charging batteries on the car.

[janjo2013]

Hello, i recently purchased a new phantom 2, and I would want to know if, when I'm going driving, can I charge the battery without worrying to do an entire charging or not. I hace a 12v to 220v converter, so I would put the wall charger on it. The problem is that my drives are not often long enough to charge the battery entirely and I don't know if this can affect battery life.
Thanks!
:mrgreen:

 

[IrishSights]

Leaving them at around 40-50% charge is ok. Charge the rest when you get mains power then use them but dont store them fully charged for more than a day or so, you will reduce their lifespan.

 

[janjo2013]

Thanks IriSights! So there is no problem if I disconnect it when the charge is about 40-50% and use it? I thought that these batteries need to be balanced when the charging process ends so using them without this last step meant the battery was not balanced and not ready to use. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks.

 

[IrishSights]

Its not the charger that does the balancing, in fact its not really a charger at all, its just a 4amp power supply. All the magic is in the so called smart circuit in the battery. Others more knowledgeable than me might chip in here.

Sent from Samsung S4 via Tapatalk

 

[Fyod]

I have a 300W 12-220V converter and when I charge a battery, I fly with the other fully charged one and by the time I get done flying and have a break, the first battery is usually fully charged again.
2 batteries is good, but I would like to have 3 or 4, then you can basically fly continuously.

 

[janjo2013]

Thanks both IrishSights and Fyod. I think a full charged battery time is about 1h 40 min. I would want to know what happens if I interrupt the charging process, let's say at 50%: first, Does this affect battery life/efficiency, and secondly, if I can fly phantom with that battery.

Fyod, when do you say you charge batteries in your car I suppose you do it without driving, right? Do you leave your motor powered on or you power it off? If so, doesn't consume lot of car's battery?

Thank you guys!!

 

[Fyod]

While driving, but usually with the car off, or key in 1st position to power the lighter plug.
I wouldn't be afraid to charge atleast 2 batteries off the 74ah car battery, but there are ways to calculate that.
I don't think flyin with 50% bat would do any harm, but you won't get much flight time.
I tend to pull the battery at 25-30% and it usually takes 45min to charge to 100%, iirc.

 

[janjo2013]

Thanks! I will give it a try.

 

[riblit]

Why not use a car charger - the one Banggood sell is reasonably priced and works well - and dispense with the inverter and DJI brick? Converting fron 12 volt to 220 volt and back to 12 bolt is not without its losses.

 

[janjo2013]

Oh thanks. I didn´t know these chargers. I only had seen the DJI one, which costs 70 eur
Maybe I will buy one of these.
Thank you all!