While on vacation in Quebec at Mont-Tremblant, I decided to take a early flight before hitting the slopes. Around 7:30 am I walked down to a large frozen lake there for some great views. After my flight checklist, everything looked good and I took flight. The first few minutes were textbook, until I recieved a random warning on my Samsung tab 8.4, telling me about power consumption. As my tablet was fully charged, I hit the button to dismiss the warning as it covered the flight app screen. At roughly 5-6min my screen suddenly goes dim as I'm approx. 400ft up! I tap the screen but nothing changes. So concerned I bring the craft down, as I get down to 100 ft I get another warning and the screen goes dark. I literally get landed with seconds to spare as the tablet shuts down. The temperature outside was about -15F at the time and I am certain it was the cause of the failure. Just wanted to share, as this could have gone much differently, and I could have had to stand there waiting for it to fall from the sky. In addition, my recording was corrupted and am unable to view it to make matters worse. All I would do differently in hindsight is tape a hand warmer to the back of the tablet to keep warm and safe. How this experience helps someone else thinking of cold weather flight!

So your tablet was effected by the cold not the inspire? Did you hit the return to home button on the remote when the tablet started crashing? The inspire is rated to operate from -10 celsius - 40 celsius, which means 15 degrees fahrenheit is the lowest temperature, I'd be nervous flying any temp below that...

Same experience I used the Inspire in -20 Celsius, worked fine, but my Ipad mini, suddenly came with a warning about to low temperature and shot down. I maintained full control over the Inspire, but afterwards my flight log over the flight was gone in the app.

As for a iOS device that is a textbook outcome.  iOS range is -20F to 113F.  It starts to shut down and proclaims a battery issue.  Once in temperature range battery life goes back to normal and it starts up again (32F to 95F).

drklion Posted at 2015-2-9 19:17
As for a iOS device that is a textbook outcome.  iOS range is -20F to 113F.  It starts to shut down  ...

Hi, good to know. If you video file is corrupted - which happens also, when you forget to stop recording before you turn off your engine - try to put this sd-card back in the camera, turn on the inspire and press record again. Make a video for a couple of seconds and then stop recording. In my case, the corrupted file was then readable and good to use. Give it a try

Cheers, Christian

Do you have any video from Mont-Tremblant at all? would love to see some. Thanks

Batteries do not like cold weather. Just on a note. Don't try to recharge a battery when it is very cold. The cold effects the charging circuit. Wait until everything is at room temp.

info.rossfeighe Posted at 2015-2-9 14:19
So your tablet was effected by the cold not the inspire? Did you hit the return to home button on th ...

Correct, the tablet was affected, not the craft. I did not use the RTH feature because I needed to bring it down fast!  It be interesting to see if it would have landed safely after the tablet shutdown or just hover in place, and eventually drop when the battery failed.

christian Posted at 2015-2-10 00:18
Hi, good to know. If you video file is corrupted - which happens also, when you forget to stop rec ...

Thanks Christian, will try and give update if it works!

chantalcaron13 Posted at 2015-2-10 00:43
Do you have any video from Mont-Tremblant at all? would love to see some. Thanks

Here is the video I took, only my third flight so played it safe! Video is unedited except color fix through YouTube and cut out idle beginning and ending. Enjoy!https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sODnjAWOs2s

MainlineAerial Posted at 2015-2-10 02:52
Here is the video I took, only my third flight so played it safe! Video is unedited except color fi ...

Looks great. Love that place. Thanks for sharing

rodger Posted at 2015-2-10 01:03
Batteries do not like cold weather. Just on a note. Don't try to recharge a battery when it is very  ...

I have the dual remote version of the inspire. My brothers iphone restarts like every 3rd flight, he is the camera controller.. The remote is working perfectly, even if your tablet is restarting/out of battery, etc.

99% I fly the drone, my brother is less experienced. I use an ipad air 2. It happened to me twice during flight that my ipad just crashed and restarted. First time it happened, I was like 1000m away with the drone, so I really really paniced. Even when the tablet restarts, you still don't lose control of the drone. You can fly without camera, and bring the bird back. If you have dual remote, and your tablet on master crashes, you can still watch the video feed on the second controller.

So the answer is: You can fly it, even if your app/tablet crashes.

MainlineAerial Posted at 2015-2-10 02:52
Here is the video I took, only my third flight so played it safe! Video is unedited except color fi ...

Rock steady Video. No ne can complain about that, one would think the Camera was on a Tripod.

Skywolf007 Posted at 2015-2-10 19:23
I have the dual remote version of the inspire. My brothers iphone restarts like every 3rd flight,  ...

Thanks for that information!

MainlineAerial Posted at 2015-2-10 23:32
Thanks for that information!

you are welcome.

Also, if  you fly in cold weather put battery covers on.  

Since you fly in extreme cold, after you take off,  hover and wait for a few seconds at least to see if all systems function normally.

In temperature lower than -10, I would do some shorter flights. Battery will drain a lot faster in that cold and the battery covers won't help you much.
For example
Battery below -15'C will have 50% of the capacity of the same battery at +27'C
The max flight time you could count on is 8-12minutes

Sky

Skywolf007 Posted at 2015-2-11 00:07
you are welcome.

Also, if  you fly in cold weather put battery covers on.  

Do you think the batery covers could be used with velcro as I understand you only get one set with the aircraft and these are not supplied with additional batteries.  At least then you could put them on all your batteries.

Skywolf007 Posted at 2015-2-11 00:07
you are welcome.

Also, if  you fly in cold weather put battery covers on.  

Was diligent and placed the provided covers on my battery. Only issue is they stick, and although I have not yet tried to remove them, it appears to be a challenge without damaging them. I'll find out tonight and let you guys know.

GB44 Posted at 2015-2-11 00:12
Do you think the batery covers could be used with velcro as I understand you only get one set with ...

I don't know. I'm currently waiting for the 5700mah batteries and some extra chargers. I ordered them with the inspire.. Im flying 2+ weeks with 1 battery and its shit. As soon as I get pretty excited with the Inspire, the battery is drained, and I have to wait 1.5 hour to recharge

When I get the extra batteries, I will let you know if they have extra battery covers. I hope I will write here in few days, but I'm realistic, so I will write you in like a month

by that time spring will be here I get a new battery to my Inspire and a new battery for my Vespa.

GB44 Posted at 2015-2-11 00:12
Do you think the batery covers could be used with velcro as I understand you only get one set with ...

Battery Covers? Fill me in on that, first time I have heard about Battery Covers.
Thanks

rodger Posted at 2015-2-11 10:58
Battery Covers? Fill me in on that, first time I have heard about Battery Covers.
Thanks

They are the small thin foam pads with teh DJI logo on etc. supposed to stick on the side of the batteries in cold weather.  They were in the pack with the manuals.
Forum members have reported that you dont get replacement covers with additional batteries, so just wondering how you can use them on all batteries.

Thanks, guess they forgot mine in packaging?

Each one of us should pay attention to these tips in page 20 of the manual I think.
In cold condition, in the first place we must power on the aircraft, ground it for at least one or two minutes to warm the battery.

So I took the foam pads off the battery and it was a struggle not to damage them more than I did. They stick to well to the battery, and are hard to remove.  Took pictures but can't seem to upload them. Basically they look wrinkled and beat up, can't see them lasting long being used and taken off again to many times . Fortunately for me, I won't need them often where I live but this might need to be rethought, def an easy fix.