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

[MavicCF]

Comes out almost falling off the bone.....

 

[AlanTheBeast]

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.

Of course you like my posts. That's why you sleep so well at night. I live to serve.

As long as it was fresh water, I'll stand by that procedure. Salt water, faggedaboutit.

60°C is not all that hot (BTW). But the ambient air (in a house, not in, say, a steam bath), no matter how humid, will have a lot of capacity to absorb more moisture when heated up. Which is the point. Also, one does have to disassemble the Mavic to large extent to expose all the connectors for the alcohol flush. (Said flushing not being a shower but liberal flushing of those areas. Alcohol is hygroscopic - a fancy word for sucks up water like a high school cheerleader ... er, bad analogy, anyway...)

I had an incident in Feb with my Mavic and dunked it in the snow. I did the dehydrator mainly for the camera (no alcohol). No issues. (24 hours in the dehydrator).

As to the battery, I would just send it off to the great enviro-recycling centre ...

My SO's ribs will kill your sous-vide ribs. Just so you know.

And my pressure cooker Korean ribs ... well, I wouldn't want to put you near that test of tender and tasty - your medical insurance probably doesn't cover: "Fainted in delirious realization that there is a level too high for mere mortals to attain; cracked open skull."

 

[Blacksmith]

It's not uncommon for electronics to work after immersion and careful drying. The problems may come later, and unexpectedly--not a good situation for a drone in the air. It seem kind of funny now, getting in the shower and realizing you left your $6k hearing aids in, but I panicked at the time. While soaking wet, I got the batteries out then dried the aids as carefully as soon as I could. They worked (whoopee!) but both died within a day of each other a week or so later (S@#t). And this water was clean , not from a river.

For safety's sake, I'd send it in, and I wouldn't energize it. I'd especially worry about the LIPO.

 

[Desert-Flyer]

Im betting it wont function again if it hit the power line then fell out of the sky. Pretty sure the power line would have fried the circuits causing it to drop into the water ? Just my two cents.

 

[Kawboy12R]

The Mavic would've had to have been grounded for the power line to kill it. With the visible light still working when found it has a chance after a long careful drying out.
I'd be very careful about flying near people, cars, or other expensive stuff for a while if it does seem to be ok at first though. Give it a week or three to prove itself reliable again.
Personally, unless added shortly after recovery, I'd save the alcohol for either drowning my sorrows or celebrating a successful revival.

 

[Aeroworks]

Only one thing to do. Immediately, while still wet disassemble and put all electronic parts in alcohol. Gently clean all circuit boards with a soft toothbrush. Then try it out with a blow drier on medium heat. And even after this you have a small chance that none of the contacts or capacitors took a crap. Either way never trust it. It's compromised. Water will destroy and corrode within minutes. Even if you get lucky, electronic parts can be fragile from corrosion and can bring by simply setting the remote down hard or falling into your lap.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

The Mavic would've had to have been grounded for the power line to kill it. With the visible light still working when found it has a chance after a long careful drying out.
I'd be very careful about flying near people, cars, or other expensive stuff for a while if it does seem to be ok at first though. Give it a week or three to prove itself reliable again.
Personally, unless added shortly after recovery, I'd save the alcohol for either drowning my sorrows or celebrating a successful revival.

Alcohol (other than that 12 YO Bowmore) is hygroscopic - absorbs water like a high school cheerleader absorbs ... well, never mind. So flushing with alcohol is a great step. To be sure corrosion is fast with powered up electronics. (12 year old Bowmore should not have water added). So clean it, open it, flush it and move on.

As to batts - just send them to the eco centre....

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Im betting it wont function again if it hit the power line then fell out of the sky. Pretty sure the power line would have fried the circuits causing it to drop into the water ? Just my two cents.

If you were buck naked and walked the power line nothing would happen to you. (Just don't fall and contact the other powerline). that's a live 500,000 V line. Really.

Or hey, let's go to 765,000 volts

 

[Downunder]

This is guaranteed to be the 'best' course of action.
Buy a new one.

 

[Wombat55]

Alcohol (other than that 12 YO Bowmore) is hygroscopic - absorbs water like a high school cheerleader absorbs ... well, never mind. So flushing with alcohol is a great step. ....

The problem is that alcohol is also a great (non-polar) solvent. Water is a great (polar) solvent, too. Between the two of them, they can potentially do a lot of damage to lots of materials in a Mavic (i.e., adhesives, plastic films, circuit boards, etc.).

 

[Cyberpower678]

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.

Well like I said, oxidation and mineral/ionized water are what kills, it either shorts immediately, or corrodes and then dies sooner. But I personally force hot air into the unit's vents which will evaporate the water faster than it has the chance to actually corrode. While a live electrical current accelerates the corrosion, a powerless device, not so.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Well like I said, oxidation and mineral/ionized water are what kills, it either shorts immediately, or corrodes and then dies sooner. But I personally force hot air into the unit's vents which will evaporate the water faster than it has the chance to actually corrode. While a live electrical current accelerates the corrosion, a powerless device, not so.

Good point since you can disconnect the drone battery quickly (if you get to it quickly) whereas for a cell phone that's not the case in most instances. From various reports, the MP runs under water (that is lights on, video recording, etc.) so the boards are probably very well coated (which isn't like the iPhone in the video).

I still maintain that for the longer term you do need to open it up and flush out all of the connectors and tight spots and alcohol is the right stuff: not conductive (much) and will evaporate away.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Good point since you can disconnect the drone battery quickly (if you get to it quickly) whereas for a cell phone that's not the case in most instances. From various reports, the MP runs under water (that is lights on, video recording, etc.) so the boards are probably very well coated (which isn't like the iPhone in the video).

I still maintain that for the longer term you do need to open it up and flush out all of the connectors and tight spots and alcohol is the right stuff: not conductive (much) and will evaporate away.

The iPhone 7 is supposed to be water resistant.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

The problem is that alcohol is also a great (non-polar) solvent. Water is a great (polar) solvent, too. Between the two of them, they can potentially do a lot of damage to lots of materials in a Mavic (i.e., adhesives, plastic films, circuit boards, etc.).

When I say "flush" with alcohol I don't mean a torrent all over. I mean where needed. Done that enough and no damage that I've seen (or that caused any issues).

Another flushing agent could be de-ionized water.

 

[Cyberpower678]

When I say "flush" with alcohol I don't mean a torrent all over. I mean where needed. Done that enough and no damage that I've seen (or that caused any issues).

Another flushing agent could be de-ionized water.

Aka distilled.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

The iPhone 7 is supposed to be water resistant.

Wonderful if that's what you have. I have a 6P. There's also a great (if expensive) repair place about 3 km from here that will turnaround a phone by the time you're done shopping at Costco (1 hour service). My iPhone is 2 years old (actually less as it was swapped for one that had the touch-disease at some cost), so it's nearing the money point where I would repair it myself rather than pay to have it repaired. If it dies after, well, ...

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Aka distilled.

Distilled water has less mineral content than clean water, but is not clean enough for electronics cleaning.

You need water that is certified de-ionized.

Deionized Water vs Distilled Water: What's the Difference

 

[Bunny Too]

When I say "flush" with alcohol I don't mean a torrent all over. I mean where needed. Done that enough and no damage that I've seen (or that caused any issues).

Another flushing agent could be de-ionized water.

Alcohol works great (99% isopropal), I have dropped entire phones in a glass to displace the water, pulled them out and shook em dry, put in a dry spot for a couple days and they were good to go.
Regards,
-d.

 

[Toretrening]

Am I the only one thinking of getting yet another drone just in case for all these "on or off clothes" dives after the drones? To film the diving in of course Would be a fantastic film.

Hope they all turned out fully functioning

 

[AlanTheBeast]

Am I the only one thinking of getting yet another drone just in case for all these "on or off clothes" dives after the drones? To film the diving in of course Would be a fantastic film.

Especially if filmed from the buddy's drone overhead!