Heads up about charging...

Mark Mahoney · May 29, 2015

Some of you may already know it but I came across something I didn't realize. I had ordered an extra charger and while I was ordering it, I noticed you could order one with a 180 watt charge instead of the factory 100 watt.

I don't know of any downsides to using 180 watts but I went to use it and while I was charging 3 batteries at one time, I went from 1 bar to 3 bars in about 15-20 minutes.

Just thought I'd mention it for anyone that may need a faster charging setup.

Mark

DCGOO · May 29, 2015

Mark Mahoney said:
Some of you may already know it but I came across something I didn't realize. I had ordered an extra charger and while I was ordering it, I noticed you could order one with a 180 watt charge instead of the factory 100 watt.

I don't know of any downsides to using 180 watts but I went to use it and while I was charging 3 batteries at one time, I went from 1 bar to 3 bars in about 15-20 minutes.

Just thought I'd mention it for anyone that may need a faster charging setup.

I have two 180w chargers. They will bring a TB47 up from 1% to 100% in about 50 minutes. A TB48 in about 70 minutes. Even when simultaneously charging the RC, the highest case temperature I measured was 45ºC (ambient air temp was roughly 22ºC). So somewhat cooler than the 100W brick.

Mark Mahoney · May 29, 2015

DCGOO said:
I have two 180w chargers. They will bring a TB47 up from 1% to 100% in about 50 minutes. A TB48 in about 70 minutes. Even when simultaneously charging the RC, the highest case temperature I measured was 45ºC (ambient air temp was roughly 22ºC). So somewhat cooler than the 100W brick.

Yup, definitely quicker.... any risk?

Thanks,

Mark

DCGOO · May 29, 2015

Mark Mahoney said:
Yup, definitely quicker.... any risk?

I can't think of any. Factory supported for the Inspire 1. Only negative I can think of is their size. I can only get one of them in the DJI case. They are overpriced, IMO. I probably would not have purchased them if I did not have credit $$ hanging out in the DJI store.

Mark Mahoney · May 29, 2015

DCGOO said:
I can't think of any. Factory supported for the Inspire 1. Only negative I can think of is their size. I can only get one of them in the DJI case. They are overpriced, IMO. I probably would not have purchased them if I did not have credit $$ hanging out in the DJI store.

I didn't think it was too bad (price-wise) 90 bucks, I figured that's probably close to the 100w charger.

And you're right, they are huge.

Out of curiosity, how do you all charge more than one at a time?

When I charge my Phantom batteries, I use this...

I haven't been able to find one for the Inspire. Right now, I'm only using on of these...

Anyone have a better suggestion for charging multiple batteries?

Thanks,

Mark

kenny kustom · May 29, 2015

Same company makes one for the inspire.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AlexanderAF · May 29, 2015

I'll chime in. Probably doesn't run as hot because it is slightly larger, so it has a larger surface area to dissipate heat. Charging at a faster rate will have a slight, but probably insignificant, degredation to battery performance...we're talking 1-2% lost storage capacity per year over the 100 watt charger.

I work battery technology for spacecraft, so I'm leveraging what I know from the constant cycling/discharge of satellites using Li-Ion and Nickle-Hydrogen. Not sure if that applies 1 for 1 to LiPo batteries used for the Inspire.

Kilrah · May 30, 2015

I've seen the 180W charger, and it's just too huge and heavy

Mark Mahoney · May 30, 2015

Kilrah said:
I've seen the 180W charger, and it's just too huge and heavy

I feel the same way because it does charge faster (which is great when you're on in the field and don't have enough batteries) but it is large and heavy.

****'d if you do, ****'d if you don't....

Mark

delirious · Jun 4, 2015

Hey guys. A saw a battery charging station that Jaime on myth busters built for his inspire. It is a three bay charger. So.....I started to build it and got mostly finished. I waited until the battery chargers to arrive. I ordered two,180 watt chargers and was going to use those two and the one that comes with the inspire to put in the box below the bays.

Well.... They arrived today and they are HUGE! Got them off amazon and the pictures didn't accurately represent the size. The had pictured the 100 watt version. So I have to redesign the enclosure and make it deeper.

Here's Jaimie's. Mine looks essentially the same.

So question. You say they run cool. Any problems running two on the same house plug? They together will pull 13.8 amps. Normal house circuits are 15 or 20 amps Any problems running two 180s? Anyone running three at once?