Good day everybody,
I plan a micro cruise trip to Svalbard beginning of June this year and subsequently have a lot of questions about my bird. I read a few things here and there on temperature limit but I struggle to find all the information I need. I would appreciate if the community could help me on this one. Before I start, I would like to clarify one detail: I know the conditions are tough and there is a likelihood that I lose the drone (no GPS, cold, wind...). I accept this situation, will fly anyway, and what I am trying to do is to establish odds of those things happening depending on the conditions and hardware I purchase or keep. I am willing to buy additional hardware if it can lower the risk. Another point: I flew quite a lot with this drone but never really understood the underlying mecanisms, and I might ask beginner questions. I only want to learn more.
1) First, temperature: As far as I understand, the lower limit is 32°F (0°C) for the bird itself and the batteries, but I also read that as long as the drone itself is kept in a warm place - the cabin of the boat will be at around 68°F (20°C) - it can be flown for a short period of time even below this lower limit. I don't know how long, though. The reason for this is that it damages the batteries if they are kept in a cold place for too long, but they are supposed to hold if they are warm and just fly in a very cold place for a few minutes since flying warms they up as well. As I already flew at a temperature above the higher limit without visible problems, I was wondering if it was reasonable to try flying at a lower temparature than the lower limit.
> Do you agree with this? Any feedback of previous experiences?
2) What worries me more is that I fly the MP2 Zoom with the controller and my phone, and as much as it did not happen to me yet that my iPhone 7 Plus stops working because of the cold, it happened to me several times with my iPhone SE under 0°C. Worse, there is no GPS to help you fly in the North Pole, it's all in manual, and the RTH does not work. I would simply lose the bird AND the video.
> Do you have any advice or feedback on this? Should I go for an independant smart controller that works without a phone? If yes, what is the temperature lower limit on it?
3) Considering the risk to lose the bird, I would like to make sure I am getting the video even if the drone goes down. I would be so sad to be able to shoot a great video of a polar bear, whales, walruses or even a glacier, and lose it with the drone. The drone is "just" a way to shoot marvellous videos, I can accept to lose it in that sense, but what a shame if the video goes down with it...
> Is there a way for me to actually record the video while the bird is flying instead of having to wait for it to return and transfer the video from the bird to a phone or computer?
4) As I will have a spotter with binoculars with me at all time, I would be happy to try long range flights (glaciers can be very wide, and polar bear/whales can be seen from a long distance). As such, considering no RTH can be activated, I would like to make sure that the likelihood of losing signal gets as low as possible.
> What should I consider?
- Can I fly at 2.4 GHz with the MP2?
- Should I/Can I change antennas on the controller (or get a new controller)? Directional array rather than omnidirectictional one?
- Should I buy a ground station?
5) High light conditions: there will be light 24/7 there, and I suppose that it's not that easy to shoot with very high luminosity. I already have some filters (ND 4, 8, 16, 32).
> Is there anything else I should consider buying or doing?
> How should I use the filters there?
Any other tips you would like to give me? Or feedback you would like to give?
Thank you very much for your help,
Jack AD
I plan a micro cruise trip to Svalbard beginning of June this year and subsequently have a lot of questions about my bird. I read a few things here and there on temperature limit but I struggle to find all the information I need. I would appreciate if the community could help me on this one. Before I start, I would like to clarify one detail: I know the conditions are tough and there is a likelihood that I lose the drone (no GPS, cold, wind...). I accept this situation, will fly anyway, and what I am trying to do is to establish odds of those things happening depending on the conditions and hardware I purchase or keep. I am willing to buy additional hardware if it can lower the risk. Another point: I flew quite a lot with this drone but never really understood the underlying mecanisms, and I might ask beginner questions. I only want to learn more.
1) First, temperature: As far as I understand, the lower limit is 32°F (0°C) for the bird itself and the batteries, but I also read that as long as the drone itself is kept in a warm place - the cabin of the boat will be at around 68°F (20°C) - it can be flown for a short period of time even below this lower limit. I don't know how long, though. The reason for this is that it damages the batteries if they are kept in a cold place for too long, but they are supposed to hold if they are warm and just fly in a very cold place for a few minutes since flying warms they up as well. As I already flew at a temperature above the higher limit without visible problems, I was wondering if it was reasonable to try flying at a lower temparature than the lower limit.
> Do you agree with this? Any feedback of previous experiences?
2) What worries me more is that I fly the MP2 Zoom with the controller and my phone, and as much as it did not happen to me yet that my iPhone 7 Plus stops working because of the cold, it happened to me several times with my iPhone SE under 0°C. Worse, there is no GPS to help you fly in the North Pole, it's all in manual, and the RTH does not work. I would simply lose the bird AND the video.
> Do you have any advice or feedback on this? Should I go for an independant smart controller that works without a phone? If yes, what is the temperature lower limit on it?
3) Considering the risk to lose the bird, I would like to make sure I am getting the video even if the drone goes down. I would be so sad to be able to shoot a great video of a polar bear, whales, walruses or even a glacier, and lose it with the drone. The drone is "just" a way to shoot marvellous videos, I can accept to lose it in that sense, but what a shame if the video goes down with it...
> Is there a way for me to actually record the video while the bird is flying instead of having to wait for it to return and transfer the video from the bird to a phone or computer?
4) As I will have a spotter with binoculars with me at all time, I would be happy to try long range flights (glaciers can be very wide, and polar bear/whales can be seen from a long distance). As such, considering no RTH can be activated, I would like to make sure that the likelihood of losing signal gets as low as possible.
> What should I consider?
- Can I fly at 2.4 GHz with the MP2?
- Should I/Can I change antennas on the controller (or get a new controller)? Directional array rather than omnidirectictional one?
- Should I buy a ground station?
5) High light conditions: there will be light 24/7 there, and I suppose that it's not that easy to shoot with very high luminosity. I already have some filters (ND 4, 8, 16, 32).
> Is there anything else I should consider buying or doing?
> How should I use the filters there?
Any other tips you would like to give me? Or feedback you would like to give?
Thank you very much for your help,
Jack AD