You have way more free time than I do....I just buy more batteries if I need more flight time and I wait until the lights go out to take the battery off of the charger. But I approach all of my camera gear from a commercial standpoint vs a hobbyist standpoint and in the commercial world time is money. I take the time to learn the nuances of my equipment but couldn't care less about their insides.
You have way more free time than I do....I just buy more batteries if I need more flight time and I wait until the lights go out to take the battery off of the charger. But I approach all of my camera gear from a commercial standpoint vs a hobbyist standpoint and in the commercial world time is money. I take the time to learn the nuances of my equipment but couldn't care less about their insides.
I'm just curious how things work and then use that knowledge to improve things. It's great if people want to use technology and aren't interested in how it works, I respect that.
I build new tech for a living so it's fun for me and I have many of the tools available to characterize this sort of thing at my lab at home. I don't need a drone, it's ultimately a toy for me but I'm finding some useful applications.
Sure, I can buy more batteries from Autel and its vendors but wouldn't you like to have a cheaper, lighter, battery with more flight time? Or be able to use 3-5 inexpensive chargers to charge your batteries in parallel?
Autel is behind the curve on the best battery tech. Let's push them to do better.
I would gladly pay more for a faster charging, lithium ion pack that gives me more flight time, a battery that last 3-4 + years, along with a parallel charger that can keep up to allow continuous flying throughout the day.
Autel is incentivized to sell batteries that have limited lifetimes and chargers that force you to buy multiple expensive modules for every battery you want to charge simultaneously. Their engineers know how to make things better but it doesn't fit their business model.
I build new tech for a living so it's fun for me and I have many of the tools available to characterize this sort of thing at my lab at home. I don't need a drone, it's ultimately a toy for me but I'm finding some useful applications.
Sure, I can buy more batteries from Autel and its vendors but wouldn't you like to have a cheaper, lighter, battery with more flight time? Or be able to use 3-5 inexpensive chargers to charge your batteries in parallel?
Autel is behind the curve on the best battery tech. Let's push them to do better.
I would gladly pay more for a faster charging, lithium ion pack that gives me more flight time, a battery that last 3-4 + years, along with a parallel charger that can keep up to allow continuous flying throughout the day.
Autel is incentivized to sell batteries that have limited lifetimes and chargers that force you to buy multiple expensive modules for every battery you want to charge simultaneously. Their engineers know how to make things better but it doesn't fit their business model.
I am interested in many things; most of them related to electronics but I don't have the time, tools, or patience to truly dig into their innerworkings beyond what is already publicly available to read. Its always good to have people like you out there though, pushing the boundaries. Based on my research, I personally think LiPos have gone as far as they are going to go due to safety reasons; I am still waiting for all of these battery breakthroughs that are supposedly right around the corner like the aluminum air battery, or the honeycomb battery technology, or the cubic crystal layer technology, or the......insert next greatest battery technology thing here.
It seems like scientists all over the world are working on the next big thing but all we still seem to end up with are LiPos...dangerous, short lived, highly combustible, expensive, LiPos.
Ordered a couple of aftermarket DJI Mini 2 chargers from Amazon to see if they can charge the Nano batteries. Both chargers worked quite well charging the Nano batteries. The single charger was $14 USD and the dual channel, parallel charger that plugs into your car's 12V cig lighter was $21 USD. Both chargers were able to charge my Nano batteries from about 10% charge to 100% in 90 minutes or less. The dual charger only took 75 minutes to charge 2 Nano batteries at the same time while also charging the Nano's Remote Control at the same time. I have been through 4 charge cycles so far and the cells are charge balanced when I check them after charging. It appears that the internal BMS is working properly and that the DJI Mini 2 chargers can't tell the difference between a Mini2 battery and a Nano battery.
If I add the original 3-position Nano charger that came with the Nano I can now charge 4 Nano batteries simultaneously which should allow me to get close to nonstop flying if I choose to do so. I have 5 batteries total so 1 battery will be in the drone flying while 4 others are charging in parallel.
In order to get the Mini 2 chargers to work you have to cut off 2 little plastic tabs on either side of the charge connector. I used some precision side-cutters and it took me about 20 seconds to make the modification. If anyone is interested in the process to modify the connector I can upload some pictures of the process.
I have attached pictures of the 2 chargers that I modified for reference.
If I add the original 3-position Nano charger that came with the Nano I can now charge 4 Nano batteries simultaneously which should allow me to get close to nonstop flying if I choose to do so. I have 5 batteries total so 1 battery will be in the drone flying while 4 others are charging in parallel.
In order to get the Mini 2 chargers to work you have to cut off 2 little plastic tabs on either side of the charge connector. I used some precision side-cutters and it took me about 20 seconds to make the modification. If anyone is interested in the process to modify the connector I can upload some pictures of the process.
I have attached pictures of the 2 chargers that I modified for reference.
Attachments
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I am interested in the mod to work with Evo Nano+, kindly upload the photos.
I also have tried several chargers (PD, 75W among others) with the Nano+ battery as well as the controller. I found out that sometime using the "other" chargers, the charging process will NOT end properly e.g. the led on the battery never goes out no matter how long I left them on the charger! Also with the controller, the green led kept on flashing and the fan stayed on thus the unit got warm and stayed that way for hours!!! No problems with stock charger though.
I'm perfectly happy with the supplied Autel charger but I congratulate you on your research and testing. It's great that someone is this curious as it benefits the community as a whole and knowing that there are other chargers available may well help someone out.
Please do keep updating this thread with your findings and any long term feedback.
Oh - have you tried/timed charging a Nano+ battery using the 12v charger? I'm interested as I have a campervan with a leisure battery and this would seem to offer a way of charging when I am parked "off-grid".
Thanks.
Please do keep updating this thread with your findings and any long term feedback.
Oh - have you tried/timed charging a Nano+ battery using the 12v charger? I'm interested as I have a campervan with a leisure battery and this would seem to offer a way of charging when I am parked "off-grid".
Thanks.
@ccadden
The 12V car charger will charge 2 Nano/Nano+ batteries simultaneously from 10% to 100% in about 75 minutes while also charging the remote control.
The first time I ran the car charger I ran it off a programmable lab power supply. I set the voltage to 13.8V and the current limit to 7 amps in case something went awry. I had two Nano batteries connected at 10% charge state and the remote control also at 10% charge state. When I first plugged in the car charger the current went up to 5.1 amps at 13.8V. ( 70.4 watts) As charging continued the current dropped to a minimum value of 1.3A when only the remote control was charging.
The charger became warm to the touch but never hot. Batteries never felt warm the few times I checked.
Make sure your car's 12V cig receptacle can support a 70 Watt load.
It's possible if the Nano batteries were run down to 0% and the remote control was at 0% charge state you could pull more current/power due to the lower cell impedance. I will try and test this out later in the week and see if it changes the peak power draw.
This was using the Yx brand car charger referenced in post #25
The 12V car charger will charge 2 Nano/Nano+ batteries simultaneously from 10% to 100% in about 75 minutes while also charging the remote control.
The first time I ran the car charger I ran it off a programmable lab power supply. I set the voltage to 13.8V and the current limit to 7 amps in case something went awry. I had two Nano batteries connected at 10% charge state and the remote control also at 10% charge state. When I first plugged in the car charger the current went up to 5.1 amps at 13.8V. ( 70.4 watts) As charging continued the current dropped to a minimum value of 1.3A when only the remote control was charging.
The charger became warm to the touch but never hot. Batteries never felt warm the few times I checked.
Make sure your car's 12V cig receptacle can support a 70 Watt load.
It's possible if the Nano batteries were run down to 0% and the remote control was at 0% charge state you could pull more current/power due to the lower cell impedance. I will try and test this out later in the week and see if it changes the peak power draw.
This was using the Yx brand car charger referenced in post #25
Here is the procedure to modify the Mini 2 charger connector to fit the Nano/Nano+ batteries that worked for me. It only requires 4 snips with some side cutters to perform the mod. Could use a razor blade or a sharp knife to carefully do the same thing. The plastic is fairly soft and cut very easily.
Image 1 is the DJI Mini 2 charge connector before any modification
Image 2 shows what needs to be removed
Images 3, 4 - cutters clipping the tabs off
Images 5, 6 - tabs being removed
Image 7 - connector after the modifications are complete
Image 8 - Nano/Nano+ battery
Image 9 - modified charger connected, top view
Image 10 - modified charger connected, side view
Image 11 - two Nano batteries being charged using the 12V car charger
Image 1 is the DJI Mini 2 charge connector before any modification
Image 2 shows what needs to be removed
Images 3, 4 - cutters clipping the tabs off
Images 5, 6 - tabs being removed
Image 7 - connector after the modifications are complete
Image 8 - Nano/Nano+ battery
Image 9 - modified charger connected, top view
Image 10 - modified charger connected, side view
Image 11 - two Nano batteries being charged using the 12V car charger
Attachments
I wondew if this can be modified to charge the Nano +?
It appears that a similar removal of the plastic tabs around the battery terminals on the charger would allow you to plug in the Nano batteries. Since the charger encloses the batteries I would be concerned that the Nano may not fit properly into the hole for the mini 2 batteries. I don't know the exact dimensions of the Mini 2 batteries so I don't know for sure.
The charger also seems to charge the batteries in series and not parallel and requires 2 separate USB C QC power supplies to obtain a charge time of 150 minutes for 3 batteries. Otherwise if you use just one USB C charger it will take 240 minutes to charge 3 batteries!
You may be better off with the Autel Nano, 3 battery charger since it can charge 3 batteries in about 180 minutes.
Amazon and Ebay list a 4-port parallel channel charger made by Yx that is supposed to be specifically for the Nano batteries and can charge 4 batteries in about an hour. That is likely what I will end up getting if I find myself repeatedly running through my 5 batteries of runtime when doing a video shoot.
Agreed on all counts. Just ordered the Yx that can charge 4 packs parallelly from Amazon. I guess it won't be long before Yx comes out with the Evo Nano+ version.
The parallel charging alone is worth buying and the 60% charge selection is a cool bonus beside another 2 usb charge ports.
Did I mention how much I hate the stock charging stick!!
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Big Bang Batt (Note: the Chinglish description is fun to read though )
Just come across this 3800 mAh and 4100 mAh after market batteries for the Mini 2 (stock Mini2 is 2250 mAh). Over 250 grams for sure but look at the flight time they claim: 45-50 minutes.
The reviews seem to confirm the flight time.
Now the question is, will this naked high capacity battery fit the Nano +?
Oh, did I mention how ugly it looks?
What will they think of next?
)Just come across this 3800 mAh and 4100 mAh after market batteries for the Mini 2 (stock Mini2 is 2250 mAh). Over 250 grams for sure but look at the flight time they claim: 45-50 minutes.
The reviews seem to confirm the flight time.Now the question is, will this naked high capacity battery fit the Nano +?
Oh, did I mention how ugly it looks?
What will they think of next?
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Interesting find. It would be great to have 40-50 minutes of flight time! The translated description is quite humorous.
Scrolling through the reviews there is a picture of a Mini 2 that caught fire and the reviewer blamed the hacked battery. Whether any of those reviews are to be trusted is another thing to consider.
I think using such a battery in a Nano would be quite risky for a number of reasons. The BMS module has been hacked to work in a DJI Mini 2 and likely would not communicate with the Autel Nano unless they happen to use exactly the same chipset and firmware which is unlikely.
If you did get the Nano to power on and accept the hacked DJI battery the Nano would likely not provide reliable battery condition statistics any longer and you would risk a loss of power midflight. I have done some reading on how people have hacked the DJI batteries with bigger LiPo cells and it requires a special program to allow the hacked battery to work properly and to register the new battery size in the drone.
Assuming you overcome those obstacles the battery connector looks mechanically weak and the battery will not have any positive locking into the Nano's body, assuming it fits. I would be concerned that it could come loose during flight causing the Nano to fall from the sky.
If you wanted to experiment I would suggest getting a dead Nano battery where the cells were dead but the BMS was still good and transplant the Nano BMS onto the new LiPo pack. You may have the same problem the DJI folks had when they tried this. They found that the BMS was programmed to only allow a certain amount of energy to be discharged from the battery pack and this was coded into the firmware. They had batteries that had 30% more energy than the stock battery but it was still force landing the drone with about the same amount of air time you would get with a stock battery. An aftermarket firmware modification program was required to take advantage of the bigger battery. So far I haven't seen similar aftermarket software that can interface with the Nano to reprogram either the batteries or the drone itself. If anyone knows of any please let us know!
I certainly don't want to discourage innovation and discovery but be aware that a good deal of research and development will likely be needed to get it to work.
Scrolling through the reviews there is a picture of a Mini 2 that caught fire and the reviewer blamed the hacked battery. Whether any of those reviews are to be trusted is another thing to consider.
I think using such a battery in a Nano would be quite risky for a number of reasons. The BMS module has been hacked to work in a DJI Mini 2 and likely would not communicate with the Autel Nano unless they happen to use exactly the same chipset and firmware which is unlikely.
If you did get the Nano to power on and accept the hacked DJI battery the Nano would likely not provide reliable battery condition statistics any longer and you would risk a loss of power midflight. I have done some reading on how people have hacked the DJI batteries with bigger LiPo cells and it requires a special program to allow the hacked battery to work properly and to register the new battery size in the drone.
Assuming you overcome those obstacles the battery connector looks mechanically weak and the battery will not have any positive locking into the Nano's body, assuming it fits. I would be concerned that it could come loose during flight causing the Nano to fall from the sky.
If you wanted to experiment I would suggest getting a dead Nano battery where the cells were dead but the BMS was still good and transplant the Nano BMS onto the new LiPo pack. You may have the same problem the DJI folks had when they tried this. They found that the BMS was programmed to only allow a certain amount of energy to be discharged from the battery pack and this was coded into the firmware. They had batteries that had 30% more energy than the stock battery but it was still force landing the drone with about the same amount of air time you would get with a stock battery. An aftermarket firmware modification program was required to take advantage of the bigger battery. So far I haven't seen similar aftermarket software that can interface with the Nano to reprogram either the batteries or the drone itself. If anyone knows of any please let us know!
I certainly don't want to discourage innovation and discovery but be aware that a good deal of research and development will likely be needed to get it to work.
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Again agreed on all counts. It's a cool feeling when you can have a battery that you can fly for over 40 minutes. I did have the Plus pack for my DJI Mini 3 Pro (over 250 g. of course) and when I had to do a long flight, it's like a godsend almost like range anxiety on the EV car.
I still remember the old days when I had to fly my drone over water, I had to pick a higher C rating to make sure that even I had less than 20% of the capacity left in the pack, I'd be able to make it to the land whereas the lower C rating ones may not. There was NO warning for low battery then so you have to test and record the flight time of the different C rating packs on your own balancing power (endurant) to weight ratio and such. Unlike the rc paramotor which loves heavier battery pack to deal with even just 10 mph wind.
Wow.. super cool, thanks.. i just did a quick measurement, battery full charged
in 2-4 i have 8,78 V, pin 2-6 3,2 Vit is not easy to reach the pins with the voltmeter, may be there are suitable pins /connectors, but i hav not idea. have you some suggestions?
I used some 1/4 watt resistor leads attached to some micro-grabbers and then attached the voltmeter to probe the battery pins. Some alligator clamps would work as well if you have them.
Even paperclips wrapped around the voltmeter leads would probably work.
A search for "DJI Mini 2 battery connector" came up with some options if you want a breakout board to plug into the Nano battery. The Mini 2 and the Nano seem to be the same battery with slightly different packaging and custom FW in the BMS. See image below. I think this is the breakout board that DJI people are using to reprogram the BMS firmware to accept larger batteries. The connector around the yellow pins are for a debug controller connection.
A little more searching and you should find the connector specifications. Not sure how common this connector type is though.
Even paperclips wrapped around the voltmeter leads would probably work.
A search for "DJI Mini 2 battery connector" came up with some options if you want a breakout board to plug into the Nano battery. The Mini 2 and the Nano seem to be the same battery with slightly different packaging and custom FW in the BMS. See image below. I think this is the breakout board that DJI people are using to reprogram the BMS firmware to accept larger batteries. The connector around the yellow pins are for a debug controller connection.
A little more searching and you should find the connector specifications. Not sure how common this connector type is though.
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