once engine running. This is common with normal LiPo chargers ...

Nigel

Thanks for the help here folks.  I got my hands on the DJI Car charger and it works just great.  Batteries charge normally now.  Thanks so much for the good advice.  I learned a lot

Great ...

Nigel