It's all well and good having a drone to play with, but it isn't much use if you don't know how to charge the DJI Mavic Mini controller. Without a functioning controller, your drone is going to be useless. It may even fly into a forest and be lost forever for all we know.
For some reason, while the Mavic Mini drone itself is very simple to charge, with a micro USB port on it, the controller itself doesn't have a micro USB port. Confused? Infuriated by the utter senselessness of that design decision? We feel your pain.
So here's how you can charge the controller for your drone. The process is similar to charging DJI Mini SE Controller. Let's get into it!
How To Charge DJI Mavic Mini Controller
When you first receive your Mavic Mini drone, you'll see the fairly obvious micro USB port on the side, ready for your charging cable. But on the controller, it doesn't actually have a working micro USB port.
However, you are still expected to use the micro USB cable to charge the controller. If your face is screwed up into a picture of bewilderment, you'd be completely justified. And somewhat strangely, DJI doesn't really make things clear in the instructions that come with the drone.
So how do you charge the controller? Well, as we said above, you still use the micro USB charging cable. But you actually plug it into the data port on the side of the controller, which has a compatible connector inside it, to work with your USB connection.
If you're still confused, there's a handy video from Concise Tech on YouTube:
Which Way Do You Plug In The Micro USB Cable?
If you aren't sure which way round you should insert the micro USB cable, an easy way to remember it is that the shorter part of the connector should face the front of your controller. And conversely, the long bit should face the rear.
Most micro USB cables will have a USB symbol on them which denotes the 'top' and is usually adjacent to the short part of the connector. So again, this would usually face the front of your controller.
Plugging in the cable to charge shouldn't require you to force it. So if you feel yourself meeting a lot of resistance, try turning the cable over and plugging it in the other way. Forcing it runs the risk of doing damage to the port, which could make it difficult to use the controller.
- Read More: How To Calibrate A Drone
Why Has DJI Done This?
It isn't altogether clear why DJI decided to go down this route for the Mavic Mini controller. While on one hand, it makes sense to have one port that essentially does two jobs, it is not intuitive for users. And the lack of guidance from DJI makes it much more complicated than it needs to be.
DJI has actually discontinued the Mavic Mini, so hopefully, this isn't going to be a problem in future models of their drones. But at least now you know what you're looking for.