Chrome Vinyl Wrap

csdawson97 · Jun 11, 2017

I was flying my Solo in "hot and sunny" downtown Johnson City TN today and when I landed, I noticed everything was WAY hotter than usual, even the props were hot. I'm thinking it was due to the sun and heat baking on this poor matte black drone. I'm wondering, would wrapping it in select areas with chrome vinyl work to reflect some of this heat? I fly in full sun and high temps frequently already. I looked and there's no premade skin in chrome, but there's plenty of other designs so I figured it couldn't hurt the drone. Does anyone have any experience with skins or wraps and how they affect function?

gn1000 · Jun 12, 2017

Would a chrome tape have metal content and therefore not suitable for covering the drone with?

csdawson97 · Jun 12, 2017

gn1000 said:
Would a chrome tape have metal content and therefore not suitable for covering the drone with?

That's what I figured. I do Heating and Air and use foil tape all the time, but figured the metal content would screw with GPS acquisition. I'm referring to a vinyl chrome wrap. All polymer content. It's readily available on eBay and Amazon and has an almost mirror finish.

andrew.baker.142 · Jun 12, 2017

You could just paint it white (not the props though).
Considering lots of folks fly Solo in hot sunny conditions and no one is posting failures due to heat I wouldn't worry about it. I have heard the iPads will shut down in the heat though.

just_bruce · Jun 12, 2017

csdawson97 said:
I was flying my Solo in "hot and sunny" downtown Johnson City TN today and when I landed, I noticed everything was WAY hotter than usual, even the props were hot. I'm thinking it was due to the sun and heat baking on this poor matte black drone. I'm wondering, would wrapping it in select areas with chrome vinyl work to reflect some of this heat? I fly in full sun and high temps frequently already. I looked and there's no premade skin in chrome, but there's plenty of other designs so I figured it couldn't hurt the drone. Does anyone have any experience with skins or wraps and how they affect function?

Also consider that hot air is less dense, so SOLO will be working harder to stay airborne. More current draw from battery, more RPMs from the motors. There will also be reduced ability to cool simply due to the high ambient temperature.

SOLO being all-black isn't helping, but I'm somewhat dubious that it is the major source of your post flight heat.

Let SOLO sit unpowered in the sun for 20 minutes and see if the temp is the same or similar to post-flight.