Got caught in the rain

[gusthewonderslug]

Hi all I wasn’t drinking Pina Coladas, I got caught in a thunderstorm and left my Mavic in the rain by mistake,
It was there for about an hr and had a flat battery at the time.
Do I need to worry and what do I need to do before I fly again?

 

[bumper]

It depends, but there's much worse water to dunk in. Rainwater can contain contaminates that make it an electrolyte (able to short out circuitry and do bad things). This is especially true if the rain falls through contaminated air. If that's the case, then it is safest to thoroughly rinse the drone in distilled water. However, if the air is not polluted, you may get away with drying the drone very well. Don't be in a hurry and power it up while there's still moisture inside (whether you just dry it or rinse with distilled water first).

Airflow from a fan etc, can help in drying, as will using desiccant (silica gel).

From the web: " Rain water is considered the purest form of water. Impurities and salts present in water on earth are left behind during vaporisation by the sun. However, the rain water we receive on earth is not necessarily pure, as it brings down impurities and particles present in the atmosphere along with it."

 

[NOLADG]

Hi all I wasn’t drinking Pina Coladas

Now I have a song stuck in my head....

I read on phantom rain website that the motors are not effected by the rain. I think the top of most Mavic bodies are fairly sealed depending on which Mavic you have. Check out the https://www.phantomrain.org website to learn more.

 

[Dan48]

Don't worry just dry it off and then power it on until internal fan runs for about 10 min. The internal heat will dry any moisture out of drone. Then run the props for about 5 min to heat up the motors and they will dy out. Do a manual STICK start where you pull both sticks down and toward the center. The props will start but the drone will not take off unless you throttle up the left stick.
Saw a video on a drone that was left in the rain for 24 hourswith 1/2" of rain falling on it and no issues.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

It depends, but there's much worse water to dunk in. Rainwater can contain contaminates that make it an electrolyte (able to short out circuitry and do bad things). This is especially true if the rain falls through contaminated air. If that's the case, then it is safest to thoroughly rinse the drone in distilled water. However, if the air is not polluted, you may get away with drying the drone very well. Don't be in a hurry and power it up while there's still moisture inside (whether you just dry it or rinse with distilled water first).

Airflow from a fan etc, can help in drying, as will using desiccant (silica gel).

From the web: " Rain water is considered the purest form of water. Impurities and salts present in water on earth are left behind during vaporisation by the sun. However, the rain water we receive on earth is not necessarily pure, as it brings down impurities and particles present in the atmosphere along with it."

This worked for @Made2Phly on an MPP that was in the rain for 3+ days in a wilderness area. Battery was still good. It lost only 3% of total capacity. The insides (fan, ESC & bottom board) were clean even though the fan was running until the battery depleted from 85% to auto shut down. Motors looked clean and were free turning. Only visible impact was a little rust on a few screws. Flies just like new.

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona!

hard lesson learned... pickup your drone and /or get it to shelter in rain... or ad a rain suit.

 

[GB1Yorkshire1]

Hi all I wasn’t drinking Pina Coladas, I got caught in a thunderstorm and left my Mavic in the rain by mistake,
It was there for about an hr and had a flat battery at the time.
Do I need to worry and what do I need to do before I fly again?

The easy answer is TIME, put everything that got wet in a very dry environment and forget it for at least a week. The odds are in your favor that no water entered the drone, or if it did it didn’t do any damage.
The motors are solid state and “waterproof “ however nothing attached to them is, so don’t be tempted to run the unit.
The fact that you had a dead battery didn’t stop any residual water from entering the contacts etc, again give it a week to thoroughly dry before trying to charge. You didn’t say which way you left it in the rain I assume with the props up so the majority of the drone would be covered by plastic, had it been the other way round then water can collect inside so add a week to the wait period in this case.

 

[Gagey52]

Welcome to the forum, you will get plenty of good info from this group.