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First crash mini

pattyson

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Jun 1, 2020
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Age
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Canada
Good afternoon,

I had my first crash with the mini hit a metal culvert and flew into water (what luck!)had no luck left the drone in rice for an hour then opened the battery hatch and let the water leak out now I have two error messages had a bit where I snapped in the battery door but the error message came back but the motors ran but had no take off due to the gps message
 

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You did not take the correct recovery actions. After crash in water:
Remove battery as soon as possible to minimize damage.
If in salt water, submerge drone in fresh water as soon as possible. If it crashes in fresh water, submerge drone in clean fresh water if distilled water is not immediately available.
Next, submerge drone in distilled water, drain, repeat several times.
Drain and get as much water out as possible.

Dry the drone completely, this may take a few days or more depending on humidity. Dry rice is a poor desiccant, better than nothing, but not nearly as good as silica gel. It is extremely important that you get all moisture out of the nooks and crannies. Some will follow the distilled water with an ethanol /alcohol bath (alcohol has has a strong affinity to water molecules, then evaporated faster the water alone). Drying can be accelerated by moving air (fan or warm air register, open oven door place on towel - - - monitor so it doesn't get tos warm.

If you try to save the battery using the above procedure, make sure you do so in a safe, non-flammable location outdoors. Don't warm the battery and safest to keep in a non-flammable area.

Resist the urge to install a good battery until the drone is completely dry inside, this to avoid further damage.

Edit to add, oven on low, door open, towel on door - drone on towel (not in oven!). If using this somewhat risky procedure, be extremely careful not to over heat drone.
 
Last edited:
Here's a relevant video from back in the days of the first DJI Phantoms. This was a classic case of vortex ring state; instability caused by descending through the drone's own propwash. It crashed into a lake. They first tried to dry it out using a hairdryer, then had the bright idea of sticking it into the oven. Be sure to watch to the end to see the result. :oops:

 
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Reactions: Capt KO
Good afternoon,

I had my first crash with the mini hit a metal culvert and flew into water (what luck!)had no luck left the drone in rice for an hour then opened the battery hatch and let the water leak out now I have two error messages had a bit where I snapped in the battery door but the error message came back but the motors ran but had no take off due to the gps message
did you fixed it?
 

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