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caleb1

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I heard it is not safe to fly the mavic 1 pro In the rain because it might take in the water through the air intake. If I were to put the gimbal cover on to somewhat block the air intake Would that then make it safe? It is not hot outside so it should not need To run the Fan or take in air.

Does anyone have any input to give this far as this goes?

Thanks
 
I heard it is not safe to fly the mavic 1 pro In the rain because it might take in the water through the air intake. If I were to put the gimbal cover on to somewhat block the air intake Would that then make it safe? It is not hot outside so it should not need To run the Fan or take in air.

Does anyone have any input to give this far as this goes?

Thanks
This guy had the guts to take his Mavic Pro 1 to the rain and looks like nothing happened:
 
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not a good idea to fly in the rain and not with the gimbal cover attached the electronics inside do not like getting wet and need a certain amount of air going over the to stay cool thats why the fan cuts in when the mav is just on the ground or hovering
 
not a good idea to fly in the rain and not with the gimbal cover attached the electronics inside do not like getting wet and need a certain amount of air going over the to stay cool thats why the fan cuts in when the mav is just on the ground or hovering

ok. I belive the fan could still take in air with the cover on, I have flown it with the cover on before with no problems. It's not like the cover is air tight... it still has cracks where the latch is and stuff but it is not wide open enough it would let water in.

Another question: is the air intake behind the gimbal in the front of the aircraft the only place where air is able to enter the internals of the mavic in large amounts?

Also it is not raining hard, its just a drizzle, so it might not be to big of an issue I just would not like a fan "sucking in water", you know?

Thanks
 
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ok. I belive the fan could still take in air with the cover on, I have flown it with the cover on before with no problems. It's not like the cover is air tight... it still has cracks where the latch is and stuff but it is not wide open enough it would let water in.

Another question: is the air intake behind the gimbal in the front of the aircraft the only place where air is able to enter the internals of the mavic in large amounts?

Also it is not raining hard, its just a drizzle, so it might not be to big of an issue I just would not like a fan "sucking in water", you know?

Thanks
the mav one and mav platinum only have the air intake behind the gimbal the mav two has them on the sides its still going to ingest moisture and that is the enemy of electronics its the same if you fly in a very cold enviroment and then go straight to a warm place condensation can form inside thr drone and damage the electronics inside
 
ok. I belive the fan could still take in air with the cover on, I have flown it with the cover on before with no problems. It's not like the cover is air tight... it still has cracks where the latch is and stuff but it is not wide open enough it would let water in.

Another question: is the air intake behind the gimbal in the front of the aircraft the only place where air is able to enter the internals of the mavic in large amounts?

Also it is not raining hard, its just a drizzle, so it might not be to big of an issue I just would not like a fan "sucking in water", you know?

Thanks

In my opinion, you are just asking for trouble.

You can fly the Mavic with the gimbal bubble on all day long and it wont hurt your drone. The problem with that idea, is that if youre flying in the rain, the bubble will get wet, and then you wont be able to see FPV. The fan does suck in air through the bottom where the clip is that attaches the bubble to the body. It sucks enough air through there to keep the drone cool. It might not suck any rain in because it's facing down.

Yes the air intake forward of the fan is the only place the Mavic gets its intake air from.

More reasons not to fly in the rain:

  1. Your battery is not waterproof, and the terminals could easily short out.
  2. Your camera lens can get water inside, then you will never be able to get it out.
  3. If your camera does get drops of water on it, it does not have wipers on it, so your FPV vision will be reduced or obscured.
  4. Open the front arms of your Mavic. See the holes? Know whats inside? Thats your ESC board that electronically controls pretty much everything in the drone. It has a conformal coating applied at the factory, but it is water resistant and not waterproof. The last thing you want is water sitting on top of your ESC board waiting to find a loose circuit.
  5. Motors are not meant to run in the rain. The Mavic is not a boat, its a flying drone. The resistance created by water getting into the cans can cause one or more of the motors to run slower than the others. If this happens even for an instant, you Mavic will pitch or roll, and can get out of control very quickly.
  6. Your sensors will be inaccurate. A few drops of rain on the FOA sensors, and they are useless.
  7. The biggest danger to flying in the rain is your valuable core board. If water finds its way into your core processor, your drone will disconnect, while you are flying and if your sensors arent working, it might fly itself into a tree trying to RTH.
I dont fly in the rain, the mist, or fog. If the weather isnt right, I go take care of some honey-do's. That helps for the next time I want to buy a new toy. I will remind her what a good husband Ive been.
 
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I see all your concerns. I can definitely see it is not a good idea to fly in rain. I did try it yesterday though, just in a light rain, nothing heavy, with both my Mavic 2 and my Mavic 1, and it worked good no problems. It was covereed in droplets when it came down, but it did not seem to have any water anywhere where it might get to the internals. I would never try to fly in heavy rain, nor even in moderate rain.

Thanks for all your input everyone.
 
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I see all your concerns. I can definitely see it is not a good idea to fly in rain. I did try it yesterday though, just in a light rain, nothing heavy, with both my Mavic 2 and my Mavic 1, and it worked good no problems. It was covereed in droplets when it came down, but it did not seem to have any water anywhere where it might get to the internals. I would never try to fly in heavy rain, nor even in moderate rain.

Thanks for all your input everyone.

Did you do anything to dry the inside of the drone after flying in the rain? Drones might be able to takeoff and land in the rain, but there will be water on the inside of the drone. The least I would do is to look inside through one of the holes and see if water got inside.

Also, what did you do to protect your controller and device from the rain? I dont like getting my phone wet at all, and I have an Otterbox on it. The controller also has vents on the top and can easily get water inside.
 
Did you do anything to dry the inside of the drone after flying in the rain? Drones might be able to takeoff and land in the rain, but there will be water on the inside of the drone. The least I would do is to look inside through one of the holes and see if water got inside.

Also, what did you do to protect your controller and device from the rain? I dont like getting my phone wet at all, and I have an Otterbox on it. The controller also has vents on the top and can easily get water inside.

Yes I did take out the battery and check the contacts and stuff, it did not seem to be wet to any extent inside the battery compartment, and I don't think anything would have got inside the holes considering there was not anything near on inside the battery compartment/contacts... I would check the holes, but the drone is completely dried now so it wouldn't give me any information if I did. Again, this was a really light rain. You could stand outside and not be bothered by it. It was probably no heavier than that coptertube video macoman referenced. If I notice any problems on future flights, I will open it up and dry it out thoroughly, but for now I believe it is going to be fine. Wish it was less time consuming and hard to open it up.

As far as the controller, it got a some drops on it, but it was not soaked, like I said its a light rain. I doubt it would be damaged at all. Still works fine powers on and everything been about 8 hours since last flight. And so does the drone. All dried and everything. I was not worried about my phone much, its a Samsung s9 rated to be water resistant so some extent. only problems with it were is was kinda hard to click things when it was wet, but other than that it was fine.
 
I just last night finished repairing a Mavic Air. The owner said that it would not connect so I thought the core board had gotten too hot and fried.

When I turned it on, the gimbal went through its initial calibration, fan came on and I tried to bind it to the controller but it would not bind. I hooked it up to DJI assistant and the front sensors were showing a distorted image and i could not see a picture.

I decided to take everything apart and took a look at the core board. I noticed some signs of water on the inside of the drone so I contacted the owner and asked him what happened. He told me that it didn't crash but that it came down and landed in some tall wet grass. That explained everything.

Water had gotten into the inside of the drone and shorted out the core board. I replaced the board with a new one and the drone works fine. The sensor's work again and it was all due to landing in tall wet grass.

I'm happy that your rain experience was a positive one, but again, I don't recommend flying in the rain fog or clouds to anyone.
 
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Just started up the drone and the controller, they connected and sensors were working, started the motors with no problems. Just to let you know everything was good. I will not try rain flying again unless I have to.
 
I've got to ask, was there something that you had to shoot that couldn't wait until after the rain stopped? Or did you just do this as an experiment?
 
There is a guy on here selling kit's to make your drone more water resistant, I don't believe it is 100% protection during rain, but it must certainly be better than flying stock.

You can check him out here, for those brave enough to fly in rain!
 
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There is a guy on here selling kit's to make your drone more water resistant, I don't believe it is 100% protection during rain, but it must certainly be better than flying stock.

You can check him out here, for those brave enough to fly in rain!

That looks cool.
 
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