What should I do with my wet Mavic?

[Andrew1603]

I was flying my Mavic over a very clean lake when it landed in the water, probably do to the water messing with sensors. It was in the water for about 20-30 seconds, and I was quick to jump in and save the drone that costed over $1000. Water is not dripping out of it, but just to be safe what should I do to help make sure it’s not water damaged?

 

[Broken Arrow]

More important than the water, take the battery out and do not power it back on until it is completely dry. Many have not had any trouble after letting it dry out. I fear long term damage will be unknown.

FYI, there are many posts about the subject, just use the search function.

 

[WithTheBirds]

Leave it sitting close to an air conditioner vent (on cooling cycle). The dehumidified air will assist removing any moisture.

Forget packing into a container with rice- it is a myth.

 

[offshorecl1]

Excuse me, if I have made language mistakes, because I am in Dutch.?

Step 1
Immediately remove the battery from the drone and place it in a safe and fire-resistant place. LiPo batteries can become unstable if they get damaged and sometimes even go up in flames.
The safest is to return the battery in question to a waste processing center.

The chance that your drone will survive fresh water is greater than in salt water. Salt water is very corrosive and conducts electricity (even) better. Dipping your drone into the water is like creating a thousand small short circuits across the printed circuit boards. Sometimes you are lucky and nothing happens. Sometimes you blow up some circuits (the engine speed controllers are extremely vulnerable because they are high-power circuits). In the long term, it will most likely go wrong if you do nothing about it.

Step 2
The battery has been removed, time for the next step to put the corrosive effect of the water and any salts in it. Salt water? We recommend rinsing the drone with isopropyl alcohol that you buy in the store. Isopropyl alcohol is fairly inert and absorbs water, so wherever it enters your drone you replace something bad (water) with something less bad (alcohol). No isopropyl alcohol on hand or for sale? Use fresh water. Has your drone ended up in fresh water? Skip this step.

Step 3
Drying, at least hand dry. Further drying with a hairdryer, on the heating or in rice is useless. Yes, the drone appears dry at first glance. However, there is a good chance that there is still moisture between plugs and other, less accessible places. Even if your drone is dry after a water crash, dirt remains and the corrosion starts to do its devastating work. Step 4
Disassemble the housing, remove the flight controller and open all printed circuit boards, contacts, plugs etc. Check for mechanical damage. Hitting water can be just as bad as the impact of concrete. Many water landings are also secondary crashes, where you first hit a tree or something else. Manual drone motherboard cleaning with 99.9% alcohol. First a combination of distilled water with Tickopur RW77, then a 99.9% isopropyl alcohol bath.

A complete cleaning follows, the last cleaning. Even if you have already treated the drone with alcohol. Take every millimeter with you so that no harmful residues remain. Under the digital microscope you get a better picture of any (future) damage, if necessary treat you immediately. The alcohol rinse is given 24 hours to dry. A fan speeds up the evaporation of minute scraps of water. As far as possible, test all components separately before replacing everything. Then the crucial moment, you switch on the drone. Approximately 85% of the drones cleaned 100% are back in the air without material costs.

Wish you every success with the (water) repair, and continue to fly safely?