lost in remote location

[Chase2S]

I had to land my AIR 2s in a field almost a mile back in the woods due to killing the battery in a high wind situation(when will I ever learn) but there is a rather sizeable storm front moving through right now. I'm cringing thinking about it getting wet but I know its going to happen. I know the owner of the property and I intend to retrieve the drone asap but it will inevitably get showered. how much damage could this do? Can it be salvaged? I wouldn't think this would be quiet as bad as landing in a lake but I would just like to know if anyone has had a similar experience...

 

[Killowatt]

I read a guy had his drone in a creek for 5 days, not sure what he did, but posted it was flying again with no problems. I would place it in a bag of dry rice for a few days. Good luck.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

I would place it in a bag of dry rice for a few days.

Don't use rice, there is fine powder that could get into your electronics and cause issues. Either put it in front of a fan blowing warm air on the drone or you can buy packs of desiccant that will absorb the moisture.

 

[Photo Beaty]

I lost a Mavic 2 Pro and searched until dark without finding it. There was some rain during the night making me think it might be ruined. We found it the next day. It was dry from the sunshine that next morning and flew with no problems.

 

[dave canada]

i RECOVERED MY SPARK AFTER IT WASD BURIED IN 17 INCHES OF SNOW CARRIED OFF AWAYS BY A BOB CAT IT HAD A TOOTH MARK OR TWO IN IT, AND IT WAS SUMMER BEFORE I FOUND IT AND IT WAS FINE !!! FLEW LIKE IT DID THE FIRST DAY I,ve lost two and everytime i was devestated so i got a marco pollo and that ended that lost (Mod Removed Language)

 

[Chase2S]

I got permission from the land owner(whom I've known my whole life) and drove my 4x4 about a mile back into the woods and found it in a field which at the time was undergoing a prescribed BURN! So I'm very lucky that it didn't get toasted. From the air it just looked like a brush fire. When I found it nothing was really wrong except for a little smut on it and the battery compartment had a little water in it which I immediately removed the battery and dumped it, then took it home and removed the wings and put a high power fan in front of it. I let it air dry all night while constantly rotating it. Earlier this evening I powered it up and took off without any obvious issues. Just like new! Thanks for all the tips guys. I really appreciate it. What a scare!

 

[MS Coast]

Don't use rice, there is fine powder that could get into your electronics and cause issues. Either put it in front of a fan blowing warm air on the drone or you can buy packs of desiccant that will absorb the moisture.

Rice as a dessicant is an internet myth. Put the drone in a warm airstream. Heating vent, computer exhaust fan, small electric space heater, or even near a refrigerator in the condenser air stream.

 

[March411]

I,ve lost two and everytime i was devestated so i got a marco pollo and that ended that lost (Mod Removed Language)

Sorry for pulling this partially off topic.

Dave, do you use the ultra light or advanced?

What drones have you used them on and where do you place the tag?

 

[dave canada]

Sorry for pulling this partially off topic.

Dave, do you use the ultra light or advanced?

What drones have you used them on and where do you place the tag?

I believe i got the less expensive one with two locators at that time was 300 and on my pro I put it on the back on the inspire either on the back or the forhead

 

[eEridani]

Rice as a dessicant is an internet myth. Put the drone in a warm airstream. Heating vent, computer exhaust fan, small electric space heater, or even near a refrigerator in the condenser air stream.

Not really...

The effectiveness of commercial desiccants and uncooked rice in removing moisture from hearing aids - PubMed

White rice shows promise as an effective alternative to commercial desiccants in reducing moisture in hearing aids when silica gel products are unavailable. As this study was conducted in a relatively dry region, additional research may be needed.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[MS Coast]

Not really...

The effectiveness of commercial desiccants and uncooked rice in removing moisture from hearing aids - PubMed

White rice shows promise as an effective alternative to commercial desiccants in reducing moisture in hearing aids when silica gel products are unavailable. As this study was conducted in a relatively dry region, additional research may be needed.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

View attachment 145801

Interesting. Thanks for posting that. Many months ago, covid boredom led me to hunt down some reputable sources. I missed that one. My memory isn't nearly good enough to remember the sources I found that concluded rice was not an effective means of drying cellphones, cameras, and other electronic devices. I suspect they could be found with a little searching, ignoring Twitter and Facebook.

• That study you mentioned examined hearing aids, which are tiny compared to even a DJI Mini. So the amount of moisture in a dunked hearing aid is tiny compared to hat would be in a dunked drone.
  
  
• You'd need a lot of rice.
  
  Keeping the same proportions of wet hardware to rice for a drone would require a huge quantity of rice. A quick on the web suggests a hearing aid weighs about two grams, roughly 1/125 the weight of a drone. So, assuming weight is a good indicator, if a hearing aid needed a quarter cup of rice to dry, the Mini might need more than 30 cups or nearly 2 gallons. A Mavic 3 might need a cubic foot or so.
  
  (Much of the weight of a drone is batteries and they'd be ruined by immersion and wouldn't be dried. I'm not up to trying to compare surface areas and volumes, though.)
  
  
• Rice is dusty. Organic dust in an electronic device isn't good, especially dust that absorbs or adsorbs moisture.
  
  
• Commercial desiccants are shipped and stored in moisture-proof packaging. Rice, not so much. I'm not sure the rice in my kitchen cabinet hasn't soaked up a lot of moisture in this humid climate.

I've never dried a dunked drone, but I've had success with the warm moving air method on two cellphones involved in fishing and kayaking mishaps, a solid state kitchen time that fell into a pasta pot, and some other gadgets. It's worked well for a few friends, too.

Thanks again for that reference. Please let me know if you find any other good information on larger electronic devices. This drone forum certainly gets off onto some interesting tangents.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

From personal use of the product, I know there may be little moisture left if a good dousing / heavy spray down (drone / internal components etc), is done with pure isopropyl alcohol.
It displaces water / moisture immediately, then evaporates very fast.

Methylated Spirits also displaces water and evaporates quickly, but not sure what that might do to some components, and it does absorb water too, so the isopropyl is probably safest.
Though isopropyl is a lot more expensive now and probably not that readily available with shortages (it's used to make hand sanitiser, and with covid it's become a very sought after chemical).

Note, if salt water immersion or heavy brackish dirty water, then the pre full rinse with clean fresh water is the first step, to get the salty / dirty water out as best possible.
If salt water can't be rinsed out really quickly (like minutes) after a solid immersion, then anything further would be a waste of time, the long term trust issue, and just wouldn't be worth problems down the track.

 

[dirkclod]

After Dunkin’ my 2 pro in our lake I blew it out with my air compressor then left it in rice for seversl weeks then blew
it out with the air again and flys fine. That was 2 years ago
so guess everyone has had differant experiences.

 

[br14nh]

Plus one for Mavic_SouthOz's suggestion for isopropyl alcohol. Having a background in electronics, it is my preferred cleaner for circuit boards.
Metho comes in a close second if you can't get the isopropyl. The alcohol/metho will evaporate at much lower temperatures than water but depending on your climate, some heat may be needed to assist with evaporation. (not much chance of snow in South Oz, I'm guessing )

Absolutely agree about the salty/dirty water, as soon as possible douse thoroughly with fresh water before moving to a final rinse with alcohol. I've had success in the past with walkie talkies that went for a swim in dirty river water, they worked for years afterward, but salt water is very much a time dependent thing... and anything that flies and can crash requires a much higher level of confidence than comms radios that won't clobber anyone if they suddenly fail to work.

Without any alcohol/metho, you will need warmth to get the water to evaporate so that any dessicant could do its job, but ideally it would be good to avoid dessicant if you can - as noted any form of dust is not good for the inner working of anything delicate.

Any craft recovered from water should really undergo a thorough test regime over a period of time before it's trusted at any height or distance and even then I'd be very wary.

 

[dirkclod]

Like I said everyone has a opinion. Mine worked for me and fly
almost every day it’s not raining. What one works for you
do it. We have so many experts here it’s silly. There’s so many
threads here on it it’s pitiful. All I can say is pick ones advice
and do it. I just know what worked for me.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Without any alcohol/metho, you will need warmth to get the water to evaporate so that any dessicant could do its job, but ideally it would be good to avoid dessicant if you can - as noted any form of dust is not good for the inner working of anything delicate.

That's interesting to note, yes some warmth to get the moisture moving, and desiccant to absorb.
It's exactly what my new hearing aid / cochlear processors use each evening.
The new type heater box I got with the cochlear gently warms the 2 devices, and there is a sealed box like desiccant holder inside, about the size of a match box, to be changed out after 2 months.

For hearing aids in the past, I had these driers that hit t he devices with some UV to sterilise, then heat, there were holes underneath and on the lid some natural heated air would rise through and dry them out of a night.

I had hearing aids 4 - 5 years old, and never failed to wear them 12 or more hours a day, then always into the drier nightly.
My audiologist sent one pair off for a check once, they were told they were like new inside, apparently moisture (even a tiny amount) is an enemy of such device electronics.

I've read some interesting electronics advice in the past with drones, that said get them in a warm place, on a sunlit window sill, over a fire mantle in a gentle warmth.

Can also recall some posts from way back about putting them in a low oven, but let's just say those posts were usually a warning about plastics not behaving well, even on the lowest of oven temps, so DO NOT do this anyone.

 

[dirkclod]

I use EARGO’ but never stuck my head in water with them
But will keep that in mind if I ever do