DJI is launching its own power stations to charge your drones when you’re far from home
Drone brand DJI is breaking new ground by launching its first power plants in the US, Europe and Australia. They are known as the Power 500 and Power 1000 the latter being the more powerful of the two. It has a battery capacity of 1,024 Wh and can deliver 2,200 W of energy. In fact, the company gave the chargers the ability to quickly charge several of their drones.
Charging time for all supporting models varies slightly, but takes approximately half an hour on average. For example, according to DJI, a Mavic 3 Series drone takes 32 minutes to go from 10 percent to 95 percent, while the Inspire 3 takes 28 minutes. To quickly charge a drone, the device’s battery requires the DJI Power SDC function and a special cable. This cable can be purchased at checkout, but is not universal, so you will need to make sure you purchase the correct cable. So if you have a Mavic 3 Pro, you should get the Mavic 3 Series Fast Charge Cable. If you own an Air 3, you will need to purchase the Air 3 cable and so on.
DJI hasn’t stated how long it will take to charge a drone without a Power SDC, so all we know is that the Power 1000 station can charge drones about 12 times before the battery runs out, making it easily one of the best portable charging stations out there.
A real powerhouse
Of course, the station is not exclusively intended for charging drones. It can power several other gadgets and devices, including smartphones, laptops, film projectors, and even ovens. To support all this hardware, the Power 1000 houses several types of ports. You’ll find a few power outlets, two USB-A ports, two USB-C inputs, one SDC port, and an SDC Lite input.
The last two entries on that list are for charging the power plant itself. Once fully drained, you can connect the Power 1000 to a wall socket or car charger with the appropriate supporting cable. It takes 70 minutes to fully charge, or you can unplug after 50 minutes to get 80 percent battery life. A pair of quarter-inch threaded holes are provided on the design for equipping accessories.
DJI apparently has plans to sell solar panels for the two Power models as part of a bundle for charging in case you’re camping and they run out of juice. However, at the time of writing this, the solar panels are not yet for sale.
Concerning the Power 500, he can do everything his bigger brother or sister can do. It can quickly charge drones in the same time, supports solar panels and has an identical number of ports. But the device does these things in a smaller capacity.
This power station has a 512Wh battery that delivers 1000W of energy, allowing it to charge drones only about six times. Additionally, the Power 500 is also physically smaller: it weighs 7.3 kg (about 16 pounds) versus the Power 1000’s 13 kg (about 28.5 pounds).
Availability
DJI’s Power 1000 is available for purchase in the United States for a price discounted to $699 on the company website. Each of the fast charging cables costs $20 each. The power 500 costs $379 in the US instead of $400, and you have to buy the cables separately. Everywhere else people will have to pay full price. The Power 1000 takes precedence £879/AU$1,369/€999 in the UK, Australia and the EU, while the Power 500 will cost 500 £459/$729 Australian dollars/€539 in those regions.
We must mention that some of the charging cables are not available. For example, the Air 3 cable is not found on the American list of either power plant, but is on the European and Australian lists. There is also no option for the DJI Matric 30 at all. We contacted DJI for information about the missing parts and more. This story will be updated if and when we hear from the company.