-27F Battery test

[akdrone]

We finally got a bit of a chill and it's -27F today so I thought I'd do a quick test. My Avata was the only drone with full batteries but you can generalize this a bit. I'll do a few more battery tests with the Mav 3 and Mini3 Pro at some point too. In any case.... I started out with 95% battery and tossed the Avata up. This is the Avata's first winter so I was not sure how it would react. My FPV and Mav 3 have seen many good flights in cold temps but I didn't want to take my previous success for granted so I stayed close-by and flew near a road often just hovering, once flying perhaps a half mile down the road. My flight time was 13min, and I landed with the battery reading 15% and 2'41" estimated flight time remaining. I have to say, that's pretty impressive. I have always felt as if my winter flights were not much different in terms of time than summer flights. I am sure they are...but not dramatically so. This didn't involve a lot of flying and next I'll try something similar while zipping back and forth more regularly. -27F, 13min flight time, 15% remaining battery. Not bad.

 

[AlanL]

So -27F is a "bit of a chill" for you? Wow. Do you use AirData? I would be curious about the internal temps of the drone while in this flight since the batteries might be getting some heat there to offset the outside temps.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

A BIT of chill ?????????

 

[akdrone]

hah...yeah..a bit of a chill . We've had -75F at our house and one winter I commuted to work on my bike (15mi) with a cut off temp of -30F. I lived in a village where we'd go for groceries on our snowmachines for a 60mi ride at -40F on some occasions (check a wind chill chart - which is meaningless but interesting- for -40F at 65mph...) and I've camped out without a tent at -45F, so yeah...-27F can be called a bit of a chill but I'll admit I wouldn't run around in a TShirt . My Avata didn't seem overly concerned. In a few days we'll drive down south to Anchorage, 360mi over the Alaska Range, past Denali Park and I am indeed hoping it's not chilly. We won't do it if it gets cold. I do subscribe to AirData but haven't used it much. The flight did not show up there yet. They seem to magically show up....

 

[MA2 317]

on our snowmachines for a 60mi ride at -40F on some occasions

I miss riding mine.

Made to about -20F in Northern Wisconsin / U.P. Michigan for a day ride.

Good times.

.

 

[karlblessing]

What was the internal temp of the battery during the flight? (airdata will have a graph over time). I wonder if the battery itself managed to stay above 50F thru the course of it.

 

[karlblessing]

I do subscribe to AirData but haven't used it much. The flight did not show up there yet. They seem to magically show up....

Depends on how you opted to sync. If you use the AirData UAV app on the device, it can't access the mobile data's *.txt files if the DJI Fly app is still open. Also I believe with newer versions you have to grant permission to your AirData Account to Access your DJI account (which has a sync option now in the latest DJI fly app settings). But you can still manually sync your data thru the app, or by uploading the text files from the internal storage.

 

[SmilingOgre]

First job out of college, working for GTE, up a pole, -20°f. thinking what in sam heck am I doing here. I didn't do that for very long, lol. Turned in my spikes and show shoes after about three years.

 

[Robert Prior]

-27F can be called a bit of a chill but I'll admit I wouldn't run around in a TShirt

So -33 in real degrees I've golfed in that. Definitely need a jumper over your T-shirt!

 

[TwoSticks]

It’s +45 here and we’re already wondering how much longer winter will last. Ready for 70.
Anyhow, good deal on the cold temp flying. Main issue with the Avata so far has been the higher winds we have late fall and winter. 20MPH winds it will fly but it spends a lot of the time at a 45 degree angle it seems, at least in the goggles. This will be my first year with a M3 but I suspect it will do well too especially if you have already tested it. I watch Jake Sloan flying up there as well. Beautiful scenery you guys have.

 

[Ralph thompson]

In my experience in Montreal where we do get below zero F in Jan & Feb, I find that older batteries fair badly in cold wx especially under load. last January I experienced a couple of situations with my M2P where individual cells dropped quickly especially under high demand and looking at the data afterwards, there were a lot of cases where the individual cell voltages were very close to causing the battery to shut down. I recalibrated the batteries and used them a lot through the summer without issue, so I’d say the extreme cold is a problem for high time batteries.

 

[akdrone]

What was the internal temp of the battery during the flight? (airdata will have a graph over time). I wonder if the battery itself managed to stay above 50F thru the course of it.

 

[Eagle Eye 62]

Too cold for me. How did you operate the controller with gloves on?

 

[akdrone]

You can see from that graph (above) that the battery temp never dropped below roughly 62F so I'd venture to say that flying the Avata - and from my experience, the Mav 3 and FPV is not hindered by temperature in the least. I went back and looked at battery temps though this fall where much of the flying has been below 0F and none of my flights showed any temps under 50F. One thing I do in these cold temps is to allow my battery to warm up before starting to charge it. I have 5 batteries for each of my drones (FPV, Avata, Mav 3, and Mini 3 Pro) which allows me to fly all day while recharging this or that drone as necessary although I don't normally take all of them for a day of flying...

 

[karlblessing]

I do not have the paid version of AirData and don't see any temp readouts for the free version. A search at airdata for temp or temperature shows nothing.

Ahh, thought at least the bat temp was in the free version but I guess it's both temp and in flight wind that's in the 360 lite version.

 

[akdrone]

Too cold for me. How did you operate the controller with gloves on?

I'm inside a car...which is pretty limiting but better than not flying. Neither I nor my spotter want to sit around outside...but in all cases I get to stay warm while my spotter has to sometimes get out of the car to keep an eye out. I just try to park in a manner that we have a view in front of us and I always just take off from the hood of my old truck.

 

[akdrone]

Ahh, thought at least the bat temp was in the free version but I guess it's both temp and in flight wind that's in the 360 lite version.

It's there...I missed it at first but found it an have added a graph below.

 

[karlblessing]

Too cold for me. How did you operate the controller with gloves on?

Depends on the controller and mobile device. I know with my air 2s , I can operate my rc-n1 with a Samsung Galaxy tab active 3 on it with standard gloves (the screen will even work covered in water droplets without losing precision)

 

[akdrone]

In my experience in Montreal where we do get below zero F in Jan & Feb, I find that older batteries fair badly in cold wx especially under load. last January I experienced a couple of situations with my M2P where individual cells dropped quickly especially under high demand and looking at the data afterwards, there were a lot of cases where the individual cell voltages were very close to causing the battery to shut down. I recalibrated the batteries and used them a lot through the summer without issue, so I’d say the extreme cold is a problem for high time batteries.

That makes good sense and I have gotten warning pop ups about something like this but I can't recall what it said... I know my FPV gave me warnings about being pushed too hard when I was flying at -20F in a 20+mph wind. I tend to be very very careful in terms of how much discharge I allow in these temps, trying to land with 30% battery or so but this graph does give me more confidence.

 

[akdrone]

It’s +45 here and we’re already wondering how much longer winter will last. Ready for 70.
Anyhow, good deal on the cold temp flying. Main issue with the Avata so far has been the higher winds we have late fall and winter. 20MPH winds it will fly but it spends a lot of the time at a 45 degree angle it seems, at least in the goggles. This will be my first year with a M3 but I suspect it will do well too especially if you have already tested it. I watch Jake Sloan flying up there as well. Beautiful scenery you guys have.

+45F ? Isn't that the definition of summer??? LOL