What weather limits for a S900?

[Stratifier]

All what we have at the moment in the UK is cold, wet, and windy weather ! I was curious to know what are your tolerances facing the elements... I think the 900 can cope with a little rain, maybe shielding a bit the electronics with a plastic bag , (overheating should not have time to take place).
What about the wind speed? mostly these days we get 15 to 30mph. are you flying in these conditions?
S.

 

[PMaughan]

I've had mine out in 20mph gusts without too much bother. No point going up even in a wee bit of rain if you have a camera on board as water will be on the lens in a jiffy.

 

[Carapau]

If you are doing this commercially then I would stick to what the manual says in terms of wind speed. Yes the machine my be able to handle a lot more but if you have an accident and you have exceeded the limits then you won't have a leg to stand on. Even if not flying commercially your insurance is unlikely to cover you if you go beyond what is recommended by the manufacturer.

 

[Stratifier]

I've had mine out in 20mph gusts without too much bother. No point going up even in a wee bit of rain if you have a camera on board as water will be on the lens in a jiffy.

Good point, as we are mainly up there to make pictures! Droplets of water wouldn't look great. The wookong manual talks about 18 mph as a max wind resistance, but I haven't seen anything in the 900 manual itself.

 

[Carapau]

You wont see wind limits in the airframe manuals, just in the flight controller's by and large

 

[Stratifier]

You wont see wind limits in the airframe manuals, just in the flight controller's by and large

Yes It's what I just said, The wookong talks about 18mph, which doesn't mean much in regard of what platform you're using.

 

[Carapau]

That's because the platform is not the limiting factor, its the flight controller so no you wont see much in regard to the platform. However if you want to work out your absolute max wind speed, fly at max chat on a windless day in either atti or manual (depending on what mode you would fly in on a windy day) and if you can get, let's say 40mph out of the machine then 30 would be your absolute max ie this gives you the ability to head back upwind. I personally am happy to stick with the wind limits as per the flight controller.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

I find the wind speed of the FC has nothing to do with it. It's like saying the maximum wind resistance of a pilot in a 747 is 18mph. I've had the S900 out in 30mph and apart from me shitting myself the aircraft was totally fine. Bounces around close to the ground and flight time reduced quite a bit, but otherwise fine. Took a while flying upwind again though!

The problem is if you have a failure, your redundancy is severely reduced.

If doing commercially then as Angus said, don't exceed your stated wind resistance! (Unless maybe you're filming a mountain biker on the top of a mountain peak and the shot would be totally worth it! Yes, thinking of Lec here!)

 

[Stratifier]

Thanks, this is what I wanted to know. What are the "limits of tolerance", I just don't want to underestimate the wind speed if I have to fly in difficult conditions. I find that even at ground level 11/12 mph is already quite windy!

 

[PMaughan]

Thanks, this is what I wanted to know. What are the "limits of tolerance", I just don't want to underestimate the wind speed if I have to fly in difficult conditions. I find that even at ground level 11/12 mph is already quite windy!

I find myself and others usually over estimate the wind speed , as you say 12mph feels pretty windy, especially in the winter. I'm often surprised how low the reading on my anemometer is. When my light weight monitor tripod falls over it's time to go home!