Power Inverter to charge a battery in a car

[dotcomray]

I use this one, love it:

Amazon.com: Go Power! GP-175 175-Watt Modified Sine Wave Inverter: Automotive

Fanless, and one of the highest ratings. Yes, these batteries and chargers are electronic and need clean power to prevent damage to components in each.

I want to be able to charge my batteries on the go from the car's power outlet but I am paranoid about "overcharging" or sending the wrong watts, volts (whatever?) to these expensive batteries. You vouch for this device?

 

[Squirrel!]

This is a great inverter. Fanless too. As far as "overcharging" goes, the battery itself has circuitry built-in that prevents overcharging.

 

[Squirrel!]

I've had mine for 3 years now.

 

[dotcomray]

This is a great inverter. Fanless too. As far as "overcharging" goes, the battery itself has circuitry built-in that prevents overcharging.

What about undercharging? I read that's bad for electronics.

 

[Squirrel!]

This can't undercharge.

 

[solentlife]

Sorry but not a good idea to try pulling 400w through a ciggy socket in a car. Most 'reputable' inverters of 150w or more advise direct connection to the cars battery terminals.

I can only assume that the full 400w has never been demanded by your appliances.

Anyway - there absolutely no need for an inverter to charge a DJI battery - there are very good car adaptor chargers for a lot less money than any inverter ! They also do away with 12v up to 110v and back down to 17.4v .... a wasteful exercise.

Nigel

 

[Richard R]

Sorry but not a good idea to try pulling 400w through a ciggy socket in a car. Most 'reputable' inverters of 150w or more advise direct connection to the cars battery terminals.

I can only assume that the full 400w has never been demanded by your appliances.

Anyway - there absolutely no need for an inverter to charge a DJI battery - there are very good car adaptor chargers for a lot less money than any inverter ! They also do away with 12v up to 110v and back down to 17.4v .... a wasteful exercise.

Nigel

Biggest problem with using a DC to DC converter (which, by the way still used an oscillator circuit to create the step up) is that unless you can find one specifically designed for DJI batteries (e.g. The one from DJI) , you are going to have to canabalize the cord from your charger to connect to the battery. Inverting may be wasteful (?), but it is straight forward and uncomplicated. The charger has enough filtering in it to handle 'rough' AC coming from an inverter. Never had any problem using mine to charge or to run things like tv and computers.

 

[solentlife]

Why would you have to canabalise an adaptor cable ?

There are loads of them on Amazon ... eBay ..... Hobby King .... just to name 3 of the many sites that sell not only DJI but also perfectly good cheaper Car chargers for DJI batterys ...

Mine cost me : 8 Euros incl shipping ...

Here's a page full of them :

70W Accessories Part Car Charger Adapter for DJI Phantom 3 Professional Battery | eBay

No need to pay ridiculous Brand Label prices !!

Nigel

 

[solentlife]

Biggest problem with using a DC to DC converter (which, by the way still used an oscillator circuit to create the step up) is that unless you can find one specifically designed for DJI batteries (e.g. The one from DJI) , you are going to have to canabalize the cord from your charger to connect to the battery. Inverting may be wasteful (?), but it is straight forward and uncomplicated. The charger has enough filtering in it to handle 'rough' AC coming from an inverter. Never had any problem using mine to charge or to run things like tv and computers.

Because you never approached 400W - if you had - you would known all about it ...

Simple maths of WATTS ... Volts / Amps tells you that !

Its actually criminal negligence that manufacturers put Ciggy Socket plugs on leads of Inverters when they know full well the amp demand far exceeds the sockets design.

Most cars have a 10 or 15A fuse on the ciggy socket ... so that tells you something immediately.

Nigel

 

[Miltrez]

Yeah. Don't waste your money unless you want to wire it directly to battery (FUSE IS A MUST!!!!). The most you. An pull from cig socket is 100w. I returned my DeWalt inverter because it could not charge one battery, and I have no interest in hardwiring directly to battery. I have a honda portable generator strapped in to my truck bed on missions and use the Thor rapid charger now. Much more satisfaction with that and done with three battery's in sometimes less than an hour.