Flying My Mavic In the Cold

GlassKnees

GlassKnees

Well-Known Member
It is 14 degree F. here in Loveland Colorado and we got about three inches of fresh snow last night. I wanted to take some aerial pics of the snow, but was concerned about the cold drastically shortening my battery charge. Then I hit upon an idea of using some foam weather strip material and taping some to the battery in an attempt to insulate it a bit:

Mavic With Tape.jpg
I used some black electrician tape. But then I was concerned about whether or not the tape would hold in the cold, so I tried a short experimental flight. I hovered a bit in front of me, carefully watching for any signs that the tape was giving away but it held. So I rose up a bit and took a single pic and immediately brought it back down - no problems!

looking west.jpg

The battery still has nearly a full charge, but I replaced it with a fresh one and will try again a little later when the clouds dissipate.
 
LoneRCRanger

LoneRCRanger

Well-Known Member
My concern would be how you might have changed the flight characteristics by adding an insulator to the battery. Prolonged exposure of a battery to cold air will diminish the charge and shorten the life of such. However, a short time of exposure, say the time of a flight, should not diminish the power to where it is critically affected. Keeping your battery(s) in a warm pocket prior to use, will probably be the best solution (after charging, of course).
 
GlassKnees

GlassKnees

Well-Known Member
LoneRCRanger said:
My concern would be how you might have changed the flight characteristics by adding an insulator to the battery. Prolonged exposure of a battery to cold air will diminish the charge and shorten the life of such. However, a short time of exposure, say the time of a flight, should not diminish the power to where it is critically affected. Keeping your battery(s) in a warm pocket prior to use, will probably be the best solution (after charging, of course).
Click to expand...
I believe you are correct. I was flying slow so the characteristics didn’tnoticeably change. I kept my flights short and changed with fresh batteries that were in a warm place.
 
wafflejock

wafflejock

Well-Known Member
Yup around 20C (room temp) is best for efficiency of power drawn from the battery but it will heat itself up some when current is flowing. Insulator probably helps a bit with avoiding any snow ingress in the case of a crash or landing in the snow but can also just tape up any holes where snow could get in onto the electronics. For my diy stuff I paint on conformal coating (like nail polish but for rubberizing the outside of circuit boards to make them water proof). Only issue there is conformal coating can sometimes effect some sensors.

Nice picture of the snow and mountains though I like it.
 
Dugdog47

Dugdog47

Well-Known Member
Great pics and hey yeah!

Was just talking to someone about a drone flying in -60f.

Here on earth this is close but what if gravity was different?

We're talking a whole new ballpark lol!!
 
LoneRCRanger

LoneRCRanger

Well-Known Member
Imagine travelling 239 Million Miles, going into a perfect orbit, dropping down to hover on rocket propulsion, sticking the landing perfect the first time. I wish my drones could land the same way instead of using a tree or bush to catch it. The space craft is supposed to be the size of a small SUV.
 
LoneRCRanger

LoneRCRanger

Well-Known Member
Dugdog47 said:
Great pics and hey yeah!

Was just talking to someone about a drone flying in -60f.

Here on earth this is close but what if gravity was different?

We're talking a whole new ballpark lol!!
Click to expand...
Also, imagine flying the drone from 239 million miles away. FPV in real time is what a 8 minute delay?
 
wafflejock

wafflejock

Well-Known Member
3-22 minutes depending on orbits is the speed of light there so I think 6 minute delay for round trip best case scenario.... I looked it up yesterday :D
 
LoneRCRanger

LoneRCRanger

Well-Known Member
Hope they don't have any George of the Jungle moments. It won't be a tree to worry about, however a 300 meter cliff is a possibility. That would make a mess in any gravity situation.
 
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