Mavic took a swim. What's the best course of action.

[Moff]

I hit an overhead powerline/telephone line on Saturday, and the Mavic dropped into a river. I stripped and went straight in after it, where I thought it went down. Not a big river (maybes 20' wide) but typically, where I thought it dropped in, was deeper than I am tall. Search around as best I could, and couldn't find it. Anyway, cut to at least 90 minutes later, I found it about 20yards downstream, by pure luck, I saw a pulsing red light.
Battery was still on showing 1 LED. I turned it off, removed battery, shook water out and brought it home, straight into a bag of rice. It's been in there 40 hours so far.
Now I'm wondering if I've done the best thing.
River is a clean river. Only 2-3 miles from its source. Obviously a little sediment but otherwise, very clean.
Now I'm wondering if I should have tried to rinse out with clean water at home, before putting into rice. Or should I do it now? Or should I just wait completely for a few days, then try it.
I had wondered about parting the case, and letting it dry that way. But if it need professional fixing, will that cause issues because I've opened it. It's not like it would be warranty work.
I don't have DJI refresh as I wasn't aware of it when I purchased the drone.

 

[halley]

Could take many days, if past stories be believed. No guarantee it won't burn itself up afterwards either. If I had to try, I would load it up in rice, warm the bucket of rice with a lamp, and lift and re-bury it every day or so. When I finally decided it was time for a test, I would use compressed air to clear any rice dust out of the motors and front grille, and try it with a known-good battery (not the swimmer).

 

[Logger]

I ditched mine last week. Unlike you I did not take the time to strip and jumped in a river fully clothed, shoes and all. Quite the spectacle. Helpful post over here in the Landing thread.

But mine was in in Salt water. whilst I dried it out and it worked sans gimbal, the prognosis after Salt is extremely poor. Its with DJI.

If I was in your situation I would definitely be cracking the case open. Too many nooks and crannies to get all the water out with rice IMO

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

PS looking at the tear down, I would do the first and last part for simplicity. ie remove bottom heat sink cover. Then flip over and remove the top. Skip removing the motherboard initially, as you should have opened it enough to dry it out. Only remove the mother board later if you feel game.

 

[Moff]

Father-in-law suggested trying WD40. It is a water displaced after all.
Any reason why one shouldn't try that?

 

[Former Member]

If I were you, I would send it in to DJI, let them tell you the cost of the repair before you go any further. They will give you a free estimate, but it might take them a couple of weeks to get to your repair. You have nothing to lose but a little time.

I have repaired a few drones that have been submerged, and it is not a good idea to try this on your own. You could very likely make matters worse, and instead of just needing a new battery or gimbal, your whole drone could short out and then you would have nothing to repair or sell. One of my customers thought he had everything dried out, then he put the battery in and turned it on. It caught fire and destroyed not only the main board, but the entire shell as well.

 

[Alex Baxter]

Silica gel is better than rice, get a pound of indicating silica gel beads, and put the drone and the beads in a big plastic bag, recharge the beads (a microwave is good) when they indicate they are expired. Above all, don't be impatient to test it..

 

[halley]

Silica gel is better than rice

Silica gel expands in size greatly, and turns mushy-sticky, two things that make it hard to remove from motors. I would not use un-packaged silica gel pellets, just sachets if you go this route.

 

[Cyberpower678]

I hit an overhead powerline/telephone line on Saturday, and the Mavic dropped into a river. I stripped and went straight in after it, where I thought it went down. Not a big river (maybes 20' wide) but typically, where I thought it dropped in, was deeper than I am tall. Search around as best I could, and couldn't find it. Anyway, cut to at least 90 minutes later, I found it about 20yards downstream, by pure luck, I saw a pulsing red light.
Battery was still on showing 1 LED. I turned it off, removed battery, shook water out and brought it home, straight into a bag of rice. It's been in there 40 hours so far.
Now I'm wondering if I've done the best thing.
River is a clean river. Only 2-3 miles from its source. Obviously a little sediment but otherwise, very clean.
Now I'm wondering if I should have tried to rinse out with clean water at home, before putting into rice. Or should I do it now? Or should I just wait completely for a few days, then try it.
I had wondered about parting the case, and letting it dry that way. But if it need professional fixing, will that cause issues because I've opened it. It's not like it would be warranty work.
I don't have DJI refresh as I wasn't aware of it when I purchased the drone.

A common misconception about water is that it shorts out electronics. Water itself doesn't, but the minerals and ions in the water are what actually conducts the current through water. If your drone was operating under what, it's reasonable to assume the water didn't have much conductive minerals to cause a short. It's still best to let it completely dry first, with as little oxygen as possible to the drone's inside to avoid corrosion, but it sounds like your drone might be a luck survivor of water.

 

[bucefalo]

with fresh water you have hope.. salty water would be 100%dead! good luck, I hope to read good news!

 

[BossBob]

Silica gel expands in size greatly, and turns mushy-sticky, two things that make it hard to remove from motors. I would not use un-packaged silica gel pellets, just sachets if you go this route.

The indicating silica gel that is being suggested is made to be reused many times and doesn't go mushy. Much better than rice, if you regenerate (dry) it you'll know when there is no moisture around as the colour will not change.

 

[Moff]

It's going to a local DJI repair specialist tomorrow.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

My 2 cents:

Use a food dehydrator. Set at about 60°C. That not only removes moisture from the drone, but from the dryer no need to worry if the rice or silica is saturated. You can leave it in there for 3 days or so.

Someone you know has one (outdoorsy types who make dehydrated foods for long hikes, hunters who make jerky, ... etc.)

Bad news? You will need to disconnect every connector and flush with alcohol and let dry (IMO) no matter how you do this.

I wouldn't worry about the battery - send it off to an electronics recycler.

 

[Former Member]

It's going to a local DJI repair specialist tomorrow.

Good idea.

 

[Matt]

Long video but put together by someone who makes a living repairing electronic that get wet

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[integlikewhoa]

It's going to a local DJI repair specialist tomorrow.

Maybe I missed it but does it not work anymore? I have seen videos of wet mavic's working just fine after rice. Also the mavic's main board is coated for water resistance and the motors are brushless. I'm assuming the camera and water in the lens might be your biggest issue.

My thing is if it's not broken then don't fix it it. Test it.

 

[Cyberpower678]

My 2 cents:

Use a food dehydrator. Set at about 60°C. That not only removes moisture from the drone, but from the dryer no need to worry if the rice or silica is saturated. You can leave it in there for 3 days or so.

Someone you know has one (outdoorsy types who make dehydrated foods for long hikes, hunters who make jerky, ... etc.)

Bad news? You will need to disconnect every connector and flush with alcohol and let dry (IMO) no matter how you do this.

I wouldn't worry about the battery - send it off to an electronics recycler.

I personally use a hair dryer. I can just force the hot air into the Mavic.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

I personally use a hair dryer. I can just force the hot air into the Mavic.

If you watch the video that Matt posted the real culprit is corrosion caused by live circuits immersed in water. I've rescued several iPhones with much less hassle than she goes through. Sure, she's much more professional and sure, maybe I've been lucky. The other thing I do is open connections and flush liberally with alcohol. That flushes (mechanically) contaminants but also absorbs lingering moisture in cracks and crannies. The alcohol is then drained and let to dry.

Rice is not a bad thing - it absorbs moisture like crazy. It's just not the only thing.

She's also right about the gap between Apple's policies and their practice. They want you for the very long term and will keep you a client by solving things even if it costs you something.

 

[MavicCF]

I've heard cat litter, as compared to rice, because it absorbs moisture better. Not sure how well it would do with the motors though.

 

[Wombat55]

My 2 cents:

Use a food dehydrator. Set at about 60°C. That not only removes moisture from the drone, but from the dryer no need to worry if the rice or silica is saturated. You can leave it in there for 3 days or so.

Someone you know has one (outdoorsy types who make dehydrated foods for long hikes, hunters who make jerky, ... etc.)

Bad news? You will need to disconnect every connector and flush with alcohol and let dry (IMO) no matter how you do this.

I wouldn't worry about the battery - send it off to an electronics recycler.

Water bath then an alcohol flushing and then finally three days in a 60˚C oven? Sounds a lot like my sous vide recipe for super-tender and tasty short ribs. (OK, well, without the alcohol flushing part, and I guess one would have to season the Mavic with salt and pepper and vacuum seal it before putting it into the 60˚C sous vide water bath - but you get the point.)

Alan, my good buddy, I like a lot of your posts but I think that you've gone loco if you think that a Mavic or any other sophisticated bit of electro-mechanical hardware is going to come out fine after being dunked in water, showered with alcohol, and then baked at 60˚C for three days.

 

[MavicCF]

Sounds good. Lol