Is it really true that you can lazily fly your Mavic from inside your warm car?

[Tonewheel]

I can't believe that my iPhone 6 can't stand the cold, and begins to freeze up my DJI app. It is now -30 here in Alberta, but I would like to keep flying.

I have read several posts where Mavic pilots have flown their rig from inside their vehicle. Probably not really line of sight, but laziness can be a virtue in some circumstances, I guess.

With all that metal around, has anyone had a problem with transmission and reception? Have you tried landing on your roof? (I was going to ask at 60 mph, but bad joke).

I used to fish for lake trout like that years ago. Set a bobber, reel out the line, and secure the rod in some rocks and sit in the warm car waiting for the bobber to disappear...poor form, but had some good meals.

 

[Big Fil]

-30 is way outside the Mavic's listed 32F - 104F operating range. Voltage sag in the batteries will be the main issue, but at that low of a temp you could possibly run into the issues of the plastic props becoming brittle. Commercial rigs actual have special buillt in heaters just to be able to fly drones in extremely cold conditions. If not you run the risk of literally falling out of the sky let alone.

Temperature aside yes it's possible to fly from within your vehicle. You will have far less range than you normally would outside but how much will depend entirely on the vehicle. One thing you don't want to do is take off, or land from any metallic surface of the vehicle due to magnetic interference which can cause compass errors. The area around the motor is especially bad due to the density of metal. You can monitor the live level of magnetic interference from the two compasses and walk around the vehicle to see how bad it is. Every vehicle will be different depending on what it's made of. In my truck which has a composite bed with a plastic bed cover I get safe numbers and have no worries about taking off from there. My Suburu wagon though will show errors strong enough even at the far rear of the vehicle. Best thing is to take off/land 5ft or so away from the vehicle to be safe.

 

[Tonewheel]

-30 is way outside the Mavic's listed 32F - 104F operating range. Voltage sag in the batteries will be the main issue, but at that low of a temp you could possibly run into the issues of the plastic props becoming brittle. Commercial rigs actual have special buillt in heaters just to be able to fly drones in extremely cold conditions. If not you run the risk of literally falling out of the sky let alone.

Temperature aside yes it's possible to fly from within your vehicle. You will have far less range than you normally would outside but how much will depend entirely on the vehicle. One thing you don't want to do is take off, or land from any metallic surface of the vehicle due to magnetic interference which can cause compass errors. The area around the motor is especially bad due to the density of metal. You can monitor the live level of magnetic interference from the two compasses and walk around the vehicle to see how bad it is. Every vehicle will be different depending on what it's made of. In my truck which has a composite bed with a plastic bed cover I get safe numbers and have no worries about taking off from there. My Suburu wagon though will show errors strong enough even at the far rear of the vehicle. Best thing is to take off/land 5ft or so away from the vehicle to be safe.

Thanks for the note. I don't plan to launch from the roof because I have a reflector kit which keeps dust or snow away, and launch from ground.

From what I see on this site, there seem to be members who fly below 32F.

I referred to -30 Celsius here which would be about -22F. So, I'm not going to be flying.

Wonder if you can get ear muffs, little booties and a vest for our cute Mavics...

Grateful for the helpful comments.

 

[Mavic Ray]

I can't believe that my iPhone 6 can't stand the cold, and begins to freeze up my DJI app. It is now -30 here in Alberta, but I would like to keep flying.

I have read several posts where Mavic pilots have flown their rig from inside their vehicle. Probably not really line of sight, but laziness can be a virtue in some circumstances, I guess.

With all that metal around, has anyone had a problem with transmission and reception? Have you tried landing on your roof? (I was going to ask at 60 mph, but bad joke).

I used to fish for lake trout like that years ago. Set a bobber, reel out the line, and secure the rod in some rocks and sit in the warm car waiting for the bobber to disappear...poor form, but had some good meals.

I flew yesterday from inside my car and landed it on the roof without a problem.

 

[terradriller]

There have been a number of posts on this question over the last few weeks. If you search around you can find a lot of comments in different threads.
That aside I can tell you from limited experience that it absolutely works. I flew mine last week when it was about 15f with no problem. I too use a circular launch pad whenever I launch my Mavic. I set mine about 20 feet in front of my pickup truck so I could see it when I launched it. Also if you keep the Mavic in front of you looking through the windshield when flying you can keep VLOS as you fly.
I didn’t notice any shortened battery life during my flights nor did I notice any connectivity issues. You may experience a connectivity issue if you fly behind the vehicle due to the RC signal traveling through the steel of the vehicle that you are in.
Hope this helps.

Happy flying[emoji3]

 

[Richmurphy83]

Not so much inside a car but I was flying from inside my house the other day. It was only about 5 degrees Fahrenheit out but I wanted to show off my new toy lol. House has aluminum siding and roofing which I was really surprised did not hinder signal as bad as I expected.

 

[terradriller]

That's good to know

 

[Tonewheel]

Well, you guys are really pushing it. That's it. I'm going to fire up my skid steer, which is 3 tons of cold hard steel and launch it VLOS from the bucket.........or not....

 

[terradriller]

Well, you guys are really pushing it. That's it. I'm going to fire up my skid steer, which is 3 tons of cold hard steel and launch it VLOS from the bucket.........or not....

Might mess with the compass... ha ha

 

[Jonny_Pain]

Routinely fly in the low teens. No issues, never had a battery temp warning. I always try to fly it fast to keep the discharge rate/heat up.

 

[w4t3r]

@Tonewheel no need to stop flying. Just warm your batteries before the flight, don't fly too slow and keep an eye on the battery temperature. If it drops below 15°C I'd land.
I partly agree with @Big Fil, don't fly if it's foggy or if the air is too humid, you don't want icing props.
But I think problems with the mavic battery is the last thing you will get, since the discharge generates heat. I've flown in -10°C without issues, the battery didn't ever get colder than 25°C during the flight.

As for the iphone battery dying: try to charge it to 100% before the flight and plan a mission with litchi so you can keep the phone in the pocket during the flight.

 

[Endeavor]

I live in MN so flying on frozen lakes and in -10 degree conditions is not a stand in the cold deal for me at all. I toss out my landing pad fire up and jump back into the truck and fly from there heater running in sport mode. 2 or 3 mile flight are fine as the signal gets through the glass just fine. If I had to do this hee man style I would probably wait for warm weather.

 

[Tonewheel]

I'll try charging the iPhone to 100%. As I recall, it was probably below 50% when it gave me trouble....

In southern Alberta, chinooks can warm things up in hours. -20 to 20 in 24 hours can happen.

 

[Howcroft22]

I can't believe that my iPhone 6 can't stand the cold, and begins to freeze up my DJI app. It is now -30 here in Alberta, but I would like to keep flying.

I have read several posts where Mavic pilots have flown their rig from inside their vehicle. Probably not really line of sight, but laziness can be a virtue in some circumstances, I guess.

With all that metal around, has anyone had a problem with transmission and reception? Have you tried landing on your roof? (I was going to ask at 60 mph, but bad joke).

I used to fish for lake trout like that years ago. Set a bobber, reel out the line, and secure the rod in some rocks and sit in the warm car waiting for the bobber to disappear...poor form, but had some good meals.

Trust me. I’d rather be outside flying. But it’s been sub zero a lot lately. So the car is the only option.

 

[jmac_88]

I flew yesterday from inside my car and landed it on the roof without a problem.

I did this too. Had it follow me to work, then I manually landed on the roof. It was actually really cool.

 

[0002s]

I fly from inside my truck all the time. No issues.

 

[JakeS]

I fly inside my car here and there especially once the temp falls below -15 or so. I have flown in as cold as -25 to -30f and the Mavic performs just fine. Be sure and keep the batteries warm before starting the flight and I let it hover for a minute or so to get the battery temp up to 20-25. It stays up there usually once it’s going but i stay close by since the run time is a bit shorter.

 

[Howcroft22]

I fly inside my car here and there especially once the temp falls below -15 or so. I have flown in as cold as -25 to -30f and the Mavic performs just fine. Be sure and keep the batteries warm before starting the flight and I let it hover for a minute or so to get the battery temp up to 20-25. It stays up there usually once it’s going but i stay close by since the run time is a bit shorter.

That’s what I do. I keep a box of heat packs in my truck. I put one on the spare batts. Or I put them on the defrost on low setting if I’m sitting in the truck.

 

[JakeS]

That’s what I do. I keep a box of heat packs in my truck. I put one on the spare batts. Or I put them on the defrost on low setting if I’m sitting in the truck.

Yeah the heat packs are great. I keep them in my bag with the batteries for when I hike a ways or go into the bush for a few days. They do a great job of keeping the batteries warm.

 

[Tbredhed]

Thanks for the note. I don't plan to launch from the roof because I have a reflector kit which keeps dust or snow away, and launch from ground.

From what I see on this site, there seem to be members who fly below 32F.

I referred to -30 Celsius here which would be about -22F. So, I'm not going to be flying.

Wonder if you can get ear muffs, little booties and a vest for our cute Mavics...

Grateful for the helpful comments.

Hi Tonewheel, I'm from northern Ontario and have similar temps to you. I've been flying from inside my house with my MPP with no problems, I live in the country so can't see any of my neighbours. The most distance away I've flown from in the house was to the back of my property about 2500'.

I have never once had a problem with my drone due to the cold, my coldest flight was -26C. I've been doing flights of increasing duration as I'm a new pilot as well, my longest so far has been about 22 minutes and still landed with plenty of battery.

If it doesn't snow today my wife is going cross country skiing and I'm going to try out one of the tracking modes from the truck. I'll let you know if we do go out.