Living here in the Canadian Rockies with weather that easily goes down to -30 celcius I am wondering how the P4 will operate in cold weather. i have never taken it out past -5 Celcius.

Any suggestions, links or comments on the subject are appreciated.

Thanks,
Aydin

The operating temp for the aircraft is 32° to 104° F (0° to 40° C)
And for the battery it's         14° to 104° F ( -10° to 40° C )
Many have flown below the specs without an issue, but you much make sure the battery is warm and do not fly if you get any warnings.
If you do fly outside of the operating temperature and there's an issue, your aircraft will not be covered under warranty.

If you are out and about, I would suggest throwing in a couple of those hand warmers.. That way you keep your battery warm till it is used.

I fly in -10c with no problems as long as you take off with a warm battery.

Here is some data from jwt873

When it's 30C (86F) outside, the battery gets up to 55C (130F)
When it's 0C (32C) outside, the battery gets up to 40C (104F)
When it's -20C, (-4F) outside the battery gets up to 30C (86F)
I woke up this thread to comment on some more sub-zero testing I've done.

It was -30C (22 below zero F) this morning so I took a flight and watched the battery temperature.

I left the ground with the battery at 25C (77F).. In weather this cold the battery starts to feel the affects. It only warmed up to 29C (84F).
I did some low speed flying and hovering and it started cooling back to 25C. This is the first time I've seen the battery cool while in the air.
Normally it warms continually from takeoff until the end of the flight.

I put the craft in sport mode and did some high speed flying. The extra current draw took the battery back up to 29C.

Anyway. The Phantom 4 still flies just fine at -30C (22 below zero F). The camera and gimbal perform normally.
But, when it gets as low as this, you have to start watching the battery.
If you do mostly low speed flying and/or hovering in temps this cold, the internal temperature will drop.

Out of interest, flying at -30C (-22F) caused absolutely NO noticeable reduction in flight time.
DJI Go showed this as my 233rd flight. I spent an easy 19 minutes in the air, traveling a total of 5 km (3.1 miles) and landing with the battery charge at 26%.
#30jwt873, Yesterday at 11:06 AM

Erised Posted at 2016-12-19 07:55
I fly in -10c with no problems as long as you take off with a warm battery.

Here is some data from jwt873

I wonder if the actual temperature reading comes from the center in between the cells or from the outside cells,
I heard it takes one cell for the battery to fail , if that reading is from the inside then the outside cells maybe critically low temp. I have flown in -20c as well, the drone performed very well, I would say up to -15 you should be comfortable to fly, anything below that you are taking chances.

I have flown in -10 Celcius plus wind so -20 in total and no issues other than sudden drop in voltage could occure.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-16 19:18
The operating temp for the aircraft is 32° to 104° F (0° to 40° C)
And for the battery it's         14° to 104° F ( -10° to 40° C )
Many have flown below the specs without an issue, but you much make sure the battery is warm and do not fly if you get any warnings.

Surely the specifications listed need to be amended, if the recommended ambient air temperature for operating the aircraft is 0-40C then it must be the same for the battery ? The battery cannot be used without the aircraft (excluding USB adaptor) and vice versa. That would surely simplify things.

It's good to see though that with care it can be flown at lower temperatures, and it would be foolish to ignore any battery warnings.

So any flight made below 0 degrees centigrade would be outwith warranty, if there were any failure at all ?

Aardvark Posted at 2016-12-19 08:33
Surely the specifications listed need to be amended, if the recommended ambient air temperature for operating the aircraft is 0-40C then it must be the same for the battery ? The battery cannot be used without the aircraft (excluding USB adaptor) and vice versa. That would surely simplify things.

It's good to see though that with care it can be flown at lower temperatures, and it would be foolish to ignore any battery warnings.

Correct, if there is a battery warning to warm the battery before flight and you do not then if there was a crash it probably would not be covered under warranty.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-19 15:44
Correct, if there is a battery warning to warm the battery before flight and you do not then if there was a crash it probably would not be covered under warranty.

Agreed, but can you clarify that any flight below 0 C (or indeed above 40 ) would void warranty for that flight ?

Aardvark Posted at 2016-12-19 08:49
Agreed, but can you clarify that any flight below 0 C (or indeed above 40 ) would void warranty for that flight ?

It is up to the repair department when they analyse the flight records to see the data

Erised Posted at 2016-12-19 14:55
I fly in -10c with no problems as long as you take off with a warm battery.

Here is some data from jwt873

"Out of interest, flying at -30C (-22F) caused absolutely NO noticeable reduction in flight time."
It should probably increase it as there is no need to run the cooling fan!

I would start to worry about the plastic propellers becoming brittle at -30.   Also I guess in some conditions ice could form on the propellers and remove the lift.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-12-17 02:18
The operating temp for the aircraft is 32° to 104° F (0° to 40° C)
And for the battery it's         14° to 104° F ( -10° to 40° C )
Many have flown below the specs without an issue, but you much make sure the battery is warm and do not fly if you get any warnings.

So Ken, based on these specified temperature ranges can you confirm please that it is safe to fly with the aircraft and battery temperatures anywhere within their respective temperature ranges and that one should not expect to have any problems with the operation of the drone except for degraded performance at the lower temperatures in the battery temperature operating range?

fans82a39c9b Posted at 2016-12-19 20:47
So Ken, based on these specified temperature ranges can you confirm please that it is safe to fly with the aircraft and battery temperatures anywhere within their respective temperature ranges and that one should not expect to have any problems with the operation of the drone except for degraded performance at the lower temperatures in the battery temperature operating range?

Fly within the operating temperatures, but if there's any kind of battery warning to warm the battery before flight, then do as the app states.

Nigel_ Posted at 2016-12-19 10:10
"Out of interest, flying at -30C (-22F) caused absolutely NO noticeable reduction in flight time."
It should probably increase it as there is no need to run the cooling fan!

---------
""I would start to worry about the plastic propellers becoming brittle at -30.   Also I guess in some conditions ice could form on the propellers and remove the lift.""
---------

The props were one aspect I paid attention to during my cold weather testing. I checked them after landing  The props are nylon (I think) and remain just as flexible at -30C as they do at +30C.  

Brittleness isn't an issue.

And for icing...  You'd have to be in fog or clouds in order to have any ice build up on the craft or the props.  I've never experienced any icing in multiple sub-zero flights.