Finally! You’ve got yourself a Mavic Mini, or better yet, a Mavic Mini 2! The first thing you’ll want to do is registering your drone with the FAA (as per the U.S drone laws).
Seeing as how you’re reading this article, I’m guessing you haven’t registered your drone yet. The reason for that is simple… You just can’t do that without knowing the serial number of your Mavic Mini.
In fact, there are a lot of things you’ll need your drone’s serial number for which we’ll go into in this article. However, If you’re the type who hates waiting, well, I can tell you straight up that the serial number of the Mavic Mini & Mini 2 is located in the battery compartment (on the compartment’s door, to be specific), on the packaging box and in some cases on the propeller blade.
If you’re someone who likes to dig into things and needs more details than that however, keep reading…
Fair question, what is the serial number of the Mavic Mini & Mini 2 and how is it formatted?
A serial number is a set of 14 characters, made up from letters and numbers. While the average person can’t decode it, DJI drone serial numbers have information that can allow you to trace your drone from its manufacturer all the way to the end consumer.
An example of a serial number you might find in the Mavic Mini 2 would be: 3N3LUMWI0200ER
Keep in mind that for the sake of avoiding confusion, DJI has made it so that the letter “ O “ is excluded from the possible characters of its serial numbers. So any 0 you find is a zero, not an “O”.
Where is the serial number of the DJI Mavic Mini & Mini 2 located?
You can find the serial number of either of the Mavic Mini & Mini 2 in four places. Let’s start with the first and easiest place…
The packaging box:
This is the easiest place to get a hold of your drone’s serial number, if you still have the box that is. If your wife didn’t throw the box (or your dog didn’t rip it to shreds), you’ll find the serial number of the mavic on a removable sticker in the back of the box.
The box contains the color, the model, and the version as well in case you can’t identify it.
Inside the battery compartment
To be more specific, it’s actually on the inside of the “door” to your drone’s battery compartment. Simply open your battery compartment and look inside of the compartment’s door.
You’ll see a QR code with two lines of character strings. There has been a lot of confusion back in the day about this, since some thought the upper line was the S/N while others thought it was the lower one.
The answer is simple, you already know that the S/N is 14 characters as we said. Both of those lines combined make up the serial number. This was a half measure done by DJI for lack of printing space.
Here is a video I found that perfectly shows where to find the serial number of your Mavic Mini.
On the propeller blade
If you’re buying a new Mavic Mini/Mini 2, chances are it’ll have a small sticker on its propeller blade with a QR code and a miniscule serial number. That sticker however makes the drone really, really loud and you’re better off just ripping it off the drone as soon as you take a picture of it or note it down.
The DJI Fly App
There is actually a better way to find the serial number of your Mavic Mini / Mini 2 if you already activated it with the DJI Fly app.
This is particularly helpful when the serial number sticker has been erased and you’ve already thrown your drone’s box away (or someone else did…).
To find your drone’s serial number via the DJI Fly App, follow the follow these 3 simple steps:
You may be wondering why go through all the hassle. After all, you don’t bother to know the serial number of your phone or laptop, why bother noting that of your drone?
The serial number of your Mavic Mini or Mini 2 is important because it’s the identity of your drone. With it you can register, repair, and do maintenance as well as get access to various other drone services. It’s a good rule of thumb to make sure you write it down or take a picture of it, in case you need it but don’t have access to your drone.
Here are the main reasons that I think would require you to know your S/N. Everything else doesn’t require you to have it with you.
Registration with the FAA
Usually I’d say that you’d need the S/N to register your drone but that doesn’t apply to the Mavic Mini and Mini 2 since they’re sub-250g drones. Still, in general if you need to register your drone you’ll need to know your drone’s serial number.
If the serial number of that drone has been wiped off, you’ll find yourself unable to register your drone with the risk of being fined if you fly it regardless (trust me, you do NOT want to be caught with your drone unregistered). So be sure to check if the serial number can be seen first before buying a used drone.
Drone repair
Drone accidents happen all the time. And sometimes it might not be your fault and it will be the drone that malfunctioned, in which case you’ll need to send it off to the manufacturer for repairs. The problem is if the serial number has been wiped in the crash they’ll have no way of identifying your drone.
So be sure to take a picture of your drone’s serial number or write it down somewhere to keep it safe.
DJI Care Refresh
If you want to purchase DJI refresh insurance for your drone you’ll need the serial number to register for it. If you already have insurance and want to file a claim, you’ll also need your serial number to identify your drone.
In case you didn’t know what DJI care refresh is, it’s basically a physical damage insurance policy from DJI for some of their products. It offers you up to two replacement units in the 12 months that are covered by your plan. These replacement units are guaranteed to be new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability.
I’ve already gone in-depth on the topic in this article, if you’re interested you might want to check that out.
We’ve covered all there is to know about the Mavic Mini’s serial number (and that of the Mavic Mini 2). Honestly, you won’t need your serial number much when it comes to these two drones.
The main reason you'd need it is the FAA registration, but that doesn’t apply with sub-250g drones. Still, better have it and not use it than not have it at all.
Many things can cause the serial number to get erased off your drone, or you may lose your drone’s packaging. So to be safe, I recommend you either write it down somewhere or you take a picture of it and upload it to the cloud.
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