Cold weather and Anafi batteries

[AugerIn]

Not sure if that would be a good idea. It’s much more important to keep the core temp in good condition by just storing it at a warm temp. Be aware that isolation could mean a major increase of heat while in flight which would damage the battery

I do plan on keeping battery in a pocket in the little foam blanket.

I am not worried at all about keeping it too warm, this is specifically for cold weather -0c territory, but also think of all the all foam model rc aircraft out there. It’s not going to be 100% thermally efficient, just enough to keep some heat in when flying in the cold.

Also, this will in theory add a bit of inpact resistance to the drone and the battery specifically. I would wager that impacts from crashes kills a lot more lipo batteries than overheating does.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Make sure the sensors on the bottom are not covered. I do agree that this idea is not a good one. Keeping you batteries warm before flight is your best option. Batteries tend to produce heat when being used. This is why they tell you not to charge them right after a flight because they are hot and lipos should never be charged when hot.

 

[Joela85]

I have recently flown my anafi in -0c temps. Had a couple of issues where batteries were to cold to take off. Warming the batteries up in my hands for a minute managed to get the anafi to take off and fly even though the "Too cold to take off" message was showing.
Flew ok, had a following message saying it was going to auto-land, I carried on flying it as normal and it would stay up and fly fine. Landed before 20% battery to be on the safe side.

Overall, a little nerving flying in cold conditions, but quite happy on how well the anafi performed.

 

[Hannibal-Su]

I also lost my ANAFI at Ivalo in Finland few days ago, the temperature is quite low -24 degree. I tried to take off and it was out of control suddenly then my ANAFI was lost in woods somewhere. I got a latest GPS location from ANAFI, but too many snow and so deep, I could not find it back.
because I need to move forward for my trip. I left it at there. so sad.
hope someone can find it in spring when snow is thaw out.

the condition was BAT 100%, and tried to keep heat in ANAFI (I tune on in my car and hold a connection a while.) then taken out put on my car top, take off. looks good. go up to around 25m.
then lost control, I tried to return to home but it seems like ANAFI try to fly back but failed.

anyway, don't fly ANAFI in low temp as like I did. hope no one meet same case like me.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

I also lost my ANAFI at Ivalo in Finland few days ago, the temperature is quite low -24 degree. I tried to take off and it was out of control suddenly then my ANAFI was lost in woods somewhere. I got a latest GPS location from ANAFI, but too many snow and so deep, I could not find it back.
because I need to move forward for my trip. I left it at there. so sad.
hope someone can find it in spring when snow is thaw out.

the condition was BAT 100%, and tried to keep heat in ANAFI (I tune on in my car and hold a connection a while.) then taken out put on my car top, take off. looks good. go up to around 25m.
then lost control, I tried to return to home but it seems like ANAFI try to fly back but failed.

anyway, don't fly ANAFI in low temp as like I did. hope no one meet same case like me.

The best way before flying in cold conditions with Anafi is:
- charging the batteries up to 100%
- warming the batteries as good and as long as possible at least at living room temperature or even warmer (not only holding them in ones hands for a few minutes!)
- bringing Anafi (without battery!) outside 5 or 10 minutes before the flight to cool down a bit to protect against condensing water.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I do see a problem with this part of post. You say you took the Anafi out of the car and put it on top of the car and took off. (then taken out put on my car top, take off.) Any metal like the roof of the car will give you problems with a true fix on your GPS. This is probably why it did not RTH and just took off into the bush.

 

[Kdavis2269]

I wonder if Parrot can update the logic regarding minimum battery % for RTH so that the minimum battery % increases as the temperature decreases to compensate for the reduced battery performance.

 

[Hannibal-Su]

I do see a problem with this part of post. You say you took the Anafi out of the car and put it on top of the car and took off. (then taken out put on my car top, take off.) Any metal like the roof of the car will give you problems with a true fix on your GPS. This is probably why it did not RTH and just took off into the bush.

indeed, I tried to take off first time at same place, I felt the ANAFI is not very stable during the flight. and I did landing it immediately. it was successful landing that's time, but this time I got a failed. maybe it was a cost of learning for how to fly in cold? ha ha