That depends on how cold you mean. As long as you keep the battery warm before flying you should be ok below freezing. But watch it carefully. Batteries do not like cold.How cold can it be and still fly my P3?
Hi I had very long waiting times on my summer holiday, down the south west of England it was the first time this imu warming up problem had appered it was a hot summer for England but still wasted a lot of battery I am hoping doing a calibration in the litchi app out in the cold may solve the problem but with all the traveling around a lot may not work.Ok ... I have a few sheets I pass on to new guys in our club / flight site ... nothing difficult but based on over 55yrs in this hobby.
Here's a cut and paste of the Cold Weather Sheet (Note my English is Queens English - not Bill Gates version !!)
Quote :
My Cold Weather routine.
Many people ask about flying in cold weather and is it possible. The fact is that we can fly in cold and hot weather but we must take care about physical parameters not only of the models, but also ourselves.
We need to consider how we as the pilot can stand out there and survive. Its no fun if you start getting cold and the model is out there with a long flight back. Therefore wrap up warm, sort out suitable gloves that can let you feel controller sticks and buttons. With Touch-screen tips as well for any phone / tablet. Don't forget a decent hat as well ... preferably with ear flaps but the flaps loose enough so hearing is not impaired.
OK - so you have sorted what to wear to stay warm yourself. Now to think about the model.
With RC general models - its simply about keeping LiPo's warm. But often you can actually take a LiPo and put it into a model and fly. It may be reduced power initially but battery often warms in first part and it improves a bit. Warming will often only give initial boost as most RC models - the batterys are cooled in flight.
With Multi-Rotors which have external or open mount batterys - same story really - battery is cooled in flight and will not deliver as on a summers day.
With Multi-Rotors such as the DJI Phantoms though we have a closed mount battery system. The FW is also such that cold drone or battery will prevent flight. Therefore it is necessary to provide warm battery and preferably warming of the drone itself.
My setup is to carry the drone outside its case in the warm car and have batterys similarly warmed or placed into a LiPo warming sack such as the Turnigy LiPo Warmer. This can be powered by any 3S battery or 12v source.
On arrival at flight location it is imperative that the drone and battery not be brought out into the cold until absolutely necessary.
I first prepare myself. Then power up controller and tablet with them ready to accept Drone signal and lock-on.
Once that's all ready then out with drone and battery from warm car ... power up drone ... get Green links and as quickly as possible start up and take-off.
Some people advise to hover for a minute or so to make battery warm. Personally I do not as the FW itself takes care of that. If the battery is not warm enough - it will not take off. I only hover for long enough to check how steady the drone is, as i do in every take-off - this tells me if anything untoward with it. Such as if it shows Toilet Bowl effect - then somethings wrong. But it only takes a few seconds and if all OK - its away on its flight.
With extreme cold - such as -5C or lower - I do reduce my flight times to be safe. My usual summer flights are about 18 mins, but in real cold - I will usually cut back to about 13 - 15mins just in case. I always keep a watchful eye on the power line to make sure battery is not draining abnormally fast or catch me out.
Overall - with planning and sensible approach, flights in extremer cold can produce incredible results. My wish when we finally get real winter where I am - is to film out in the country along a rarely used road... with all the trees white and heavy with glistening snow / ice in the sunlight. If I was to not fly because of the cold - I will never have that shot.
Good luck to all and plan carefully, fly safe.
Nigel
Unquote.
Lets mention another matter ... The AC itself when calibrated remembers various factors during that calibration. With IMU - it remembers the temperature while calibrating, this then means that if you calibrated in summer ... when you power up in winter - you will be waiting for the AC itself to warm up - wasting time and battery energy.
It is much better to have a cold AC and do IMU calibration in that cold - then winter / summer - you will have a faster start to your flights. I calibrated my IMU outside in -10C weather ... now I can go out there and literally have instant flight ... as long as my battery was warmed before putting in the AC.
As to how cold you can fly in ? I have flown in -15C but it was not the AC that failed ... it was me !! I had to land and go in to the warm.
Also - note that your screen touch capability reduces dramatically in the cold. Unlike your phone which spends much of its time in your warm pocket and screen works fine - the screen you use with your DJI is sitting out there in the cold ... so i strongly advise to learn the controller buttons !!
Nigel
Hi I had very long waiting times on my summer holiday, down the south west of England it was the first time this imu warming up problem had appered it was a hot summer for England but still wasted a lot of battery I am hoping doing a calibration in the litchi app out in the cold may solve the problem but with all the traveling around a lot may not work.
Hi i only have litchi installed can the imu be calibrated in this app i will be looking for a way to do this. It is a great time waster most times like to be out the bag and up in less then ten minutes down the south west cornwall England it seems for some reason they seem very anti quad i spotted signs all over the place and for some strang reason the national trust have banned quads /drones so you have to have your eyes open far from a car park or just off there land and just fly to to monumet or sea cliffs of course they only have two or 3 people to take your money so by the time you are up do a fly over and back not much chance of any one even spotting you of course i had no idea they was banned but the car atendent had a word and i had done my flight any way so i packed up said i was very sorry and i will not be renewing my membership. thanks for your advice. my best dazCalibrating IMU in the cold is well worth the effort. Once done - you will no longer be standing there freezing your proverbial s waiting for it to warm up !
Nigel