Has anyone flown in light snow. I want to do some video's of some friends and I kite skiing but it is snowing most days we are out. Its really cold so the snow is very dry.
Flying in snow?
- Thread starter elijahallen
- Start date
Greetings,
I've done this for R&D purposes. It is quite doable but your battery life will be lower, possibly significantly so. Keep the batteries warm before flying.
Also, invest in gloves without fingertips.
-David
I've done this for R&D purposes. It is quite doable but your battery life will be lower, possibly significantly so. Keep the batteries warm before flying.
Also, invest in gloves without fingertips.
-David
I've done it a couple of times with no problems, but like dkovar mentioned, your flying time will be reduced as a result of the cold affecting the battery. You can minimize this by keeping the battery as warm as you can until right before your flight.
Just remember that snow turns to water as soon as it contacts warm Phantom innards.
Don't be surprised if you open up your non-functioning bird a few days later and see a worthless rusted out component board.
Don't be surprised if you open up your non-functioning bird a few days later and see a worthless rusted out component board.
I've done it a number of times. A few times in temps down to 11 F with a chill factor of -14. I keep my batteries in my parka to keep them warm (I have buddies who use the chemical hand/foot warmer packs to keep their batteries warm in a foot locker). I cut my flight times in half just to ensure I have enough juice in my battery.
If you plan on flying often in the cold, invest in a good pair of transmitter gloves.
http://www.acewingcarrier.com/ace-extre ... glove.html
A great investment.
You can get some beautiful videos in the snow!
Also if you worry about corrosion, I know guys who remove their circuit boards and ESCs and immerse them in Corrosion X for a few minutes to water proof them. Quite common for people who fly RC planes on pontoons. I haven't found a need to try this on my Phantom yet - but others have done this without problem on their quads.
If you plan on flying often in the cold, invest in a good pair of transmitter gloves.
http://www.acewingcarrier.com/ace-extre ... glove.html
A great investment.
You can get some beautiful videos in the snow!
Also if you worry about corrosion, I know guys who remove their circuit boards and ESCs and immerse them in Corrosion X for a few minutes to water proof them. Quite common for people who fly RC planes on pontoons. I haven't found a need to try this on my Phantom yet - but others have done this without problem on their quads.
Elijah, perhaps you don't know what transmitter gloves are, so I've attached a photo.
I posted this suggestion a few days ago to a fellow member who responded with a rant about how I'd "wasted bandwidth with my worthless suggestion that he should just go buy some gloves!" Obviously this noob didn't know what transmitter gloves are, so to avoid any further confusion (for those who react without clicking on the link first), this is what transmitter gloves look like.
Keep you nice and toasty and unencumbered.
I posted this suggestion a few days ago to a fellow member who responded with a rant about how I'd "wasted bandwidth with my worthless suggestion that he should just go buy some gloves!" Obviously this noob didn't know what transmitter gloves are, so to avoid any further confusion (for those who react without clicking on the link first), this is what transmitter gloves look like.
Keep you nice and toasty and unencumbered.
Attachments
Thanks, yea a good pair of gloves would be nice. I fly a lot in the winter and its almost always 20 degrees or less. I have flown in 5 degrees a few times but my bulky ski gloves are just a pain to control. Battery life is shortened but I have 4 batteries and am generally flying fairly close so thats never been an issue but I am thinking about setting it up to use ground control and fly it in the same path that we are all kiting so I will need to be more calculated about battery life when I do that.
elijahallen said:
You don't actually wear "gloves" with a transmitter glove - it fits over your transmitter and both hands, keeping all warm and toasty. I throw a chemical hand warmer in mine and it keeps it very warm.
I have really poor circulation in my fingers secondary to damage from chemotherapy, so my hands are very sensitive to cold. But the above set up keeps me extremely comfortable in freezing temperatures.
GoodnNuff said:
I know what "transmitter gloves" are, bubby. My rant was directed at your simpleton response about buying these gloves as a solution to flying in 15F weather, as opposed to using your brain for once and trying to figure out how I can sit inside my toasty warm car while piloting my Phantom.
Anyone with any common sense knows they'd rather be inside their car, listening to sweet tunes and sipping a coffee while flying their Phantom as opposed to standing in temperature that would make a penguin's nuts turn into ice cubes!
TimmyG94 said:
Sitting in your car in 15 F weather, battling condensation/frost on the window, trying to fly through that limited view, even in a stationary car, sounds like you are to one not using your brain.
Sit in your house, sipping a coffee, listening to sweet tunes and flying on your flight simulator might be safer for you, Timmy.
And it was I who you responded to Timmy, GoodNuff must have seen the post.
My interaction was on RCGroups, not this forum. Don't know who you are TimmyG94, so I certainly wasn't referring to you.
Unless you are also on that forum, and have responded to both of our suggestions in a similar manner,
Flying from inside a car doesn't sound wise.
Sorry Hailstorm, don't think I saw the post he refers to, and didn't mean to confuse either of you.
It is quite common for noobs not to have heard of transmitter gloves and to confuse them with regular gloves.
It is not common to be told you are a fool for suggesting them. I bet TimmyG94 is on both lists, I'll go check the name on RCGroups.
Unless you are also on that forum, and have responded to both of our suggestions in a similar manner,
Flying from inside a car doesn't sound wise.
Sorry Hailstorm, don't think I saw the post he refers to, and didn't mean to confuse either of you.
It is quite common for noobs not to have heard of transmitter gloves and to confuse them with regular gloves.
It is not common to be told you are a fool for suggesting them. I bet TimmyG94 is on both lists, I'll go check the name on RCGroups.
HailStorm said:
Ever heard of running the engine while you sit inside your car, nitzy? Ever heard of defrosters? Sheesh!
Please tell me you are smarter than this? Otherwise I will have to assume you're a 3rd grader who don't know much about cars except from being in the booster seat in his Mommy's minivan.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
TimmyG94 said:
Lol, yea I figured there are numb nuts like you on here, thats cool but I can't drive my car where I take my bird so I have to improvise, to each their own.
GoodnNuff said:
We're getting a bit chilly out here these days. I've never heard of transmitter gloves but have flown in snow.
How bout a link to some you would recommend for super cold temps?
It's just frozen water. Freeze the bird (not the batteries) before flight and most of the time it doesn't stick (at least for me).
Thanks
IflyinWY said:GoodnNuff said:
We're getting a bit chilly out here these days. I've never heard of transmitter gloves but have flown in snow.
How bout a link to some you would recommend for super cold temps?
It's just frozen water. Freeze the bird (not the batteries) before flight and most of the time it doesn't stick (at least for me).
Thanks
Go back a page where I not only posted a link to a pair of very nice transmitter gloves, but a photo of them as well.
They do the job. Wyoming would be a perfect place for a pair!
