DJI care refresh - salt water

Storyline · Jul 3, 2018

Now another one that is not available here as far as I can see
Getterback V2

There must be tech reasons why they are not freely available as there must be a demand surely .....

EDIT (I wish I was not retired as after a lifetime trading with and living part time in China there must be a commercial joint venture somewhere ..... )

Storyline · Jul 3, 2018

The Mavic weighs less than the Waterbuoy can cope with - 1.62lbs vs a claimed 2.2lbs for the Waterbuoy should you be able to find one.

I now think a better solution would be a fishing float attached to some free running fishing line*. Most of my planned use will be in anchorages where the typical depth is < 10 metres so not so much line to carry.

I would love to get some shots of us sailing at speed on a broad reach when the depths could be anything but it just isn't going to happen due to problems of takeoff and retrieval in windy conditions.

* not my idea

Tridiver · Jul 3, 2018

The problem with palm landing on a boat is that you hand will be moving with the boat, waves etc. and it probably won't be able to get a reading on your hand. It registers your hand with the visual sensor and then lands and shuts down.

Storyline, You'll get used to it. It's definitely a pucker factor and nerve racking, but it gets better the more you do it. I still get worked up!! After loosing my MPP, I'll be more relaxed with a recovery system and Refresh. But seriously, work on the launch and recovery, launching from a deck is easy. Just be sure you ascend and forward pitch immediately(practice that on land), but recovery needs to done by hand(unless you gots a big boat!!).

Bolton

Tridiver · Jul 3, 2018

Storyline said:
* not my idea

Good!! : )

Haven't heard about the waterbuoy yet!!

Storyline · Jul 4, 2018

Not much time to practice hand landing as we are off to the boat on Friday and I haven't even flown the Mavic yet ! I have just ordered one of those foldable landing mats so should be able to find somewhere on the deck it can go (and no, it is not a big boat - 36' sailing boat with rigging everywhere

). The other and probably best alternative is to land it in the bottom of our inflatable dinghy.

As regards disaster recovery the best I have come up with so far is to drill a hole through a sugar cube and push the quill part of a sea fishing float through it. Attach float to a coil of fishing line. Then attach sugar cube to the top of the battery with an elastic band. Not quite sure yet how to stow the loose coil of line so it will run freely but not come undone in flight. The battery will hopefully fit the Mavic with the elastic band in place. This 'should' give a 50% chance of recovery (the Mavic might land on the seabed upside down in which case it is game over).

Maybe the fishing line could be coiled round 3 or more sugar cubes again attached to top of battery.

EDIT: Just ordered one of those mega strong Neodymium magnets so as a last resort I could always go fishing for it should the unthinkable happen ! Seriously though, some of the anchorages we go to have gin clear water so I would have a reasonable chance of seeing it on the sea bed - would be better to be able to look down from above though - from a drone for example

Mossiback · Jul 5, 2018

Storyline said:
Not much time to practice hand landing as we are off to the boat on Friday and I haven't even flown the Mavic yet ! I have just ordered one of those foldable landing mats so should be able to find somewhere on the deck it can go (and no, it is not a big boat - 36' sailing boat with rigging everywhere ). The other and probably best alternative is to land it in the bottom of our inflatable dinghy....

Attached is a video where a person attached a weight to a line tied around the middle of the Mavic to retrieve on a boat. He brought the Mavic in close enough for someone to grab the line, then they pulled it down to their hand. It seemed to work well on a moving boat in choppy water.
Just remember that when launched the Mavic will hold its position so make sure the moving boat does not hit it. Return with plenty of battery so you can take your time landing, turn off forward and downward collision avoidance, and have a net ready for an emergency catch. Good Luck!