As I was flying in 7c, decent weather and at low altitude (under 30m above sea level), I was surprised to see 2 of the above warnings while flying today.  I was fairly level most of the flight and I have flown in colder weather and shot straight up with no warnings.  Any ideas?  I've only had this UAV for just over a month.  Latest firmware.  Battery was between 45-50% at the time.

Same issue here, have over 400 miles of flights and this is the first time I've seen thus warning as well. Does anyone know or have this issue?

BTW I did just update the Go app today to 2.6.0 and never had this before. Not sure if its tied together or not?

Jbundy63@gmail. Posted at 2016-2-2 18:27
Same issue here, have over 400 miles of flights and this is the first time I've seen thus warning as ...

Make sure the battery is fully charged and warmed up to at least 20 degrees Celsius. I like to warm mine up to 25 degrees.

mt406 Posted at 2016-2-2 17:35
Make sure the battery is fully charged and warmed up to at least 20 degrees Celsius. I like to war ...

Mine was warmed up.  Came from the warm house to the yard and then let the phantom warm up once started.

dennylajeunesse Posted at 2016-2-2 18:39
Mine was warmed up.  Came from the warm house to the yard and then let the phantom warm up once st ...

Was the battery fully charged?

This battery protection feature was introduced recently in response to failures in very cold conditions, so yes, it is new. Even though you may keep your battery warm until you fly, it can lose temperature very quickly. Some experienced flyers recommend starting up your aircraft and letting it sit with the motors running for a couple of minutes before taking off, that way the battery begins to warm itself due to the power being used in the motors. You can also elect to watch the battery temperature in the Go App to see how it looks.

In itself, it is not a critical warning, it just means that the rate of ascent and forward propulsion has been throttled back to avoid battery issues.

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-2 18:54
This battery protection feature was introduced recently in response to failures in very cold conditi ...

I'm in Montana it's cold here. I hover mine until my battery is at 25 degrees and  also make sure my battery is fully charged. I've seen this warning with my battery being too cold and also popping in a half charged battery.

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-2 17:54
This battery protection feature was introduced recently in response to failures in very cold conditi ...

I understand that.  I was aware of this in the new firmware after that Inspire fell onto that ski hill in December.

It's just that I have flown in colder conditions and not had that limiting feature kick in.  This was also about 11 min into flying.  I have flown in -10c weather at same location (my house and the bay in front) without the warning/limiting.  Just wondering why now and not then.  (All on same firmware).

dennylajeunesse Posted at 2016-2-3 13:03
I understand that.  I was aware of this in the new firmware after that Inspire fell onto that ski h ...

If you are referring to the ski race in Italy, I don't think that was an Inspire, much larger drone.

But anyway, as I mentioned, you can always monitor the battery temperature if you want to in the Go App. I agree with what you are saying through, it should have heated up by then.

@ dennylajeunesse found out that it is part of the smart battery fix in the 1.6 firmware update. It is designed to keep the aircraft from shutting off in mid flight, I believe original because of the colder weather.

Thank mt406 Yes it was fully charged, I never take off lower than 95 and yes the battery around 65 degrees. I've been on 1.6 for quite awhile now and just now seen this after several, several flights. Good to know. Thanks again

Anyone know what battery tempetature triggers the propulsion limiting?

dennylajeunesse Posted at 2016-2-3 06:01
Anyone know what battery tempetature triggers the propulsion limiting?

No, but if you upload your flight record to healthydrones we might be able to compare & learn something.

this way new firmware protects the battery from voltage drop this way

Guys.  I"ve been aware of the propulsion limiting feature of 1.6. since I upgraded.  The issue I had is I have never seen it happen in -10c but it happened in +7c.

dennylajeunesse Posted at 2016-2-3 20:00
Guys.  I"ve been aware of the propulsion limiting feature of 1.6. since I upgraded.  The issue I had ...

But the air temperature doesn't mean much, it's battery temperature that matters, or at least, reported battery temperature.  If you upload the flight record to Healthydrones you'll see exactly what the battery temperature was at the time you had the warning.  It could be a faulty sensor in the battery for all we know.

Guys I fly in very hot weather and I get the same warning, it started after the last upgrade, I have a heavy "foot" so I always get this warning when I push the drone way too fast and hard, specially when going up and maxing our the stick in any other direction. I don't think is exclusive to cold weather

ZAR Posted at 2016-2-3 20:26
Guys I fly in very hot weather and I get the same warning, it started after the last upgrade, I have ...

Then maybe you also have a problem?

Guys... think of it as your fuel pump, when you gas it, it will chew more fuel. On cold days, the fuel lines shrink (slower chemical reaction) and cannot supply sufficient fuel. Firmware 1.6 has preferred to slow the motors than to have it completely shut off from the lack of fuel (voltage drop).

nigelw Posted at 2016-2-3 16:56
Then maybe you also have a problem?

not really, the only problem I have now is the pixel problem after the last upgrade, I het multicolor pixels allover the video. and it happened after the last upgrade also

ZAR Posted at 2016-2-3 11:26
Guys I fly in very hot weather and I get the same warning, it started after the last upgrade, I have ...

This is the key, I think.  Pedal to the metal puts a big strain on the battery.  Previous to 1.6, the 'intelligent' battery management system was perfectly happy to let the P3 fall out of the sky at full power.  It now throttles output to prevent this - a perfectly welcome improvement.  But you can't have everything - full power in cold(er) weather and small, light batteries.   Doesn't bother me - I tend not to push the P3 as it's really a camera, not a racing quad.  But YMMV.

my battery was at 47 c and I got that warning too.

I noticed it happened after the 1.6 firmware upgrade.  I was flying with a brand new battery in 25C temperature, 5m/s wind at ground level.  I noticed at a little altitude the aircraft was having trouble maintaining position or advancing in a particular direction.  I got a lot of these warnings and afterwards I checked the data on HealthyDrones.  It was reporting high wind and big gusts at those altitudes, and in fact the battery had overheated trying to fight the wind.  So I'd advise to pay heed to those warnings as they come up, as the actual flying conditions for the aircraft could be very different from those on the ground.

endotherm Posted at 2016-2-12 02:04
I noticed it happened after the 1.6 firmware upgrade.  I was flying with a brand new battery in 25C  ...

I got this the other day doing a far out and back flight across fields; the return flight was into a head wind and the air temp was around 6' C. The fast return against a head wind in the cold weather obviously pushed it a little too hard and the warning kicked in.  

I got it today with little wind an it was 13C here.  

I think DJI started this with the DJI Go app update 2.4.3. This was also about the time they started sneaking in the NFZ's.

1.      In cold environments, propulsion output is automatically adjusted based on battery temperature and cell voltage. Horizontal and vertical speed is also decreased to avoid triggering battery protection.  
2.      Optimized battery management.

Same error here since changed to quick release propeller mount and updated to latest DJI Go app. And also with colder conditions around 5°C.

"Propulsion output is limited to ensure the safety of the battery."

After soft testing under very controlled conditions, I expended fly area and it looks like it pops up when going to fast, changing direction to abrupt and ascending to fast. When slowing down, message error disappears.

However, no battery voltage drop or a like to being observed here.

HI! Just for curious, how is your battery's health and how many cycles it have?

18 charges about 6 weeks old.

Unfortunately I'm the next one to suffer a crash after "Propulsion output is limited to ensure safety of battery" appeared in the screen. Air temperature was around 10º Centigrades, wind about 5m/s, battery 45% when the message appeared in the screen. I tried to bring it back and at full throttle the aircraft just flew away from me. Panicked, preshed the Return Home bottom at about 400 meters from me, and the aircraft just disappeared in the sky. Two minutes latter, "Critical low battery level" and landing.

The aircraft (P3 4K) only had 2 months old, about 10 cycles of charge (never bellow the 25%). Latest version of firmware and Android app.

After 5 long hours of search in the middle of the night, finally i was very lucky to find it 1,6Km away from the take off point, body destroyed, camera damaged....
One really strange thing was that, when I started the aircraft that day, it said Firmware update required (even though I have the latest and the place where I was flying from had no internet connexion), and after 30 seconds said Firmware update successful, which is impossible as to update firmware takes much longer, 20-30 minutes. I didn't pay attention to this... Before take off the Aircraft warning message appeared, then after a while said Safe to Fly.

The question is: Why the hell was this "Propulsion output is limited to ensure safety of battery" mode activated? (never ever before I saw this)  How on earth the programmers are happy to activate this low power mode in the middle of flight when aircraft is far from you?? It will provoke lots of aircraft losses and potential damage to people and property!  and the final one: How could the battery go from 45% to Critical Low Power in only 4-5 minutes?

For what I've read here so propulsion output is limited also when fighting against heavy winds? I was lucky to get my p3a back if so cause i've seen that battery temperature was40

Sorry.. Was almost 40 degrees and checking healthy drones i've found winds around 50 km/h at altitude of flight...

ignacioski@gmai Posted at 2016-2-20 10:37
Unfortunately I'm the next one to suffer a crash after "Propulsion output is limited to ensure safet ...

Wow that was scary! Glad you got it back and lets hope DJI can help you with this under warranty.

I am trying to trust my Phantom again and actually struggling with that. Have had two crashes now, both due to unexpected behaviour of the drone. I had this message on my screen also yesterday and it scared me again. I know the panic feeling you described.

After switching on the drone, I let the drone also hover for some time to make sure the temperature was above 20 degrees. After I took off and was at about 50 meters, the message appeared, the drone drifted away from me. I also panicked a little and thought.. Not again....

Luckely the drone responded soon again, but it was again a scary moment. I also like to know under what conditions this message will appear, exact temperature values etc. Not just "because it was cold".

Had the alarm pop up 2 days ago, link to my flight details.
http://healthydrones.com/main?share=Mjc3Ng

sthalen@gmail.c Posted at 2016-2-29 03:32
Wow that was scary! Glad you got it back and lets hope DJI can help you with this under warranty.
...

It has never been fully explained by DJI, so don't expect a thorough answer here. Suffice to say it was introduced with firmware 1.6 and kicks in when the battery is too cold (what actual value is not documented) and you are using full throttle.

Stephen Marley Posted at 2016-3-8 21:23
Had the alarm pop up 2 days ago, link to my flight details.
http://healthydrones.com/main?share=Mjc ...

Your battery temp was up over 130F. My guess is the battery warning comes up when the battery is too cold OR too hot. Got my first one today. Max temp was over 116F, which is much hotter than its been before.

I am writing from Argentina, I apologize for my primitive english

I am making a ship series, so most of my flights are over the river, and all my flights are about 7/10 minutes max.

My experience: Take off 50%, RC led in red and beeps everytime I power it on. Temp 23C, no wind.
I was chasing a ship, going really fast at full throttle, the propulsión message appear, I didnt care, then an alarm of "critical low Voltage the aircraft will land" and a red circle button with a X on white appears on the left upper side of the iPad screen.Tha Phantom was about 80 meters, and started to go down.
In Panic, started to push the red button, nothing happend, move all the controls and nothing, push the return to home button several times and nothing. But when the phantom reach 0 meters, about 5 meters from the water, because i was on a platform in the coast. It come back to life magically, and start flying again, battery at 35% all in less than 3/4 minutes. I bring it back, landed, came back home, update the firmware 1.7, is avialable 7 days ago. I do not test it again yet.

I think that the message "Propulsion output is limited to ensure safety of battery" appears when full throttle only. It happend to me a lot of times, but i never pay attention to this, because no alarm.

I had the "Propulsion output is limited to ensure safety of battery" message twice yesterday while ascending at 1.1 m/s & travelling horizontally at 2.0 m/s during a waypoint mission at the slowest speed setting possible.  Hardly pedal to the metal!  I don't think the wind speed was particularly high judging by the attitude of the aircraft either.  Temp was around 5°C so not too cold, battery was warmed up to 20°C beforehand by hovering.  Maybe next time I'll wait for 25°C, but even so, it seems a little sensitive.

mariano76 Posted at 2016-2-20 22:26
For what I've read here so propulsion output is limited also when fighting against heavy winds? I wa ...

Yup.....I just had this happen to me when some big wind gusts came in by surprise.   Temps couldn't have been more mild (65F) so it wasn't that.