I've read all sorts of cautions regarding cool weather flight. After doing so, I ensured my batteries were inside just before flying, and not stored to cool down to outside temperatures. The weather cooperated too: the sun came out and it warmed up a bit. It was 42F when I flew three flights and the P3P and the batteries performed flawlessly. What are other experiences flying in cool weather?
First cool weather flight
- Thread starter kphantom
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There is a member of this forum that films in Antarctica-- he has done Emmy award winning videos. Now I don't know whether he has used his P3 in that environment, but he just might have. Sprague are you out there? jump in here and let us know how cold of weather you have flown the P3 in.
I flew mine the other day in 30F weather. Bird worked fine but my phone got cold and shut off.
I panicked and thought the drone was gone. After what seemed like an hr the radio started beeping for low battery and here it came back to the home position and landed! Unreal this thing is!
I had tried the rth button on the radio but it didn't do anything. It wasn't until the battery started getting low and it came home on it's own.
I panicked and thought the drone was gone. After what seemed like an hr the radio started beeping for low battery and here it came back to the home position and landed! Unreal this thing is!
I had tried the rth button on the radio but it didn't do anything. It wasn't until the battery started getting low and it came home on it's own.
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Just did more then 5 flights in a row, yesterday and day before, in minus 10 F here in Alaska. Coldest I've flown to date. No problems. Nothing unusual or otherwise out of the ordinary. Little bit of frost on props after landing but harmless. I would not worry about cold weather with these.
alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
You should press RTH button for 3 seconds, it will then perform as per your RTH settings.
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I do worry about my air2 getting cold enough to glitch out. The thing feels cold half the time at room temperature. I will be keeping it warm inside my coat preflight, along with my battery. I typically only need to fly one battery for most prime time flights. Hopefully the iPad holds for the 18 minutes or so in the cold.
I have had issues with the iPad in hot weather, not cold. But I've never tried it in extreme cold either. In hot weather, it hits an over temp and will not work until cool.
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And if it glitches, what does it matter? Have the P3 RTH and then land it. As mentioned have flown mine a fair bit at -10, day before yesterday I ran it through two batteries, so maybe 30 minutes at -10, and the tablet was fine. I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab S though, but don't know why an iPad would perform any worse or better in the cold.
But as far as the drone goes, I know -10 F is totally fine, have no reason to think colder wouldn't be okay too. So worrying about 30 to 42 weather is a bit silly but if that's on the lower end of your temp range then it doesn't hurt to ask about it.
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Yes, just inside the house at room temperature. When pulling the batteries they were warm to the touch. Here is a link to one flight: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters notice the battery temperature climbs to over 75 degrees despite the ambient temperature of -10.
Just performed 11 flights in weather that ranged from 20-30F and had no issues other than some odd voltage behavior out of one battery. Have flown in this weather before and not had any issues.
Keeping batteries warm to start makes sense in a cold outside environment. Here is a link to my recent flight. It would be interesting to understand optimal battery temperature and temperature change relative to outside temperature.
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
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