I own the small parkflyer ELFI. I noticed its poor flight times and power recently. My question is: Does the cold temperatures of winter affect the battery's performance in flying due to it being so cold?? Or does the motor have less power? And do planes drop faster in colder air?? Just curious, lemme hear you 2 cents. thanks alan

Hey Alan,

I'm up here in Wisconsin and have to deal with cold weather flying also. In general, batteries will lose power and life faster when they're cold, but a typical 10 or 15 minute flight may not be long enough to get the batteries cold enough to make a diff. It's the spares you have to worry about. I keep my spares in an inside jacket pocket.

My biggest problem is the pilot (me) getting cold - not the batteries.

NiMhs hate the cold.

This morning was cold (for California, 40 degrees) and I let a 350 pack sit about a half-hour (after a full charge) before using it. My T-Moth barely got off the ground and was back down within one minute. Still plenty of run-time, just no power. After a full cycle (and a warm battery) The Moth climbed to where I was starting to get nervous. I flew around for 5 or 6 minutes, landed and as the motor still felt strong took off again. This second flight was better than the one in the morning with a charged, but cold battery.

The best advice that I can give about NiMhs and cold weather is to cycle the battery once before flying and fly before it gets cold.

About Cal-cold, we are supposed to get down to the teens tonight! I spent the winter of 69 at Camp McCoy near Sparta Wisconsin. I remember a two-week period when it never got above freezing! That was on the base, which was in a valley that seemed to trap the cold.

I developed a great respect for Packer fans that winter.