BT controller cant cope with the heat and humidity

[John Gowland]

If I am in the sun the controller quickly overheats, in normal Perth weather of late 20c and moderate humidity.
So I have to keep it in the shade but still gets hot and the glasses start to pixelate.

At the moment I am in Patong, Phuket, Thailand.
Spent ages getting to the highest point on the island and could only fly for 20 minutes before the unit became so hot it was hot to the touch and total pixelate blackout.
That is quite dangerous because you cant see what the craft sees and have to take care to get it home.
Temperature was 33c and humidity 50%.
I don't normally sweat in the heat but I was soaked. Still its a big issue with the glasses it doesn't take much for them to overheat and start pixelating.

Its got a decent battery so they could easily put a small fan in there. They have to do something.

 

[ksmusa]

Page 6 of the user manual, at least the one I have...., has specific cautions regarding extreme heat or humidity conditions. It’s sounds like you may be exceeding those recommendations. In my personal experience the unit gives a warning about overheating and turns itself off. Is this happening to you??

https://tech.moverio.epson.com/en/bt-300/pdf/userguide.pdf

 

[John Gowland]

Thanks ksmusa the manual does not state how hot or how high the humidity. You would think it would be somewhere.
This pixelation happens quite a lot to me. I am for ever trying to keep it shielded from the sun and giving it time to cool between battery changes. Today given the last few days experiences in Patong I even packed it with a sealed cooler pack and a frozen bottle of water on the other side (in a side pocket of my carry bag.) During flight I had the cooler pack under the control unit and still only got 20 minutes out of it before I had to revert the the phone. Which by the way is a very poor experience after using the glasses.
No I get no warning, it doesn't shut down the screen just pixelates so badly you can't see anything.
I am thinking of using some sort of small portable fan underneath it.

The design of some sort of internal fan would be easy. Perforated front and back grills with a small intelligent, speed variable fan would be very effective. I have five MP batteries and the BT control unit never depletes its own battery so I don't think power would be an issue.

 

[ksmusa]

This is quite unusual. I have personally never experienced the issues that you are describing. Perhaps you should reach out to Epson directly regarding this? Additionally, there is an Epson rep on this forum who frequently responds to questions. Perhaps he or she can chime in.

 

[Mavflyer]

It definitely isn't very good at dissipating heat. I just got a pair and decided to try them out using Netflix and it gets quite hot just doing that in an air conditioned house. I haven't taken them out on a hot day yet. I can only imagine how hot they would get with the additional heat.

 

[ksmusa]

This is not unusual. I have Kodi loaded on my BT 300 and have also noticed that the unit heats up. The processor on these units is quite modest. As I stated before though, my BT 300 shuts down automatically when heat becomes too extreme.

 

[gjmphoto]

Let's hope that doesn't happen mid flight!

 

[jmt]

I spent several days flying several batteries in succession with the BT-300 in Summer in Namibia in temperatures in the mid 30s without experiencing overheating or pixelation, though the humidity there is thankfully fairly low. The glasses were enclosed in a Rochester Solitaire goggle which may have helped.

Given your experience it could be there is a fault with your unit ?

 

[John Gowland]

It could be a fault with my unit jmt but I just doubled checked on the humidity levels for yesterday the app I had, (Galaxy sensors) said it was 50 %, I checked todays humidity which was much like yesterdays and its 80% humidity.
At 33c and 80% humidity puts a lot on a small black unit that gets hot in normal conditions.
I got 30 minutes flight today by keeping it cool while traveling and putting a cold gel pack on top of the unit in flight.
A very ugly solution but I get some use.
Still think it needs a fan.

 

[Ken Nash]

This is not unusual. I have Kodi loaded on my BT 300 and have also noticed that the unit heats up. The processor on these units is quite modest. As I stated before though, my BT 300 shuts down automatically when heat becomes too extreme.

I have been considering buying these BT-300's for some time now but keep holding off because of the problems people have and many are quite problematic, considering in the UK they are priced at £719 that's quite a big price, I would have preferred to say investment. It seems to me these are not "man-enough" for the tasks there made for and with lack of support from both parties DJI and Epson is not good enough to persuade me to purchase as much as I would like to.

 

[John Gowland]

I know what you mean Ken Nash but you are in the UK and you will not get hot humid days. If you do let me know and I will move back home But its not going to happen.
Once you use the glasses you will never want to use a phone or any tablet again. Different worlds.
There were a lot more problems than there are now. If you go to a tropical or even southern European place you will have issues like the ones I mentioned. For me 719 was not an issue, if you have the cash.
The shame is there are not places where you can go and try them before you buy.

 

[jtus]

I read your post and thought maybe you got a bad pair. So I bought them on Thursday and flew with them on Friday. It was cool out maybe 50°F I also flew Saturday it was 60°F and clear. Today Sunday 65°F bright sun no wind. The first battery everything was great. Changed the battery took off the Mavic was 20 feet from me 5 feet off the ground. When I rotated the drone the view got very pixelated and about a 15 second delay. The longer I tried to fly the worse it got. It got to a 25 to 30 second delay and I could not even make out what the camera was seeing. I landed the Mavic and put on my DJI goggles everything is perfect. I'm going to Florida next week and wanted to take the Moverio BT-300 but not now. I will return them tomorrow.
Thanks for your post as I never would have done the flight tests like I did.

 

[John Gowland]

There is a long standing issue with pixelation. Some times it is worse than others. At least you can return them without loss.
However I would give it a few days, at least before you go on holidays. As long as you do not loose on it.
I have tried the DJI goggles in a shop and they are not for me. I think they are ugly, restrictive and uncomfortable. But each to his own. I started using a good, large phone but could not see a dam thing in bright or even semi bright sunshine.
So the BT are the only ones that work for me. I only use a phone or tablet when I absolutely have to and its a waste of time in the bright sun. I can use the glasses any time of day or place. I am about to go out up a mountain in 35c and 80% humidity but I have to take a frozen gel pack with two frozen bottles to re-cool the gel pac because the BT controller will get as hot as hell very quickly.
The pixelation often happens at close range. As you get further away they improve. Keep them in the shade to reduce heat build up.
It took a lot of effort, time and patience for me to get used to them. But I don't think I would fly as much as I do without them.
After all the hard work I find them absolutely brilliant and critical for making areal videography. Just dam good fun.
I just love flying, making aerial videos for the fun of it. I have no intention of making money from it or making it popular. I have a rewarding day job and it would not be half as good fun or technically possible, for me, without the BT glasses.
Sky View Aerial Videography
We have to do what is suitable for us. The goggles may be more reliable, I don't know. The beauty of it is that we can choose.
Would love to see some stuff you do on your holidays. Post it here in the section for it.
Have fun flying and be safe so you can fly another day.