Phantom 4 charge hub - multiple batteries at same time

Tom Kriplean · Jul 11, 2016

Does anybody on the boards use one of the non-DJI charging hubs that will charge multiple P4 batteries at the same time?

I see a couple of them listed now on Amazon, eBay and other online stores.

For $65 or so it is very tempting, but hoping for somebody else to be the guinea pig

Thanks for any info and sharing your experience

Tom

Dirty Bird · Jul 11, 2016

Don't get the little circuit board type. Get one of the actual chargers with 3 separate power leads & remote charger lead. ~$60 on ebay. The P3 model is usually blue while the P4 model is black.

Tom Kriplean said:
Does anybody on the boards use one of the non-DJI charging hubs that will charge multiple P4 batteries at the same time?

I see a couple of them listed now on Amazon, eBay and other online stores.

For $65 or so it is very tempting, but hoping for somebody else to be the guinea pig

Thanks for any info and sharing your experience

Tom

GadgetGuy · Jul 11, 2016

Dirty Bird said:
Don't get the little circuit board type. Get one of the actual chargers with 3 separate power leads & remote charger lead. ~$60 on ebay. The P3 model is usually blue while the P4 model is black.

Yes, the $30 circuit board one is crap. No way to properly line up or secure the batteries. Never managed to get more than one battery connected! Defeats the purpose, and the built-in digital voltage meter tells you nothing useful!

Erised · Jul 11, 2016

Dirty Bird said:
Don't get the little circuit board type. Get one of the actual chargers with 3 separate power leads & remote charger lead. ~$60 on ebay. The P3 model is usually blue while the P4 model is black.

Got one of these and they work very well. The P4 black one with the 3 leads and the rc lead.

Chopstix Kid · Jul 11, 2016

There's always the one from DJI

Buy Phantom 4 - Battery Charging Hub | DJI Store

GadgetGuy · Jul 11, 2016

Erised said:
Got one of these and they work very well. The P4 black one with the 3 leads and the rc lead.

Just ordered! Unlike the DJI P4 hub for $90, this aftermarket one is supposed to charge all three at once, instead of serially. Can you confirm that?

WWK888 · Jul 11, 2016

Yes it does charge all three and transmitter at the same time.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

GadgetGuy · Jul 11, 2016

WWK888 said:
Yes it does charge all three and transmitter at the same time.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

Excellent!

Doug Lauson · Jul 12, 2016

I bought the DJI original. Yes, it's expensive, but for the $30 extra I have peace of mind that my expensive P4 batteries won't be damaged by over charging or anything like that. It also has a neat "storage" feature that discharges batteries to 50% for prolonged storage.

The disadvantage is that it charges them one at a time. The advantage is that it charges them one at a time - starting with the one that has the highest power level first, so you can get a useable battery quickly. It then goes to the next highest power level and finally the lowest.

I also bought original batteries - had a bad experience with my digital camera and cheap China no-name batteries. After spending so much for the drone, I figure it doesn't make sense to cheap out on the important stuff.

WWK888 · Jul 12, 2016

Doug Lauson said:
I bought the DJI original. Yes, it's expensive, but for the $30 extra I have peace of mind that my expensive P4 batteries won't be damaged by over charging or anything like that. It also has a neat "storage" feature that discharges batteries to 50% for prolonged storage.

The disadvantage is that it charges them one at a time. The advantage is that it charges them one at a time - starting with the one that has the highest power level first, so you can get a useable battery quickly. It then goes to the next highest power level and finally the lowest.

I also bought original batteries - had a bad experience with my digital camera and cheap China no-name batteries. After spending so much for the drone, I figure it doesn't make sense to cheap out on the important stuff.

The triple charger will not overcharge the batteries, it shuts off automatically. To me the time savings is more beneficial. Unless you really plan your flights in advance it is much easier to charge all three batteries in a little over an hour as opposed to fours hours.

r62ewa · Jul 12, 2016

I ordered my multi-charger from ebay on May 29 and it still has not arrived.

msinger · Jul 12, 2016

Tom Kriplean, other than purchasing multiple OEM Phantom 4 chargers, the black charger is the best option right now. It's not supported by DJI, but many people have been using it without any trouble.

WWK888 · Jul 12, 2016

r62ewa said:
I ordered my multi-charger from ebay on May 29 and it still has not arrived.

I saw some that were coming from China with 4-6 week waits. I opted for ones that were being sold in the USA and got mine in 5 days.

r62ewa · Jul 12, 2016

I guess it's the "If it doesn't arrive in 4-6 weeks, just wait longer"

GadgetGuy · Jul 13, 2016

Doug Lauson said:
I bought the DJI original. Yes, it's expensive, but for the $30 extra I have peace of mind that my expensive P4 batteries won't be damaged by over charging or anything like that. It also has a neat "storage" feature that discharges batteries to 50% for prolonged storage.

The disadvantage is that it charges them one at a time. The advantage is that it charges them one at a time - starting with the one that has the highest power level first, so you can get a useable battery quickly. It then goes to the next highest power level and finally the lowest.

I also bought original batteries - had a bad experience with my digital camera and cheap China no-name batteries. After spending so much for the drone, I figure it doesn't make sense to cheap out on the important stuff.

I think you may misunderstand the storage feature. The P4 batteries automatically self-discharge to 50% without any outside intervention or charger necessary, based upon the number of days you set for self-discharge in the app. However, the P4 DJI branded serial charging hub may maintain that 50% storage charge, if the batteries remain plugged into it, by periodically topping them off to 50% again, so they don't drop to a critically low level below 50% during very prolonged storage. I plan on using mine, not hibernating them for years!

GadgetGuy · Jul 13, 2016

r62ewa said:
I guess it's the "If it doesn't arrive in 4-6 weeks, just wait longer"

I ordered mine from China 2 days ago and it shipped today, with a projected arrival estimate of 1 to 3 weeks.

Dirty Bird · Jul 13, 2016

Ordered the P3 & P4 models from Amazon about an hour ago. $69 each with free shipping. Will have them tomorrow. (which means I may find then on the porch when I get home this evening.