Battery question

[Mad4MountainsUK]

Hi everyone, new member here. I have a wee question about the battery. Ive searched and cant find an answer. Im going to put some meat on the bones.

Im a climber, so what I would like to do with my Mavic is have it on, ready to fly at the bottom of a climb, then when im half way up, Im going to fly it up, and
past and take some photos/video of me and my partner mid climb.

the question is, will my battery drain much whilst the aircraft is stationary on the ground before I take off to come up to us?

The plan would be then to either land at the top of the climb, or return to the bottom depending on our location.

Thanks in advance,

Dan from @Mad4MountainsUK

 

[old man mavic]

@Mad4MountainsUK the battery starts to drain the moment you turn on the drone ,but that would be only a part of the issues you would face in accomplishing what you propose you would have to make sure that you had a clear line of site between yourself and the drone to enable it to respond to the take off command from the RC then it would require to be flown up to your location all of which will consume a lot of the batteries stored charge then you would need to reset the home point when it reached the point where you intend to land it,other wise it would return to its original take off point if it lost signal with the controller
you would be better served if you took off from the mid point flew down for some distance then came back up to where you are while filming ,and then continue to climb up

 

[Mad4MountainsUK]

Ill have a clear line of sight, that wont be a problem. The crag is a vertical climb and can see the ground from all the way up.

I just wondered how fast the batteries would deplete whilst the drone is stationary with the props not spinning.

 

[old man mavic]

@Mad4MountainsUK all i can suggest is you have a fully charged battery in the drone have a fan blowing over it to keep it cool, and try it at home before you go on your trip, and watch what the battery level drops to at different times ,only you know how long it will take you to reach the place you mentioned

 

[slup]

I would say that you will face a consumption of approx. 1%/5min with the drone on but motors off ... but safest to test your drone yourself. But be aware of cooling & possible overheating issues.

 

[scro]

+1 for checking for overheating. In the hills on a good Scottish day there may be enough breeze to keep it just cool enough. The mini relies on air getting blown on it (prop wash and generally moving thru air) for cooling. If powered on and left on a desk it can overheat in 5-10mins.

Consider hand launching halfway through the climb and flying down then back up past you (assuming that's the shot you want) With a little practice you will be able to hand launch even when dangling off a climbing rope. Hand catching will be more of a challenge, but still doable if you're in a stable position.

You may want to check the altitude limit set on the Fly app, and consider pushing it past 120m if the vertical ascent from takeoff point to your landing site is more than 120m. Provided you stay within 120m of the crag face/peak this is legal.