Mike's Car Info offers a great review using the iPad Cooling Case with his drone.
When power is used heat is generated, whether it be a gasoline engine or a computer processor. Keeping the operating temperature under control is a major part of the advancement in technology. Vehicles usually have a cooling system with liquid that transfers the heat away from the motor and dissipates it using moving air from fans. Computers can use liquid or a heat sync, but both need moving air to get rid of the accumulated heat.
As mobile devices become more advanced with faster processors handling more tasks, all with higher density batteries, they are getting much hotter. Last year, I have my Samsung S8 Plus overheat and stop working several times while using it in the middle of the summer. This is bad for productivity and bad for the device, especially the internal lithium battery.
The advancement in drone technology this year, got my attention so I invested. This summer I started using drones to enhance my videos and business offerings. It all started with practice and licensing. During this process, I had major problems with my mobile devices overheating while flying the drones. The combination of summer heat, computational activity from the device's processor, and battery draw would make them lock up, and I would be flying blind at the worst possible moments.
The brand of drones I invested in, is DJI. DJI products are optimized to work with Apple products according to the internet, so I purchased my first Ipad. While it worked great with the DJI software and gives me a large view of the essential information while flying, it overheats easily due to its fast processor and lithium battery.
Well, I found a solution that works perfect, even on a hot day in direct sunlight. But this important, a solution is not some cheap or weird trick. It's a professional and reliable product that is relatively new to the market and it wasn't that easy for me to find, actually. It seems not too many people are talking about it in the drone community, or in general
Designed initially for helicopter or small plane pilots to run their navigational software, the X-Naut is like an iPad case, a CPU cooler, and a battery cooler all in one. It uses multiple fans to keep air circulating past the back of the Ipad, to keep that heat from building up and locking up the device. It is powered by a USB connection or internal batteries for up to ten hours of continuous use. The X-Naut has an infinite amount of mounting options using ram mounts, mega flight, or MGF mounts, and a special mount designed for DJG controllers. Without any mount attached, it is fairly light to use handheld, as well.
The way the X-Naut is designed, this is actually the top here, with the controls, and the test light, here. This is the bottom with the fans. And the way heat, of course, rises, if you had this, this way, then the fans would have to work against the heat rising on the back of the Ipad. So you have it this way. Also, you have this cut out here, that way you can access the button here on the right side of the Ipad. I guess the Ipad isn't necessarily directional because it rotates, but putting the button there helps out a lot.
We have a choice here, between USB and battery. Now, the USB seems to, in my experience, get a little bit more power to the system and makes the fans work harder, but when we put on the battery, the double A batteries over here, it starts them up. Then, before we get started we can push this test button. The test button will illuminate this little LED here, giving us a green light. Letting us know that the batteries have enough juice for the time being anyway, most likely to complete our flight. That way we can make sure that we're not starting off with already depleted batteries.
Ever since I started using the X-Naut, I have not had a single problem with overheating. It does a fantastic job keeping it cool. It's fairly quiet. The batteries last a long time. You can also, plug in the USB to a power-pack, a little power bank, and keep it going it seems like an eternity.
Works great. It's a high-quality product, and it's made for different Ipads, you can have the Ipad mini, the larger Ipad ... there are three different sizes so you can check it on the website. I'll have a link in the description so where you can check it out. Highly recommend it. At least look into it. And I would not wait until you have a problem before you purchase one of these. I think if you even have the possibility of a hot environment in which you're flying a commercial drone, especially around expensive things or whatever, around possibility of an injury or anything like that, if you could go ahead and have that already on the Ipad so that way you don't run into that problem at the worst time. I think it's a really good insurance for avoiding problems in the future.
Of course, it has all kinds of other uses, but my context is mostly drones for my particular use right now, where I've run into this problem, so that's why I'm focused on that, but of course, as a pilot, you can use it. Also, cars that don't have air conditioning, say race car or drag strip or something like that in which you're keeping track of certain things on the car, or whatever ... there are lots of different uses for keeping the Ipad cool.
Anyways, I just wanted to introduce this product to you. It's fantastic that I found out about it. It's exactly what I needed. I'm glad that a company makes it. Now, if they would make a cooler for cell phones, I think that would probably be a good thing in the future, because cell phones are turning into powerful little handheld devices, as well.
Thank you for watching, and I'll see you guys next time.
