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MAVIC2 PRO took sea water for 30 seconds...won't switch on any more...any repair guy here ?

KONY

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hello,
i was at the beach in Panama, and after taking some fantastic island pictures i landed my MAVIC 2 on the beach to get it back...great idea i know but there were not any flat space around to land it other than that small portion of beach...it was right at the moment when a small wave covered the beach


by the time i ran to pick the drone some sea water (and also a bit of sand) had already covered the drone up to the battery...i spent the following 2 hours to shake it , try to dry it by exposing it under the sun etc...up to no avail !

Now it's been 2 weeks and the drone still does not turn on : when i put a battery (fully charged), the battery would switch on briefly but that won't switch on the drone...tried with other batteries and same results.

i guess it's probably the ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) which is burnt unfortunately (even if water only touched the drone for like 20 seconds)...

i called a DJI official repair shop in Paris and they told me they won't repair if the drone has been in cpntact with water (instructions from DJI they said).

Anyone can repair drones here ? i remember there was a guy who was very active on the forum (was living inthe States i think).

i am so pissed, have been a regular drone flyer since 2016 and in the past 4 years, never had a crash...so such very stupid mistake is really making me feel bad

and funny thing is , i always read here and there some people stating their drone was in water for some hours or some days and they put it in rice and the drone resumed flying like nothing happened.

Then mine was in touch with water just briefly and dead !!!
 
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Where is "here"? You mention Panama and Paris (France?).
Privately shipping the drone internationally for repair and return is likely to be a nightmare and expensive.

To be honest having seen the inside of a Mavic 2 Pro that spent some time in salt water I would suspect it could be cheaper to get another drone.
Admittedly the drone I saw was in the sea much longer than 20 seconds but quite literally the only salvageable components were the plastics of the shell and the frame of the gimbal and camera. The damage to everything else was staggering.
Besides if the drone was repaired there would always be a nagging worry that some seemingly undamaged component was just waiting to fail and that would include motor bearings.
Have you contacted DJI themselves directly rather than a repair centre?

I think you might find that drones that have survived immersion were in fresh water not salt water.
I suspect your only hope would have been to immediately and thoroughly flush the drone with fresh water and then Isopropyl alcohol or similar and then dry it. BTW rice is apparently NOT a good deliquescent and I would worry about dust and grain debris getting everywhere.

Not to belabour the point, but if flying at a beach or even coastal rocks I hand launch and catch. I don't set the drone done on sand full stop, if I put it down on rock I make sure the rocks are sand free and dry.
 
Hi Yorkshire_Pub
by "Anyone can repair drones here", i meant to say over here on the forum ;) there was a reputable forumer here some years ago who seemed to adverstised people to send drones to him in the Us for repairs...


anyway thank you fr your answer and input, it's indeed very wise.

I did realize that it would cost me less to get another drone (i saw in france second hand MAVIC 2 PROs are sold as cheap as 700 euros).

my MAVIC 2 PRO had 2 things though which woudl have made it easier for me to keep it after having it repaired :

-when i was living in Hong Kong, i did a mod of my antennas to put those long distance antennas, and if i get a new MAVIC 2 i am not sure how well this modified antenna could work with another drone (maybe just to pair it with the new drone would be enough but who knows).

-i had done some "works" back in the days to break the 150 meters height limit through the parameters...i remember at the time it was a bit of a tedious process to do that...not sure if this is still possible to break that limit on the new drones and firmwares.

lastly when you get a second hand drone, you never know what to expect, or if some defects were hidden by the seller...


i thought of getting a MAVIC 3 or MAVIC 3 CLASSIC...but the price woooooo !!
 
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Unless you modified the antennae on the old drone then a replacement drone should work with a modified controller just as well as the old drone did. I have a modified P3 controller and it works just the same with each Phantom 3 I flew with it.

With regards to hacking, I can't comment on that, though the unhacked ceiling is 500m, isn't it?

With regards to second hand Mavic 2 Pros, mine was bought via ebay and ebay's protection against being sold a dud is good. Just be sure to test it as best you can and within the time limits allowed.
I sent a P3 back, for undeclared motor mounting cracks, against the seller's wishes but with ebay's permission and assistance. The return carriage was prepaid by ebay and I was refunded the full purchase price including the original carriage charge, I assume beat recovered the return carriage charge from the seller.

Yes the M3 is very expensive and it would render all you M2 stuff obsolete, you'd probably loath the Fly app too.
 
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I too had a similar experience after flying out over surf, the partial covering by salt water was very brief.
I tried immersion in demineralised water over a period of 24 hours followed by prolonged drying in silica gel dessicant. This treatment was completely unsuccessful. At this point I dismantled the drone to find the aluminium circuit boards were corroded by the salt water.
After pricing new boards, I concluded that the cost was prohibitive and there was no guarantee of success.
I bought a new basic outfit and now use it with the remains of my original fly more outfit.
 
yes indeed my MAVIC 2 could fly up to 500 meters.

i just read on the internet that this limit can now be set up easily through the app...which is stange because some years ago it took me some works to do that.

can you confirm that now DJI allows the drone user to just go in the settings and change the limit up to 500 meters ?

good info for the antenna...indeed i would like to still keep the advantages and stuff of my MAVIC 2 (few batteries, antenna etc...).

And on top of that i was planning to get a Mini PRO 3 to be a complement to my MAVIC 2 PRO...i still need to get a MAVIC 2 PRO for windy and extreme situations..

so yeah...all this push me to get a second hand MAVIC 2 PRO, otherwise a few months of salaries will just just be spent in drones in 2023...and it's not wise at all ;)

Given that i'm not even doing any commercial job, a MAVIC 3 would be overkill

thanx for your very valuable input mate !
 
I too had a similar experience after flying out over surf, the partial covering by salt water was very brief.
I tried immersion in demineralised water over a period of 24 hours followed by prolonged drying in silica gel dessicant. This treatment was completely unsuccessful. At this point I dismantled the drone to find the aluminium circuit boards were corroded by the salt water.
After pricing new boards, I concluded that the cost was prohibitive and there was no guarantee of success.
I bought a new basic outfit and now use it with the remains of my original fly more outfit.


definetely the way to go...there is always a risk in trying to ressucitate a drone damaged by salt water...i'll go the "second hand drone" route...
 
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From threads I have read, yes unhacked DJI drones can climb to 500m relative to the take off point. BUT NOTE the legal limit in most places is 400ft, 122m, AGL, so really 122m+ is only for flying up hills etc..
And the limit is easily adjustable in the Go4 app, from memory it's in the quadcopter symbol menu.

From memory a malfunctioning Air? went far higher than 500m eek !
 
can you confirm that now DJI allows the drone user to just go in the settings and change the limit up to 500 meters ?
DJI consumer drones have always been able to fly to 500 metres higher than the starting point, without any hacks or complications.
The drones have two altitude limits.
One is a hardwired 500 metre limit.
The other is a user-configurable Max Altitude limit, which by default is set at 400 ft but you can adjust the slider to any height you choose up to 500 metres.
i-szD8p93-M.png
 
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ok great thanx Meta and Yorkshire for confirming this...

i think the "complicated configuration" i did some years ago...and which required to downgrade the drone to a previous firmware was not only to be able to change the height limit but also a bunch of other flight parameters to supposedly make the drone fly better, ascend/descend faster etc...

i did it some years ago and never had an issue after those changes so i guess it was legit at the time ...

but to know the height limit can be easily changed to 500 meters is reassuring

i'll get a second hand MAVIC 2 !
 
A minor point, the slider adjustment that Meta 4 mentions relates to the Fly app, and, imo, is a curse, it is too inaccurate and too easily accidentally altered.
The other is a user-configurable Max Altitude limit, which by default is set at 400 ft but you can adjust the slider to any height you choose up to 500 metres.
In Go4 the value is typed in.
 
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hello,
i was at the beach in Panama, and after taking some fantastic island pictures i landed my MAVIC 2 on the beach to get it back...great idea i know but there were not any flat space around to land it other than that small portion of beach...it was right at the moment when a small wave covered the beach

If its salt water its dead. Any of the boards that haven't already corroded will do so over time.
Anything that appears to work now will stop working shortly.

You'd need to replace every single electronics board and wire in it to get it to survive.
 
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he was fierce and so beautiful...RIP MAVIC 2 PRO...You served me well for over 3 years..i will dearly miss you.

Please let me share with you the last words he pronounced before dying on that beach in Panama...and also 2 other beautiful shots of the great city of cartagena, taken earlier this month...RIP Soldier...i hope you didnt suffer too much :(


View attachment DJI_0245.JPG
DJI_0256.JPG

IMG_20221227_123505.jpg

View attachment DJI_0122.JPG


DJI_0173.JPG
 
for some reasons the beautiful panos don't show here...
 
yeah,i don't live in a country where there is DJI but when i'll be in paris in february i'll go to their service center and see, if i can get a good deal ...

since the drone was bought 3 years ago (and in Hong kong !) , i don't think they will give me much attention..

also if they need to send it to china to get an answer then it will be probably too long

i'll go and check on the DJI website to see if i can send it myself directly to CHINA
 
oh yeah i really understood that...i'll try DJI deal otherwise i'll get a second hand 100%
 
If you are lucky you might be able to pick up a second hand drone that is an unactivated replacement drone, my zoom was and a mini 2 = brand new or DJI refurbished.
 
oh you mean out of ebay ?

since i want to be able to fly/test the drone before buying, i think i'd prefer more this big craigslist type of website we have in france where people sell/buy and you can do the transaction in person
 

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