Operating Temperature Question

R_Mark1 · Jan 17, 2017

On the DJI website it says the drones maximum operating temperature, is that the temperature of the battery or of the environment i am flying in, i was flying my Mavic in 31ºC and it said the battery was at 46ºC.

msinger · Jan 17, 2017

DJI recommends an outside temperature between 32°F to 104°F (0°C to 40°C). That certainly does not mean it's technically impossible to fly in colder or hotter temperatures.

Per the Battery Safety Guidelines, the battery should be used in temperatures between 14°F to 104°F (-10°C to 40°C). Use of the battery in environments above 122°F (50°C) could lead to a fire or explosion. Use of the battery in temperatures below 14°F (-10°C) could permanently damage the battery.

R_Mark1 · Jan 17, 2017

the battery is at 45º and the temp is at 32º is this suitable to fly?

msinger said:
DJI recommends an outside temperature between 32°F to 104°F (0°C to 40°C). That certainly does not mean it's technically impossible to fly in colder or hotter temperatures.

Per the Battery Safety Guidelines, the battery should be used in temperatures between 14°F to 104°F (-10°C to 40°C). Use of the battery in environments above 122°F (50°C) could lead to a fire or explosion. Use of the battery in temperatures below 14°F (-10°C) could permanently damage the battery.

R_Mark1 · Jan 17, 2017

msinger said:
The Mavic will not allow you to take off if the battery is too cold. As for the outdoor temperature, you can see it's within DJI's recommendations.

Is it suitable though? Well, only your fingers will be able to tell you that I've flown at 32°F plenty of times.

Sorry, i didn't add that it is 32º celsius

, but the battery is reaching temps of over 45ºC is this bad

msinger · Jan 17, 2017

45°C is above the recommended battery operating temperature of 41°F to 104°F (5°C to 40°C). It'll probably be fine though. It's been cold here since I bought my Mavic, so I haven't had the chance to see how the battery performs in hotter temperatures.

Dave Gibbs · May 17, 2018

Hi guys, I was looking around for more information and came across this thread. I just wanted to add my recent experience. I am flying in a warm climate zone with temps in Celsius ranging around 30-33 C. I just had an experience where one of my batteries "gassed", i.e. the electrolytes hit boiling temp, gassed and the battery bloated. It almost popped itself off the hold down clips on the drone. I spotted it as I was landing. I never got an overheat warning (that I was aware of). Is there a way to review the flight data on the DJI GO 4 app to see if there was a overtemp warning and I just missed it?

After it happened my level of awareness increased substantially and I began some research. Today I have an outside temp of 33ºC and while monitoring the battery temp I watched it climb to over 44ºC within about five minutes while hovering in place.

My question becomes......at what temp does the battery begin to gas.

Porto · May 18, 2018

I also live in hot climate where I usually fly when the temperature is around 30C. After about 15 min of flying in full throttle P-mode (OA off) the battery temperature will usually reach somewhere between 50C - 60C. My batteries now have close to 100 charge cycle and they are still doing ok. I usually avoid flying when the weather is over 32C as the battery temp can reach over 60C once it landed, which I am afraid could be too hot.

Flycaster · May 18, 2018

It's also dependant on the "drain" rate of the battery. That generates heat also, so if you are hotdogging around in the air, that also generates more heat as the current drain.
Add that to the ambient temps, and yes, can can "overdrain" your batteries to the point of outgassing/puffing the battery, shortening it's life.

Dave Gibbs · May 18, 2018

Flycaster said:
It's also dependant on the "drain" rate of the battery. That generates heat also, so if you are hotdogging around in the air, that also generates more heat as the current drain.
Add that to the ambient temps, and yes, can can "overdrain" your batteries to the point of outgassing/puffing the battery, shortening it's life.

When it happened to one of my batteries recently, I had spent maybe 5-6 min's on the landing pad fooling around with some photo parameters and then launched for a pretty conservative 6-8 min's in the air running some video. No hotdogging. When I brought it in I still had 66% battery charge but the battery had gassed. First time I had encountered it in over a year of flying (that battery included). I did not think to check the battery temp. I am much more aware of it now but still don't have any idea at what temp the batteries will start to gas. It is obviously at some temp way above 40ºC (the top end of the operating specs published by DJI).

Turn11 · May 20, 2018

msinger said:
It's been cold here since I bought my Mavic, so I haven't had the chance to see how the battery performs in hotter temperatures.

Out here in Arizona the temperatures will reach 110 - 120 F during the summer. Maybe in the early AM but doubtful. We will seek out some lower temperatures up in the mountains. I am not willing to risk MPP, battery or both during the extreme temperatures.

azguppy · Jul 22, 2022

Turn11 said:
Out here in Arizona the temperatures will reach 110 - 120 F during the summer. Maybe in the early AM but doubtful. We will seek out some lower temperatures up in the mountains. I am not willing to risk MPP, battery or both during the extreme temperatures.

I also live in AZ. I was flying when the temperature was 107F and my Mini 3 Pro gave me a high temp warning and said it was landing immediately. Fortunately I made it back to a safe landing area.