Do you leave your drone in a hot car.

[Former Member]

Absolutley reusable, especially the silica gel packs. The clay based ones are not as resilient.

Just leave the pack on the dash board with a window cracked on a hot day. Cheap dehydrator.

Do you have any idea of the effective radius of one of those packs? Can a small one lower the humidity of a whole car interior?

 

[Don the engineer]

Do you have any idea of the effective radius of one of those packs? Can a small one lower the humidity of a whole car interior?

In theory a does a dessicants effective radius is practically infinite. As a desiccant dries out air then moist air shares its moisture with the dryer air and creates kind of a chain reaction until the desiccant is saturated. Silica gels can absorb about 40% of it's own weight in moisture. So a 10 gram desiccant pack could absorb 4 grams of moisture. The interior of a typical car at 70°F could contain about 180 grams of water. So that wouldnt be feasible.

 

[Former Member]

In theory a does a dessicants effective radius is practically infinite. As a desiccant dries out air then moist air shares its moisture with the dryer air and creates kind of a chain reaction until the desiccant is saturated. Silica gels can absorb about 40% of it's own weight in moisture. So a 10 gram desiccant pack could absorb 4 grams of moisture. The interior of a typical car at 70°F could contain about 180 grams of water. So that wouldnt be feasible.

How about numerous packs of desiccant distributed around the car? Or would one big bag of it be just as effective?

 

[AMann]

Absolutley reusable, especially the silica gel packs. The clay based ones are not as resilient.

Just leave the pack on the dash board with a window cracked on a hot day. Cheap dehydrator.

For shooting outdoors in rain or cold, I use these packs in ziplock bags for my cameras and lenses. They are reusable:

Wisedry 2 x 500 Gram [2.2 lbs] Rechargeable Silica Gel Car Dehumidifier, Microwave Fast Reactivated Desiccant Packets Large for Safes Closet Basement Garage Storage Moisture Absorber Bag Reusable: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Wisedry 2 x 500 Gram [2.2 lbs] Rechargeable Silica Gel Car Dehumidifier, Microwave Fast Reactivated Desiccant Packets Large for Safes Closet Basement Garage Storage Moisture Absorber Bag Reusable: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

 

[Don the engineer]

How about numerous packs of desiccant distributed around the car? Or would one big bag of it be just as effective?

That is just a question of time. Multiple packs would work faster than a single large pack. As far as what would be the time difference? Way too many variables but I'd guess the difference would be about an hour.

 

[Don the engineer]

For shooting outdoors in rain or cold, I use these packs in ziplock bags for my cameras and lenses. They are reusable:

Wisedry 2 x 500 Gram [2.2 lbs] Rechargeable Silica Gel Car Dehumidifier, Microwave Fast Reactivated Desiccant Packets Large for Safes Closet Basement Garage Storage Moisture Absorber Bag Reusable: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Wisedry 2 x 500 Gram [2.2 lbs] Rechargeable Silica Gel Car Dehumidifier, Microwave Fast Reactivated Desiccant Packets Large for Safes Closet Basement Garage Storage Moisture Absorber Bag Reusable: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

Good choice. 1 of those has the ability to absorb the moisture out of 220 cubic feet of air. More than plenty for a sealed camera box. Just remember that if you put these in a breathable area, like a UAS backpack, it will do nothing.

 

[dronerdave]

Do you have any idea of the effective radius of one of those packs? Can a small one lower the humidity of a whole car interior?

You can look at gun safe desiccant packs. I have a few that you can recharge (dry out) by putting them the oven for a few hours. I've had condensation issues with my telescope and photography optics but never really have had problems with my mavic. Depending on the weather, I drive with either the defroster or AC on (both reduce humidity) going to and from the area I want to fly at. In Central California during the warmer or colder days, I always pull everything out of the vehicle when I get home though. I had left one of those anti gravity battery jump starters in a black car during the summer. That LiPo battery puffed up big time. If I'm flying I just keep the batteries out of direct sunlight in the summer. Not sure how DJI batteries compare to my fixed wing stuff, but my airplane batteries are kept in a fire bag then they go into an ammo can. My quad is in one case and holds 4 batteries for the mav along with all the other equipment. I'm more concerned about one of those going south causing the case to go up in flames.

 

[crlmjohnson]

I live in central California and temp can reach over 105 or more. Are drones made to whistand the heat especially in a hot car for hours? Wouldn’t hot temps damage sensors and lipo batteries on the drone.

The batteries are guaranteed to swell up

 

[Canuk]

Has anyone tried the 12 volt coolers for keeping the bird cool . I have a short one that will fit in the trunk of my Z4 while the top is down and using most of the trunk space

 

[ToddCarey]

You will rarely, if ever, have condensation problems in the desert. The wet bulb temperature is the one to be concerned with, and in the desert even when it is 120 degrees outside, the wet bulb is still way down below 50 degrees.

Now if you are in South Florida, on a typical design summer day the outside air may be 91 degrees (dry bulb) but 79 degrees wet bulb. The wet bulb temperature is the temperature at which moisture will condense out of the air. If you left your gear in a cooler at say 60 degrees, when you pull it out and start it up, the air being pulled thru the vents may condense out moisture on or in the unit, not good.

Someone asked about why hot air "is capable" of holding more moisture. That is because when the moisture is absorbed into the air, it will raise the wet bulb temperature. The "relative humidity" is the ratio between dry bulb and wet bulb. You CANNOT get wet bulb temps above the dry bulb because the water will condense out of the air, also known as rain. The reason we get violent summer storms because as the moisture condenses out of the air, it absorbed energy (heat) in the condensation process. This cools the air, and bingo, more rain. It is a self feeding cycle as long as the moist air is available, and something triggers the start of the cooling and rain, I.E. a cold front.

 

[Bigbird48]

Yes you can. The electronics are able to withstand 120° but that temp is around the batteries upper limit. Cool your batteries first, then you can get at least a few minutes of flight time before the battery gets to its upper limits.

Thanks TD will remember to keep batteries in a cooler when going out on hot days now what about me I can't function at 110?

 

[Former Member]

Thanks TD will remember to keep batteries in a cooler when going out on hot days now what about me I can't function at 110?

Thats a GREAT point! Hydrate hydrate hydrate!

 

[Cmeflydrone]

If cooler air is warmed then humidity is NOT higher when air temp is higher. Warming air expands, grains of moisture remain the same, RH decreases. Maybe a general comment that places with warmer temps tend to be more humid? In lieu of an app a simple check of the local dew point would serve as a reference for the lowest temp you would need to remain above to prevent condensation.

 

[Don the engineer]

For those Interested I got an update to this thread for a job I had to do this last week.

I had to map 20 buildings in El Paso and needed to be able to recharge batteries as quickly as possible to get them all done in 4 days. I have a power inverter built into my truck so I could run a battery charger and remote control charger from 110V. I kept the truck running, with AC, while I was working so that after flying the batteries would cool down as quickly as possible and could be charged. (FYI, I have 10 batteries for my M2P, so this worked really well). As soon as one was fully charged, I put it in a ziploc bag with a 50g desiccant and put it in my mobile refrigerator. I got the refrigerator on amazon (Alpicool CX30). I looked up the dewpoint for El Paso and set the temperature 1 degree above that. The refrigerator is exceptionally good because I can dial in the temp I want and it does a good job of holding it there.

If i had to go in somewhere, the refrigerator had enough room to put anything heat sensitive inside, with a desiccant just in case. The refrigerator runs on 12V and it was very power friendly so I didn't have to worry about it running my truck battery down while it kept everything cool (it has a power protection setting to shut off in case it senses it's draining your battery).
The last day I was there, I cycled all the batteries out of the cooler and placed them in room temp storage after charging.

The whole thing worked great. The only problem I had was that the RC would run out of juice after 3 batteries or so. It was the first thing I would shut off and get charging right away. I was using dronedeploy so I couldn't use my smart controller.

It was funny that this job came up right after we were discussing all of this, so I had a pretty good plan for what to do when it came up. --> and good justification for buying a refrigerator for the truck!!

Thanks all!

 

[Thomas B]

Elaborate setup! Glad it works and interesting. A lot of thought in your setup.
Seems strange on the controller battery only lasting through 3drone batteries. I fly in the deserts near PHX and always get 5 M2P batteries usage on a single controller charge. I do use a CS and it’s battery last through this same time.

 

[Former Member]

For those Interested I got an update to this thread for a job I had to do this last week.

I had to map 20 buildings in El Paso and needed to be able to recharge batteries as quickly as possible to get them all done in 4 days. I have a power inverter built into my truck so I could run a battery charger and remote control charger from 110V. I kept the truck running, with AC, while I was working so that after flying the batteries would cool down as quickly as possible and could be charged. (FYI, I have 10 batteries for my M2P, so this worked really well). As soon as one was fully charged, I put it in a ziploc bag with a 50g desiccant and put it in my mobile refrigerator. I got the refrigerator on amazon (Alpicool CX30). I looked up the dewpoint for El Paso and set the temperature 1 degree above that. The refrigerator is exceptionally good because I can dial in the temp I want and it does a good job of holding it there.

If i had to go in somewhere, the refrigerator had enough room to put anything heat sensitive inside, with a desiccant just in case. The refrigerator runs on 12V and it was very power friendly so I didn't have to worry about it running my truck battery down while it kept everything cool (it has a power protection setting to shut off in case it senses it's draining your battery).
The last day I was there, I cycled all the batteries out of the cooler and placed them in room temp storage after charging.

The whole thing worked great. The only problem I had was that the RC would run out of juice after 3 batteries or so. It was the first thing I would shut off and get charging right away. I was using dronedeploy so I couldn't use my smart controller.

It was funny that this job came up right after we were discussing all of this, so I had a pretty good plan for what to do when it came up. --> and good justification for buying a refrigerator for the truck!!

Thanks all!

If you find your controller battery dying to quickly, you can always strap an external power bank to it and you'll get 10 times more life. You can leave a power bank connected to the micro USB port on the side so you will never run out of battery while you are flying even through 10 flight batteries.

 

[Don the engineer]

If you find your controller battery dying to quickly, you can always strap an external power bank to it and you'll get 10 times more life. You can leave a power bank connected to the micro USB port on the side so you will never run out of battery while you are flying even through 10 flight batteries.

I'm not sure how to do that Thunder. My RC has the strange proprietary port on the left which is hooked up to my phone. it also has a standard USB in the front bottom, but it doesn't seem to take a charge through it. With the exception of trying a splitter I'm not sure I can charge and have it hooked up to my phone at the same time.

I find I get about 25-30% RC power per UAV battery, and since the warnings go off at 15% usually three full batteries is all I get.

 

[Former Member]

I'm not sure how to do that Thunder. My RC has the strange proprietary port on the left which is hooked up to my phone. it also has a standard USB in the front bottom, but it doesn't seem to take a charge through it. With the exception of trying a splitter I'm not sure I can charge and have it hooked up to my phone at the same time.

I find I get about 25-30% RC power per UAV battery, and since the warnings go off at 15% usually three full batteries is all I get.

I always fly with this contraption and it will give me infinite controller battery life. Its a @Skyreat tablet mount that I use for my Galaxy S9+.

I taped a Yoobao battery bank to it, plus a reversible micro USB cable. Its ugly, but it works for eternal controller battery life. You never have to unplug the power bank from the controller, just charge the power bank.

Amazon.com: SKYREAT Upgraded Tablet Ipad Mount Holder Bracket for DJI Mavic 2 Pro / Mavic 2 Zoom / Mvic Air / Pro / Mavic Platinum ,DJI Spark Remote Controller: Camera & Photo

Amazon.com: SKYREAT Upgraded Tablet Ipad Mount Holder Bracket for DJI Mavic 2 Pro / Mavic 2 Zoom / Mvic Air / Pro / Mavic Platinum ,DJI Spark Remote Controller: Camera & Photo

www.amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/Yoobao-Portable-10000mAh-Powerbank-Compatible/dp/B0722NZP7R/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2E443FFCY9F3E&keywords=yoobao+portable+charger+10000mah+slim+power+bank&qid=1557680678&s=electronics&sprefix=yoobao%2Celectronics%2C130&sr=1-3-catcorr

Amazon.com: Reversible Micro USB Cable,JianHan [3-Pack] Braided Micro USB Charging Cable for Samsung Galaxy S7 S6 J7 Edge,Note 5,LG G3 G4,Kindle,Xbox,PS4,Nexus,Motorola,Android Phones (1.5ft /3.3ft /6.6ft Red): Electronics

Amazon.com: Reversible Micro USB Cable,JianHan [3-Pack] Braided Micro USB Charging Cable for Samsung Galaxy S7 S6 J7 Edge,Note 5,LG G3 G4,Kindle,Xbox,PS4,Nexus,Motorola,Android Phones (1.5ft /3.3ft /6.6ft Red): Electronics

www.amazon.com

 

[Texas Mavic]

If you insist on keeping your drone in a car during the summer or find that you need to do it, you can do a few things to prevent it from getting too hot.

1. First of all keep it in the shade, under a blanket, towel, etc. It will reduce the temperature if its not in direct sunlight.
2. Keep it in a cooler with one or more cool packs in there. I got this tip from another member and it works really well. If you dont use ice, only cool packs, you can control the temperature in the cooler. Dont let it get too cool, like lower than 40°f, but if you can at least keep it in between 40 - 100°f you will be fine.
3. You can precool your packs in the fridge. Again, dont let it get too cool, like lower than 40°f, but if you can at least keep it in between 40 - 100°f you will be fine. That will add a few minutes to your flight time, and if its really hot outside, it will afford you a few minutes to at least get a flight in before the battery maxes out temp wise.

Solid advice right here!!! Fantastic tip.