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

[SkunkWerx's]

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

Yes it is true salt water is instant death for electronic equipment ...........But Thanks to Thunders support it was cleaned up excellent
Ive seen a few water damaged RC electronics ........ From what I see in the pic's , I can't tell it went for a swim , I think he's going to be fine
just Crack the Mavic open in a month or two to make sure there's no oxidation forming on the solider joints.

 

[erkme73]

I'm not saying this didn't happen. I certainly believe it's possible. But...

One would think that any energized circuit board that hits salt water would be toast INSTANTLY. It's the equivalent of creating a dead-short across every exposed contact and trace. The only way I could see this not happening is if a) the impact on the underside of the bridge caused the battery to dislodge (or turn off), b) all of the boards are coated with some kind of waterproofing agent, or c) the water is more brackish/fresh than salt.

IOW, if an energized PCB hits salt water, no amount of cleaning and scrubbing will un-fry the components that shorted out the instant it hit the salt.

 

[SkunkWerx's]

There may be a good possibility that the battery dislodged, the battery also contains safety protection too against short-circuits , this also can be a strong possibility why it didn't Cook lolllllll either way im just happy someone didn't experience a loss and there was someone to help him out to get back up running

 

[dwallersv]

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

Wise.

I remain very skeptical that there is ANY comprehensive source for Mavic parts other than repair shops like @Thunderdrones.

I checked out the suggested site Lighttake.com and was less than impressed. After 10 minutes or so and 5 pages of browsing through searches of both "Mavic" and "Mavic repair", I only found the same 4 parts I can find on eBay: The 4 swing arms with motors. I think those are available on the DJI site too, but not sure.

Need anything else more involved, like a board, sensor array, camera gimbal, etc. -- only source I know at the moment is listed above.

 

[jasty]

Pretty cool guys, well done. Thanks for the pics and the story!

 

[Piers]

Impressed and want to congratulate you for a good job. It gives me confidence.

 

[Jeff512]

I love that you waited for the tide to go down and went in after him. I would have thrown the controller in the ocean and went to BestBuy to buy another.

 

[audioguy]

These things are sturdy. As a brand new owner, I decided to invoke my ability to be a complete moron and "test fly" the mavic indoors in a room full of hard, wooden furniture (don't ask). Things behaved as they should, but not that I was prepared for. That is, it was in GPS mode (but no GPS signal) and would not obey commands from the remote. It kept banging into some furniture (one piece) - Very hard - kept hitting the props and body and it finally stopped running. Really tore up the furniture (surprise!) but not a scratch on the Mavic, none of the props were damaged, and it works perfect. Certainly not the same as having it become a submarine, but certainly a testament to build quality.

 

[dwallersv]

@audioguy, I am so sorry, my friend, and please don't be offended, but your story above, and the way you told it, just had me in tears laughing.

Sorry for your "learning experience". Silver lining is how much wiser you are now

 

[jmhilljr]

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.

Thanks for sharing. Glad you got it back.

 

[ksiads]

When I began riding motorcycles back in the early 70's I received a bit of advice that has stayed with me to this day. The dealer I purchased my first bike (a '73 Honda CB450 twin) from said, "ride like you're convinced that every car on the road wants to kill you.". I still ride this way, and I prepare myself mentally prior to each ride with this wisdom.

I do the same for my drone flights. I am convinced that nature will use every trick in her book to bring my aircraft down. I remind myself of this fact before I take off, not because I am paranoid, but because I'd like to be prepared for every eventuality I can think of.

It's not enough to know that salt water is the equivalent to sulfuric acid on electrically charged parts. The trick is in having a plan to counteract the elemental conspiracy nature holds over our heads. And, while it's not nice to fool Mother Nature, sometimes you can bypass her temper with tricks of your own.

 

[Kestrel]

When I began riding motorcycles back in the early 70's I received a bit of advice that has stayed with me to this day. The dealer I purchased my first bike (a '73 Honda CB450 twin) from said, "ride like you're convinced that every car on the road wants to kill you.". I still ride this way, and I prepare myself mentally prior to each ride with this wisdom.

I do the same for my drone flights. I am convinced that nature will use every trick in her book to bring my aircraft down. I remind myself of this fact before I take off, not because I am paranoid, but because I'd like to be prepared for every eventuality I can think of.

It's not enough to know that salt water is the equivalent to sulfuric acid on electrically charged parts. The trick is in having a plan to counteract the elemental conspiracy nature holds over our heads. And, while it's not nice to fool Mother Nature, sometimes you can bypass her temper with tricks of your own.

I don't know if I could approach my Mavic the same way as you though, I get the whole Motorcycle thing but a drone? If I thought that everything was out to take my drone out I don't think I could fly it i'd be to worried. I'm confident in my flying. I know where to fly and not where to fly. I'm not going to be going through super tight spots with my Mavic. When I go some where to record video i'll fly my Mavic around looking for obstacles and such, that way when I do a panning shot I don't fly into a tree or building. Being aware of your surroundings sounds like a better way to fly then being afraid that everything is going to take you out.

 

[ksiads]

I don't know if I could approach my Mavic the same way as you though, I get the whole Motorcycle thing but a drone? If I thought that everything was out to take my drone out I don't think I could fly it i'd be to worried. I'm confident in my flying. I know where to fly and not where to fly. I'm not going to be going through super tight spots with my Mavic. When I go some where to record video i'll fly my Mavic around looking for obstacles and such, that way when I do a panning shot I don't fly into a tree or building. Being aware of your surroundings sounds like a better way to fly then being afraid that everything is going to take you out.

Perhaps I wasn't making myself clear. I didn't mean you should ride or fly "afraid". The idea is to familiarize yourself with as many "what-ifs" as possible prior to your ride/flight. It's actually a form of meditation or visualization. The purpose of the exercise is to see the ride/flight in your mind's eye so that when you encounter, say, an upcoming maneuver, you aren't taken by surprise. It's sort of a dry run where you throw in as many possibilities as you can imagine. Does that make more sense?

 

[Red 5]

Nope. My Mavic will never crash unless I decide it's time. I know this because I'm smarter than average. One way I know I'm smarter than average is that I know how to use an apostrophe.

 

[4-prop-flyer]

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.

Would love to watch the video of your flight under the bridge, were you able to save the sd card?

 

[dwallersv]

Nope. My Mavic will never crash unless I decide it's time. I know this because I'm smarter than average. One way I know I'm smarter than average is that I know how to use an apostrophe.

Watch out now if we EVER catch you screwing up apostrophes.

 

[MavPro75]

When I began riding motorcycles back in the early 70's I received a bit of advice that has stayed with me to this day. The dealer I purchased my first bike (a '73 Honda CB450 twin) from said, "ride like you're convinced that every car on the road wants to kill you.". I still ride this way, and I prepare myself mentally prior to each ride with this wisdom.

I do the same for my drone flights. I am convinced that nature will use every trick in her book to bring my aircraft down. I remind myself of this fact before I take off, not because I am paranoid, but because I'd like to be prepared for every eventuality I can think of.

It's not enough to know that salt water is the equivalent to sulfuric acid on electrically charged parts. The trick is in having a plan to counteract the elemental conspiracy nature holds over our heads. And, while it's not nice to fool Mother Nature, sometimes you can bypass her temper with tricks of your own.

The vast majority of "accidents" are "pilot" error. I have ridden motorcycles for over 50 years with the same attitude

 

[condor12]

I race RC gas boats. This stuff works great! Shop Online
I have put it in a RC RX and dropped it in a glass of water. Submerged, it still worked!! Most of the RC boat guys use it.

Because I fly off a coastal beach, I use it on my fixed wing EDFs and other aircraft (ESCs, receivers, UBECS etc. Also liberally coated a Nova quad with it (it has survived one ocean dunking). Sea air exposure would normally shorten their life, but some now are 6 or 7 years old. From my viewpoint Corrosion X is a must have.

 

[Clapper]

Third flight with Mavic I het a tree doing a point of intertest shot. Two cracked props, otherwise fine. Tough little bird.

 

[Red_Raven]

I'm not saying this didn't happen. I certainly believe it's possible. But...

One would think that any energized circuit board that hits salt water would be toast INSTANTLY. It's the equivalent of creating a dead-short across every exposed contact and trace. The only way I could see this not happening is if a) the impact on the underside of the bridge caused the battery to dislodge (or turn off), b) all of the boards are coated with some kind of waterproofing agent, or c) the water is more brackish/fresh than salt.

IOW, if an energized PCB hits salt water, no amount of cleaning and scrubbing will un-fry the components that shorted out the instant it hit the salt.

It is possible that it lost power with the impact, I was hopin for at least getting some video from this crap, but the recordings seem to have stopped at the moment the mavic started to fall.
That's what the chached video shows. everything on the sd card is corrupted, probably because of sudden stop / the video rec was interupted beond repair.

But trust me on this, this happened, and I was really considering to just leave it, I don't have dji care in my location (altough the chineese crooks did trick me to pay for it) and I , just as you guys know that salt water and electronics are marriege made in hell. but my obbsessive mind has to try everything to end point. I can't think of it as ruined until I see it is... and Im not good at learning by mistakes, exspecially others mistakes. Everything has to be trial and error, it can be a **** burden, but once in a while it pays off.

I don't trust the bird, But I will fly it from time to time untill it drops dead, just to see if it will
My main aircraft is a inspire, although i've played alot more with mavic recently, The inspire is simply more of a tool, you don't just grab it with you to take a short flight while waiting for your wife at the dentist or some.... like you can with mavic.... so i have enjoyed it alot, and i will untill it drops, but obviously, I won't fly anyware where it could cause harm when it drops.

But as it looks at this point, the aircraft is perfectly fine!
Maybe i'll put up an ad in here and try to sell it, Any takers ? lol