Brand New Dunked in Fresh Water

[BugsSon]

After only 4 flights, I headed to my best friend's house to show off my new Mavic Pro. I set the soft carrying case on what looked like a pile of towels. The towel and carrying case with my beautiful Mavic Pro sunk into a bucket of fresh water, not to be noticed until 2 hours later! I have shaken the water off, removed the camera covers, and placed the dripping drone and controller in front of a fan....

 

[old man mavic]

After only 4 flights, I headed to my best friend's house to show off my new Mavic Pro. I set the soft carrying case on what looked like a pile of towels. The towel and carrying case with my beautiful Mavic Pro sunk into a bucket of fresh water, not to be noticed until 2 hours later! I have shaken the water off, removed the camera covers, and placed the dripping drone and controller in front of a fan....
[/QUOTE
welcome to the forum
hopefully as it was fresh water you may be lucky ,give it a few days to completely dry out in a warm place
do not power it on till it is as dry as you can get it, as it was not powered on when it was dunked, will be a plus ,but the battery may well be toast

 

[THE CYBORG]

Ninjad by old man mavic

Hi BugsSon welcome to Mavic Pilots.
Sorry to see your first post is about a disaster.
I am no expert in electronics but am sure fresh water isn't that bad as long is it is thoroughly dried out before you power it on, after that length of time it got in everywhere, not so sure if I would trust the battery, I assume you removed it.
Salt water on the other hand is bad.
Others will no doubt correct me if I am wrong.

 

[ChipDjipro]

Water + Electronics = junk. Unfortunately

 

[BugsSon]

Ninjad by old man mavic

Hi BugsSon welcome to Mavic Pilots.
Sorry to see your first post is about a disaster.
I am no expert in electronics but am sure fresh water isn't that bad as long is it is thoroughly dried out before you power it on, after that length of time it got in everywhere, not so sure if I would trust the battery, I assume you removed it.
Salt water on the other hand is bad.
Others will no doubt correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks for the support. When I removed the battery, it was dry underneath, so maybe it wasn't completely immersed. The front and gimbal assembly along with the controller were dripping wet.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Thanks for the support. When I removed the battery, it was dry underneath, so maybe it wasn't completely immersed. The front and gimbal assembly along with the controller were dripping wet.

The more most important aspect is to let it dry for as long as you can before trying to start it back up,
Best thing would be to put it in a room with a fire place and let dry.

Do not use the battery that was immersed in the water as its likely compromised in ways you cannot see now.

Get a fresh battery so you have the best possible chance of recovery of your drone.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the pouring Rain.
Coal

 

[PhantomFandom]

After only 4 flights, I headed to my best friend's house to show off my new Mavic Pro. I set the soft carrying case on what looked like a pile of towels. The towel and carrying case with my beautiful Mavic Pro sunk into a bucket of fresh water, not to be noticed until 2 hours later! I have shaken the water off, removed the camera covers, and placed the dripping drone and controller in front of a fan....

Sorry to hear that. Really unfortunate way to start out.

Of course it is so much better than salt water, but even fresh water can cause damage due to the suspended particles. Even fresh drinking water has them. What I would recommend:

• Get rid of the battery if there was any chance it was in water. Not worth the risk of dropping from the sky if it fails later mid-flight.
• Take off the cover and thoroughly rinde all internal components in very pure Isopropyl alcohol (at least 99%). It will displace any residual moisture and hopefully wash away any particles that were left behind by the water.
  Be careful as the vapors are very flammable. Use in a very well ventilated space or preferably outdoors.
• Let the drone dry with the cover off.

Once completely dry, pop in a new battery and see what happens. No guarantees after being in water. but since it was fresh water you may have a chance.

 

[Oconnb910]

Water + Electronics = junk. Unfortunately

Normally I would agree with that statement, however, being a DJI user for a long time now, I need to disagree. I have seen so many cases whereas a drone falls into Fresh Water and has been able to be resurrected! There were many different ways this was accomplished! The Typical scenario is to dry off drone ASAP and as much as possible, Then put it into a container with Rice. this of course after shaking out all possible loose moisture. The most interesting I saw was a guy up in Alaska that had his Inspire Decide to take a Dunk. He decided that it makes sense that a Refrigerator has the same affect as for drying out things. He let it stay in there and to his surprise it actually Worked!

My personal experience was my Mavic Pro being stuck in a tree for over 3 months, the land owner found it in his tree. He traced it back to me. I had a Card under battery. I took it home cleaned it up and it is still working!!! it went through all weather including Hurricane and Snowstorm. And!!!! I have to say , Even the Battery still worked after being recharged!!!!.

My point is to not be so quick to Write Off these little BeastSSS!!!!!

Water + Electronics = junk. Unfortunately

 

[unionglzr]

The more most important aspect is to let it dry for as long as you can before trying to start it back up,
Best thing would be to put it in a room with a fire place and let dry.

Do not use the battery that was immersed in the water as its likely compromised in ways you cannot see now.

Get a fresh battery so you have the best possible chance of recovery of your drone.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the pouring Rain.
Coal

phantomrain wont help a 2 hour swim

 

[krodgerson]

I have had electronic devices dunked in fresh water too. It is good to put them in a bucket of rice which will draw out the moisture. The battery hovever is another matter and should have been removed immediatelly

 

[g36pilot]

When using the rice immersion method, consider wrapping the drone in cheese cloth to prevent rice kernels getting into fiddly bits like motor windings. Eases clean up.

FWIW, I "landed" a non-DJI GoPro equipped quad into 3 ft of fresh clear water for about 5 minutes. Disconnected the battery, later wrapped in cheesecloth, and submerged in a sealed bucket of rice for five days. Didn't bother w/disassembling the mini FPV camera. Flew it for a year and a half w/o issue before upgrading some of the electronics. Good luck!

 

[Zbip57]

I once snagged an overhanging branch with my Phantom 3 Pro and dropped it into a river. It took me about 15 minutes of searching before I found and retrieved it. The battery died instantly. Several days later with a new battery installed it started right up like normal. But then the camera lens fogged up from inside. Yikes. Let it dry for another week, and it's been fine ever since.

 

[Made2Phly]

My Spark flew into the lake. I retrieved it after about 60 seconds.Removed the battery immediately, which obviously powered it off. I dried all visible water with a paper towel q-tip,. Then I a hair dryer set on low. Then I left it in a small ,very warm bathroom Over night. Bathroom had its own Put the same battery in it. It fired up perfectly and has worked fine ever since. Using Same battery may have been a mistake, but I was not a member of the forum at the time.

btw, Since then, I keep and collect all of those silica packs that you get with electronics. I figure I can put all of those in a bag along with whatever needs to be dried out and it should work pretty well. I think the rice thing is probably a myth. But even if it’s not, The silica gel packs would certainly work better

 

[BugsSon]

Thanks for the encouragement Oconnb920. You are right! I put a fan on it for 24 hours and it's behaving normally indoors. There's a little bit of rain in my neighborhood in Los Angeles this morning, so I will post again when I get a chance to try a normal flight. Having the refresh insurance was was comforting while I waited to see if my Mavic Pro would wake up, but I'm glad I didn't have to use it!

 

[Rodders]

Sorry to hear about the Drone, put the Drone in the Airing cupboard nice and warm, that"s if you have one leave it for a week.

 

[Bob Long]

After only 4 flights, I headed to my best friend's house to show off my new Mavic Pro. I set the soft carrying case on what looked like a pile of towels. The towel and carrying case with my beautiful Mavic Pro sunk into a bucket of fresh water, not to be noticed until 2 hours later! I have shaken the water off, removed the camera covers, and placed the dripping drone and controller in front of a fan....

Thanks for the encouragement Oconnb920. You are right! I put a fan on it for 24 hours and it's behaving normally indoors. There's a little bit of rain in my neighborhood in Los Angeles this morning, so I will post again when I get a chance to try a normal flight. Having the refresh insurance was was comforting while I waited to see if my Mavic Pro would wake up, but I'm glad I didn't have to use it!

After only 4 flights, I headed to my best friend's house to show off my new Mavic Pro. I set the soft carrying case on what looked like a pile of towels. The towel and carrying case with my beautiful Mavic Pro sunk into a bucket of fresh water, not to be noticed until 2 hours later! I have shaken the water off, removed the camera covers, and placed the dripping drone and controller in front of a fan....

While on vacation I dropped a camera into the swimming pool and found it waterlogged. I dried it out with a towel, THEN I put it into the trunk of our rental car for a few hours. After that I put the battery back into the camera..... perhaps LUCK, but it has worked perfectly every time since then. Hope it works for you again.

 

[BushWacker]

Water + Electronics = junk. Unfortunately

So Not true. I dunked 1 drone in a river, took me 10 minutes to get to it and it works fine (even the battery). I lost another in a tree and it was found a month later after a snow melt, it was rough but I got it working again too (yes even the battery) and they both work fine now.

Unfortunately a bucket of water is far from "Fresh" and it's the minerals and other contaminates that usually present the problem. A rinse with real Fresh Water, something like distilled water might work and a thorough drying is key to success.

I speak from experience, now I really need to learn to fly better...

 

[BugsSon]

Good news. Had a nice flight today and it worked great! I'm very happy with DJI quality. Here is a picture of the offending bucket. My friends are having fun teasing me about this, but I know they're just jealous...?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

When using the rice immersion method, consider wrapping the drone in cheese cloth to prevent rice kernels getting into fiddly bits like motor windings. Eases clean up.

True, a LOT of dust in rice !
Same goes for using silica gel crystals too, which are far better than rice but harder to find and more expensive.

I wonder how many people would submerge their laptop / iPad etc, put it in a material to dry it out a few days, then expect it to work ok again for an undetermined time ?
This is exactly what some are asking of their drowned drones, they are a flying computer.

How can you trust it again ?

I think a quick splash or few seconds in fresh clean water you might have a slim chance (again, the confidence in it ?).
Salt water or dirty water, you've got Buckley's chance of a long term positive experience.

 

[Peio64270]

• Take off the cover and thoroughly rinde all internal components in very pure Isopropyl alcohol (at least 99%). It will displace any residual moisture and hopefully wash away any particles that were left behind by the water.

I agree. Alcool is the best dessicant..
The old method to obtain completely dry preparations for electronic microscopy where even a trace of moisture can deteriorate the microscope is to plunge them in graded dilution of alcool, finishing with 100% pure alcool. If well done, not any trace of water after drying.