Cold Weather Ops

[Wellfed]

I thought I'd start a new thread for people to share experiences. I've had my 4Pro for 8 months but now that winter's here I'm facing new challenges. I've completed about 4 or 5 cold-weather flights, 3 of them with snow on the ground.

This morning's flight was with an OAT of -18°C. Besides the obvious stuff about keeping your batteries warm as long as possible- I could recommend having some sort of launchpad, even an old towel. The reason is that snow sprays up as you take off, melting on your warm camera lens then refreezing only a moment or two later and obscuring your view.

I kept the flight short and close but battery and aircraft performance were fine. The limiting factor was how long my trigger finger could endure the cold temperature. Probably not related to cold weather- but on an iPad Air 2, the DJIGo app crashed 6 times during this flight. (I've never investigated Litchi, is it more stable?) Thanks, guys.

 

[ryantrax]

I usually hand launch and catch in the snow if there isn't area free of snow (same with sand on the beach).
I also use an iPad Air 2, I have had a lot of issues since the iOS 11 update. Just updated to 11.2, we will see if it is better or worse, haven't had a chance to fly with it yet. What iOS version are you on?

 

[Wellfed]

11.0.3 It started crashing back in the summer but today is the worst I've seen.

 

[msinger]

11.0.3 It started crashing back in the summer but today is the worst I've seen.

Try upgrading your OS.

 

[Mark The Droner]

My tablet started doing the same thing last winter. It got worse and worse. Got better when it warmed up but then the problem came back even in the warm season. I found I had to keep it fully charged just to work for one flight. Then one day it POPPED. The battery inside swelled up and trashed the tablet.

 

[chrismatthewssr]

IOS 2 is no better I few this afternoon and had several times my screen went out, had no problems with Litchi

 

[captainstubbie]

I flew again this am to take real estate pics
14 Fahrenheit with no wind
Used a rug for t/o & land
Warm battery from in car
Ccccccold fingers lol
About 19 min on 1st battery

 

[Chrislaf]

Today was my coldest flight yet, -17ºC. It was a beautiful sunny day and I went out to a forested area near the snowmobile trails. With all the recent snow, there were lots of snowmobilers out enjoying the trails. The pine trees were snow covered and the deciduous trees had a layer of frost on them - a very beautiful wintery scene!

I flew 2 batteries with a short break to warm my fingers up in the truck. Shot three 360º panos and a few other photos. Batteries were warmed up beforehand and there were no problems in both flights. I probably could have flown longer but didn't want to take any chances. Landed with 47% on the first flight and 53% on the second basically because my fingers were getting numb. As far as battery drain I didn't notice any faster drain than if I would have been flying in warm weather.

I launched from my Nanuk hard case and hand caught on landing. This works when my truck is nearby but not when I use my backpack since it cannot accommodate my P3S with props on so installing props in really cold weather could be a problem since my hands will get cold quickly and the craft will be sitting longer outside in the cold. I should have a transmitter glove coming soon so this will help mitigate the cold hands problem. I need to learn to hand launch in this situation.

The other possible problem I could run into is the 'Aircraft warming up' delay. I wasn't expecting this as I went from my truck to launch without much delay, but still had to wait a minute or so for the AC to warm up. I'm assuming the colder it is the longer it will take to warm up.

One other observation: Due to the cold temps, I find myself rushing more and possibly not doing a full pre-flight check, so I have to slow down and make sure I do this and not rush things.

Chris (sorry for the long post).

 

[Helihover]

I'll usually shovel snow for a proper take off area and I usually always hand catch regardless of weather.

If Im flying more than one battery, I'll keep the batteries in my pockets as close to my body as possible.

I have device friendly gloves so I can still use the touch screen.

I will sometimes throw on some snowboarding gear to stay warm. You really do not want to be cold, shaky, or numb for that matter while flying.

 

[kryptek]

I had an issue of the DJI go 4 app crashing on my iPad. I updated to iOS 11.2.5(beta) the issue is resolved. On another iPad I use 11.2 the app doesn’t crash. The reason is iOS 11 (swift 4) brings new functions to the code. If a app written for iOS 11+ calls a function Swift 3/iOS 10 can’t do it crashes.
In short update your iOS or don’t update dji go app.

 

[hit-n-run]

I had an issue of the DJI go 4 app crashing on my iPad. I updated to iOS 11.2.5(beta) the issue is resolved. On another iPad I use 11.2 the app doesn’t crash. The reason is iOS 11 (swift 4) brings new functions to the code. If a app written for iOS 11+ calls a function Swift 3/iOS 10 can’t do it crashes.
In short update your iOS or don’t update dji go app.

OAT?

 

[BigAl07]

OAT?

Outside Air Temperature

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Phantom Rain Snow Trooper filming in 12 degree weather, 20 mph winds feels like 6 degrees.
We think the seal on the battery is keeping the air out and keeping the battery warmer. The Neoprene is closed cell but only 2mm thin is holding in some of the heat as we flew until we just could not take the cold anymore. About an hour in the air total ,

We did nothing to prepare the drone except drive to location
Phantomrain.org
Approved Vendor:

We filmed in 4K so you can watch full screen , even the slow motion came out ok.
Giving the ECLIPSE Wet Suit some love.

Notice the Black really pays off in the visual department.
I did lose the drone several times over the lake but had several spotters in different areas...

 

[Chrislaf]

This past weekend I got to try out my new transmitter glove that arrived on Friday. We were at a cabin in Arrowhead Provincial Park (in Ontario Canada). It was a calm sunny day with a temp around -14ºC. I made a short flight and used my new transmitter glove. The glove is roomy and probably just a bit too big for my P3S transmitter but I would rather have it big than small. Easier to get my hands in and out. I tried it with the iPhone on its clip outside of the glove but it causes the plastic see through screen to rest against the S1 and S2 switches which I don't like. Tried it later back at the cabin in the warmth and I think it will work with my P3S clip and iPhone inside the bag. I have to wait for another calm day to try it again (too windy today and busy with Christmas stuff). Need to test it more but I think it will keep my hands and phone warmer and sheltered from the cold. I have device friendly gloves but I prefer this solution more since I find, I have to take my gloves off anyway to do any fine control on my iPhone screen and it should keep my phone warmer. The only problem I had so far was the plastic screen started to fog up so I will have to figure that problem out.

Big thanks to msinger for letting me know about this.

Here's the one I got.

Chris

 

[Chrislaf]

The transmitter glove I posted about above does a good job keeping my hands warm but on two recent flights just before Christmas I had control problems and frequent signal loss on my P3S with the transmitter glove on and with the craft close by - within 30m. On both flights I cut my flight short and landed early as the AC kept going in and out of Atti mode and the controls were sluggish and unresponsive at times. Today, I flew again, this time without the transmitter glove on and I had a good strong signal the whole time and complete control of the AC the whole time. I also had updated the firmware (which I had been avoiding) after the two problem flights. I think the transmitter glove is blocking and disrupting the signal from the two internal antennas and that is why I was having control/signal problems. I will continue to test this further on some future flights.

Its too bad because I really like the transmitter glove idea.

Chris

 

[Wellfed]

-33C here this morning (-27.4 on that other, err... legacy scale). So, spur of the moment- I decided to launch from my front yard.

I used a small piece of plywood as the Launchpad to avoid snowspray and tried to keep gloves on my hands. Half-expecting a battery failure or other issue- I stayed below 50m and in open areas where the snowfall would cushion a fall and the 4P would be easily recoverable.

Other than the shutter button not consistently working on the remote necessitating taking photos from the ipad with my now ungloved hand- the device performed flawlessly. My fingers only lasted 15 minutes. I still had about 50% battery but I was the weak link in the chain.

Sorry, I suppose I should support this mission with hard numbers- exact length of flight, etc., but suffice to say that so far I am impressed that my drone didn't seem to mind the cold.

 

[Sagebrush]

I did an extended (two battery) commercial shoot last year at 0ºF. Prewarmed the batteries on my dash and taped chemical hand warmers to the back of my iPad. The tablet shutting down was my big fear.

Other than cold fingers, it was a successful shoot.

SB

 

[Chrislaf]

I was out today and did a short flight from a beach area near where I live. According to Airdata, the temperature was -23ºC. I had warmed my battery in my warmer beforehand. I have to walk down to the beach area and carry my AC in its hard case, set up and launch from the case. This was the coldest I have flown my P3S and it flew perfectly. The only issues I have been having on cold weather flights are that my AC needs to warm up for a minute or two before I get the ok to fly. In the meantime the battery is sitting in the AC and getting colder, so I'm not sure how I am going to get around this. When, I launched it was 15ºC, the temp then went up to 17ºC during the flight and then when I landed it was 16ºC. I might have to set my battery warmer to a higher temp so that it warms the battery more (right now it is set for 20ºC) - maybe 25º or 30ºC. Also, I used auto launch today. Not sure if I can run the motors using a CSC to start while the AC is in its warm up stage. I'll have to try on a warmer day. May try outside at my house with my props off to see if the motors will start while the AC is warming up.

The other potential problem is my iPhone shutting off during flight. Today's flight was short, 10min and my iPhone was around 90% charge. After the flight it was at 10%, so if I would have flown a bit longer, it likely would have shut off. Might have to try the chemical hand warmer idea that Sagebush mentioned above.

Anyway, I was pleased with the flight, it was successful and I was able to take a 360º pano using Litchi.

Happy New Year All!

Chris