Should I fly when it's this hot?

[mavicn00b]

Gotta remember the temp up there isn't the same as down on the ground. Neither is the wind for that matter. Mine comes back cool as a cucumber when I land it, the battery though, that's another story.

 

[jeplane]

The temp up there is the same. It only goes down 9F/3C per 3000 feet of altitude.
Surely you are not flying above 400' right?...-

Winds as soon as you are above houses and trees is a different story.

 

[nickmavic]

Southeastern here. On these 95F+ days, I've been tossing my battery in a ziplock bag and into the freezer for about 10-15 mins before flight. It comes out cooled down, if I had to guess,to around 55-60F -- nothing harmful by any means. I then take it out, let it sit for a sec to evaporate any condensation that could've formed, then I use it.

I've noticed that while the Mavic body comes back just as hot as ever (not surprised), the battery is noticeably cooler still, which to me is a win in reliability (though I could be full of *@&#).

 

[GooniesNeverDie]

The hottest point on the Mavic should be the Heat Sink, on the very top.

Mine is always 129 or 130 degrees on the bottom regardless of the outside temp.

As long as the outside temp isn't more than the operating temp of the Mavic it shouldn't have that much bearing on it.

I've also flown in Cold weather. Extreme cold helps keep it cool.

Just remember this, cold batteries are not always good. The P3 suffered from an issue that the battery would shut off when it was cold.


Truffle Shuffle!

 

[xman1]

The batteries won't charge if too hot. So you can plug them in while hot. They'll just rapidly blink to indicate that they're cooling down before beginning to charge them.

I wouldn't do that. They are just refusing to charge because they could pose a fire risk. If you charge when they are still warm, you are killing them as heat is the enemy to the battery. IMHO, Expect a dead cell in the future if you keep doing that.

 

[Cyberpower678]

I wouldn't do that. They are just refusing to charge because they could pose a fire risk. If you charge when they are still warm, you are killing them as heat is the enemy to the battery. IMHO, Expect a dead cell in the future if you keep doing that.

You missed my point. The battery has an onboard computer. They refuse to charge if they are too warm to charge. They won't take on any power in that state. Once the battery drops to around 30C, they will begin to charge. That's not damaging to the cells at all. Likewise they won't charge below 5C either.

 

[Glenn Goodlett]

I wouldn't do that. They are just refusing to charge because they could pose a fire risk. If you charge when they are still warm, you are killing them as heat is the enemy to the battery. IMHO, Expect a dead cell in the future if you keep doing that.

I've always done just that. Plug them in while hot. They seem ambient temp when they start charging. But, I don't really know. I do have over 11 million feet flown and have never killed a DJI battery.

 

[Glenn Goodlett]

You missed my point. The battery has an onboard computer. They refuse to charge if they are too warm to charge. They won't take on any power in that state. Once the battery drops to around 30C, they will begin to charge. That's not damaging to the cells at all. Likewise they won't charge below 5C either.

Must be more than 30C, otherwise my batteries would never charge. It's 29C now and it's still early. I'm ready for summer to be over.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Must be more than 30C, otherwise my batteries would never charge. It's 29C now and it's still early. I'm ready for summer to be over.

My mistake. I typoed 40C.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

The operating spec goes to 100°F so DJI are not guaranteeing anything over that.

For some bizarre reason they made it a very dark colour. With the sun load in Phoenix (one June in the 90's I was there it was 121°F and sunny) the MP will get very hot - especially on the ground. Keep it shaded as much as possible before and after flight. At least flying it should "cool" it to ambient on its surface...

While the MP might be quite tough (amazing considering some of the crashes they come through) one huge enemy of solid state electronics is heat. That will reduce the life span of the electronics. (Though I'd bet the electronics will outlast the flying life of the machine in almost all cases).

Li-ion battery life also reduces as a function of heat - and they produce enough of that themselves - adding to that won't help them live long.

As others have pointed out the best light for photos and video is in the magic hours (after sunrise; before sunset) and it's usually much cooler then.

 

[namja]

This heat wave is no joke.
Think it's hot now? Just wait: Southern California's heat wave is just getting started
10:00 a.m. already 86 degrees today.
Gonna be 100-105 for the next 5+ days.
Gonna be 96+ for the foreseeable future.

The beauty of California though is that it still goes down to mid-60s at night. That's a 35 degree delta. On Wednesday, it is expected to be 107/67 for a 40 degree delta.

I guess I'll be getting up early to fly. Maybe I'll try to catch the 5:38 a.m. sunrise.

 

[Glenn Goodlett]

It's only getting down to the mid 80s in the high desert. The IE does have nice weather.

 

[GooniesNeverDie]

It's going to be 121 here on Tuesday!

 

[xman1]

I've always done just that. Plug them in while hot. They seem ambient temp when they start charging. But, I don't really know. I do have over 11 million feet flown and have never killed a DJI battery.

I assume they will last the warranty period if you do that, but I wouldn't expect much longer.

Let us know how you fair with these things doing that as this would be great information to know. How old are the batteries you have so far?

 

[Glenn Goodlett]

I have Phantom 4 batteries with over 100 cycles. Mavic batteries only have 75 cycles at most.

You know the batteries have a preprogrammed life span, right. With the battery off hold down the button for 10 or so seconds. The more lights you have the more life span you have left. When no lights come on, the battery will no longer take a charge, according to the manual.

On my most used battery with 120 cycles I get three lights which seems to indicate the expected life should be 400-500 cycles.

Time will tell.

 

[F6Rider]

The hottest point on the Mavic should be the Heat Sink, on the very top.



Truffle Shuffle!

You mean the bottom.... right

 

[namja]

It's only getting down to the mid 80s in the high desert. The IE does have nice weather.

Nice weather? I think this is the first time that I heard ANYONE say that about the I.E.
But I guess it's all relative.


BTW, it was too hot in Phoenix today that even regular planes couldn't fly. 20 American Airlines flights were canceled today because it was too hot.
It's so hot in Phoenix, they can't fly planes

 

[Kilrah]

You know the batteries have a preprogrammed life span, right.

It's not a "preprogrammed life span", it's the gauge circuitry tracking the evolution of the real measured capacity and comparing it to the original capacity. When X is lost it's considered unsafe to use but YMMV how many cycles it will for that degradation to happen on different batteries.

 

[Glenn Goodlett]

Preprogrammed was not the right word. But you will only get so many cycles from the battery. You will never make it to 3000 cycles no matter how you treat the battery. Although you can kill batteries prematurely.

 

[Porto]

We have to remember that weather report measure the temperature under the shade. Under direct sunlight, it will be quite a lot hotter. May be white or silver sticker can help to reflect the heat from direct sunlight. I read somewhere that both white and silver (not grey) reflect about 60% of sunlight.