Cold Weather Chaos

[Aerials North]

Now before anyone says, it’s not rated for that kind of cold... we know. And in spite of that we have safely and legally flown all types of DJI in the cold for years.

Here’s the deal though, we’re having more technical issues than ever before and some are directly related to last update (can no longer seem to fly dual operator at all). And now...

I'm up in Inuvik in the NWT of Canada and have had some serious issues with the Inspire 2. First day i had an issue where when i take off and the landing gear raises, after about 2 minutes of flight, the drone would start to wobble and dip dangerously. I barely landed each time before it crashing. At first i thought it was because i was next to a radio tower, so i drove across town entirely and had the same issue. So the solution i found was to launch it and lower the landing gear after it self raises.

Second issue was on a day where it was -30. Naturally i'm inclined to believe its because of the cold but its hard to say. All batteries were warm before putting them in, the drone was outside for the time it took the imu's to warm up (4mins or so) and i launched it. After about 2 mins of flying about 100ft away, the RC disconnected with the drone and would not reconnect. I even walked over to the drone so i was directly below it by about 20ft and still nothing. I closed the app and re-opened it, nothing. I even turned the RC off and back on and it reconnected for a brief second allowing me to land it. Literally none of the controls worked while this happened and i had to actually wait for the drone to time itself out with lost rc signal and it flew itself back to home.

I'd really love to here from other folks out there operating this system in thearctic, in -20 to -35 temperatures.Tricks, advice or insight into the issues i just posted would be awesome.

 

[Casey53]

I've had the I2 RC shut down at times too and it was warmer here, maybe 60 degrees when it happened. Very random. I noticed the RC green led went out, but other four remained on. I had it set to "Hover in Place" and it did so while I restarted the RC and got control back. This stuff sure is bug ridden and most seems to be firmware or software related, imho, other than tilted sensors, magenta cameras, stripped filter threads, loose props, jammed landing gear, and focus wheels that don't bolt up properly.

Other issue has been the "Disconnected" screens on the iPads, but that is probably iOS 11.2.1 issues as it occurs on both the P4 and I2 both which had their own iPads. At least the people using their Apple devices along with their car stereos have connection issues with the Lightning cable to the car's audio input too so we are not alone with just the buggy DJI matters.

 

[Aerials North]

I've had the I2 RC shut down at times too and it was warmer here, maybe 60 degrees when it happened. Very random. I noticed the RC green led went out, but other four remained on. I had it set to "Hover in Place" and it did so while I restarted the RC and got control back. This stuff sure is bug ridden and most seems to be firmware or software related, imho, other than tilted sensors, magenta cameras, stripped filter threads, loose props, jammed landing gear, and focus wheels that don't bolt up properly.

Other issue has been the "Disconnected" screens on the iPads, but that is probably iOS 11.2.1 issues as it occurs on both the P4 and I2 both which had their own iPads. At least the people using their Apple devices along with their car stereos have connection issues with the Lightning cable to the car's audio input too so we are not alone with just the buggy DJI matters.

Thanks so much for the response!

 

[dkotinsky]

I was in 10 degrees and kept getting message “main controller data error”. When it was 20 or more it went away. Couple days later at 10 came back. Warm now , works fine again

 

[WillT]

I was in +20F weather yesterday and was shocked to find sluggishness in interacting with the CrystalSky display. The situation deteriorated dramatically toward the end of my flight where I found myself placing my palm over the section of the display where I wanted to "do something" so that it would warm enough to take commands. Sucked.

With the exception of shortened battery life due to the cold, the I2 itself performed as expected - mostly. One oddity was that it seemed I had to fight more than usual to bring in the I2 against winds (which were gusting in the 15-25 MPH range). Also, upon landing, the I2 would touch down, then two legs would lift up about 1-2" for 1-2 seconds and then land again, shutting down. That happened for each of my 4 flights - was kinda freaky, actually.

Will