A friend of mine has a new Inspire-1 (v2) with 1.6.0.40 installed.
He tried to fly it for the first time today with an ambient air temp. of 30F

Would not let him start up. Message was something to the effect of "Too Cold To Fly"

What's up with this?

There's a cold weather battery management feature. Have him use a warm battery (left in his jacket pocket) and it should work. In the cold weather the battery chemistry is very hard and solid and if the aircraft required a lot of power from the battery it could damage the battery.
So they want you to have a battery that's not too cold to start with.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-1-22 23:55
There's a cold weather battery management feature. Have him use a warm battery (left in his jacket p ...

hi there ken... we are based in the uk and the restrictions that you have placed on the batteries are simply not viable in the UK... last weekend after the firmware update we were left with two aircraft that simply would not work and a very irritated client ... the firmware upgrade cost us about £600 in lost revenue and some very red faces.. we found that to get the batteries warm enough for the aircraft to arm the temp needed to be above 13 degrees C which is useless.. in your own specs you state an operating temp of -10 to +40 degrees and also your own battery warmer only works up to 5 degrees C so clearly setting this at such a high temp is total folly...

regards rob

I have had that happen to me, but I left my batteries in my car in 25 degree F overnight. Lipo batteries do not do well in the cold. Warm them up and you will be able to fly.

smirob155@aol.c Posted at 2016-1-23 10:25
hi there ken... we are based in the uk and the restrictions that you have placed on the batteries  ...

I am sorry but you are talking utter tosh!
I live in the UK and hold PFAW - I have also been flying RC for around 30 years - Nobody should attempt to fly in temperatures approaching zero degrees without pre warming their packs. You are asking for trouble if you do.
It is common knowledge that lipo's will not perform anything like at their optimum in temperatures below 10-15c. In fact they can be so badly compromised they will not give up their charge under heavy load when demanded.
What DJI have attempted to do with this latest FW update is eradicate the idiot gene out of the flying pool and prevent some individuals aircraft dropping out of the sky because they are too ignorant to educate themselves on the characteristics of lipo chemistry.

smirob155@aol.c Posted at 2016-1-23 18:25
hi there ken... we are based in the uk and the restrictions that you have placed on the batteries  ...

I'm sorry that it didn't work when you need it to. The battery only needs to be warmed up upon starting the aircraft, after the aircraft is flying, the power being depleted will keep the battery warm.

Tharg (from the Posted at 2016-1-24 01:37
I am sorry but you are talking utter tosh!
I live in the UK and hold PFAW - I have also been flying ...

I wouldn't have said it in those words but indeed Lipos do not like and do not work very well in cold weather. Flight time is drastically reduced along with possible damage caused to the battery and aircraft if battery could not keep the aircraft in the air.
There were several crashes due to cold batteries so DJI put battery management into the battery to keep it from causing an aircraft accident.

Tharg (from the Posted at 2016-1-23 17:37
I am sorry but you are talking utter tosh!
I live in the UK and hold PFAW - I have also been flying ...

Mmmmm from your kind words you assume i am stupid and apparently have some kind of idiot gene... We work as RPAS instructors and probably fly more hours in a week than you do in a year . I am fully compliant on lipo chemistry and am well versed in the technology. Depending on the exact chemistry as it does differ , lipo,s generally start to show a decrease in efficiancy below 5 degrees C and in most cases in real terms its like reducing the C rating so the current delivery is reduced. dji have produced a very well balance setup with the inspire where in real terms its not really working that hard most of the time hence why the batteries even after use rarely exceed 35 degrees C and other items such as ESC,s remain cool... The 13 degree limit that has been imposed just is not nescessary. All that is needed is a battery warning on startup if the battery is below 5 degrees... Today we ran two inspires side by side one with a battery warmed to 20degrees c and the other running the previous firmeware and at 9 degrees which was the ambient  temp and there was zero difference in the times both aircraft flew ,in fact it was uncanny how close the two times were before they reached the 30% minimum which we use our batteries to. There is way too much ill informed information being written about lipo,s if they were that rubbish they would not use them i all modern airliners where they are put under much more extreme conditions than our little multi rotors....we will never eradicate those few that neither understand or will ever understand how to operate this tech properly but i fail to see why the majority of us need to be treated in such a way... Please please DJI let us stay in control

Regards rob

We experienced this just the other day for the first time. Temp outside was about 26°F and aircraft would not spin the props.

We placed the batteries in the car, and tented an area with a jacket around the floor vent. After about 15 mins we had a pack ready to go. Keep all the batteries in there until we needed them.

i was surprised by this wrinkle, but persevered none the less.

Easy fix that only cost 20$... Dji battery warmer! I fly in -30c = -20f and no issues with my i1 or P3P but i keep my batteries inside my winter jacket and the next battery i'm gonna use in the battery warmer. So next time spend that 20$ and you wont lose a job or money because you cant fly ;)

art@otek.tv Posted at 2016-1-23 23:51
We experienced this just the other day for the first time. Temp outside was about 26°F and aircraft ...

DJI battery warmer only works up to 5 degree c and keeping lipo,s in your pockets is a very silly practice that could easily end in disaster... This bring me back to my previous post, people really know nothing about their batteries and safe practice!!

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-1-23 10:05
I wouldn't have said it in those words but indeed Lipos do not like and do not work very well in c ...

Battery temperature under 58F (15c) prevents motor start.  Ugh.

doctrrf Posted at 2016-1-25 02:01
Battery temperature under 58F (15c) prevents motor start.  Ugh.

Where does it state that, I fly in 30-40 degree F weather very often and never had a problem.
From the specs page:
Operating Temperature Range        -10° to 40° C

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-1-24 10:39
Where does it state that, I fly in 30-40 degree F weather very often and never had a problem.
From ...

Thanks for the reply. I've posted this before and I'm glad DJI has now taken notice of this problem.
Keep in mind we're talking battery temp not air temp.

This is real world --That is the message on my APP "too cold" (or to that effect)  I've tested this by putting in batteries below 15C - No motor start until 15C or higher. Tested on two birds. Started with FW 1.6

15C seems too conservative to me.

doctrrf Posted at 2016-1-24 19:06
Thanks for the reply. I've posted this before and I'm glad DJI has now taken notice of this proble ...

Similar experience last week. Just but the battery  into the inside pocket of of coat for about 10 minutes.
That solved the problem. No big deal

fran Posted at 2016-1-24 11:28
Similar experience last week. Just but the battery  into the inside pocket of of coat for about 10 ...

It's not so much a question of warming the battery; it's more a question of at what temp does DJI think  warming should be required? Apparently, per the app, DJI thinks 14.9C battery temp is too cold to fly. i.e., motors will not start. Seems way too conservative to me.

I hope DJI can settle that question.

doctrrf Posted at 2016-1-25 03:06
Thanks for the reply. I've posted this before and I'm glad DJI has now taken notice of this proble ...

I will report your findings but it's not happening to me, I've flown is much colder weather than 15c and it works fine. Since your started after 1.6 when the cold management was implemented, maybe it didn't work correctly on your aircraft.
Can you downgrade to 1.5 then test. then go back to 1.6 and test again.

I am testing out all kinds of firmware versions all the time and it only takes a few minutes to put the firmware onto the SD card and start the process. I know it may be a hassle, but you should be able to fly in well less then 15c weather.
Something to try at least.

Its not just DJI batteries, lipo batteries and cold weather do not mix!!!!!!  I warm mine up on my truck heater before i fly, no problems.

15C also seemed to be the cutoff for me when I had the too cold to fly message.

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2016-1-25 03:21
Its not just DJI batteries, lipo batteries and cold weather do not mix!!!!!!  I warm mine up on my t ...

100% correct. It's all Lipo batteries not just DJI


Dave

There seems to be some confusion here between DJI-Ken and DJI-Dave (Can you talk to each other?) The posters are NOT talking about flying in minus temperatures which is not an issue but rather the inability to start the motors if the BATTERY temp is under 15 degrees C. (Which is very sensible)