Morning All,

I am looking to purchase a couple of Battery warmers for my Mavic Pro. Looking really for good advice, happy punters who have gone before me. With the impending big
winter freeze due to hit North West, Central and Northern Europe there could be some amazingly wintry scences unlike what weve seen here in the UK in maybe 40 years
(thames freezing over ??). Anyway I'd like to get these as soon as possible..

Couple of cold related questions, .
1. If flying in say -5oC with warmed batteries prior to departure, does the rest of the drone have to be kept artificially warm or will it fly just
fine providing the battery ambient temperature is high enough..
2. Are there any known issues using DJI goggles in very low temps that you know of.


Cheers

Rob

No, the drone will be fine at that temperature - you may experience the odd behaviour from the gimbal and I would only fly in VLOS in those temps but I've seen people fly their drones in even colder temperatures. As for the batteries - keep them warm by placing them in the inside pocket of your jacket so that your body heat stops them from getting very cold. Also allow the drone to sit at the take off point for a couple of minutes upon turning it on and warm through - then hover for a minute or two on top of that. Be gentle on the sticks too - especially throttle, until the battery temperature is around 20c then fly it.

Can't comment on goggles as don't own them and have never used them.  

As far as keeping the batteries (and your hands) warm, I use these here in the states.  Get them on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/HotHands- ... d+warmers&psc=1

Inside pocket as A CW has stated. Rotate batteries from pockets to AC as and when needed.

i think CW covered it exactly as i do, plus i do use hand warmers next to the batteries if it is colder than -5 C, like topshelf crow mentioned above as well. fly safe!

FlyingFish82 Posted at 2018-2-20 11:25
i think CW covered it exactly as i do, plus i do use hand warmers next to the batteries if it is colder than -5 C, like topshelf crow mentioned above as well. fly safe!

There is some unusually cold weather heading to the UK next week, will this be too cold to fy, i.e despite warming the battery will the air chill it to a point that it cools down to quickly ?  Forecast to be a moderate breeze too.

Rob Hulford Posted at 2018-2-23 08:47
[view_image]

There is some unusually cold weather heading to the UK next week, will this be too cold to fy, i.e despite warming the battery will the air chill it to a point that it cools down to quickly ?  Forecast to be a moderate breeze too.

i have personally never flown in Temps colder than -10 C, the issue there too is the battery life of your mobile device. such cold weather can significantly drain the battery.

what i would do is pre-warm the batteries with the hand warmers, fire up the mavic and let it running for abpout 1-2 min with props spinning on the ground, take off slowly to about 1 meter height and hoover there for about another minute and check all the controls and inflight status, do a couple of left/Right, back/fwd, up/down test on the controls to make sure all systems are properly responding, and then if everything worked , lift off gently on the throttle and fly with VLOS (visual line of sight) this way if you see any unexpected behavior you can bring it back manually seeing it  (avoid flying over property or people as well).

hope you have a safe flight! and let us know how it went!

cheers!

FlyingFish82 Posted at 2018-2-23 08:58
i have personally never flown in Temps colder than -10 C, the issue there too is the battery life of your mobile device. such cold weather can significantly drain the battery.

what i would do is pre-warm the batteries with the hand warmers, fire up the mavic and let it running for abpout 1-2 min with props spinning on the ground, take off slowly to about 1 meter height and hoover there for about another minute and check all the controls and inflight status, do a couple of left/Right, back/fwd, up/down test on the controls to make sure all systems are properly responding, and then if everything worked , lift off gently on the throttle and fly with VLOS (visual line of sight) this way if you see any unexpected behavior you can bring it back manually seeing it  (avoid flying over property or people as well).

Great advice!   

Rob Hulford Posted at 2018-2-23 08:47
[view_image]

There is some unusually cold weather heading to the UK next week, will this be too cold to fy, i.e despite warming the battery will the air chill it to a point that it cools down to quickly ?  Forecast to be a moderate breeze too.

I love this hobby - but not that much! -15c with a breeze... Nah LOL