I agree DJI should publish ALL the changes that their firmware imposes, however the problem is lack of information from them and with pilot SOPs as we learn to fly in winter.I am pretty hacked off yet another quiet software "enhancement" by DJI crippling the use of my Inspire as they seem to deem that if the batteries are below a certain temperature then DJI has decided you are not allowed to earn your money to recover the vast expenditure to become a professional pilot.
I understand if the phantom range has these training wheels attached but the inspire which they rate at -10 degrees on their website is actually disabled at 5 degrees...
A cold battery doesn't have the same performance as a warm one. As others have noted a LiPo will degrade to useless in cold temps.
I flew yesterday in -2.5ºC on 1.6 firmware.
I kept the batteries in a warm insulated bag that was at 20ºC. The battery cooled to 16ºC before I had the AC started up. I took off to 2m and performed a quick rotate CW-CCW and left/right/back/forward check and watched the batt temp and voltage for ~60 sec. The batt (with insulators) quickly got up to 25ºC and all 4 flights were perfect. The biggest problem was keeping the light dusting of fresh snow on the ground from blowing up into the AC on landing ;-) and overcoming the new No Fly Zones I had to register for to take off!
If your battery is cold, say 15ºC, you probably shouldn't fly with it regardless of DJI's settings. Just keep them warm before you fly. Why not a battery vest inside your coat if you want to avoid the battery warmer? I just use a picnic cooler with hand warmers packs and a themometer.
I am waiting to hear back from DJI with my FW 1.6 questions:
- Is 15ºC the trigger temp?
- Does the battery reserve calculation change? (ie drop by x% thereby cutting down flight time overall before RTH conditions set in)
- What is the percentage cut in propulsion performance so I can calculate safe wind conditions? (Standard wind max is 10m/s so what is the new value if the propulsion degrade kicks in?)