When shooting with a drone in winter, besides watching the weather and light, you also need to manage battery condition. Low temperatures affect battery performance, and beyond planning flight distance and return time, the battery is a simple yet easily overlooked factor. In this blog post, we'll explore how to keep drone batteries warm, charge, and store them in winter.
Don't Rush to Charge
The battery you’ve just flown with may still be warm, even if your hands are freezing. An unused spare could be cold all the way through. Leave both at room temperature for a while, away from heaters, and make sure they’re within the charging range listed in the manual. Remove the battery from the drone for charging, and check for moisture around the connectors, cracks in the casing, or swelling. If anything looks wrong, don’t charge it.
Keeping Moisture Out After Flight
A landing pad keeps the drone off the snow, but check underneath before putting it away. Snow can cling to the landing gear or collect around the arm joints and battery compartment. Brush off what you can, then dab any moisture with a soft, dry cloth. Otherwise, it all melts in the bag on the way home.
Back in warm indoors, you might notice the lens fogging up or droplets forming on the body. Leave the drone off if that happens. The photos can wait, and so can charging. Let the equipment reach room temperature and dry out away from heaters; check the connectors for moisture before using it again. A damp carrying bag needs drying too, so leave it open rather than zipping everything back inside.
Occasionally Check Batteries
If you won’t be flying for a few weeks, store the batteries at the charge level recommended for your model rather than fully charged. Remove the batteries from the drone and keep them somewhere dry indoors, away from heaters. Check them about once a month. Along with the charge level, look for swelling or damage to the casing. If a battery smells unusual or becomes unusually hot, stop using or charging it.
Summary
A little care goes a long way in winter. Keep your batteries warm before flying, leave enough charge for the trip back, and give them time to reach room temperature and dry out at home. Store them properly when not in use. That way, there’s less to sort out when the next good flying day comes around.
For any further inquiry, Ruko's 7/24 customer support team is happy to help.
