Despite the fact that manufacturers of drones (UAVs) establish a certain temperature regime when you use their devices, fliers periodically need to use their drones on negative air temperatures. If necessary, you can use drones at low temperature ranges, but for this you need to follow some additional rules for the operation of drones. The main reason it is not recommended in order to launch drones within cold weather is the fast discharge of electric batteries. Due to the low temperatures, LiPo batteries utilized in drone discharge faster because they produce much less electricity due to sluggish chemical reactions. What to do, if the owners of the drone wants to fly in a temperature below 0°C? Here we will tell you the best tips for flying drones in cold weather (winter).
So May Drones Fly Within Cold Weather? Yes, drones may fly in cold temperature, but their flight time is significantly reduced by low temperature ranges. A fully charged drone flight time is normally between 25 to 30 minutes, while during cold weather that trip time is reduced to just 10 to 15 a few minutes. This is because batteries are usually sensitive to cold temperatures.
Summary of 10 things you have to know if you’ lso are using a drone within cold weather:
|10 Tips For Traveling a Drone Within Cold Weather:
|Tip # 1: Pre-flight Preparation
|Tip # 2: Maintain your Batteries Warm
|Tip # 3: Strategy a Shorter Airline flight Time
|Tip # 4: Watch Out For The particular Wind
|Tip # 5: Keep an Eye on the particular Altitude
|Tip # 6: Watch out for The Risk of Freezing from the Propellers and Motors
|Tip # seven: Avoid Fogging in the Camera At Low Temperatures
|Tip # 8: Plan for an abrupt Drop in Volts
|Tip # 9: Activate Obstacle Detection Before Flight
|Suggestion # 10: Monitor the Drone Behaviour During the Flight
Ways to Properly Fly the Drone In Cold temperature?
To ensure that the batteries to last longer during the flight, they must be warmed up. Their the best temperature before starting needs to be + 25 °C. When traveling, it is better to keep a low altitude , reducing the load on the engines, as when raising, moving and flying the drone at a sufficiently high altitude, the engines require more energy. It is better to abandon flights at harmful air temperatures , but in view of professional necessity, the usage of UAVs is required. If it is impossible to warm up the batteries initially before the air travel , then when the drone starts up, it is worth hanging it at a low altitude for about a minute, so that the batteries can warm-up during use, in support of then proceed to airline flight.
There is as to be aware of. DJI has special heating system stickers that go through the battery case. These stickers are made to maintain the battery’s working temperature during use within cold weather. They must be used in cases in which the air does not warm-up above +15 °C. If there is no immediate need for flying within cold weather, it is better to refuse to launch the particular drone. This will allow not to use rechargeable batteries within extreme conditions plus extend their lifespan.
10 Tips For Flying a Drone In Cold temperature
Tip #1: Pre-flight Preparation
Now, just before taking off, it is recommended to turn your drone for approximately a minute to make sure everything is working properly and that it is not too cold to fly. You may still have to make your usual adjustments! It can also be an useful way to high temperature the battery.
If possible, try to make your drone settings in the warm place when you can . For instance , if you are near your vehicle, place your drone inside or in the trunk to make your own adjustments instead of placing it on frosty or even frozen terrain. Obviously, perform your calibrations outside the vehicle and away from any metal source as quickly as possible. This is how you are going to safely prepare your drone before flying in cold weather.
Tip #2: Keep the Batteries Warm
This is probably the most important tips for soaring your drone within cold weather. I actually already talked about this but let’ s state: batteries hate cool! And therefore the airline flight time will be significantly reduced. When we talk about electric batteries, we mean both those in the drone and those in the handheld remote control. To be sure that they are completely charged when you arrive on the ground, I advise you to recharge them at least 24 hours maximum before you go out . Obtain hands warmers not only to keep your hands warm, but also to help keep them close to your batteries. Now be careful not to put the hand warmers directly on a battery, because they emit too much temperature.
You may use electric battery heaters if you have a DJI drone. Several drones of the brand name like the Encourage 2 have an automated preheating function, particularly dedicated for this type of situations. If you do not have smart batteries, we recommend that you run your engines at low speed prior to taking off for 2/3 minutes.
Tip #3: Plan a Shorter Airline flight Time
The batteries within drones are called LiPo which means Lithium Polymer. They hate the cold! It slows down their functioning and decreases their flight capacities. This is also why flights in many cases are much shorter whenever flying a drone in ski and cold weather (temperatures beneath 10 °C). A fully charged drone battery that typically provides twenty to 25 mins of flight time can only provide 10-15 minutes in winter .
The particular drone contains lots of electronic components and when you fly it in very difficult climatic conditions like cold or humidity, you danger damaging it significantly. You will find lots of humidity in the clouds or fog. And you don’ to have to have a higher education to understand that drinking water and electricity by no means went well jointly.
Tip #4: Watch Out For The particular Wind
You now know that the particular cold has a damaging impact on the general working of the drone plus accessories. But if the wind picks up when it is already 0 °C outside, you will have the impression that it is -10 °C . In addition to catching a cold and cold your fingertips, you truly risk losing your drone.
It is also super crucial that you check the operating temps of your drone expected by the manufacturer. Don’ t mix those boundaries. Here are a few examples:
- DJI Spark: 32 °F to 104 °F (0 °C to 40 °C)
- DJI Phantom 4: 32 °F in order to 104 °F (0 °C to forty °C)
- DJI Inspire 2: fourteen °F to 104 °F (-10 °C to 40 °C)
- Yuneec Typhoon H: 14 °F to 104 °F (-10 °C in order to 40 °C)
Tip #5: Keep an Eye on The Altitude
Finally, avoid flying at high altitudes. If it is -10 ° on a lawn, I let you speculate the temperatures at 150 meters above sea level and much more. It is essential to monitor its trip altitude because the drone may have a different behavior compared to usual. And above all the higher you go, the lower the temperature. So it affects the capability of the batteries as well as your flight time, but strong winds furthermore occur at these types of altitudes. Normally the flight period will be reduced, We mentioned it over. But what struck me one of the most was not so much the particular batteries of the drone but that handheld remote control. It melted like snow in the sun (this is the situation to say). Barely 15 minutes of flight and presto, I was already on low battery.
Tip #6: Beware of The Risk of Very cold of the Propellers and Engines
If you decide to daring the climate plus fly your drone, the major risk to be exposed is the very cold of the propellers, engines and sensors. Going up in altitude, the humidity found in the air or the atmosphere will attach to the particular drone and the temperature will be colder plus colder. I actually let you imagine the remainder. To reduce this risk associated with freezing and therefore the risk of falling drone in the snow , it is then required for wipe all the areas of the drone some time before takeoff. Keep this in mind as it is an essential point if you do not want your drone to fall from the sky.
Suggestion #7: Avoid Fogging on the Camera On Low Temperatures
Whenever you take out your equipment in a cold atmosphere outside while it originates from a warmer or even indoor place, fogging may appear on the camera of your drone. It is actually a thermal shock that occurs. Besides, I learned in a photo guide that some expert photographers and videographers who go to chilly countries do not hesitate to leave their equipment outside over night before leaving the very next day to avoid the heat shock. Obviously we will not keep the batteries outdoors because they hate the cold!
Before taking off, take a look at the camera lens and if necessary having a special soft towel lens or glasses, remove the moisture . It would be the shame to movie such beautiful scenery and finally realize the video editing that the capturing is unusable.
Tip #8: Plan for a Sudden Drop in Voltage
A fully charged battery will have an increased voltage. When the cold suddenly falls the voltage of the battery, it will not achieve its critical threshold and will not go into safety mode. We suggest not taking off in case your battery is less than 90% charged.
As mentioned earlier, the cold can cause your battery volt quality to drop suddenly. We therefore recommend that you fly a lot more calmly than usual. Do not attempt to push your drone to its limitations; the reduced you fly, the less likely your drone will fall in the sky.
All of us cannot repeat it sufficient, storing LiPo batteries in a cold place is very dangerous. This can create volts differences between the tissues of your battery. When the voltage difference is too large, your own battery goes into security mode and will not even charge.
Tip #9: Activate Obstacle Detection Prior to Flight
This is certainly recommended before getting into a cold weather airline flight. However , I nearly crashed our small direct Mavic Pro in the snow! The low sensors did not work nicely when I was carrying out a terrain tracking intend on a snow-covered mountain side. Result, rather than continuing its incline quietly following the incline, it went right to the snow! Fortunately, the obstacle detectors were activated and so they stopped the drone. Therefore , it is advisable to have got sensors turned on if your drone has one particular.
Besides, obstacle detectors are also very sensitive to lighting and reflections. This particular sometimes causes unexpected stops of the drone which rears with all its strength, whenever one passes too close to a surface area which reflects sunlight like snow.
Tip #10: Monitor the Drone Behavior During the Air travel
That’ s it, it’ s the big instant of flight. You will pilot your drone. Although not so fast! There is one final point to check just before. If you have not really followed my advice to keep the batteries warm during transportation, then an alert in the GO app will appear on the screen: “The battery temperature can be below 15°C. Heat the electric battery to a temperature over 25 °C to ensure safe flight ”:
Throughout the flight, try to always keep an eye on the state of the battery. And as soon as it reaches 30%, We advise you to bring the particular ski drone regarding landing.
List Of Most Popular Drones And Their Optimal Flight Temperatures
If you’re about to fly your drone in low temps, it is a good thing to see owners’ manual of your drone and see the temperatures that are ideal for performance. Listed here are some popular drones optimal flight temperatures:
- DJI Phantom 3 PRO: 32 °F to 104 °F (0 °C to 40 °C)
- DJI Phantom 4: thirty-two °F to 104 °F (0 °C to 40 °C)
- DJI Phantom 4 PRO: 32 °F in order to 104 °F (0 °C to 40 °C)
- DJI Mavic PRO: 32 °F in order to 104 °F (0 °C to 40 °C)
- DJI Mavic Air: 32 °F in order to 104 °F (0 °C to forty °C)
- DJI Inspire Pro: 14 °F in order to 104 °F (-10 °C to 40 °C)
- DJI Inspire 2: 14 °F to 104 °F (-10 °C to 40 °C)
- Yuneec Typhoon H520: fourteen °F to 104 °F (-10 °C to 40 °C)
How to Properly Land a Drone in The Snow?
If you are planning in order to fly a drone in a snowy atmosphere, it is advisable to use a take-off / landing mat which will avoid doing it by hand (do not forget to get on the ski slopes because it can be extremely dangerous to take a flight over people ). It’ s fairly simple but it still requires a little practice. Above all, deactivate the lower detectors because they control vision positioning and landing protection which will prevent the drone from climbing down if you put your hand underneath to catch it.
After which pay close attention to your fingers and above all never leave them close to the rotors and propellers. This manipulation currently requires a good level of skills, knowledge of the drone and method. If you are a beginner, I strongly advise against it.
Here we now have covered all the possible conditions you may find your self when using a drone in cold weather. We saw how cold temperature and low temps can affect the drone flight time and exactly how drastically it decreases the performances of the drone. Therefore , I actually advise you to purely follow these 10 tips if you want to properly fly your drone. Remember to warm up your batteries before the air travel, and if you have a DJI drone, use unique heater of DJI designed just for this particular occasions. Snow that has substantially the same drawbacks as rain, can impact drones electronics, and burn all the elements in the drone. Merely forgot something or else you want to comment, feel free to write below.