Flying in Cold Weather

[Bad Drone]

Greetings! I recently received my Mavic and have yet to take her out flying for the first time. I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, IL and our weather here is, at the moment, still quite "wintery". I've flown a P3 for the last 7 months and really enjoyed it but have always been very cautious about flying in sub-par weather conditions. I generally fly in temperatures over 40 degrees fahrenheit...anything colder seems to cause rapid battery drain and I'm always worried about doing some kind of damage to the quad.

My question is, how cold is too cold to fly? Anybody have any experience flying in cold temps, such as below 40°F? I'm wondering if there are any other adverse effects on the Mavic aside from shorter flight times due to battery drain. I'd love to hear from those winter pilots out there! Thanks!

 

[msinger]

Anybody have any experience flying in cold temps, such as below 40°F?

In the Mavic manual, DJI recommends not flying in temperatures below 32°F. However, it is possible to fly in colder temperatures if you take some extra steps to keep the batteries warm, give the Mavic proper time to warm up before taking off, etc. You can find more details in the cold weather flying tips here, here, and here.

 

[aqualung]

The worst I've flown mine has been -3° C (~27° F) with 7 m/s (16 mph) wind.
Zero issues, apart from my fingers freezing after 15 minutes, despite a pair of fingerless gloves. Good hover in steady wind, smooth gimbal operation, no jello or jitter. As a precaution I landed after a little under 20 minutes of flight, but the Mavic still claimed over 25% battery.

My iPhone on the other hand showed a battery drain of over 30% during the flight, but regained around half of that after being in a warm pocket for a while. I'd consider taping a hand warmer to it for later flights below freezing.

The Mavic's operational temperature range is 32° to 104° F (0° to 40° C), but I recall mention of -5° C or -10° C still being safe, although with diminished battery life. Phantom 4 has the same listed specs, and I've seen them flown at around -10° C without problems.

 

[CCDD]

Although the Mavic can be flown in temps far colder thsn DJIs recommendations, the fact that precise control movements are limited while using the remote with gloves is likely a peril most don't consider.

 

[armoredsaint]

Good excuse to use the clear gimbal cover

 

[AlanTheBeast]

I've flown the MP as cold as -9°C which is miserable cold to have to poke ones fingers out - get thin, warm gloves that are touch screen compatible.

I've gotten 3 or 4 "cold battery" warnings when flying at -6°C or colder. You have to keep your batteries as warm as possible prior to flight - and even then you may get a warning.

I've had trouble with focus working correctly below about -6°C and the left side of the image is soft. I think the camera "mechanics" are too tight and at cold weather, the focus is just off (won't go anywhere near ∞ and the "barrel" is dragging making for the left side softness).

At about -3°C and up, everything is fine.

 

[Squamer]

I've flown below zero F in NH with 15mph winds and haven't had many issues. Is it recommended? Probably not but like everyone else I received my drone in December and we typically wont see above freezing temps till April! Like said above, keep batteries warm and let it hover for a minute, I keep an eye on my voltage instead of the battery %. Limiting factor is the I-Phone battery and my fingers!

 

[Frits]

I have done fairly lengthy flights down to -15 C without any problem.
Once I tried at nearly -20, but then I got a battery warning and aborted the flight.
Following the above, I have a self-imposed limit of -12 C. Done a number of flights at these temperatures without a problem ever.

 

[dewster]

I wouldn't make risky flights in the cold. Keep it in recoverable areas. I don't think the Mavic will just fall from the sky, but it will reduce power for a forced landing when battery issues come up.

 

[Robert Mitchell]

I made some flights in single digits F. There were no adverse reactions.
Keep in mind that flying in mist, fog, or high relative humidity, below 32F could result in prop icing. It happens quickly and is unrecovetable.

 

[jvouillon]

Hi, I flew with temperatures around -20°C ( -30°c windchill ) but after 6/7minutes, my iPhone 5 shutdown! The RC was still ok and I was able to flight back without problem. The phone is really the weak part with low temperatures.

 

[Bad Drone]

Wow! Thank you all for the quick responses and solid information. I don't plan on flying in any really extreme cold, but my mind is definitely at ease about taking my Mavic up in moderately cold weather (30°- 40° F). Today is looking pretty sunny so maybe I'll give it a run later this afternoon. I'll report back later today if I do.

Thanks again to everyone who responded!

 

[AyeYo]

I've flown in sub 0F at high altitude without major issues. Expect lots of jello if you don't have ND filters to keep the shutter speed down, lots of weird gimbal twitches, and even pre-warmed batteries can have sudden voltage drops, so don't fly too far or too high. I still come aware with plenty of usable footage though.

 

[theecrewchief]

I got my mavic yesterday and ran firmware updates in the house. The aircraft had to run them on the controller, battery, and aircraft I imagine since it was the first time seeing power. The aircraft warmed right up doing these. I considered that plenty warm enough to take it outside and get a maiden flight in central Ohio in the upper 20's/low 30's with a light breeze. The aircraft handled beautifully and better than the p3 I had been previously flying. I didn't see any cold warnings on my controller (aircraft was nice and warmed up though)

 

[Kestrel]

Took mine out this morning and it was 27F, no problems. Just be careful with the wind, it doesn't handle wind as good as the Phantom 3 does.

 

[Filmscum]

For the first 2 months after I got my Mavic in mid November r it never got above freezing here, with the norm being in the teens. The coldest I flew in was -17F (that's minus) with lots of days between that and 0F and I had zero issues other than the cold battery warning (and even then it flew just fine). The only real issues I had were with my iPad mini battery and my fingers as I still can't fly with gloves!

 

[bump]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I was flying a few weeks ago in 17-22*F weather and, although my control and flight time wasn't noticeably affected, (probably due to me keeping everything toasty in the Jeep until use, and the zero wind that day) wondered weather anyone had tried an old photography trick of taping hand warmers to the Mavic battery to keep them warm?

 

[CCDD]

Heat rises therefore, I don’t believe one would see much benefit.

 

[bump]

Conductance. Works well with DSLR's. I'm more concerned about whether the iron powder in the handwarmers will interfere with the Mavic's sensors or GPS. Looks like the weather will be clear and mild on Saturday. I'll see if I can give it a try.

 

[polmer]

Old feedback at this point, but I flew my Mavic Pro in 10-15 mph wind at 5F for 30 minutes without incident.
I was a bit nervous, but it did very well.
It started out warm : 70F.