I see there is a new accessory for the Phantom 3 series-- a battery warmer which uses from 3-7% of the full charge of the battery to pre-heat the battery to flight temperature.  This looks like a nice accessory to have-- after getting a 2nd battery I realized that if I just left the extra one in my flight kit on the ground of the flying field while flying with the first battery that in the Spring in Wisconsin (let alone winter!) the DJI GO app signaled that my battery was too cold for safe operation.

So with this pre-heater / warmer -- it seems it will warm the battery using less energy than starting the P3 and flying at 3' in height or something until the battery is warm.

Of course I've heard about the suggestion to put the battery in your pocket!!  That is a nice lower-cost alternative!

Think I may get one!

Steve
Tuesday 10 May 2016

Nice to see they've finally made one. Always struck me as an obvious product since they've had one for Inspire batteries for a long time now.

Side note: helpful to post a link to what you're talking about, that way folks aren't try to guess where you saw this.

P3 Battery Warmer

ARM-001 Posted at 2016-5-10 17:06
Nice to see they've finally made one. Always struck me as an obvious product since they've had one f ...

Thanks for your comment and for posting the link!

My DJI Phantom 3 battery warmer came 2 days ago! As it was (surprisingly) warm for Wisconsin, I put one battery into the fridge for an hour.  It had cooled to 9°C (48°F)-- so I dropped it into the warmer, turned it on, left it 5 minutes, turned it off, left it another 3 minutes, took it out and it was showing 18°C (64-65°F) - excellent!  Plus 96% power-- I rarely read over 98% even when I freshly charge the battery so this very low drain getting my battery up to (near) flying temperature in 8 minutes-- great!  (I think 20°C is the recommended minimum temperature for flight)(Yes- page 17 of the P3S manual - 20°C recommended minimum flight temperature).

Nice addition to my Phantom "kit" as the British say!  (I used to work in Cornwall!)

Best regards,

Steve Schulte
Wednesday 18 May 2016
Wednesday 18 May 2016

I've bought on too. Works very well as stated.

I wounded if they will bring  more inspire products out for the P3range.
thermal battery kits like the inspire kits.
Bigger battery,(TB48)

Hey all,

A question: what temps are we to be concerned about?

That is, assuming the battery is the same temp as the ambient temp where I want to fly, what temp is low enough to cause worry?

Thanks,
Chris

Not A Speck Of  Posted at 2016-5-18 19:03
Hey all,

A question: what temps are we to be concerned about?

Depending on your firmware version, you get a warning if the battery's below 15°C (59°F).  It'll still take off at 12°C (53.6°F) though, which allows you to hover & warm the battery slowly.  I've never had a battery colder than 12°C though, so not sure when it refuses to start up.

nigelw Posted at 2016-5-19 02:10
Depending on your firmware version, you get a warning if the battery's below 15°C (59°F).  It'll ...

Okay, I guess I should get a warmer then.

I was asking because in Seattle, we rarely see freezing temps. In fact, it's mild enough that our homeless population is quite large!

But we DO of course get lower than 15°C. And I travel to higher elevations often enough.

As an photographer, I am accustom to warming up batteries in a pocket. But then, if that fails, my DSLR isn't going to be falling out of the sky! It makes sense to take more precautions with the DJI batteries.

Thanks, Chris

I've got these, but I only got my P4 in April so wont been needed till next winter now.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bushcra ... eywords=hand+warmer

malvern Posted at 2016-5-18 19:24
I've got these, but I only got my P4 in April so wont been needed till next winter now.

https://www ...

Yeah, I use disposable chemical hand warmers.  I can either drop one in each of the battery compartments in the backpack, or I'll wrap the batteries up together in a woolly hat with a couple.  I'll still get a warmer though, as they still drop to between 12°-15°C when I've been walking for a couple of hours or more in sub-zero temperatures.

scschulte Posted at 2016-5-18 16:17
Thanks for your comment and for posting the link!

My DJI Phantom 3 battery warmer came 2 days ago ...

Good to see they perform well! I'm in Scotland and I spent many freezing days this winter in the hover waiting for the battery to reach operating temp; and using a great deal more power than these seem to.

For anyone flying in cold temperatures (and who doesn't already do it) a cold IMU calibration is another good idea to save time and battery power. I get mine nice and cold, do the calibration and never had to wait for it to warm up!

Just ordered one via the DJI store.  I used some DJI credits so only £10.26 shipping to pay.

scschulte Posted at 2016-5-18 16:17
Thanks for your comment and for posting the link!

My DJI Phantom 3 battery warmer came 2 days ago ...

I did the same test today & got almost identical results. 9°C up to 19°C in 5 minutes +3 minutes standby, which used 2% battery, all while in the fridge.  Pretty pleased with that.

Good idea to put everything in the fridge to run the test!  I didn't think of that -- will try it next time-- and of course this winter I can leave it outside at -30°C and see if it warms up…  (Maybe should not let it cool to -30°C…)  !!!!!

Steve
Wednesday 1 June 2016