Weather condition check

[Northeastern_Solo]

Hey guys just wanted to check in and see what the max endurance of our birds are. I personally have flown in wind at 20mph and a snowy LZ not flight, also in temps as low as 15 degrees. What are the birds rated for? Im aware at reduced flight time in cold weather. I flew through a near white out fog bank that swallowed that enveloped the drone out of nowhere (freak new england weather). The drones handled everything without breaking a sweat.

So what's the worst you have flown in?

 

[Maddog]

I'm not sure what the actual temp specs are but last summer I was flying out in the desert when the temp was about 115. The Solo app causes my iPad mini to run hot anyway, but add in the high air temp and my mini began to melt.

A drop of molten plastic dripped on my toe giving me a hot foot. I yelped, reached for my foot and dropped the controller. It landed upside down and jammed the sticks full up causing Solo to climb and fly forward at full speed.

Before I could get hold of it (it rolled/slid down a small hill), 1 or 2 of Solos motors caught fire and began slinging blobs of molten plastic from about 100' up. This caused several small brush fires!

About this time I see a Sheriffs deputy rolling up on me fast. I panicked but managed to kick the controller under my truck, not wanting to catch the blame for this growing mess.

The deputy, who looked like Frankenstein's twin, walked up to me and asked what the "hell" I was doing. I gulped, realizing he was looking for somebody to take to jail and I was the only one around,

I told him I just finished taking a pi$$ before he pulled up. He looked at my shoe and asked why it was smoldering. I looked behind him and noticed the "little" fires had grown into a 4-alarm conflagration straight out of Dantes Inferno.

I stammered I had just eaten 12 Hatch chiles for lunch. He asked what that had to do with my shoe so I told him I was a bad shot. I could tell by the expression on his face, he wasn't quite sure if Hatch chiles could really do that.

After what seemed an eternity, he apparently smelled the smoke behind him and turned around. By now, the fire had reached the rear bumper of his police SUV. He let out a yelp, ran to the back of his truck and began trying to fan the flames away with his big cowboy hat. I thought what a dumb ass..


Then I woke up...

I'm sorry, what was the question?

 

[Dan_Solo]

According to 1.4 of the Operating Manual, the listed temperature range is 32-113* F (0 - 45* C)

I have also flown Solo at about -10C, and it performed just fine. But I would not count on any warranty support from 3DR should something happen.

 

[twk01]

I'm not sure what the actual temp specs are but last summer I was flying out in the desert when the temp was about 115. The Solo app causes my iPad mini to run hot anyway, but add in the high air temp and my mini began to melt.

A drop of molten plastic dripped on my toe giving me a hot foot. I yelped, reached for my foot and dropped the controller. It landed upside down and jammed the sticks full up causing Solo to climb and fly forward at full speed.

Before I could get hold of it (it rolled/slid down a small hill), 1 or 2 of Solos motors caught fire and began slinging blobs of molten plastic from about 100' up. This caused several small brush fires!

About this time I see a Sheriffs deputy rolling up on me fast. I panicked but managed to kick the controller under my truck, not wanting to catch the blame for this growing mess.

The deputy, who looked like Frankenstein's twin, walked up to me and asked what the "hell" I was doing. I gulped, realizing he was looking for somebody to take to jail and I was the only one around,

I told him I just finished taking a pi$$ before he pulled up. He looked at my shoe and asked why it was smoldering. I looked behind him and noticed the "little" fires had grown into a 4-alarm conflagration straight out of Dantes Inferno.

I stammered I had just eaten 12 Hatch chiles for lunch. He asked what that had to do with my shoe so I told him I was a bad shot. I could tell by the expression on his face, he wasn't quite sure if Hatch chiles could really do that.

After what seemed an eternity, he apparently smelled the smoke behind him and turned around. By now, the fire had reached the rear bumper of his police SUV. He let out a yelp, ran to the back of his truck and began trying to fan the flames away with his big cowboy hat. I thought what a dumb ass..


Then I woke up...

I'm sorry, what was the question?

LMFAO

 

[Airpower]

The solo does not have excellent cooling. I am impressed how well everything runs hot, but i wish the engineers had worked a bit to get a cooler running bird even though the components dont mind too much. I guess the plus is that it loves lower temperatures. But this thing was designed in california, I mean the vents in the arm are so tiny!

 

[Maddog]

The solo does not have excellent cooling. I am impressed how well everything runs hot, but i wish the engineers had worked a bit to get a cooler running bird even though the components dont mind too much. I guess the plus is that it loves lower temperatures. But this thing was designed in california, I mean the vents in the arm are so tiny!

Maybe somebody could come up with a water-cooled system similar to that used in PC's that have their CPU's outrageously overclocked.
Tiny little tubes like I.V. tubing (but smaller) wrapped near the motors filled with cold water or maybe alcohol.
...gotta come up with a pump though...hmm...
Hey @RichWest, get in on this!

 

[Maddog]

The solo does not have excellent cooling. I am impressed how well everything runs hot, but i wish the engineers had worked a bit to get a cooler running bird even though the components dont mind too much. I guess the plus is that it loves lower temperatures. But this thing was designed in california, I mean the vents in the arm are so tiny!

Vents? Those are observation ports for the people to look outside!

 

[RichWest]

OMG, the following is a joke and made up by a demented person. Nothing stated is true or even close to a truth. Fool's Gold.

Well now, somebody's been kicking a few back today...and feeling a little mischievous...

Surely you knew that the clockwise motors draw air in and the counter-clockwise motors exhaust the air out. That's why the number 3 & 4 motors are always hotter.

Further the body was made from a prototype polymer that acts as a heatsink. The interior showed to be 17.3F cooler than the exterior during lab heat testing. Not a widely known fact, but was mentioned over on "The" FB group by one of the really smart guys.

They thought about everything, the gimbal is a heat exchanger as well. Not many notice, but the ribbon cable actually is a heat pipe of sorts. You may have noticed it is mechanically bond to the yaw arm about two inches down. Getting this working correctly was what caused the delayed roll out of the gimbal. Again you'd have to be a member over on FB to know these type of things. Unfortunately the member that told me got kicked off of the group not to long after he told me...coincidence maybe.

This is true - I've had no problems with heat, concerns maybe, but no issues.

 

[Maddog]

Well now, somebody's been kicking a few back today.
Sadly...not. Just a mind too tired.

 

[Cragdire]

Rich, that is some good info. Thanks for sharing!

 

[dmyhill]

Well now, somebody's been kicking a few back today.
Sadly...not

I call BS on your story, it just doesn't ring true. Need to make it more believable Everyone knows that you wouldn't run an iPad mini, it can't run Solex. You should edit it to "Nvidia Shield", that should give you more credibility.

 

[RichWest]

Rich, that is some good info. Thanks for sharing!

It's all BS, lol. Like MadDog, having a tired mind with just enough of a sense of humor remaining at the end of the day... He made me do it...

Truthfully, heat has not been an issue with Solo, batteries or otherwise. Like I said, I had concerns, but found no components in a run away heating condition. Everything was as expected and stable.

Contrary to others, I do "properly" lube my motor bearings. Other than the battery, the motors generate the most heat. Friction equals heat....

 

[Cuzman]

It's all BS, lol. Like MadDog, having a tired mind with just enough of a sense of humor remaining at the end of the day... He made me do it...

Truthfully, heat has not been an issue with Solo, batteries or otherwise. Like I said, I had concerns, but found no components in a run away heating condition. Everything was as expected and stable.

Contrary to others, I do "properly" lube my motor bearings. Other than the battery, the motors generate the most heat. Friction equals heat....

Rich....do you have a video of the right way to lube the motor bearings? I'm afraid I am doing it wrong.

 

[RichWest]

There are a couple of threads for oiling/lubing the bearings, mainly pictures showing the locations to access the bearings. The main thing about "proper" lubing is that more is not better. I've been using SLIP from Avid RC over the last year and am very pleased with how it performs. Search for Avid here and you'll find some further details...from my experience and why I use it over other promoted lubes.

 

[Cuzman]

Thanks!

 

[Maddog]

I call BS on your story, it just doesn't ring true. Need to make it more believable Everyone knows that you wouldn't run an iPad mini, it can't run Solex. You should edit it to "Nvidia Shield", that should give you more credibility.

Now you have me confused- where was Solex mentioned? I referred to the 3DR app in post #2.

I use an iPad mini 3 and a Nexus 7. My primary now is the Nexus to run Solex and the screen is brighter. The screen on the mini seems to be dimmer now than when it was new. Don't know if it is the screen or my eyes.

As I have mentioned before, I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other.

 

[Maddog]

Rich....do you have a video of the right way to lube the motor bearings? I'm afraid I am doing it wrong.

View media item 336View media item 335View media item 331View media item 332These might help.

 

[scubanut2014]

I'm not sure what the actual temp specs are but last summer I was flying out in the desert when the temp was about 115. The Solo app causes my iPad mini to run hot anyway, but add in the high air temp and my mini began to melt.

A drop of molten plastic dripped on my toe giving me a hot foot. I yelped, reached for my foot and dropped the controller. It landed upside down and jammed the sticks full up causing Solo to climb and fly forward at full speed.

Before I could get hold of it (it rolled/slid down a small hill), 1 or 2 of Solos motors caught fire and began slinging blobs of molten plastic from about 100' up. This caused several small brush fires!

About this time I see a Sheriffs deputy rolling up on me fast. I panicked but managed to kick the controller under my truck, not wanting to catch the blame for this growing mess.

The deputy, who looked like Frankenstein's twin, walked up to me and asked what the "hell" I was doing. I gulped, realizing he was looking for somebody to take to jail and I was the only one around,

I told him I just finished taking a pi$$ before he pulled up. He looked at my shoe and asked why it was smoldering. I looked behind him and noticed the "little" fires had grown into a 4-alarm conflagration straight out of Dantes Inferno.

I stammered I had just eaten 12 Hatch chiles for lunch. He asked what that had to do with my shoe so I told him I was a bad shot. I could tell by the expression on his face, he wasn't quite sure if Hatch chiles could really do that.

After what seemed an eternity, he apparently smelled the smoke behind him and turned around. By now, the fire had reached the rear bumper of his police SUV. He let out a yelp, ran to the back of his truck and began trying to fan the flames away with his big cowboy hat. I thought what a dumb ass..


Then I woke up...

I'm sorry, what was the question?

 

[dmyhill]

I hope the OP was BS too, at least the part about flying through the cloud (or "fog" as he termed it).

Now you have me confused- where was Solex mentioned? I referred to the 3DR app in post #2.

I use an iPad mini 3 and a Nexus 7. My primary now is the Nexus to run Solex and the screen is brighter. The screen on the mini seems to be dimmer now than when it was new. Don't know if it is the screen or my eyes.

As I have mentioned before, I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other.

My bad. I completely believe your story now!!!

 

[Airpower]

Rich or mad dog, would placing stickers all around the body or some other covering such as vinyl, would that negatively impact the cooling since the body acts as a heat sink? I'm sure it benefits from air blowing directly over it.