Onthebrinc,
It's possible but I think unlikely if above 20* or so. I've flown a Chroma quite a lot in temps down to ~15* with no problems at all and I suspect the Chroma and the H share a lot of component choices.
Frozen video is usually caused by a lost video signal. It's quite possible the orientation of the antenna at the front of the camera and the orientation of the antenna on the ST-16 were such the H was outside of the reception zone. Hard to say without being there and seeing it.
There have been a posts where short battery times have been mentioned but not specifically referencing use in cold weather, where useful time will always be reduced. What I typically do not see in those posts, be they referring to warm or cold weather operations, is
any history relative to how a battery had been used previously. Because of this I tend to view every battery complaint post with some level of suspicion.
What follows should not be viewed as directed at you but as something for all lipo users to review to determine if they might be the cause of shout useful battery time, and short battery life cycle.
Lipo battery life and useful time is impacted by many different things, most of which are under the control of the user. Useful flight time is impacted by how the user treats the batteries. Assuming that all lipo's are created equally (they are not) a user can significantly reduce battery functionality by;
- Over discharging in flight.
Someone that always flies their battery down to the low voltage or auto land level will induce cell damage that accumulates over time. A battery will start out providing good flight time but each successive flight will provide just a little less flight time than the previous flight.
- Charging immediately after discharging.
Batteries generate heat when being discharged. Batteries should be permitted to cool after use before being subjected to another charge cycle.
Some like to charge their batteries after the end of a day's flying in order to be ready for flight on another day. This is not an issue if flying the next day or the day after but storing full charged for a week or more is hard on a battery and causes cell damage. Even small amounts of cell damage reduce useful time, and every extended storage period where the battery was stored fully charged reduces battery performance just a little more.
- Charging at excessive rates.
Charging a battery generates heat. Charging a battery at a rate higher than the cell construction can tolerate generates even more heat. The amount of heat a cell can tolerate is finite and exceeding the limit damages cells, reducing useful flight time.
- Fast discharging in flight.
Those that like to fly as fast as they can by turning off GPS
rapidly drain their batteries. The fact that flying at high speed with the GPS turned off causes the battery indicator to show a very fast voltage drop indicates the batteries are not of a sufficient C rating to deal with a high amp load, or that the system is just pulling too many amps. That is supported by the jump in indicated battery voltage after resuming "normal" flight. We should remember that consumer level products are designed around standards that provide for the least amount of product cost in order to maximize post sales profit while still being at a price point consumers are willing to pay. Minimal cost usually does not provide the highest quality.
- Ambient storage temperatures
Those that store their batteries in a relatively controlled temperature environment will have better batteries than those that leave them in the trunk of a car. Leaving them in an unheated garage during periods of extreme cold also impacts a lipo.
- Failing to balance charge
Balance charging matters greatly. Not balance charging means one or more cells can end up at a much higher or lower voltage than adjacent cells. When put in use, cells with a much higher voltage can end up being drawn down faster than lower voltage cells, generating more heat in the higher voltage cell. Alternatively, voltage from a strong cell might be directed to a weaker cell, reducing over all output.
- Outside air temperature while in use
Lipo's have an operational temperature range. Using them in temps higher or lower, especially significantly lower, impacts their useful time. Useful time is proportional to the temperature at which it is used. Really cold temps will provide really short flight time, and that difference is not accurately predictable. How it is flown has its own impact on useful time separate from time loss due to temperature.
So, how a battery is used establishes how well a battery can do what it's supposed to do. Lacking battery use data provided by a user there is virtually no way of assessing battery performance. Number of use cycles, battery voltage before and after use, time in minutes and seconds for each flight on the battery, conditions of flight, charge rate, ma to achieve full charge, how the battery was stored, ambient temperature a battery was stored in, cell balance, etc., all combine to establish how our batteries perform. A poorly performing battery may well be performing exactly as it should if it had been treated badly. It might also be a poorly made battery, where how it was made established it might never perform well. The latter is one of the negatives of proprietary batteries. We don't know who made them and have little ability to research the history of the battery manufacturer. We should assume we are being provided the least expensive cells available, which will most assuredly create a lot of variety in cell quality. However, I think we've all seen a enough posts describing how some people fly to establish that a very large number of battery problems are user induced. This is supported by the lack of battery history information when people lament about poor flight times. Some of that information deficiency is because many have very little understanding of their equipment or don't want to invest in accessory equipment that would permit them to take much better care of their batteries.
A battery that has sustained internal damage will often charge to full voltage but it will deplete that charge very quickly. As an example, I obtained a used battery at what I thought was a good price. That battery arrived at my door in a 12.8v charge state. Checking cell balance provided quite a difference in cell voltage. A slow charge up to full provided a full charge voltage of 16.67v. Pretty much normal for a fully charged Yuneec H battery. Useful time for this battery has not exceeded 4 minutes of even the most gentle flight since I obtained it. The battery from the incident event generating this thread was deep discharged, with the voltage at time of recovery at 12.8v. I'm fairly sure it will charge back to full level but I am also certain it will not retain a charge or discharge properly. Both batteries have been damaged by over discharge, neither battery will ever again provide decent use time.
Ultimately our batteries are our gas tanks and how you drive will establish the kind of mileage you will get.
