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Mavic Pro 2 spent 5 hours in the ocean - Can I fix it?

Jadeelee97

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Hi all!
We were flying our drone over the beach earlier today when it suddenly dropped into the ocean.

We searched all we could to find it but had no luck. Decided to come back at low tide, fortunately we just found it but obviously 5 hours in the water is a long time ?.
Would like to know if anyone has had any luck in a situation like this? What do you recommend

in regards to it dropping, does anyone know why this may have happened? We checked the log and it had sufficient battery and connection so we are confused and devastated

thanks in advance
 
I think you're out of luck... It was so long under the water with battery attached to it... Nothing you can do. People suggesting opening it, rinsing in distilled water, drying, cleaning with 99% alcohol - Honestly, it might be true after a short "dip" in the water, in this case I don't see it working, but hey, you've got nothing to lose. For the "How it happened" part, log files are needed, although I think Mavic 2 pro has those locked (encrypted).
 
I'm going to have to go with "no" on the repair, sorry. Salt water is anathema to electronics, and drones have multiple airvents for cooling so the water would have flooded the interior and definitely damaged the battery, so whatever you do - do NOT try and do anything with the LiPo and dispose of it properly. I managed to basically write-off one weather-sealed (not waterproof - big difference!) professional camera just from getting drenched in spray from a big wave a few years back even though I dried it off immediately; there's no coming back from full and extended immersion.

I'll defer to Sar104's excellent guide on logfiles - follow the instructions and post a link to the files and there are several people here who will be able to hopefully give a good idea of what went wrong. Random failures do happen, but there is usually at least some clue as to what might have happened in there, even if it's single event at the end of the log.
 
Maybe post the flight log, either via the page and info in the link post #3, or here . . .


You never know, it may be an aircraft fault, but then it has to be in warranty period too . . . suppose it's good to check what may have caused the crash.

Yes, the drone is probably best hung up, salt water corrosion is inevitable, and it'd be hard to trust it in the air even if it could fly again.
Maybe try and find a new or 2nd hand drone only, a new or 2nd hand battery if needed.

The remainder may have some non electronic parts you could use one day for spares.

Did you salvage the micro SD and save your photos / video ?
Did you get the crash on film ? If so, maybe post that too as a matter of entertai . . . er interest.

"suddenly dropped into the ocean", were the motors still running as it fell ?
Was the battery still fitted to the drone ?
 
Not a chance. And dangerous to even consider it.
 
Sorry to hear your bird is lost. Get a new one!
 
As Dedal hints . . . it won't hurt to try!

The good news, if any, is it wouldn't have sat underwater with circuits in the drone sizzling due to electrolysis for all that long, due to battery shut down - also the battery would have been shorted by the conductive sea water and that too would serve to reduce the amount of any corrosion in the drone proper. The battery, as noted previously, is toast.

Get the drone submerged in fresh water right away . . . then go shop for 5 gallons of distilled water. Rinse and drain a number of times in fresh, then switch to distilled water.
 
In the very unlikely event you get it fired up,again, it will forever be unreliable, prone to stopping suddenly and falling on someone or some thing.
 
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