Safety Tips for Flying in Cold Weather

Flying DJI aircraft in winter can be fun, but bear in mind that as the temperature drops, so does the battery’s performance. It has come to DJI’s attention that several of our users have experienced issues when flying in cold weather. These issues include sudden drops in battery voltage, motor output overload and, in some cases, even crashing the aircraft. In response, we urge users to read the following tips to ensure flight safety when flying in cold weather.

The Intelligent Flight Battery contains a Li-Po battery cell. The performance of the Li-Po battery cell is subject to ambient temperature, so the battery drains significantly faster at cold temperatures (15°C). When the Intelligent Flight Battery is placed in cold environments, the chemical reactions within the battery cell are subdued, leading to increased resistance and eventually a significant drop in battery voltage. The drop in battery voltage (below 3V per cell) contributes to two major risks. Firstly, the propulsion system on the aircraft can suffer from a lack of thrust due to the low voltage. Secondly, the battery will automatically shut off because the over-discharge protection will have taken effect. This is a known limitation to all Li-Po batteries; many mobile devices that use Li-Po batteries also have the same issue. Note that you might not be able to use your mobile device at coldtemperatures for the same reason.

Aircraft such as the Inspire 1 and Inspire 1 Pro require more power to sustain flight and carry out maneuvers such as climbing at high speeds. At high altitudes where air pressure is low, the motors on the aircraft will rotate faster in order to produce enough lift. Consequently, even more power output is required and the battery voltage will be more likely to drop to an extremely low level, triggering over-discharge protection. Therefore, we strongly recommend that users charge the battery to 100% in order to prevent over-discharge protection from triggering.

Follow the tips bellow when you are flying the aircraft:

1.      Fully charge the battery before each flight.

2.      Allow the battery to warm up to 25°C or more. It is recommended to use the Battery Heater to warm up the battery.

3.      Hover the aircraft for about a minute to allow the battery to warm up.

Any difference with the Phantom 3 Professional? No warming stickers for that.  SO, acclimate the P3 to outdoor temps to reduce condensation of electronics, and keep the battery inside/warm until ready to fly. Then insert battery and start up sequence ready to fly. Hover a minute to warm up entire craft. Fly mission. Monitor voltage change in flight for abnormalities and increased depletion of capacity. Is that about right?

Made a Phantom 3P flight at -10°C.  Battery was taken from a warm house.  Hovered a bit after take-off.  No issues encounter. Flight time about 10% less than flight on a summer day. (1.50030 firmware)

A personal experience. For these flights

http://forum.dji.com/thread-37018-1-1.html

we had to climb in night from 1900m.a.s.l. (end of road) to 2600m.a.s.l., 3 hours at -7C, no space in the backpack for battery heaters. The only trick we could adopt was to keep the batteries inside the wind jacket, hoping our body had been warmer than humid. At launch, the battery was at +13C, and no time for hovering, the goal was 2 km far. Just going and climbing as fast as possible the full 500m allowed (always at a few tens of meters above the ground level): no problem at all, maybe a flight 10% shorter than at sea level in full summer. Batteries work well.  Cheers!   m

I took my P3P out into the mountains yesterday when the temperature was  -1C,  batteries wrapped in a woolly hat in the top of my backpack with a chemical hand warmer.  Batteries were warm to the touch when I took them out for use.  Hovered for 1 minute then flew for 13 minutes @ 120m (400ft) above me, 640m (2100ft) above sea level.  Battery level after landing was 48%, which is typical for me so no real loss in performance.

nigelwilkins Posted at 2015-12-15 07:26
I took my P3P out into the mountains yesterday when the temperature was  -1C,  batteries wrapped in  ...

i'm glad you're following the rules , for your own aircraft's safety

DJI-Tim Posted at 2015-12-15 02:28
i'm glad you're following the rules , for your own aircraft's safety

I can't believe people break the rules, then complain about tighter regulations being brought into force.  If we don't regulate ourselves you can bet someone else will.  I won't even start on those that fly out of sight, have a crash/fly away & complain about it...

nigelwilkins Posted at 2015-12-15 22:17
I can't believe people break the rules, then complain about tighter regulations being brought into ...

Flight rules are one thing. I always respect flight rules, e.g. I do never fly over 120m above ground, also in this Etna flight where I always reached 500m above home point (Etna is steep). Regarding flying with "cold" batteries, yes, I had to take risks, there is NO WAY to have batteries above +25C after 3 hours of climbing at -7C, unless you bring more weight in heaters than in drone on your shoulders. I perfectly know that I took a risk, and I would have never complained in case of failure due to cold batteries. What I wished to report is that Phantom 3 is so robust that the risk of flying with "cold" batteries (I mean, as warm as possible in those conditions) can be afforded when the goal merits that risk, as in this case.

I have to add a comment. The limit of 500m above home point introduced much more concrete risks than cold batteries. In many cases this 500m limit put me at risk of a sudden RTH due to lost LOS, and that would have been a sure crash against a mountain taller than 500m above home point. I had to pay more attention to this than to everything else during these flights.

marco58 Posted at 2015-12-16 09:58
Flight rules are one thing. I always respect flight rules, e.g. I do never fly over 120m above gro ...

My comments weren't aimed at you, or anyone in particular

I don't know what the rules are in Italy, but in the UK you can only fly 120m above your own position rather than the ground, so even following mountain contours you're still limited by  your own altitude.  It does mean though, that if I stand on Ben Nevis, I can fly at 1464m above sea level, or 600m above the ground over the cliffs.
If you use chemical hand warmers with your batteries & keep them well insulated, 25C is easily achievable for about 4 hours.

nigelwilkins Posted at 2015-12-16 23:24
My comments weren't aimed at you, or anyone in particular

I don't know what the rules are in It ...

Dear Nigel,

what you write is very interesting. Actually, in Italy there is a restriction not only in height, but also in the maximum distance you may reach, which is by far lower than the kms allowed us by P3. Within this distance, in Italy it is clearly stated that the maximum height has to be computed from the highest top inside the allowed zone. Now, if the maximum allowed distance is well below 1 km (as it is I guess everywhere), this does not make a big difference, also from Ben Nevis top. But when we start to fly some kms far (as P3 allows us), I think it is anyway safer to never enter in the fly space above 120m above P3 local ground (i.e. to fly lower and lower as we leave Ben Nevis top).

Regarding chemical heaters, I have used them a lot in astrophotography, and thanks for the suggestion, I will try wih P3 batteries. However, I trust more my body constant temperature than theirs, dropping in time. Etna is not giving a second chance, usually....

Thanks for your input again    m

marco58 Posted at 2015-12-17 09:44
Dear Nigel,

what you write is very interesting. Actually, in Italy there is a restriction not onl ...

Ciao..

Where did you buy chemical hand heaters?Maybe at Dechatlon?(in italy)Or in sport shop who sell stuff for alpinism?

Ciao e complimenti ancora per le tue riprese!

I use these when I am shooting in cold weather.  I can slip them in my gloves and they don't affect much when I press my palm against the rifle stock.  I was planning on using them with batteries for the P3A.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hot-Hands-Value-Pack-10pk/17808715

Wolfiesden Posted at 2016-1-15 07:01
I use these when I am shooting in cold weather.  I can slip them in my gloves and they don't affect  ...

Cool and cheap!  Ohh now i understand what shooting you are talking about...

DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-1-14 20:31
Cool and cheap!  Ohh now i understand what shooting you are talking about...

If you watch walgreens and walmart both, they will put them on sale in the spring to empty inventory.  As long as you keep the packages sealed they will last at least a couple years.  Last spring I got 10 packs in March for $1.99 for 10 at a local Walgreens.

Yes, this is one of my other toys (roughly $11,000 worth in the photo):


And that is actually one of the things I wanted a copter for.  I would like to use it at the range when shooting out at 1/2 mile or more distances.  Sometimes its hard to see the holes in the target due to mirage effects (heat) using a spotting scope.  I would like to use the drone to sit at the target location, fly up and video the target and then land again (out of harms way of course).  

Also for IDPA pistol matches, would be fun to see what it looks like from above

I wrote a full article about flight around 0 degrees,
you can read it there with many others tips on DJI inspire experience
http://www.visionrouge.net/web/2 ... ire-one-year-after/

here are the heating pack you may need to pre heat your batteries

Flew my P3 when visiting my folks in Chicago couple weeks ago, it was about 15 degrees F had to shot a areal shot of neighbors new house for them.
Keep everything warm until the flight, made it as quick as possible and kept my eye on the battery.
Everything went fine flight was about 5 mins. Froze my butt off!

Wolfiesden Posted at 2016-1-16 03:42
If you watch walgreens and walmart both, they will put them on sale in the spring to empty invento ...

wow, bad ass toy and nice idea of sending the drone to shot the video of the target

Chris K Posted at 2016-2-16 22:36
Flew my P3 when visiting my folks in Chicago couple weeks ago, it was about 15 degrees F had to shot ...

everything goes well when pilots follow the rules

A few questions...

"so the battery drains significantly faster at cold temperatures (15°C)."

15C is 59 degrees F. Am I reading that correctly? At 59F I should expect "significantly" faster batter drain? I always figured "cold" to be down around freezing (0C/32F). Just don't want to make any assumptions about what is considered cold.


"Follow the tips bellow when you are flying the aircraft:
1.      Fully charge the battery before each flight.
2.      Allow the battery to warm up to 25°C or more. It is recommended to use the Battery Heater to warm up the battery.
3.      Hover the aircraft for about a minute to allow the battery to warm up."

Just so I am sure... if I comply with #2, then #3 becomes unnecessary, correct? The point being, it should be the "battery" that is warm, and not necessarily the unit itself.

For example, I fly on my own property. Phantom and (fully charged) batteries are all inside and at room temperature. I take everything outside to fly. Obviously, my batteries are warm (although 25C/77F would be difficult to achieve short of leaving the batteries outside in the summer). Am I good to fly?

Or if 25C/77F is the recommended battery temp, I am thinking we should always be hovering for a minute or two. Unless the batteries have been sitting outside in the summer, coming from most indoor spaces, including climate controlled vehicles, it is unlikely batteries will be at the temp while not in use.

I have had no issues flying in cold weather but I take precautions.

When I am going to be away from my truck, I throw a blue ice pack in the microwave to heat it.  Then put it with a couple of the disposable hand warmers in a soft sided insulated lunch bag with the Phantom batteries.

When close to my truck, I keep the batteries inside.  One in Phantom, next battery in my inside jacket pocket  along with a disposable hand warmer next to my body to keep it (and me) warm.  When I change I grab a fresh one from the truck, put in my jacket and drop the spent battery on the charger in the truck and take the one from my jacket and put in the Phantom and take off immediately.

When I take off, most of the time I do a brief control check at hover altitude and begin video recording.  This brief check is enough IMHO to warm the battery sufficiently.

If its very cold, I use one of the disposable hand warmers behind my cell phone case to keep the phone battery warm as well.

When its cold and humid at the same time and near freezing, I wipe the props and body down with RainX.  In theory accelerated air can drop temperatures below freezing.  My thought is that the RainX works on my winshield wipers and windshield to keep ice from sticking.  It ought to do the same on the props and body to prevent in-flight icing.


I have flown as low as 12F which is -11C.  In fact IIRC, I think the warmest I have flown is about 45F!