How cold do you go?

[Toledodave]

 What kinds of temperatures do you operate in. When is it too cold for flight controllers, motors, esc';s, cameras to operate?

[nub]

i usually fly right through the winter if i can, never had a problem with the cold affecting anything or haven';t ever noticed it on my heli';s before, quads well this will be my 1st winter with them, would be interesting to hear if the cold will affect the camera';s in some way, everything else should be ok i would have thought.

[steve fh]

The only cold weather issue I';ve encountered so far (apart from cold hands) is Ice build up on the props one very cold slightly misty morning.

It was taking more and more power to hold a hover and when i landed to see what was going on there was ice on the leading edge of each prop blade.

[Toledodave]

Awesome thats good news. I was worried. Temps here in northern ohio was 13 degrees this morning. I have the bugs worked out I hope and wanted to try today aftwr work.

[Biffa]

When your hands hurt, then it';s about time to stop flying.

[guest325]

I was out this morning with it being +2 deg to start with then warming up to +5; my fingers were numb after about 5mins of hooning about which is about what I get from a 3S 2200 giving it beans! Coming down to land with a warm lipo is a godsend  ::)   ::)  ::)

[Toledodave]

Haha thats a good idea!  You may be the first with a lipo hand warmer! :)

[Jumpy07]

Most flight controllers are only rated to -10c ..  (Naza, WKM and A2).

[dirtyharry]

watch out for hot glue fixes , it goes very stiff and not so gluey ( if thats a word)  when cold and stuff falls off ( including my camera last year)

[ktnch]

used to be a hot season flyer due to hands getting so cold in the winter and hurt to move them, now got some of the heated pads that last a few hours gloves over the top and im off again, some of the mornings in winter are much better than the summers in term of visibility and clear skies

[guest325]

Agree with you there, it also can be less windy - great morning';s flying this morning apart from numb fingers :-)

[fruitsalad]

i do a lot of night flying,
it gets bloody freezing some nights,only damage been due to my fumbling numb fingers 
all good fun tho..

[Opto-Mystic]

Did my first ever flight this afternoon. -1c
Bloomin'; cold...

[Wireless]

I';ve flown in sub-zero conditions before with my Parkzone Radian sailplane, but the limiting factor has always been the temperature of electronics and my hands...! I';ve had the LCD screen on the Tx go completely blank or just show gobbledegook and had voltage warnings on Tx packs because they just can';t deliver the juice at low temps. Flight LiPos have always been OK for me as I make sure they are warm before I start. I certainly wouldn';t be operating my helicopters or MR at low temps. as I just don';t know how all the components will behave and I cannot justify the risk of stuffing one into the deck...!

[Toledodave]

Wireless..freezing my copter is my fear too. 6 months ago I didnt even know what a multicopter was. I jumped in head first and HKPlatnium member later im doing. I made some mistakes but I did it. I had no friends to refur to just resources to learn and figure it out. Still learning and loving it.

[Col_M]

I flew on Dartmoor at the weekend, the wind was the worst aspect, best to cover exposed skin. Thankfully I had a pair of these so fingers and thumbs could come out to play when flying or fiddling

http://www.sealskinz.com/UK/gloves/kj351-outdoor-sports-mitten-olive.html

Will have to see how cold I can go, though to be fair southern UK is pretty warm in winter, at least not compared to the regular -15C winters I';m used to.

[FlyinMarty]

4 degrees....that';s what it was today.

Discovered I can fly with gloves on (thin wollen ones)  after I forgot to take them off for my third pack,

[Jumpy07]

As air gets colder it gets more dense..  so better lift on your multi.. but cold air effects Lipo';s performance.. so there is a trade off.

Ice can form on props.. if cold and damp..   this is dangerous..

Barometer can ice up.. as well

Electronics only rated to -10c normally on multis..

ESC timing can drift in cold.. especially if you don';t have external timer circuit..    not a big issue.. but can change flight characteristics..

Not putting people off flying in the cold.. but would avoid anything less than -10c