Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | Back in 2020, I purchased a DJI Mavic Mini Ultra Light 249g with controller.
I messed around with it some and it seemed to work as advertised. My interests changed and I put the Drone and Controller on the shelf.
Last week I decided to dig it out and try to revive it. I removed the mini SD card, put it in an adapter and stuck it in a USB port on my computer. It showed a short video of my office where apparently I was "hand flying" the drone. The file was dated 2020. I haven't used the Drone since so there may be changes.
I tried pushing the button on the bottom of the drone but observed no action. I found a USB mini charging cable and plugged the drone into a charger. After a bit, the LEDs on the bottom of the Drone started to flash. I left it plugged in for a day and eventually all four LEDs were lit which I believe indicates that the drone battery is fully charged.
I am now using an iPhone XR phone. At the time of last use, I was using either an iPhone 6 or iPhone 8. I noticed the DJI Fly app was installed on my current phone although I had never tried using it. The app came to life and the opening message indicated that it had been automatically updated as of March 2026. This looked promising.
I plugged the phone into the controller with the short DJI supplied cable. I pushed the buttons on the Drone and observed different patterns of flashing LEDs. At one point the props did jerk but not turn. The camera seems to be "leveling" itself. This leads me to believe the Drone is healthy.
When I bring up the camera view on the iPhone it indicates that the Drone is not connected. Apparently I need to initiate some type of pairing process.
There is an ON/OFF button on the controller but pushing it has no effect. It appears that there are some LEDs above the DJI lettering on the controller but they never light.
Does the controller have rechargeable batteries of its own or does it get its power from the phone though the lightning plug. I see no separate port for charging.
Also the startup menu in the app gives me several drone choices. I'm not certain I am choosing the correct one since none of the choices seem to indicate my model although the pictures seem to match.
I would be interested in any help or suggestions. I believe I'm "close" to getting it going again. TIA.
Edited by tedbear 6/10/2026 08:09
 (MavicMini (full).jpg)
 (DroneBottom (full).jpg)
 (DJIController (full).jpg)
Attachments
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 MavicMini (full).jpg (53KB - 11 downloads)
DroneBottom (full).jpg (53KB - 2 downloads)
DJIController (full).jpg (57KB - 8 downloads)
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Help with old Drone
