Mavic 1 pro - drone will turn on make initial beeps, stays on solid red light (CE) and no transmission

[gogili213]

Hi guys,

I just purchased M1P which had a short contact with water, seller claimed it was short exposure while hovering above a lake. wasn't sure what kind of water.
I decided to own it, paid about 150$ and now I'm trying to fix it.

deal included: working RC, green light battery (2 green lights left) no charger was included (new one is being shipped to me), and a drone - will turn on and stays on solid red light, fans can be heard, gimble is moving, front red lights are on as well.

the down: he didn't turn it off immediately after exposure.

current status:
1) seems like no transmission since rc will indicate connecting, binding wont work. wifi mode wont discover anything on my iphone.
2) the small led next to wifi/rc modes stays off all the time, even when pressing the rc link button.
3) solid red light on indicator - critical error (?)
4) DJI assistant (for Mavic) wont recognize any device while the drone is connected directly to pc with usb
5) GPS module seems to be unharmed

opened it completely
watermarks could be seen also on few of the battery pins, and part of the internal boards and plastics, by the amount and the spreading of marks it seems that the drone didn't sink in the water, but as he claimed had some medium exposure.

teared off both boards, gimble and brushed most of the parts with alcohol and toothbrush, dried all and the status was the same as above.
after I inspected boards with magnifier I found that one of the chips on the ESC was melt down, so I decided to order another ESC board and I'm currently waiting for it.


Sorry I haven't taken any pics yet, will have and share here.

since i'm new with DJI drones, any useful suggestions ?

 

[Starz]

Post results when the board arrives.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Welcome to the forum @gogili213
Drone / electronics in general and water don't mix well.

I really hope you get a good result though with the new ESC board, and nothing else surprising comes up.
There seems to be many issues, but the new board might be the ultimate problem.

Be very careful flying this if you do get it airborne again, not sure how one can trust such an aircraft again in flight.

 

[gogili213]

Welcome to the forum @gogili213
Drone / electronics in general and water don't mix well.

I really hope you get a good result though with the new ESC board, and nothing else surprising comes up.
There seems to be many issues, but the new board might be the ultimate problem.

Be very careful flying this if you do get it airborne again, not sure how one can trust such an aircraft again in flight.

thanks.
yeah , i had few experiences with smartphones and water - which were successful.
Generally physical indicators and the boards looking well after exposure.

Why would you think new ESC might cause issues ?

 

[gogili213]

Post results when the board arrives.

Sure

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Why would you think new ESC might cause issues ?

It's just there are many other factors unknown that could cause some of the issues with specific problems.
Possibly they may be linked, just have to give it a shot first and hope.

 

[gogili213]

It's just there are many other factors unknown that could cause some of the issues with specific problems.
Possibly they may be linked, just have to give it a shot first and hope.

Yeah, hope i will be able to spot it all.
Just re-opened the drone again and re-inspected the core board, also opened all metal covers, and i found some more little corrosion marks. Photos attached of the core board.




2nd photo small upper right cover was also
Removed later



In the 3rd pic it can be seen that the upper small chip plastic is partially broken, might accidentally done by me, not sure for any actual impact.
Most of the "dirt" that can be seen is the thermal paste

ESC board:

 

[dave canada]

Hi guys,

I just purchased M1P which had a short contact with water, seller claimed it was short exposure while hovering above a lake. wasn't sure what kind of water.
I decided to own it, paid about 150$ and now I'm trying to fix it.

deal included: working RC, green light battery (2 green lights left) no charger was included (new one is being shipped to me), and a drone - will turn on and stays on solid red light, fans can be heard, gimble is moving, front red lights are on as well.

the down: he didn't turn it off immediately after exposure.

current status:
1) seems like no transmission since rc will indicate connecting, binding wont work. wifi mode wont discover anything on my iphone.
2) the small led next to wifi/rc modes stays off all the time, even when pressing the rc link button.
3) solid red light on indicator - critical error (?)
4) DJI assistant (for Mavic) wont recognize any device while the drone is connected directly to pc with usb
5) GPS module seems to be unharmed

opened it completely
watermarks could be seen also on few of the battery pins, and part of the internal boards and plastics, by the amount and the spreading of marks it seems that the drone didn't sink in the water, but as he claimed had some medium exposure.

teared off both boards, gimble and brushed most of the parts with alcohol and toothbrush, dried all and the status was the same as above.
after I inspected boards with magnifier I found that one of the chips on the ESC was melt down, so I decided to order another ESC board and I'm currently waiting for it.


Sorry I haven't taken any pics yet, will have and share here.

since i'm new with DJI drones, any useful suggestions ?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Yeah, hope i will be able to spot it all.
Just re-opened the drone again and re-inspected the core board, also opened all metal covers, and i found some more little corrosion marks. Photos attached of the core board.

2nd photo small upper right cover was also
Removed later

In the 3rd pic it can be seen that the upper small chip plastic is partially broken, might accidentally done by me, not sure for any actual impact.
Most of the "dirt" that can be seen is the thermal paste

ESC board:

I hope you get it done and working ok, I really do.
That sort of event is usually the end, especially if the water was even slightly saline.

There have been people successful in drying out their aircraft, and flying again, usually very fresh clean water, very quick immersion, taken out and dried asap etc.

Looking at some of your photos it looks like fine sand, so hard to tell.
Either way, having debris like that on areas / in crevices etc is a sign it spent some time perhaps on the lake bottom underwater.
The corrosion looks like it set in and is going to be hard to really stop / reverse damage.

I hate to say it, but really feel this sort of damage is best to use the aircraft for salvageable parts (or upgrade as it's already so superseded).
It'd be very hard to fly and trust it again.

Good luck with it, you like tinkering with things like this so a good learning curve.

 

[gogili213]

I hope you get it done and working ok, I really do.
That sort of event is usually the end, especially if the water was even slightly saline.

There have been people successful in drying out their aircraft, and flying again, usually very fresh clean water, very quick immersion, taken out and dried asap etc.

Looking at some of your photos it looks like fine sand, so hard to tell.
Either way, having debris like that on areas / in crevices etc is a sign it spent some time perhaps on the lake bottom underwater.
The corrosion looks like it set in and is going to be hard to really stop / reverse damage.

I hate to say it, but really feel this sort of damage is best to use the aircraft for salvageable parts (or upgrade as it's already so superseded).
It'd be very hard to fly and trust it again.

Good luck with it, you like tinkering with things like this so a good learning curve.

Thanks man !

I'm staying optimistic about that.
Worst case, it wont be solved with new ESC board, ordering a new core board should cover most of the other issues, isnt it ?
assuming ESC board will be installed correctly by me of course and rest of the boards are good ...

 

[Starz]

From looking at your pictures, I’m not convinced this is result of a short dip in water.
The dip looks to be a bit longer in duration.
I’ll cross my fingers for you.

 

[gogili213]

From looking at your pictures, I’m not convinced this is result of a short dip in water.
The dip looks to be a bit longer in duration.
I’ll cross my fingers for you.

Thanks body. will update with any results.

 

[gogili213]

Update:

Installed yesterday the new esc board, now the drone will have flashing yellow light, binding wont be successful, also
Changed to wifi, the drone isnt visible in the wifi list.
The thing is that the SD card led wont show any light from the moment i got the drone. And pc wont indicate any drone using the DJI assistant.
I'm wondering how can I find the cause of it.
Does it means the core board has issues as well, it was in quite good shape and unharmed.

 

[Starz]

I am still not convinced this was a “short contact” with water. Short contact would not have the amount of sand visible in your pics. The other clue may be the material missing on the camera/gimbal area.(paint or whatever coating should be there?)

With that said, I’m leaning towards more board replacements than economically feasible but, I’m still crossing my fingers for you.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Sounds like the radio section might be damaged.

Don't know where it is, but if you can locate it and give it a careful inspection, it might give further insight.

Also, make sure you have the antennas connected when testing.

 

[gogili213]

Sounds like the radio section might be damaged.

Don't know where it is, but if you can locate it and give it a careful inspection, it might give further insight.

Also, make sure you have the antennas connected when testing.

As far as I now esc board should hold that component. And i just replaced it. Im afraid this is the core board