Crashed drone in shallow creek, need help

[Billbo]

Just crashed my mavic mini in a shallow creek after it hit a wall, got mostly muddy and a bit wet. Opened the drone, dried it off with a clean towel and a air can for electronics. Powered the drone up and only the prop motors twitch, power lights dont come on, and gimble doesnt do a start up rotation. Stuck and in dire need of help, thanks!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Welcome to the forum, although your first post is not a good situation for any drone pilot to find themselves.

It's probably too late from the sounds of it, having gone through those processes you took already, time has allowed corrosion to start its process.

If you really wanted to check if it's salvageable, it is probably best to send it off for a complete strip, clean, dry and assessment.
If it's not cleaned / dried properly, it will simply not be trustworthy again . . . heck even if done properly and immediately, can it really ever be trustworthy again ?
It is a flying computer after all.

@djidroneservice or google Thunderdrones . . . pick one that's closer if relevant, DJI Drone Service pays shipping both ways, even if it's not a viable repair (pretty sure, they might come along to confirm).

A lot of things can affect how to handle this sort of incident.
Did it get fully immersed in muddy water ?
Long enough for water to go right through the internals ?
So many things can affect what to do after such a crash.

If you want a crack at this yourself, try this . . .

Remove battery, if immersed, this is gone, dispose of properly. Do not try and fire up drone with it.

Open up as much as you can, flush with copious amounts of distilled water . . . spray with a heavy jet from a pump bottle, douse / splash repeatedly to get muddy residue and other incident water out of the internals.

Spray heavily all through with 99% isopropyl alcohol, this will force out water from rinsing, and evaporate quickly.

Place into a sealable tupperware or similar airtight container, with a good amount of silica gel crystals.

Leave for 3 - 4 days, then reassemble, try with another battery, somewhere out in the open and away from others in case it flies erratically.

Really, if you can't get all components out to rinse with distilled water / isopropyl, it's probably not going to work well anyway.
Best to get it to a repairer asap.

 

[Billbo]

Welcome to the forum, although your first post is not a good situation for any drone pilot to find themselves.

It's probably too late from the sounds of it, having gone through those processes you took already, time has allowed corrosion to start its process.

If you really wanted to check if it's salvageable, it is probably best to send it off for a complete strip, clean, dry and assessment.
If it's not cleaned / dried properly, it will simply not be trustworthy again . . . heck even if done properly and immediately, can it really ever be trustworthy again ?
It is a flying computer after all.

@djidroneservice or google Thunderdrones . . . pick one that's closer if relevant, DJI Drone Service pays shipping both ways, even if it's not a viable repair (pretty sure, they might come along to confirm).

A lot of things can affect how to handle this sort of incident.
Did it get fully immersed in muddy water ?
Long enough for water to go right through the internals ?
So many things can affect what to do after such a crash.

If you want a crack at this yourself, try this . . .

Remove battery, if immersed, this is gone, dispose of properly. Do not try and fire up drone with it.

Open up as much as you can, flush with copious amounts of distilled water . . . spray with a heavy jet from a pump bottle, douse / splash repeatedly to get muddy residue and other incident water out of the internals.

Spray heavily all through with 99% isopropyl alcohol, this will force out water from rinsing, and evaporate quickly.

Place into a sealable tupperware or similar airtight container, with a good amount of silica gel crystals.

Leave for 3 - 4 days, then reassemble, try with another battery, somewhere out in the open and away from others in case it flies erratically.

Really, if you can't get all components out to rinse with distilled water / isopropyl, it's probably not going to work well anyway.
Best to get it to a repairer asap.

Wow ya, thats a lot of work. I dont know how submerged it got, it hit the wall and flew under the bridge, hit the water, and then I found it on some wet rocks directly under the bridge, a bit muddy and damp. Battery was only slightly wet, so I dried it and placed it into the charger a little while later. I have insurance on the drone, not sure if it will cover it for a pilot caused crash :/

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Wow ya, thats a lot of work. I dont know how submerged it got, it hit the wall and flew under the bridge, hit the water, and then I found it on some wet rocks directly under the bridge, a bit muddy and damp. Battery was only slightly wet, so I dried it and placed it into the charger a little while later.

Sounds like it might have just skipped the water and onto the rocks then ?
Did you find the drone still powered on, or was it 'lights' out' ?
Did the battery behave as normal when put on the charger ?

I have insurance on the drone, not sure if it will cover it for a pilot caused crash :/

If DJI Care Refresh, yes you're covered as you recovered the drone.
If other drone insurance, I imagine you'd be covered too . . . unless it's for home portable contents cover only, that normally doesn't cover damage due to an item in use.

It sounds like it might be worth sending to a repairer then.
Quite possible the "prop motors twitch, power lights dont come on, and gimble doesnt do a start up rotation" might be either battery dead from water splash / shorting out, or other circuitry may have got water affected and sorted out perhaps.

If you have Care Refresh, DJI might fix it or replace with new or refurbished aircraft (battery too).

 

[MIGUELVM360]

oh wow so sorry to hear this. maybe a bag of rice for a week you can try? But as Mavic_south_Oz said it maybe to late,

 

[bumper]

Silica Gel is much better at drying than rice. But neither will help without rinsing with distilled water - that part is critical to get the dissolved solids, that were left behind by the dunking, out of there.

 

[Billbo]

Sounds like it might have just skipped the water and onto the rocks then ?
Did you find the drone still powered on, or was it 'lights' out' ?
Did the battery behave as normal when put on the charger ?



If DJI Care Refresh, yes you're covered as you recovered the drone.
If other drone insurance, I imagine you'd be covered too . . . unless it's for home portable contents cover only, that normally doesn't cover damage due to an item in use.

It sounds like it might be worth sending to a repairer then.
Quite possible the "prop motors twitch, power lights dont come on, and gimble doesnt do a start up rotation" might be either battery dead from water splash / shorting out, or other circuitry may have got water affected and sorted out perhaps.

If you have Care Refresh, DJI might fix it or replace with new or refurbished aircraft (battery too).

I found it with the power still on, quickly turned it off and pulled out the battery. Not sure what the problem could be, maybe the impact its self damaged it, but the nothing looks broken at all.

I really hope they cover it (its with dji), because it was a pricey purchase, and in these times, Id hate to loss something that cost as much as it does.

Also, thank you for the sympathy and all the help!! Very much appreciated!

 

[Billbo]

I found it with the power still on, quickly turned it off and pulled out the battery. Not sure what the problem could be, maybe the impact its self damaged it, but the nothing looks broken at all.

I really hope they cover it (its with dji), because it was a pricey purchase, and in these times, Id hate to loss something that cost as much as it does.

Also, thank you for the sympathy and all the help!! Very much appreciated!

... the battery seems normal, lights work when put into the battery charger. I think it may have have done a couple of skips and dunks before getting wedged under the bridge

 

[Billbo]

oh wow so sorry to hear this. maybe a bag of rice for a week you can try? But as Mavic_south_Oz said it maybe to late,

Thanks for the advice and sympathy!

 

[Billbo]

Silica Gel is much better at drying than rice. But neither will help without rinsing with distilled water - that part is critical to get the dissolved solids, that were left behind by the dunking, out of there.

Ok! Do I literally rinse the entire drone, eletronics and all?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Ok! Do I literally rinse the entire drone, eletronics and all?

Maybe not, if you think it only skipped the water somewhat.
There is wet, and there is WET !

A splash could be recoverable, even a quick dunk for a split second.
More than that it is debatable as to how long corrosion might take to have it fail.

If it was immersed for some time, all the dirty water would have got in, so yes then really good rinse with distilled water throughout does no more harm, and that contaminated water has to come out.

I would just use the Care Refresh to be honest, not worth the heartache or risk if it was unreliable in the air later.
They will cover it, pilot error is no problems, all you need is that 'body' and you have it.
They should replace aircraft and battery for the nominal Care Refresh price . . . one of them will be gone, but you have a 2nd, and if you don't use that in year one, you can pay another annual fee and get the 2nd year with still one more replacement if needed.

Should be noted, DJI will not repair a drowned aircraft ever.
So that says a lot about once they're wet they are done.

 

[OBSALAM]

Welcome to the forum, although your first post is not a good situation for any drone pilot to find themselves.

It's probably too late from the sounds of it, having gone through those processes you took already, time has allowed corrosion to start its process.

If you really wanted to check if it's salvageable, it is probably best to send it off for a complete strip, clean, dry and assessment.
If it's not cleaned / dried properly, it will simply not be trustworthy again . . . heck even if done properly and immediately, can it really ever be trustworthy again ?
It is a flying computer after all.

@djidroneservice or google Thunderdrones . . . pick one that's closer if relevant, DJI Drone Service pays shipping both ways, even if it's not a viable repair (pretty sure, they might come along to confirm).

A lot of things can affect how to handle this sort of incident.
Did it get fully immersed in muddy water ?
Long enough for water to go right through the internals ?
So many things can affect what to do after such a crash.

If you want a crack at this yourself, try this . . .

Remove battery, if immersed, this is gone, dispose of properly. Do not try and fire up drone with it.

Open up as much as you can, flush with copious amounts of distilled water . . . spray with a heavy jet from a pump bottle, douse / splash repeatedly to get muddy residue and other incident water out of the internals.

Spray heavily all through with 99% isopropyl alcohol, this will force out water from rinsing, and evaporate quickly.

Place into a sealable tupperware or similar airtight container, with a good amount of silica gel crystals.

Leave for 3 - 4 days, then reassemble, try with another battery, somewhere out in the open and away from others in case it flies erratically.

Really, if you can't get all components out to rinse with distilled water / isopropyl, it's probably not going to work well anyway.
Best to get it to a repairer asap.

That’s the best put explainaition for saving an immersed electronic device.

 

[Capt KO]

Insurance? Smart. Use it and better luck next time.