Something new while flying in the cold!

[Zbip57]

I have had much experience flying in Minnesota in the winter...

I had an embarrassing moment shooting some B-roll footage for coverage of a winter car rally in Maniwaki Quebec. We're no longer allowed (awkward insurance reasons) to overfly the actual event, but we went out the day before with my Phantom P3P to get some location shots. It was c-c-c-cold.

The batteries were warm in the car, but we had to hike a little ways through the snow. Rather than freeze my fingers off out there, I readied the drone inside the car and then carried everything pre-assembled to the launch site. It took a long time for it to locate enough satellites and warm the IMU, so by the time it was ready to launch it announced the battery was too cold and refused to start motors. ****.

Luckily I kept a second battery stuffed down my pants. I'm so clever.

That worked fine. Took off, flew for nearly 15 minutes, awesome scenery, fingers freezing, then dashed back to the car to warm up again during the drive back. It's only upon reaching the hotel that it occurred to me. Did I remember to press the record button???

Nope. Again!!

 

[SpitFire]

That is the issue with me as well, my fingers get cold. So, I do the same thing other pilots do. I sit in my car, turn up the heat, and fly out of my car.
Depending how cold it is, limit flight time when it get to really cold.
I do like the hand warmer idea, as well, for when I have to get out and pick up the Bird to change batteries etc.

 

[dirkclod]

It took a long time for it to locate enough satellites and warm the IMU,

Been awhile since I’ve read that and was with Phantoms. We would do cold Imu calibrations and that fixed that. I would put mine in the bottom of the refrigerator for a little bit then do it. Hadn’t tryed with a Mavic though. ?

 

[Juantana]

This might not be the right thread but I searched and didnt find exactly my situation, kinda the opposite of this one. The other day I tried to get some cool snow pics as we had a bout a foot here in WV and Im not sure if it was the cold (~30 degrees F) or the all white ground cover but the Mavic Air 2/ Fly App totally disconnected about 3-4 min into the flight - drone was directly overhead and it wasn't like the out of range disconnect where RTH brings it back - there was no video and I was back at the "connect drone" screen - thankfully the joysticks still navigated the drone and I could land it manually, but thank god it was not out of sight as there was no RTH. It was very weird and the drone was waiting for an update so I got that - I have not tested it again since the update so hopefully it wont happen again, but I would think drones can fly in weather under freezing? Did get a couple great shots tho.

 

[Skyelf]

I do a lot of astro timelapse photography, shooting 2 hour Milky Ways in cold weather at mountain tops. I set up the tripods and cameras while it is still light out, so when the air cools down, the lenses fog over internally! I have solved this problem with HAND WARMERS AND A RUBBER BAND. I put a hand warmer on each side of the lens and hold them in place with rubber bands. It works wonderfully. You could also use hand warmers in a small thermal cooler for the same effect! They stay warm for 12 hours! Here are some from Amazon.View attachment 120007

Do you have a picture of your cooler lid, to show how you attached the warmers? Sounds intriguing! Thanks

 

[dsmith76]

While flying in the cold today I had my iPad shut down because of the cold! It really was not all that cold but I guess the iPad disagreed. I jump back in my truck and turned the heater up high and after a couple minutes the iPad fired back up and connected back to the drone where she was looking right where I had her when disconnected.

 

[dsmith76]

While flying in the cold today I had my iPad shut down because of the cold! It really was not all that cold but I guess the iPad disagreed. I jump back in my truck and turned the heater up high and after a couple minutes the iPad fired back up and connected back to the drone where she was looking right where I had her when disconnected.

I much prefer the larger screen of my IPad mini 4, but it has shut down many times in cold Chicago weather. I almost always use my iPhone 11 in cold weather and it has never frozen up yet, even in 32 F temps and wind gusts around 20 mph.

 

[DanMan32]

This might not be the right thread but I searched and didnt find exactly my situation, kinda the opposite of this one. The other day I tried to get some cool snow pics as we had a bout a foot here in WV and Im not sure if it was the cold (~30 degrees F) or the all white ground cover but the Mavic Air 2/ Fly App totally disconnected about 3-4 min into the flight - drone was directly overhead and it wasn't like the out of range disconnect where RTH brings it back - there was no video and I was back at the "connect drone" screen - thankfully the joysticks still navigated the drone and I could land it manually, but thank god it was not out of sight as there was no RTH. It was very weird and the drone was waiting for an update so I got that - I have not tested it again since the update so hopefully it wont happen again, but I would think drones can fly in weather under freezing? Did get a couple great shots tho.
View attachment 120109

If you had RC controls then it wasn't the link from RC to AC but rather app to RC. Are you sure Fly didn't say RC Disconnected?

The RC LEDs themselves will indicate if it lost connection to the AC. If steady, then you still have control, just blind.

As for RTH. There's an RTH button on the RC which you can use to command RTH any time. Just press and hold until it continuously beeps.
Even if you lost communication, the default fail safe is RTH.
If you couldn't see the AC (you should be flying VLOS) and didn't realize you had control, it would automatically engage RTH on low battery.

 

[Juantana]

If you had RC controls then it wasn't the link from RC to AC but rather app to RC. Are you sure Fly didn't say RC Disconnected?

The RC LEDs themselves will indicate if it lost connection to the AC. If steady, then you still have control, just blind.

As for RTH. There's an RTH button on the RC which you can use to command RTH any time. Just press and hold until it continuously beeps.
Even if you lost communication, the default fail safe is RTH.
If you couldn't see the AC (you should be flying VLOS) and didn't realize you had control, it would automatically engage RTH on low battery.

Yes it was the link from the app - that is is a good idea, I did not try the H landing button on the RC, but the RC LEDS we're solid - the app however, was back at the "connect drone" screen with no video or controls whatsoever. If it does it again I will contact DJI, very strange - thank god the joysticks still maneuvered the drone and I could land. I wonder if the drone was far away and the battery got low if it would land or RTH in that situation - not sure how much of the data/info is in the drone versus the controller. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[4wd]

If conditions are bordering on too cold and you have a vehicle just sit in it after launch
With the controller at the windscreen range is not much impacted.
I do it quite a bit in case anyone is wondering where the drone owner is

 

[DanMan32]

Yes it was the link from the app - that is is a good idea, I did not try the H landing button on the RC, but the RC LEDS we're solid - the app however, was back at the "connect drone" screen with no video or controls whatsoever. If it does it again I will contact DJI, very strange - thank god the joysticks still maneuvered the drone and I could land. I wonder if the drone was far away and the battery got low if it would land or RTH in that situation - not sure how much of the data/info is in the drone versus the controller. Thanks for your thoughts.

If the app changed screens, the app crashed.
Fly will normally stay on the camera view with "RC Disconnected" at the top if it can't communicate with the RC, something similar to "Aircraft Disconnected" at the top if it can communicate with the RC, but not hearing from the AC.

I already provided what could trigger RTH, including low battery. So yes if your AC was far away and hadn't already recommended RTH on low battery, even disconnected it will RTH when it determines the battery only has enough to get back home.

 

[ICHOTT]

Easy way to remember is it’s the wind that is pulling whatever warmth is in a device/body out until it’s at ambient.
The 2 thermometer test would show a difference if they were both brought from a higher temp room. The one in the can would take longer to lose its temp to ambient whereas the one in the wind would cool quicker, but they would both stop at whatever the ambient is.
I’ve had ipads close down due to cold, solution is to put an insulated pad on the back, makes all the difference.