I was looking thru my flight log data using healthydrones.com  website ( love this site ) andnoticed that my battery temp on one of the flights  seems to have gettinga little hot. I was wondering what is the max operating temp of theBatteries are ? I see they have a max outside temp of 40 c /104 f but that’snot what I’m looking for.  I had 2 flights on that battery the 1stone was normal one. I was showing my 13 yr old nephew how to fly the P3P he flew it aroundfor a short time < 9 mins  then landed it then powered it down.(not sure why he did this ) I  then powered back up andtook  the P3P back out  less than 10mins later and had my wifetry flying it  with the same battery. That’s when the temp spiked forthe battery.  The battery is still working without issues but man it gothot. We were in Maine at the time in august so the temps were around 85 f andabout ~60% humidity
1 flight data  http://healthydrones.com/main?share=MTI5Ng

2nd flight data http://healthydrones.com/main?share=MTI5Nw

As the voltage drop from use, the amperage has to increase to provide the same power. The increase in amperage causes an increase in temperature. The longer you fly, especially if you're running fast or fast sprints spikes temperature.

I know that but a 140 f temp seemed to be  on the high side .

lb11778 Posted at 2015-12-29 06:58
I know that but a 140 f temp seemed to be  on the high side .

As you noted initially, the P3 Specs for the Battery do say Operating Temperature is -10°C to 40°C (14°F - 104°F), so 140°F is hot! Temperatures that high for a prolonged period of time will likely contribute to shell cracking problems.

Perhaps a general best practice for all pilots would be to land safely; ensure video recording has been stopped; power-down the aircraft; and immediately remove the battery........

terrylewis Posted at 2015-12-28 15:21
As you noted initially, the P3 Specs for the Battery do say Operating Temperature is -10°C to 40 ...

The Operating Temperature of-10°C to 40  refers to the temperature outside not the actual battery temp. At least that is how i read the spec. They don't want you to be flying in extreme environmental temps.  After looking thru the flight data most of my flights  over 10 mins had battery temps above 104 F.

lb11778 Posted at 2015-12-28 19:00
The Operating Temperature of-10°C to 40  refers to the temperature outside not the actual battery ...

Yes, the temperatures listed are the environmental temperature not operating temps.

When I first purchased my Phantom, the first flight after receipt of a second battery was supposed to be a quick land and battery swap and go back up. The first battery was over 135f. The second flight I observed the same temperatures.

If you fly fast or perform a lot of motor speed changes when the battery starts to run down, the temperatures will spike.

The software you are uploading to didn't exist when I started flying, so my measurements were performed with a laser thermometer.

I'd like to see a graph of voltage/amperage like they show for the temperature so you could plot show the relationship of the three points.

gregg1r Posted at 2015-12-28 17:34
Yes, the temperatures listed are the environmental temperature not operating temps.

When I first  ...

I would also like to see the voltage included on the graph that they have the flight time and temperature graduate on. I'm hoping that there is an alarm somewhere in the software that will warn you if your battery goes above what ever the limit is.  I'm sure a warm day above 85 F would help contribute to the battery temp going up  as well. I tend to not fly  when its too hot out anyway.

Never tested that but there won't be any problem if the battery is used correctly .

lb11778 Posted at 2015-12-29 09:49
I would also like to see the voltage included on the graph that they have the flight time and temp ...

Your thread made me wonder what temperatures my batteries are running at. So for a random sample, I took my last 10 flights and ran them through HealthyDrones to see how hot they were running. My flights were between 12 and 17 minutes, averaging around 15 minutes. The temperature rise graphs were very consistent across all 5 batteries used and averaged 0.045254°F rise per second of flight. The hottest battery across these flights was 127.3°F after 17:03 minutes. It was a warm day and the battery started at 81.2°F. HealtyDrones states that their graph represents the 95 percentile at the red end of the graph....



Thanks for your thread, and I agree that the battery temp would be good to see in addition to the voltage on the main screen of the GO App!