I travel quite lot and was wondering if it is safe to charge the I1 battery with an inverter during a car drive. It could be handy to charge the batteries during your drive but then again, the I1 battery is not a "normal" electric device that the basic inverters have done for. Has anyone charged the Inspire battery with a car inverter? Is it OK to do?
Battery charging in car through an inverter
- Thread starter Ilmakuvausorg
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Yes it works just fine. I do it all the time. The DJI charger is a "universal" type, accepting anything from 100 to 240 V in, 50 to 60 HZ. So whatever your inverter produces will be ok with the DJI charger.
I would suggest making sure your battery stays cool though, be aware of where it is in your car, making sure it does not cook in the sun or otherwise overheat. A runaway LiPo inside a vehicle could be ...well, rather exciting. But power from an car inverter is fine.
I'll second what DCGOO said, it works just fine with an inverter. The only thing I'd say was to be careful about shutting off your motor if the battery isn't quite full because the battery won't let you continue charging it if it's like 85% and you turn the power back on. Ideal for charging if you know your motor will be running for the duration of the charge like on a long drive.
Inverter should also be disconnected whenever you start your car or a power spike can ruin your inverter.
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I too have had success with using a simple small 450 w inverter in my car, perfect for charging between locations or connected directly to the battery when on location.
When connected to the car battery directly while on location be sure to avoid running your car battery down.
I once had a dead battery on a big v8 pickup truck in the middle of nowhere in Jamaica, right up in the mountains. the only thing I had in the car was a high powered drone battery, Out of desperation I connected it to the car battery and was able to fire up the truck. got me out of trouble more than once since!
When connected to the car battery directly while on location be sure to avoid running your car battery down.
I once had a dead battery on a big v8 pickup truck in the middle of nowhere in Jamaica, right up in the mountains. the only thing I had in the car was a high powered drone battery, Out of desperation I connected it to the car battery and was able to fire up the truck. got me out of trouble more than once since!
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So this would work no problem?
Can I charge 2 batteries at the same time - i.e. with 2 chargers to 2 batteries?
I imagine I could also get an auxiliary car battery and run it off of that instead of running the truck for 1.5 hours if I am not actually moving in the truck...
Can I charge 2 batteries at the same time - i.e. with 2 chargers to 2 batteries?
I imagine I could also get an auxiliary car battery and run it off of that instead of running the truck for 1.5 hours if I am not actually moving in the truck...
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I've charged an inspire battery and phantom battery at the same time in a Honda Fit with no problems. Engine running the whole time and driving most of the time.
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Yes it will.
Just turn it on before you connect it.
Doing this you can even charge a battery that is 99% charged.
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A 450 W inverter will handle 2 chargers with no problem. But ONLY if the 12-volt circuit feeding the inverter can handle 20 amps. Most accessory plugs in modern cars cannot (10 amp limit is typical).
Hi all, new inspire driver here, so far so good. 8 hours bottle to throttle is my rule- lets just say my blade doesn't fly very well when it's had a few...
Regarding using an "inverter" to charge any battery type, whether laptop, cordless, etc. note that there are two types of DC to AC inverters out there. The good and the ugly. Normal AC (alternating current) is 50 or 60 Hertz (cycles per second) in a nice smooth sine wave. Wall warts (the battery charger) are built to take the nice smooth AC and turn it into a DC charging voltage/current at an appropriate rate for the battery.
So the good - usually called a "true sine" inverter; not cheap but these put out a nice smooth AC sine wave.
The ugly - called a modified sine wave inverter - these put out a stepped square wave instead of a nice smooth sine wave. Not recommended for laptops or any other transformer less charging systems. These tend to heat the hell out of the charger (wall wart) and eventually cook them. Full of spikes, noise, and general badness. If you are using in a vehicle just try tuning an AM radio station while the inverter is plugged in...
In short, throw the cheap modified "sine" (square) wave inverter in the dumpster and buy a true sine type inverter.
Fwiw, hope this saves some future grief
Cheers
Tom
Regarding using an "inverter" to charge any battery type, whether laptop, cordless, etc. note that there are two types of DC to AC inverters out there. The good and the ugly. Normal AC (alternating current) is 50 or 60 Hertz (cycles per second) in a nice smooth sine wave. Wall warts (the battery charger) are built to take the nice smooth AC and turn it into a DC charging voltage/current at an appropriate rate for the battery.
So the good - usually called a "true sine" inverter; not cheap but these put out a nice smooth AC sine wave.
The ugly - called a modified sine wave inverter - these put out a stepped square wave instead of a nice smooth sine wave. Not recommended for laptops or any other transformer less charging systems. These tend to heat the hell out of the charger (wall wart) and eventually cook them. Full of spikes, noise, and general badness. If you are using in a vehicle just try tuning an AM radio station while the inverter is plugged in...
In short, throw the cheap modified "sine" (square) wave inverter in the dumpster and buy a true sine type inverter.
Fwiw, hope this saves some future grief
Cheers
Tom
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I agree although I would say that if your not using the modified sine wave inveter ( the cheaper option) all the time you won't run not too much difficulty.
I use mine maybe once or twice a month and I think most will be ok with that.
re the 20 amp circuit, it is true that few cars have a 20 amp circuit to a cigar lighter, however most inverters come with crocodile clips that can attach directly to the battery terminals.
Has anyone else noticed that the charging base gets very hot (between 119-136*F), while charging a Inspire battery? Compared to the P2V+ charging base that doesn't even get 1-degree warmer! I understand the reason why, it just gave me some pause when I touched it the first time & immediately noticed the high heat coming from the base section of the unit.
FYI: the P2V+ charging units output is only 12.6V @ 4.0A ~ where the I-1 units output is 26.3V @ 3.83A and pushing 100 Watts- my electrical engineering education is basic, but I recall that energy creates HEAT.....so this would explain the P2V+ "room temp" -vs- the I-1's "Heat Miser's" 136+!!
I actually am using a tiny electric "PC exhaust style" fan that I had left over from another project, that I use to cool off the unit while I'm charging any batteries in the future.
Moose
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