Android Phone Charges When Plugged Into Skycontroller 2

[flyingblind]

Have you noticed that when you plug your Android device into the Skycontroller 2 that it begins to charge the device from the Skycontroller 2 battery?
This is suboptimal.

Unfortunately there's no way to turn it off in the Android software. But there is a solution!

All you need is a 5 cent diode (1A 50volt, 1N4001), a USB-C cable, some electrical tape (cloth works best), and a soldering iron.

Step #1: Cut the cable lengthwise with a razor blade to expose about 1.5" of wire.

Step #2: Locate the red wire. Cut it, solder in the 1N4001 diode with the silver line towards the USB-C end of the cable.

Step #3: Wrap with electrical tape & enjoy longer overall flight time with your Skycontroller 2.

 

[MightFlight]

Maybe I wont have to upgrade to a higher mAh SC3 batt now.

Electric tape doesnt do good in the sun or hot weather maybe shrink more bendable?

Hope you have more for us. Thanks!

 

[flyingblind]

Maybe I wont have to upgrade to a higher mAh SC3 batt now.

Electric tape doesnt do good in the sun or hot weather maybe shrink more bendable?

Hope you have more for us. Thanks!

I hope this saves you some $ and turns a frown upside down.

The cloth electrical tape should last a while and works great for bendable cables, very malleable; It also wraps much easier and smoother than standard electrical tape. I don't know about longevity but if you get a year or two out of it before having to rewrap I'd think that's acceptable.

The issue with shrink tubing is you have to cut all 4 wires to insert it into the shrink wrap or you have to cut the tube of shrink tubing lengthwise and super glue it back together. Three issues with this - it's tedious, looks terrible with glue along the seam and it often separates, and it's rigid after the glue sets.

You could cut the cable lengthwise with just a slit, pull the red cable out a bit, cut it, put shrink tubing on each leg of the red wire, solder in your diode, then place your shrink tubing and heat. But it tedious and easy to mess up because if you cut too deep to get to the red wire you may cut or abrade one of the others, causing more issues. Also... it takes too long to replicate if you so choose, imo.

My hope was that this cable could be made with the bare minimum of tools (everyone has a soldering iron right?), have a low out of pocket cost, and be simple to replicate for people of lesser technical ability. It's hard to f* up two simple solder joints and a bit of easily wrap-able tape that only costs a couple bucks on Amazon.

It's a shame the community has shrunk so much.. We should consider it a positive that Parrot walked away from the consumer market.. imo, it gives us carte' blanche to hack, modify, damage, and destroy these awesome drones without oversight from an organization that probably would lock us out of most advanced hacks/mods because it would impact their IP.

That being said.. Thank you for your idea. I'm open to any improvements people suggest, please do contribute if you've got anything to add.

 

[MightFlight]

The only bad thing is you could not charge batteries with that cable now. And what about foil shielding in cable sleeve making contact with diode? Skydio users have also tried.

 

[flyingblind]

The only bad thing is you could not charge batteries with that cable now. And what about foil shielding in cable sleeve making contact with diode? Skydio users have also tried

Yeah, but you can get 6" USB C cables for about $2 each. Buy two, mark one with metallic pen to show it's been modified.

No foil shielding in the USB C, USB 2.0 cables I've been picking up in 5 packs from Amazon..

If there's foil shielding in the cable you use simply cut it out lengthwise where you solder in the diode and put the cable back together with a small bit of the shielding missing, no biggie at USB 2.0 data rates.

If you have to have intact foil shielding simply remove it from where the diode will be placed and set it aside. Wrap one layer of Scotch tape around the diode. Put your foil shielding over the taped diode. Tape one more time w.electrical tape if possible... Scotch will work in a pinch. Boom, Bang, insulated diode w/shielding.

Lots of ppl have tried similar hacks. Some successful, some not.

All I can tell you is this method works on my Skycontroller 2 and given how USB is designed it'll probably work on other hardware.

It leaves the positive pwr lead intact which is required as a sort of "key" for the USB protocol to initialize and use the data lines. If you cut the red pwr wire completely you just broke the USB standard and it will not work..