First, I want to be clear that I am a fairly satisfied with DJI products. I'M not here to knock the company nor the P3. But I do have some concerns about the Phantom 3's ability to handle heat distribution. I already own an Inspire 1 and I am very happy with the operation of that quad. But it is from the operation of the Inspire that gives me pause about the P3.1. I ordered the AdVance model, partly because I already have 4K with the Inspire. But the Inspire camera has a fan and still gets warm when shooting 4K video. I wonder how the 4K on the P3 will handle this heat load.
2. All the P3 components are on the same board, from the LB to the ESC. If one component fails...the whole board must be replaced. Of larger concern is the LB and other components are going to generate quite a bit of heat. The Inspire design is fairly open to air flow....but on the P3...the components are enclosed in a shell. Will this limit the amount of time the P3 can fly before overheating. The Inspire can recycle flight after flight without a heat buildup. Will the P3 be more limited by having to let it go through a cool-down period?


I hope someone out there who has tested the Phantom 3 can address these concerns.

I think it's safe to say that right now, almost anyone who already has their hands on a P3 will also have a vested interest in its market success, or has probably agreed in writing to report any issues directly to DJI only.

So, the real tests will be in the hands of the consumers.

Actually, my motivation in writing this is to see what Tahoe_ed has to say. Although he works for DJI....I trust him to be as open as is possible within the boundaries of his contract.

The gimbal base appears to have cooling fins to help dissipate heat.
The P2 could manage battery after battery without heating issues.
Perhaps the P3 will also.
No complaints about heating have been heard from anyone with a P3 .... but do any of them have enough batteries ?

pete1144@me.com Posted at 2015-4-23 01:08
So, the real tests will be in the hands of the consumers.

Pete,

I have a P3A which road around inside a Fedex truck for 3 days in 100+
Las Vegas weather. On the morning it arrived the inside of the box
was 98F... and that's in the AM. The gimbal guard was OFF!

I checked everything out in a 78F room... motors not running just
everything ON. Within 5-10 Mins, the gimbal and battery were
at 51C... way above tolerance levels of 40C.

I flew it twice and checked the temps after each flight and they were
about 40C.

Today, on initialization in a 75F room, the gimbal can not point
the CAM strait ahead... it's stays way off to one side.

Broken gimbal already and there is NO fan on the gimbal. The fan
slot is missing a fan. No  wonder the system runs at 50C even
while at idl in a 78F room.


The battery is way over 50C just idling. My guess
is there also no fan on the sonar either..

Cheers, hope this helps.

This product was bought directly from DJI...runs WAY TO HOT!!

I worked my P3P pretty hard today in heavy winds.  The battery temp on successive flights went form 38C (100F), to 40C (104F) to 43C (109F).  Aircraft temp was not an issue, but i decided to give the battery a rest.  If you heat LiPos too much, lifetime cycles are diminished.  BTW, those winds allowed me to achieve over 20 m/s (45 mph).