No matter how cocky you'll get, eventually your going down. - pilot failure : crash

Deleted member 21971 · May 31, 2017

aaamedeus said:
I know I have read that you guys use it. I wanted to use it on one of my 250 size racing quads but everyone kept saying that components would over heat if they can't breathe or get airflow. I would assume that the boats heat up the same way no.

I don't think it would cause a heat problem. It goes on like WD-40. Leaves a water proof coating. Guys spay it on everything. Even inside servos and RX.

SkunkWerx's · May 31, 2017

Red_Raven said:
I've crashed few drones, sometimes without any critical damage, at least one never got his wings again.....
I look at it as part of this game, we all will or have been defeated by gravity in some way or another.

I crashed my first mavic few days ago, into freaking salt water. It was impossible to find it so I had to wait 6 hours while the sea slowly lowered it's level. And at perfect timing I went back and saw it laying upside down on the bottom. I got it back, but also got myself a little wet.

What went wrong?
100% pilot error. I was flying in a very low spot under a bridge, done it many times, but this time my eyesight and brain didn't function in perfect harmony and I tought I was on the other side and pushed my thumb on the left pin to fly up and finish the shot, but bam.... I flew right up under the bridge and in seconds I was down..... Nothing I could have done to save it after the mavic crashed up under the bridge.

So I was 100% sure I had completely ruined one of my drones. But one is stubborn, and nothing goes without a try. But after many hours in sea water, impossible. I took out the battery and let it lay in clean water for a while, used silica crystals to dry it, and as I tought, the pcb boards and all inside of the mavic had thick layers of dry salt covered everywhere.

I grabbed a toothbrush and a 100% isopropyl alchohol and started brushing it, brushed hard and kept the boards wet. Helped the alchohol to dry with canned air..... Eventually the air can was empty so my wife's hairdryer was blasted on cold settings. (Probably going to get killed for that.....)

In the beginning the electronics looked like that :

Slowly but surely it started to look like what it is, an electronic device.
I've made it clear that there isn't a as much as particle of salt inside the device, it's cleaner than new.

So it was thrown into silica box for the night and turned on next morning. ****, the remote wouldn't connect, so I switched to wifi. No luck. I tried repeatedly to bind the controller with the mavic with no luck. I wasn't surprise.

Next stop : the forum. Pm'd the guy who knows his stuff when drones are the subject Thunderdrone. He didn't take long to ask if I had bind the controller, and sent me a how to video.... I almost found the comment insulting, of course I had, and what was the video for?
Well I watched it and it turns out I was doing it wrong. Did it as in the video and voila. It instantly connected.

the gimbal was fully functional but video was black. I noticed a cracked flat cable when I was looking for a reason. Got new cable today and the screen lightened up.

Now my salty submarine is fully functioning and looking like this : (he's dancing because it was really hard wind today.)

Dropbox - 2017-05-15 00.27.52.mp4

Nothing is impossible, and those little lizards (I've always found mavic look like a lizard or a frog, both with legs out or packed together) are tougher than I could imagine.
I feel like my decision to try to repair it and succeed is a much better deal than turn it in to dji care and be disappointed for few weeks about dji service. I got it up in few days and as a bonus I know the device alot better and it's build. I Even know it's soft spots and where it can take a punch.

And guys when you crash the best way to deal with it is to not throw to many f's at it. It's all part of the game, it's never about how often you're knocked out, it's about to stand up once more than you get down, that way you simply cannot fail.

I think You and ThunderDrone have done an outstanding excellent cleanup job after you went for a saltwater swim

dwallersv · May 31, 2017

kona said:
How hard is it to get replacement parts for the Mavic?

for average Jaboney like us? Hard.

kona · May 31, 2017

dwallersv said:
for average Jaboney like us? Hard.

So one has to open a repair center?

dwallersv · May 31, 2017

kona said:
So one has to open a repair center?

Right now? Pretty much. Or get the help of someone with those connections, like @Thunderdrones

Former Member · May 31, 2017

dwallersv said:
for average Jaboney like us? Hard.

I cater to the "average Jaboney" every day. Jaboney's are my favorite customers.

xman1 · May 31, 2017

With it open, you can upgrade the heat sink material to something that won't harden over time, like Arctic Silver or so.

Oh... And I haven't gone down yet.

Lelantos · May 31, 2017

kona said:
So one has to open a repair center?

Nah, I've seen several places selling Mavic parts online.

kona · May 31, 2017

Lelantos said:
Nah, I've seen several places selling Mavic parts online.

Well if that is true I will definitely go that route next time, instead of sending it in waiting for a month to "repair" it just to then get a new one instead.

dwallersv · May 31, 2017

Lelantos said:
Nah, I've seen several places selling Mavic parts online.

Any chance you can help out with a few links? I've come up empty looking myself (that is, excluding existing repair businesses like @Thunderrdones, where I already knew I could get stuff).

I'm talking online parts listing, order through the internet. For example, there's tons of Phantom parts available on ebay.

rstekeur · May 31, 2017

There's no way I'd trust that quad after going into saltwater. You did a great job of getting it running again, but salt water is like battery acid on electronics sooner or later something will fail because of it

kona · May 31, 2017

This whole thread makes me wonder how expensive it would be for DJI to build a more or less waterproof Mavic. It seems there are some moving parts (the props/motors and gimbal) that would be particularly hard to waterproof. But I don't know. Clearly this would be a huge advantage, and probably worth a few hundred $'s extra for many pilots here.

Lelantos · May 31, 2017

dwallersv said:
Any chance you can help out with a few links?

Here's one,
Lightake.com

Smokey5159 · May 31, 2017

I'm sorry about your incidents - but I have disagree over your premise...That we'll 'all crash'.
I'm far from 'cocky' when I fly - in fact I'm the opposite.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said, quote "What went wrong - 100% pilot error". Accidents don't just happen, they're generally caused. I can never fly with a cavalier attitude, I've got too much to lose.

Red_Raven said:
I've crashed few drones, sometimes without any critical damage, at least one never got his wings again.....
I look at it as part of this game, we all will or have been defeated by gravity in some way or another.

I crashed my first mavic few days ago, into freaking salt water. It was impossible to find it so I had to wait 6 hours while the sea slowly lowered it's level. And at perfect timing I went back and saw it laying upside down on the bottom. I got it back, but also got myself a little wet.

What went wrong?
100% pilot error. I was flying in a very low spot under a bridge, done it many times, but this time my eyesight and brain didn't function in perfect harmony and I tought I was on the other side and pushed my thumb on the left pin to fly up and finish the shot, but bam.... I flew right up under the bridge and in seconds I was down..... Nothing I could have done to save it after the mavic crashed up under the bridge.

So I was 100% sure I had completely ruined one of my drones. But one is stubborn, and nothing goes without a try. But after many hours in sea water, impossible. I took out the battery and let it lay in clean water for a while, used silica crystals to dry it, and as I tought, the pcb boards and all inside of the mavic had thick layers of dry salt covered everywhere.

I grabbed a toothbrush and a 100% isopropyl alchohol and started brushing it, brushed hard and kept the boards wet. Helped the alchohol to dry with canned air..... Eventually the air can was empty so my wife's hairdryer was blasted on cold settings. (Probably going to get killed for that.....)

In the beginning the electronics looked like that :

Slowly but surely it started to look like what it is, an electronic device.
I've made it clear that there isn't a as much as particle of salt inside the device, it's cleaner than new.

So it was thrown into silica box for the night and turned on next morning. ****, the remote wouldn't connect, so I switched to wifi. No luck. I tried repeatedly to bind the controller with the mavic with no luck. I wasn't surprise.

Next stop : the forum. Pm'd the guy who knows his stuff when drones are the subject Thunderdrone. He didn't take long to ask if I had bind the controller, and sent me a how to video.... I almost found the comment insulting, of course I had, and what was the video for?
Well I watched it and it turns out I was doing it wrong. Did it as in the video and voila. It instantly connected.

the gimbal was fully functional but video was black. I noticed a cracked flat cable when I was looking for a reason. Got new cable today and the screen lightened up.

Now my salty submarine is fully functioning and looking like this : (he's dancing because it was really hard wind today.)

Dropbox - 2017-05-15 00.27.52.mp4

Nothing is impossible, and those little lizards (I've always found mavic look like a lizard or a frog, both with legs out or packed together) are tougher than I could imagine.
I feel like my decision to try to repair it and succeed is a much better deal than turn it in to dji care and be disappointed for few weeks about dji service. I got it up in few days and as a bonus I know the device alot better and it's build. I Even know it's soft spots and where it can take a punch.

And guys when you crash the best way to deal with it is to not throw to many f's at it. It's all part of the game, it's never about how often you're knocked out, it's about to stand up once more than you get down, that way you simply cannot fail.

JHSlayer · May 31, 2017

dwallersv said:
Any chance you can help out with a few links? I've come up empty looking myself (that is, excluding existing repair businesses like @Thunderrdones, where I already knew I could get stuff).

I'm talking online parts listing, order through the internet. For example, there's tons of Phantom parts available on ebay.

How about Thunderdrones. If you spend anytime on here, you'd realize he's legit and actually wants to help. *not a paid advertisement... yet[emoji6]

Lelantos · May 31, 2017

JHSlayer said:
How about Thunderdrones. If you spend anytime on here, you'd realize he's legit and actually wants to help.

Psst, he already knows about Thunderdrones, it's right there in what you quoted.

JHSlayer · May 31, 2017

Lelantos said:
Psst, he already knows about Thunderdrones, it's right there in what you quoted.

Psst. I know. But for whatever reason he's wanting to go elsewhere. Just reminding him that there is a source right there [emoji4]

Lelantos · May 31, 2017

JHSlayer said:
...just reminding him that there is a source right there [emoji4]

Did you really suspect that he forgot, or do you dislike that he is looking for additional sources?

JHSlayer · May 31, 2017

Lelantos said:
Did you really suspect that he forgot, or do you dislike that he is looking for additional sources?

Nope. Good talk.

SkunkWerx's · Jun 1, 2017

Gone down twice (2) no real damage except some cosmetic scratches ....... They added some Character to my Mavic

Reasons for going down and not afraid to say it --------> Was my Fault....... Both times about 20 t0 30 feet from me lollllll
No ones Perfect ......... Roll with it

For Parts, if or when needed I put ThunderDrones at the top of my list now Thumbswayup