Battery charging--in the field.

CrashMan · Feb 18, 2022

I know some of you charge your batteries when you are out in the field. Today I wanted to do more testing but apparently my little inverter with a max of 3 amps wasn't enough to do the job.
Once I know I don't wanna throw this thing in the garbage I wanna get a 4th battery and be able to charge on the go..

SO what are you guys doing?

kenmavic2zoom · Feb 19, 2022

EcoFlow RIVER Max Plus Portable Power Station - EcoFlow

• OUR BIGGEST RIVER • RECHARGE FROM 0% TO 80% WITHIN 1 HOUR • COMPATIBLE WITH 80% HOME APPLIANCES • THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

ecoflow.com

paularity · Feb 19, 2022

kenmavic2zoom said:
EcoFlow RIVER Max Plus Portable Power Station - EcoFlow

• OUR BIGGEST RIVER • RECHARGE FROM 0% TO 80% WITHIN 1 HOUR • COMPATIBLE WITH 80% HOME APPLIANCES • THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

ecoflow.com

Yep agreed - I just have the standard River and it's the goods - can output 100w so the dual charger will charge 2 batteries and sucks in the juice to recharge

Obviously the Skydio batteries need to cool down prior to charging so bear that in mind

CrashMan · Feb 19, 2022

That is cool but I don't need something with its own battery source....

KN6ILQ · Feb 19, 2022

You don't mention what you are using for a power source, only that you tried an inverter.
If you are trying to charge from a 12v vehicle this works great and supplies the same 65 watts of the factory charger.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H85J1VG?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

kenmavic2zoom · Feb 19, 2022

CrashMan said:
That is cool but I don't need something with its own battery source....

i thought you said on the go? if you don't plug your drone charger into the car battery then how else do you plan to charge it? solar? if you are not on the grid, you need a "battery source." lol

maybe you can try to use one of those plugs that insert into the cla / vpa socket and has a usb port where you can plug in the skydio charger w/battery. that should work.

CrashMan · Feb 19, 2022

KN6ILQ said:
You don't mention what you are using for a power source, only that you tried an inverter.
If you are trying to charge from a 12v vehicle this works great and supplies the same 65 watts of the factory charger.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H85J1VG?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

I guess I didn't even think of that aspect. I come from motorized off road use where a battery was always available.. Thank you thats perfect...

CrashMan · Feb 19, 2022

kenmavic2zoom said:
i thought you said on the go? if you don't plug your drone charger into the car battery then how else do you plan to charge it? solar? if you are not on the grid, you need a "battery source." lol

maybe you can try to use one of those plugs that insert into the cla / vpa socket and has a usb port where you can plug in the skydio charger w/battery. that should work.

I have not found one thats even close to the right wattage/amps..

CrashMan · Mar 4, 2022

Finally got a chance to use it today and it did the trick. Only thing I found you cannot use the USB-C port--you must use the full size usb port to charge..

KN6ILQ · Mar 4, 2022

Odd, I use the C port without issue.
The one thing I have noticed about the charger is that you need to apply power to it first so it boots up and then attach the batteries to get them to charge.

CrashMan · Mar 4, 2022

KN6ILQ said:
Odd, I use the C port without issue.
The one thing I have noticed about the charger is that you need to apply power to it first so it boots up and then attach the batteries to get them to charge.

Thats how I did it and nothing.... But still works perfect with the full size usb..

Ridefreak · Mar 5, 2022

CrashMan said:
Thats how I did it and nothing.... But still works perfect with the full size usb..

With the full sized USB you're missing out on the PD (Power Delivery) function of that USB power supply. USB 3.0 (large connector) is only capable of 5V @ .9A or 4.5W. USB 3.1 PD which is the charging scheme the SD battery system is designed for is capable of 20V @ 3A or 62W so with that connector you're charging @ 5% of it's designed rate, the charge time will increase proportionally. There's a huge difference in charging from a USB C (PD) port compared to the larger USB 3.0 port. You'd get the same charge rate your getting now by plugging that into a small $6 USB to cig lighter adapter, it's minimal.

This picture below is showing the power demand function working with the SD charger connected to one battery. You can see it's drawing 20V @ 3A which is 62W, the max the SD charge brick can supply. With 65W it will take about 45min.

I'd figure out what's happening because right now that setup isn't supplying hardly anything. A full charge is going to take approx 12X as long compared to using the other port. Not knocking your setup but you can do much better.

(USB Power display module connected to the SD2's 65W brick and one battery on the SD dual charger)

USB Charging standards: How Does Fast Charging Work? Every Standard Compared | Digital Trends

CrashMan · Mar 5, 2022

hmmmm,, well I guess I will have to look into that today since I am heading out again to the woods.. Its funny on the face of the unit it doesn't state any difference between the USB and USB-C ports. I have some wall mount setups and the higher output ports are always shown...

Ridefreak · Mar 5, 2022

Can't answer that but I wanted to point out the difference. I had to educate myself a few years ago when trying the same thing after the SD2 came out. I bought a 65W cig lighter adapter that was capable of providing enough power but it's flaky, it was Chinese product off Amazon which is always a crapshoot.

I'd see if it will charge a phone off the smaller 3.1 connector, you may have just got a bad one. Wouldn't be the first time.

CrashMan · Mar 14, 2022

So I finally had time to do a test and used a different socket in my pickup and it worked like it should. So I will investigate a connection issue with the socket..

Ridefreak · Mar 14, 2022

CrashMan said:
So I finally had time to do a test and used a different socket in my pickup and it worked like it should. So I will investigate a connection issue with the socket..

I found with these high power adapters that in some circumstances the vehicle outlet can supply the lower current but not the higher output needed for the 3.1 port, that was the case running it off the MC, It didn't want to work when the bike was running but turned off it'd charge fine. That's coming off a 600W alternator so it's weird, should be plenty of power. That's using a direct connection straight off the battery to the adapter so the running vehicle was impacting it somehow. I've not bothered to investigate further yet. Let us know what you figure out, I'm looking for a more reliable charging solution also.

CrashMan · Mar 14, 2022

Ridefreak said:
I found with these high power adapters that in some circumstances the vehicle outlet can supply the lower current but not the higher output needed for the 3.1 port, that was the case running it off the MC, It didn't want to work when the bike was running but turned off it'd charge fine. That's coming off a 600W alternator so it's weird, should be plenty of power. That's using a direct connection straight off the battery to the adapter so the running vehicle was impacting it somehow. I've not bothered to investigate further yet. Let us know what you figure out, I'm looking for a more reliable charging solution also.

What about figuring out what style of plug is for the power source and hard wire it to the bike with alligator clips so ya can move it to another bike with little hassle if ya need to?

Ridefreak · Mar 15, 2022

CrashMan said:
What about figuring out what style of plug is for the power source and hard wire it to the bike with alligator clips so ya can move it to another bike with little hassle if ya need to?

Right now it plugs into a fused SAE plug that's wired directly to the battery, same connector the battery tender uses so it'd be easy to move to something else. Plug n play in that regard.