What effect does temp have on Solo flight/performance?

onespeed · Oct 13, 2015

As soon as it gets colder here in NYC, the crowds on all the waterfront parks will clear out.

I am looking forward to getting some good shots as the crowds thin.

What temps are too cold to fly the Solo in?

Scott Bush · Oct 13, 2015

I know this is totally the other way what your looking for but I thought I would share this:

I have being flying here in So. Cal (Orange Co.) where the temps have reached 100+ the last few days.
Solo has had no problems. GPS lock took a little longer than normal.

EyeWingsuit · Oct 13, 2015

Del said:
The colder it gets.. The less battery life your gonna have..!! And I think they also recommend to not fly when it's 32c and below..

I _think_ you meant 32F/0c?

The challenges in cold weather:

Shortened battery life
Brittle plastic in the event of a hard landing

I have flown mine at 28F/-2C the other day and was nervous about landing, and so was extra careful. All was well.

Del · Oct 13, 2015

EyeWingsuit said:
I _think_ you meant 32F/0c?
The challenges in cold weather:

Shortened battery life

Brittle plastic in the event of a hard landing

I have flown mine at 28F/-2C the other day and was nervous about landing, and so was extra careful. All was well.

Your right...my bad lol
Thanks for pionting that out for me

Del · Oct 13, 2015

I think it's a good ideal also to let your Solo sit outside in the cold temp at least 15min before powering it up..so the Solo Shel and all its electronics are the same temp as outside..or close to it!

Chuck · Oct 13, 2015

I have flown here at 104 with no problem.........except wiping the sweat off Solo's brows.

Randy Scott · Oct 13, 2015

I was flying in Iqaluit (in the arctic) at the end of September, approx. 0 deg. C / 32 deg. F and had no issues flying the Solo. As a side note, the system (Solo) was fully calibrated at home (in Ottawa Canada) before I left for the arctic. When I unpacked my system I was planing to re-calibrate prior to flying however, I decided to test the Solo and see how it would perform without doing a magnetic calibration.

I flew the system via the controller (I did not use Tower of MP/APM), it performed well and without issue. I should note that this represents a change of approx. 2000+ kilometers in (north) latitude.

Deleted member 2044 · Oct 14, 2015

The user manual says the operating range is 0C to 45C. Operating in colder temps in theory will give you better aerodynamic performance because the air is more dense and also usually dryer. Therefore the rotors will produce more lift and the motors won't have to work so hard. If the battery stays warm, your flight time should last longer. I wouldn't let your Solo acclimate the cold, it's hard on the electronics and especially the instrumentations. But running power thru it should keep it warm enough.

Dash Hewes · Oct 14, 2015

None specific to Solo, I've been flying in the cold for a decade with lipos, the key is keeping the batteries warm prior to flying. Either in a heated vehicle or the like. I had a battery powered cooler/heater combo keeping the lipos nice and toasty prior to usage. Obliviously this was extreme but I was doing operations in a cold environment for many hours at a time. Hope this helps.

Lamda · Oct 14, 2015

Dash Hewes said:
None specific to Solo, I've been flying in the cold for a decade with lipos, the key is keeping the batteries warm prior to flying. Either in a heated vehicle or the like. I had a battery powered cooler/heater combo keeping the lipos nice and toasty prior to usage. Obliviously this was extreme but I was doing operations in a cold environment for many hours at a time. Hope this helps.

I was looking at something like this:

Turnigy Programmable Lipo Battery Warmer Bag (12v DC) (US Warehouse)

Maddog · Oct 14, 2015

Chuck said:
I have flown here at 104 with no problem.........except wiping the sweat off Solo's brows.

Ditto in Phoenix. The only problem I had was the iPad mini overheating. Fixed that (I think) by placing a damp cloth behind the iPad.

Ggirf14 · Dec 13, 2015

I did years of remote control planes. The colder the better it fly. -27 Celsius was awesome, planes feels like they are floating on landing.
As far as motors the electricity have less resistance so motors will have an advantage but what about bearings in cold weather. The shaft and bushing materials must be two different materials meaning the gap will get tighter or more loose.
Anything cold exposed to warm humid air will create condensation. This will happen in the motors and the body would need a warm dry environment to prevent this. The car is far from this with the snow from our boots on carpet make the car really humid. Would be nice to have someone from 3dr to answer as there is much in this we have no clue. May be the reason they limit the operating temp if they never planned to take considerations of metal expansion and condensation.
I have plenty of experience in fresh water boats. Everything needs to be rust proof by limiting the materials to none corrosive. Look at outboard motors, it's all plastic, aluminium, brass or stainless. Often I have seen the wrong material used and trying to protect them. Sooner or later water does the job. Transom is a good example. They all rot over time.
Again would be nice to know what 3dr would tell us on this.

Bottom line I will try it and hope it will last longer than the life expectancy of the craft. Once out of the car I will keep it in the truck bed to prevent cooling warming cycles and would allow it to warm up only in the house. For lypo batteries they are sealed with brass connectors. Keeping them warm in the car will be my choice.

RolandS888 · Dec 13, 2015

Lamda said:
I was looking at something like this:

Turnigy Programmable Lipo Battery Warmer Bag (12v DC) (US Warehouse)

They work quite well, and can hold 2 Solo batteries.

Absolute must to keep the batteries warm, flight time drops off massively if they get cold.

Daniel Marcus · Jan 5, 2017

Ggirf14 said:
I did years of remote control planes. The colder the better it fly. -27 Celsius was awesome, planes feels like they are floating on landing.
As far as motors the electricity have less resistance so motors will have an advantage but what about bearings in cold weather. The shaft and bushing materials must be two different materials meaning the gap will get tighter or more loose.
Anything cold exposed to warm humid air will create condensation. This will happen in the motors and the body would need a warm dry environment to prevent this. The car is far from this with the snow from our boots on carpet make the car really humid. Would be nice to have someone from 3dr to answer as there is much in this we have no clue. May be the reason they limit the operating temp if they never planned to take considerations of metal expansion and condensation.

I live in Nome, Alaska and the Iditarod Dog Sled Race ends on front street. It is one of the biggest events all year and it is extremely hard to get video coverage, until the Solo that is. The only issue is that it can be as cold as -40F at that time. It is so cold that there is no moisture in the air at all. I would also like to hear some feedback from 3DR as to what options I might have or if it is even possible. I understand that official statements may not be able to be made to warrant extreme temp operations in case damage occurs but some unofficial help would be appreciated. The shots would be incredibly rare but not worth wrecking the Solo.

Jalane81 · Jan 6, 2018

I flew my drone in 9F on New Year’s Day for about 10-15 min, and I did notice the battery time seemed a bit low. After reading some comments on LiPo batteries losing run time in the cold, that makes sense.