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Rock wall crash with water damage-help!

Wrxstiwv

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Joined
Aug 15, 2018
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Age
44
No gimbal movement on startup, no camera image.

Crashed into rock wall, fell into about 2’ of water for about 3 mins completely submerged.

Taken apart, dried insides, reassembled, powers on, connects to controller, starts, fan runs. Black camera image. No video, no gimbal movement.

Replaced entire gimbal assembly, minus small circuit board. On startup after new assembly, “aircraft core board overheated”
Still no picture or video, nor gimbal movement.

iPhone 7, newest firmware, dj4 app

Bought secondhand, no mods.

No pics of the problem, just a video of it hitting the wall, and into the waterfall lol
 
“aircraft core board overheated”

Houston, we have a problem.

Are you sure the fan is working? Take a temp of the heat sink after 3 minutes forward of the front bottom sensor. If it gets hotter than 125°, you could have a fan or core board problem and the boards will thermal if you leave on any linger than that.
 
Houston, we have a problem.

Are you sure the fan is working? Take a temp of the heat sink after 3 minutes forward of the front bottom sensor. If it gets hotter than 125°, you could have a fan or core board problem and the boards will thermal if you leave on any linger than that.

Yes, it for sure runs. But it does get hotter than the Fourth of July and it definitely doesn’t take 3 minutes, lol.
 
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Yes, it for sure runs. But it does get hotter than the Fourth of July and it definitely doesn’t take 3 minutes, lol.

If the fan is working properly, at the normal speed, the heat sink should not be getting above 116°. Are you sure the fan is blowing the right way, into the drone? If you feel air blowing out through the front fan grill, its in backwards, or somehow you got the polarity reversed. Feel under the drone on the heatsink for air outflow in between the sensors.
 
If the fan is working properly, at the normal speed, the heat sink should not be getting above 116°. Are you sure the fan is blowing the right way, into the drone? If you feel air blowing out through the front fan grill, its in backwards, or somehow you got the polarity reversed. Feel under the drone on the heatsink for air outflow in between the sensors.

Not positive if it’s blowing in the right direction, definitely gonna check this as soon as I get home. I had ordered a core board because I had done some research and from what I had read and saw from YouTube (insert eye roll, I know) seemed like the core board fixed it. All I know is I’m nearing 400 and about to throw in the towel on repairs myself. I’m gonna have to start selling car parts next lol!
 
Not positive if it’s blowing in the right direction, definitely gonna check this as soon as I get home. I had ordered a core board because I had done some research and from what I had read and saw from YouTube (insert eye roll, I know) seemed like the core board fixed it. All I know is I’m nearing 400 and about to throw in the towel on repairs myself. I’m gonna have to start selling car parts next lol!

It’s definitely blowing in the right direction
Not positive if it’s blowing in the right direction, definitely gonna check this as soon as I get home. I had ordered a core board because I had done some research and from what I had read and saw from YouTube (insert eye roll, I know) seemed like the core board fixed it. All I know is I’m nearing 400 and about to throw in the towel on repairs myself. I’m gonna have to start selling car parts next lol!
 
Thank for for mentioning me @rfc

OP, did you link (bind) the controller to the Mavic after installing the new core board?

I did bind it after reading this message. Tried deleting the app and re installing it, but it fails on about 95% on install. Downloads the file but won’t finish install. With every part I put in new, it only gives me new errors I didn’t have before. Now I’m getting “gimbal not connected, or no gimbal, something like that” “vision sensor” cannot calibrate compass. I must have done a real knock out job on this thing, lol
 
Have you actually considered that there is possibly other water damaged parts inside. Hate to be the one to burst your bubble but these aircrafts have many sensors, parts, etc inside that I'm sure a drip of water can damage. I would send it directly to DJI and have them diagnose to see if its worth buying additional internal parts that they may or may not have or if it's just to say ok I take a lost.
 
You didn't mention if it fell into fresh water or salt water. That makes a difference. It should have dried out easily with fresh water, but salt water is both corrosive and conductive. That would require a much more thorough cleaning.
 
I would send it directly to DJI and have them diagnose to see if its worth buying additional internal parts that they may or may not have or if it's just to say ok I take a lost.

Not the best advice Ive ever heard, sorry.

#1 DJI will charge more then the drone is worth to fix it.
#2 Why just take the loss? It can be repaired.
 
You didn't mention if it fell into fresh water or salt water. That makes a difference. It should have dried out easily with fresh water, but salt water is both corrosive and conductive. That would require a much more thorough cleaning.


Fresh water... sorry, forgot to include that.
 
Have you actually considered that there is possibly other water damaged parts inside. Hate to be the one to burst your bubble but these aircrafts have many sensors, parts, etc inside that I'm sure a drip of water can damage. I would send it directly to DJI and have them diagnose to see if its worth buying additional internal parts that they may or may not have or if it's just to say ok I take a lost.

Nope, never considered that something else could be wrong! I was hoping to find a big red reset button inside it once I pried it apart with my butter knife. It takes a lot more to burst my bubble, lol.
 
Thank for for mentioning me @rfc

OP, did you link (bind) the controller to the Mavic after installing the new core board?

Just wanted to update that I have everything boxed up and ready to mail out. I had ordered that circuit board that is attached to the gimbal mount earlier in the week but it won’t be here till Monday, wanted to wait to include that in with all the other items and should it need put in due to the original being bad it can fix the error messages and be able to give you a newer list to work from. Lol sorry, I lost a piece of my pride in that creek that day it crashed. I should have left my wallet there along with it... lol will be mailing probably Tuesday. Thanks for all the help! Attached is one of the last pics before she went into the drink.
 

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Just wanted to update that I have everything boxed up and ready to mail out. I had ordered that circuit board that is attached to the gimbal mount earlier in the week but it won’t be here till Monday, wanted to wait to include that in with all the other items and should it need put in due to the original being bad it can fix the error messages and be able to give you a newer list to work from. Lol sorry, I lost a piece of my pride in that creek that day it crashed. I should have left my wallet there along with it... lol will be mailing probably Tuesday. Thanks for all the help! Attached is one of the last pics before she went into the drink.

Ok so after putting the new board in for gimbal, bam, got my video and picture back. Awesome. But my controller keeps saying see app, it says needs updated. It downloads but stalls on 59% and won’t send log either. The only error I’m getting is forward sensors and it will not let me calibrate either. I deleted and reinstalled the app after I switched the core board and I assume it’s trying to run and wants the newest version? I’m not sure where or what file to download to windows as I bought this secondhand and never needed calibrated or anything. I guess it’s possible that the forward sensors are bad considering I’ve replaced almost every single thing inside at this point. But I have read that it might possibly be software and not the hardware causing this sensor error? I’m so close to getting this thing running, ugh!
 
Here’s what I got
 

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