How cold can you fly in? I’m in Ohio and it’s been freezing here already. I keep my batteries warm in the house, but I’m sure they would get cold quickly in flight! Don’t want to freeze and fall out of the sky like a frozen turkey!!!
Cold weather flights
- Thread starter denwood
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The P3SE manual recommends not flying in temperatures colder than 32° F. However, you should be able to safely fly in colder temperatures if you keep your hands warm and follows DJI's cold weather flying tips here, here, and here.
Someone on this forum advised to put the batteries in your pants. And to warm them up this way.
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Today it was 0c when I flew my P3S and everything went fine but when I landed to swap batteries my phone died because of the cold. I was surprised because I had flown in colder temps (-13C) before and my phone was still going. So my question is how do you keep your phone/tablet warm? Was thinking of a handwarmer behind the phone on the P3S clip. Also, what would have happened if my phone would have turned off while the AC was in the air? I’m assuming I would still hav control?
I thing there's no way to freeze your phone using DJI Go app. That uses your wifi, your video card, your cpu, SD, everything at the time, so a kind of preformance user, no worries about that... If I'm wrong, you still can use your bird with the remote, but better to remember how to RTH from the remote... 
Pretty sure I would still have full control of the P3S if my iPhone would have died while my AC was in the air. I always fly LOS so I would be able to bring it in likely without triggering RTH but I would be flying ‘blind’ without any video or telemetry. I often do Litchi panos, so if it died in the middle of a pano, would the pano complete or stop?
I’m going to try hand warmers behind my phone while I wait for a transmitter glove I have on order.
I’m going to try hand warmers behind my phone while I wait for a transmitter glove I have on order.
Here’s the glove I ordered. May not fit the transmitter with the phone on clip but I figure I could use a hand warmer behind the iphone.
Online Shopping Warm air transmitter glove - Buy Popular Warm air transmitter glove - From Banggood Mobile
Online Shopping Warm air transmitter glove - Buy Popular Warm air transmitter glove - From Banggood Mobile
You have to toggle S2 switch back and fort at last twice to start RTH. But as alternative you can even switch of your controller, and the drone will do RTH. Do not forget, if the drone is closer then 30 m to you it will not go back to starting point, it will just land in case of RTH where it is.
Thanks for the reply. I am aware of the S2 toggle and switching controller off to trigger RTH but haven’t tried it yet - just tried the RTH button in GO. I would likely bring it in normally since I fly LOS and always have the craft in sight. I am assuming I will still have GPS and it will not go into atti mode but am not sure since this has never happened before.
Do LiPo batteries generate any heat while they discharge? I haven't really noticed much but any would help during cold weather flight..
Yes, heat is created when they discharge. That’s why they are warm after a flight. You just need to keep them warm before a flight. Coldest I’ve been out so far was -13C with a -19C wind chill. Wanted to go out today -10C and a dusting of snow but its too windy. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!
The most important tip is to prewarm your batteries in a jacket or similar. Found a post about winter flying here; Winter drone flying - Get the most out of the flight - Droneously.net Check it out
For those of you who have flown in the cold. Do the batteries drop power at the same rate over time or do you get a sudden drop at some point?
I think I can give you answers by february...usually -20-30C around here at that point.
Haven’t had a chance to fly much yet in the cold but on the flights I have done the battery voltage has dropped gradually. However, I keep a close eye on the voltage and bring it in sooner than I normally would in warmer weather.
Yesterday, it was one of our colder days so far - around -10C. I hiked along a river in a nearby wetland and launched my P3S to take some 360 panos, and some video. I used my Turnigy battery warmer that Solentlife (Nigel) suggested a while back and did not have any problems at all. I just kept a close eye on my battery voltage.
Today, it was snowing quite heavily in a forested area near a snowmobile trail so I decided to take a calculated risk and fly my P3S to get some shots. Also, there were strong wind gusts (57km/h). As I was setting up a strong wind gust blew up a whole bunch of snow which coated my P3S in snow including the props. Went back to truck and dried everything off, cleaned camera lens and then waited for it to die down. Undeterred I launched a few minutes later after having to wait for the IMU to warm up while hoping I didn't get blasted with another snow gust. Got it launched but kept it low (just above the trees and close by. I wanted to do a 360 pano but abandoned that idea after that strong gust and just took a few photos and short video then landed with 80% left.
I know its not a good idea to fly in snow but at least once the props are spinning most snow doesn't get in the phantom. That's also why I have a P3S and not a P4P.
Now, I have to go shovel/snowblow the driveway
Chris
Today, it was snowing quite heavily in a forested area near a snowmobile trail so I decided to take a calculated risk and fly my P3S to get some shots. Also, there were strong wind gusts (57km/h). As I was setting up a strong wind gust blew up a whole bunch of snow which coated my P3S in snow including the props. Went back to truck and dried everything off, cleaned camera lens and then waited for it to die down. Undeterred I launched a few minutes later after having to wait for the IMU to warm up while hoping I didn't get blasted with another snow gust. Got it launched but kept it low (just above the trees and close by. I wanted to do a 360 pano but abandoned that idea after that strong gust and just took a few photos and short video then landed with 80% left.
I know its not a good idea to fly in snow but at least once the props are spinning most snow doesn't get in the phantom. That's also why I have a P3S and not a P4P.
Now, I have to go shovel/snowblow the driveway
Chris
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