Crashed my Mavic Air into watery mud - now I have solid red light

[MavicAirForce]

Hi all, so I crashed my mavic air backwards into mud, it clearly ingested some water. I found it after about 10 mins, immediately took the battery out and then left it to dry out in a hot car. Now it appears to boot ok but does not bind with the controller. After the normal boot sequence the back light flashes green/yellow then goes solid red after maybe 10 seconds. Red apparently means "critical error". Does anyone know how I can work out more detail on what's causing the error or how to fix it? I'm trying to avoid taking it apart but will if I have to. Ideas anyone? What commonly causes the red light error?

 

[bumper]

To avoid further damage, do not continue to power up your drone. Do a search here on <distilled water>. You need to thoroughly rinse your drone. Once you have a few gallons of distilled water on hand, I'd first submerge and rinse the drone in tap water to get the mud out, drain, then switch to distilled water.

 

[MavicAirForce]

To avoid further damage, do not continue to power up your drone. Do a search here on <distilled water>. You need to thoroughly rinse your drone. Once you have a few gallons of distilled water on hand, I'd first submerge and rinse the drone in tap water to get the mud out, drain, then switch to distilled water.

ok, cool, what's the solid red error light caused by?

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

To avoid further damage, do not continue to power up your drone. Do a search here on <distilled water>. You need to thoroughly rinse your drone. Once you have a few gallons of distilled water on hand, I'd first submerge and rinse the drone in tap water to get the mud out, drain, then switch to distilled water.

Won't water damage it farther or does it get damaged only when it is powered on?

 

[bumper]

Water that has impurities acts as an electrolyte (conducts electricity), while distilled water is an insulator. Impure water will thus short out circuitry in the drone. Indications, if any, cannot be relied up to convey the info they normally would. Leaving the drone powered up causes electrolysis (corrosion). Even while not being powered up, so long as the contaminated water remains, it can support galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals within the drone.

Get it submerged in distilled water asap.

 

[MavicAirForce]

Won't water damage it farther or does it get damaged only when it is powered on?

chemically pure water rinse followed by isopropanol sounds plausible, mine was in mud not very long and only the back end but i'm very sure in got water in the back 40% of the drone, i kept it tail down (the way it crashed) until it was dried out, it all seems fine except for this solid red light, it boots and resets the escs/motors whatever, i'd really like to know what the red light error is

 

[THE CYBORG]

Won't water damage it farther or does it get damaged only when it is powered on?

High quality distilled water is an INSULATOR!! The problem is that even the tiniest amount of contamination changes that insulator into a conductor. Tap water is a moderate conductor and sea water is a great conductor.
If you power on when wet it can be bad, best not to chance it.

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

Water that has impurities acts as an electrolyte (conducts electricity), while distilled water is an insulator. Impure water will thus short out circuitry in the drone. Indications, if any, cannot be relied up to convey the info they normally would. Leaving the drone powered up causes electrolysis (corrosion). Even while not being powered up, so long as the contaminated water remains, it can support galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals within the drone.

Get it submerged in distilled water asap.

Thanks for the info, makes sense! Good to know if anything happens to my Mavic Mini.

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

High quality distilled water is an INSULATOR!! The problem is that even the tiniest amount of contamination changes that insulator into a conductor. Tap water is a moderate conductor and sea water is a great conductor.
If you power on when wet it can be bad, best not to chance it.

Thanks for for input! Where can you get high quality distilled water?

 

[lannes]

Powering it on when there is a lot moisture on the circuit boards is what causes problems, muddy water is probably the worst scenario.
As Bumper recommends dunk it in distilled water to get rid of all the solids, open it up and spray with iso propyl alcohol (99% is best) scrubbing any visible corrosion away with a tooth brush.
Try sucking away the water with a vacuum cleaner or blowing it out using compressed air etc.
Then let it dry for a week (use rice or a desiccant in sealed container) before powering up with a different battery if the original battery got wet.

Hopefully you can still rescue it even though you have powered it already.

 

[THE CYBORG]

Thanks for for input! Where can you get high quality distilled water?

Try Amazon for one place

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

Powering it on when there is a lot moisture on the circuit boards is what causes problems, muddy water is probably the worst scenario.
As Bumper recommends dunk it in distilled water to get rid of all the solids, open it up and spray with iso propyl alcohol (99% is best) scrubbing any visible corrosion away with a tooth brush.
Try sucking away the water with a vacuum cleaner or blowing it out using compressed air etc.
Then let it dry for a week (use rice or a desiccant in sealed container) before powering up with a different battery if the original battery got wet.

Hopefully you can still rescue it even though you have powered it already.

Great information!

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

Usually from the supermarket, I don't think there are different grades of distilled water

That's what I thought too.

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

Try Amazon for one place

Ok, thanks!

 

[CrazyFastFlying]

I found this. I guess we were wrong @lannes. There are different grades of purified/distilled water.

Types of Water used in the Lab | Type I - III | ELGA LabWater

Making decisions on which type of lab water you need for your scientific application can be challenging. Find out more about the different water types here.

www.elgalabwater.com

Sorry for hijacking your thread @MavicAirForce

 

[lannes]

I found this. I guess we were wrong @lannes. There are different grades of purified/distilled water.

Types of Water used in the Lab | Type I - III | ELGA LabWater

Making decisions on which type of lab water you need for your scientific application can be challenging. Find out more about the different water types here.

www.elgalabwater.com

Sorry for hijacking your thread @MavicAirForce

Yes you're right, but for this purpose you just want to wash it with relatively pure water, laundry quality distilled is fine, it's the isopropyl alcohol that displaces the water and cleans the corrosion if it has started.

 

[MavicAirForce]

Yes you're right, but for this purpose you just want to wash it with relatively pure water, laundry quality distilled is fine, it's the isopropyl alcohol that displaces the water and cleans the corrosion if it has started.

so does anyone know what the solid red light error is actually caused by?

 

[MavicAirForce]

I found this. I guess we were wrong @lannes. There are different grades of purified/distilled water.

Types of Water used in the Lab | Type I - III | ELGA LabWater

Making decisions on which type of lab water you need for your scientific application can be challenging. Find out more about the different water types here.

www.elgalabwater.com

Sorry for hijacking your thread @MavicAirForce

no problem, any idea what causes the red solid light?

 

[lannes]

no problem, any idea what causes the red solid light?

It's not documented anywhere public what the critical errors are, it would probably need a DJI diagnostic for their technicans to identify what the actual problem is.

 

[Camino Ken]

no problem, any idea what causes the red solid light?

On the Mavic 2 a solid red light just means critical error with no more info. If it is blinking there are several meanings.