Winter is coming to the North Hemisphere, with it the inevitable cold temps and for many snow / ice.
I fly in the Baltics where temps drop to -30C at times.
We read plenty about cold batterys and IMU - with FW preventing flight when either is cold.
First I would suggest that calibration of the IMU be made in cold conditions - my way is to take the AC outside in the cold and let it cool ... battery is in my pocket staying warm. I then power up everything except the AC so all is ready for when I power up AC.
Quickly powering up the cold AC - I immediately go to IMU calibration ..
The trick is not to let the AC warm up before getting calibration active.
That is a very important step as now with a colder reference calibration - start up of the AC should now be short.
Now onto battery - which is the opposite, it needs to be warm.
There are various suggestions for this :
1. Keep in pocket so body warmth is used.
2. LiPo warm sacks such as the Turnigy unit : Turnigy Programmable Lipo Battery Warmer Bag (12v DC) : can be powered from your cars ciggy socket or any 3S LiPo
3. Insulated picnic bags with addition of pocket warmer if needed - keep in inside house to warm up and be loaded. Make sure closed after taking battery out. Any battery just out of AC can be 'marked' and placed in the bag as they are usually at good warm temp after flight... this helps keep things up in temp.
I use a combo of 2 + 3 and never have any trouble flying in conditions well below -10C ...
Last thing is YOU the pilot and using the controller / tablet. With the screens being out in the cold - they get more difficult to tap and use. The screens themselves do not like the cold. So its a good idea to get well versed on using the controller switches / buttons etc.
For your hands - you can buy Touch Screen gloves that have special tips - they work - but again back to screen being cold.
I do not like gloves when flying - but use thin gloves that still alllow me to 'feel' the sticks, giving me about 20 mins before fingers start to 'tingle'.
Do not forget feet ! You may not use them to fly - but standing on cold ground can be uncomfortable...
I hope the above helps some to get those marvelous winter shots that really make it all worth it.
Nigel
I fly in the Baltics where temps drop to -30C at times.
We read plenty about cold batterys and IMU - with FW preventing flight when either is cold.
First I would suggest that calibration of the IMU be made in cold conditions - my way is to take the AC outside in the cold and let it cool ... battery is in my pocket staying warm. I then power up everything except the AC so all is ready for when I power up AC.
Quickly powering up the cold AC - I immediately go to IMU calibration ..
The trick is not to let the AC warm up before getting calibration active.
That is a very important step as now with a colder reference calibration - start up of the AC should now be short.
Now onto battery - which is the opposite, it needs to be warm.
There are various suggestions for this :
1. Keep in pocket so body warmth is used.
2. LiPo warm sacks such as the Turnigy unit : Turnigy Programmable Lipo Battery Warmer Bag (12v DC) : can be powered from your cars ciggy socket or any 3S LiPo
3. Insulated picnic bags with addition of pocket warmer if needed - keep in inside house to warm up and be loaded. Make sure closed after taking battery out. Any battery just out of AC can be 'marked' and placed in the bag as they are usually at good warm temp after flight... this helps keep things up in temp.
I use a combo of 2 + 3 and never have any trouble flying in conditions well below -10C ...
Last thing is YOU the pilot and using the controller / tablet. With the screens being out in the cold - they get more difficult to tap and use. The screens themselves do not like the cold. So its a good idea to get well versed on using the controller switches / buttons etc.
For your hands - you can buy Touch Screen gloves that have special tips - they work - but again back to screen being cold.
I do not like gloves when flying - but use thin gloves that still alllow me to 'feel' the sticks, giving me about 20 mins before fingers start to 'tingle'.
Do not forget feet ! You may not use them to fly - but standing on cold ground can be uncomfortable...
I hope the above helps some to get those marvelous winter shots that really make it all worth it.
Nigel