I have flown around 25F. No issues. These are my first flights, so far the aircraft out last my hands. LOL. Going up to northern Wisconsin in a few days, where it will be about 20F. I always leave the aircraft and controller in the box it was shipped with. I think it keeps it warm a little. I don't take it out until I'm on location. And it a good place to set it out of the snow. I also leave it in the box when I'm done and bring it indoors. It keeps the aircraft cool, and allows it to warm up slowly. Better for the electronics. I also always use a fully charged battery. The batts will never have a long life in the cold.
What's the coldest flying temp?
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I don't have a P4P, just a P4 - but, I flew it in minus 20 degrees Celsius (Canada, winter) and the only problem I had was the obviously shortened battery life (even when warmed up prior to flight). However, it was very windy too, handled perfectly, battery could have been working harder to maintain such good control during that semi-risky flight in the cold.
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Thinsulate has some decent fingerless gloves that help with the frozen hands issue.
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ive flown in temps as low as -5f, kept batteries warm before flight and kept to below 10 min..no issues besides cold hands
Check out jwt873 posts on cold flight. I get pretty much the same results. Do not putter around in p mode in the cold as the battery will cool down, you have to cruise in the 30+ mph to get a high amp draw to get your battery to heat up and they do. I get almost the same warm weather flight times in -15c as the battery heats up over 30c. Once the battery is warm I think my P4 actually is more quick to respond and faster in the cold.
I have flown a bunch of times below 32F. On one of the occasions during the third flight (second battery), the gimbal stopped compensating for left-right drifts and only handled for the other 2 axes. I am assuming one of the motors got jammed because of the cold temperatures. I tested it out again on reaching home and it was all fine. It is also possible that for majority of the time, I was primarily moving the drone in one direction (to and fro from the viewpoint) and it probably didn't give enough motion to the gimbal motor which was compensating for roll which made it stuck in that position.
In cold temp air density is higher : probably the cause of a faster responding quad.
The first time I flew in 20-30 F I had issues with dropping altitude while hovering, erratic behavior for the first battery. Ever since, first flight out, I will just hover for about ten minutes to warm up the drone, land, cycle power to re calibrate IMU. When the next fresh battery goes in, the chassis is warm enough to warm the new battery enough where the IMU calibrates properly with no issues.
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It's sort of what I do. I start the motors and let them run for a couple minutes before I take off. Even though it's 45-55 degrees here which isn't very cold I like to "warm up" my drone kind of like a car haha. Overkill?
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Flying in negative temperatures is actually pretty good as thick air means the drone has to do less work to get the same amount of lift.
The internal electronics have a minimum operating temperature but when powered on they should generate their own heat.
so as long as the drone was at least 15c when you started flying it should actually warm up from the ESC's, battery and motors all producing heat.
So to answer, there isn't really a "coldest temperature" that flying stops working at, it is just a matter of how warm the drone was to begin with.
Now that being said, if there is a lot of moisture in the air, coulpled with cold or even freezing temperature, water may freeze to the aircraft and cause flight performance to degrade, so really go for it.
The internal electronics have a minimum operating temperature but when powered on they should generate their own heat.
so as long as the drone was at least 15c when you started flying it should actually warm up from the ESC's, battery and motors all producing heat.
So to answer, there isn't really a "coldest temperature" that flying stops working at, it is just a matter of how warm the drone was to begin with.
Now that being said, if there is a lot of moisture in the air, coulpled with cold or even freezing temperature, water may freeze to the aircraft and cause flight performance to degrade, so really go for it.
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When considering temperature think about keeping everything in a warm environment immediately before flying. Once the system is running it will generate a small amount of heat which allows you to operate below the published levels for a short while. This is a microscopic world the drone brain works in and with temperature change there is expansion and contraction at microscopic levels. This is for all electronics unless they are specially designed for extremes. Bottom line, if you operate in extreme temps below or above specs you should expect failure.
I agree with you Bobby, but there are things we can do to mimic the spec temps. One example would be plugging the vents on a day with air temps at -10C.
Not sure about Phantom vs. Mavik ... but for what it is worth, took my Mavik out of a 50°F workshop to 19°F outside and when unlocked it said "wait for IMU calibration" ... which took only 5-10 sec. ... then flew fine. After 10 min. flight the battery temp was 85°F ... and had 70% left.
Has Anybody Used The Car Kit By ARGtek ? I would have thought it would be a popular item for the winter, but have not seen it mentioned. There are kits for all the Phantoms. You will be able to sit in the warmth of your car and fly. The antennas are fastened to a suction cup and mounts on the windshield. There is about a 5 ft cable with the screw on fittings which screw onto the controller. Basically an extension cord for your antennas.
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Weird... I downloaded the manual when I got my p3p a year ago and it says -10° C (14° F). I've flown it many times at temperatures down to that and the only issues I've had are cold fingers. I'm not going to recommend that anyone does this, because maybe Dji has changed their stance or the newer phantoms aren't as resistant to cold or whatever, but I live in NS and I'm going to continue flying my drone during the winter and sometimes the temp will be below freezing. I don't leave the extra batteries out in the cold, I don't do long distance flights in case the battery runs down earlier because of the cold and I'm a little more cautious about flying over water, etc in case it should suddenly drop, but it doesn't seem to bother it at all.
Nice video, reflects the cold in Calgary.
I read recently that the City of Calgary has announced some very strict regulations regarding drone flights from parks and over the city. Do you happen to know what they are? I'm hoping Lethbridge does not take the same stance as it would stifle drone flights
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