Screws rusting on Mavic Air 2

[Yaros]

I own my Mavic Air 2 drone for 4 months and the screws on the bottom plate and some other places have already started rusting, actually, they are almost completely rusted!
Is it something to worry about?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Did you fly in the Rain ? We have hundreds of flights in the Rain and we dont even dry the drone off , we just put it on the shelf and none of the screws have ever shown any signs of Rust.

Please post a picture it may be something else we have seen in the past if there is orange dust by the motors.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain . and Land on the water.

 

[Yaros]

Did you fly in the Rain ? we have hundreds of flights in the Rain and never ever even dry the drone off , we just put it on the shelf and none of the screws have eve shown any signs of Rust.

Please post a picture it may be something else we have seen in the past if there is orange dust by the motors.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Air 2 in the Rain . and Land on the water.

Nope, never flew in the rain, only a little bit of rain started when I was returning. However, I did fly in the clouds and above them from a high mountain. I will send you an image of it later, don't have it on me right now!

 

[slup]

Some rusty screw heads aren't anything to worry about ... but given the corrosion, that you claim that you don't fly in rain & where you live ... it points to that you operate in a moist & perhaps a salty environment. This might corrode the circuit boards ... & that is something to worry about.

 

[Yaros]

Some rusty screw heads aren't anything to worry about ... but given the corrosion, that you claim that you don't fly in rain & where you live ... it points to that you operate in a moist & perhaps a salty environment. This might corrode the circuit boards ... & that is something to worry about.

I actually do live in a very humid and salty environment. As you can see by my profile I live in Mallorca, Spain. On an island all surrounded by the Mediterranean sea! How to know when my circuit boards corrode?

 

[slup]

I actually do live in a very humid and salty environment. As you can see by my profile I live in Mallorca, Spain...
How to know when my circuit boards corrode?

Yeah, that's why I brought up this with moist & salt...

If you regularly fly in a salt saturated moisty environment you will see corrosion on all parts that can corrode if you don't clean them ... & it's not just on parts on the outside, it's also internally as air constantly are flowing through the internals to cool the electronics.

Usually the first visible sign of a high risk for corrosion on circuit boards are salt deposits ... like below



But when it's this visible, corrosion most probably already have affected the functionality.

If you already have corrosion on the outside parts I recommend you to open the drone up & look ... if you have deposits you need to clean the boards immediately (Google how to do it...). If all look normal ... well then you need to keep this risk in the back of your mind ... perhaps avoid flying when it's extra moisty & not go to low to the surface of the salty ocean... especially if it's a lot of water spraying waves & windy.

 

[Yaros]

My drone has still DJI Care Refresh, so I will not open it up as it will void the warranty and refresh.
I don't really think that there is corrosion of the boards in like 4 months of usage.

 

[Trippp]

If there is corrosion and it gets cleaned up, is there some kind of coating that can be applied to the boards to reduce the risk, or forestall further corrosion?

 

[slup]

My drone has still DJI Care Refresh, so I will not open it up as it will void the warranty and refresh.
I don't really think that there is corrosion of the boards in like 4 months of usage.

Understand ... if still within warranty.

If thing's have started to corrode on the outside in 4 month use ... it's equal likely that internal components have done that also ...

If there is corrosion and it gets cleaned up, is there some kind of coating that can be applied to the boards to reduce the risk, or forestall further corrosion?

Yepp, it's called conformal coating --> Conformal coating can absolutely save your quad from water

 

[Yaros]

You can see a little of rust in this photo. That's what I'm talking about! There is also a little bit on the motors

 

[Yaros]

I also noticed how the bottom side of the propellers is wet, however I didn't fly it in 4 days. It's too humid here!

 

[slup]

You can see a little of rust in this photo. That's what I'm talking about! There is also a little bit on the motors

I also noticed how the bottom side of the propellers is wet, however I didn't fly it in 4 days. It's too humid here!

Impossible to say anything about possible internal corrosion out from pics showing rusty screw heads ... but can say that I haven't any rust on my drone & it's over 2 years old. External rust already after 4 month is a bad sign ... with a high probability that something else much more crucial for keeping you drone airborne also have started to corrode internally.

And together with what you say about moist on your drone when only being stored & that you live near the ocean where the air usually are quite salty ... makes one wonder about what's going on inside your drone.

 

[Pappy]

If you have other photo equipment along with the MA2 you may want to look into investing in a dehumidifier cabinet to store these in. High humidity and salty air will eat through just about anything.

Ruggard EDC-30L Electronic Dry Cabinet (30L)

Buy Ruggard EDC-30L Electronic Dry Cabinet (30L) featuring Electronically Controlled Dehumidifier, Reduces Relative Humidity: 60 to 35%, Keyed Door Lock Protects Contents, Door Seal Protects from Dust and Dirt, Adjustable Sliding Plastic Shelf, Fitted Padded Shelf Liner, Contoured Foam Liner...

www.bhphotovideo.com

 

[Howard70]

If you have other photo equipment along with the MA2 you may want to look into investing in a dehumidifier cabinet to store these in. High humidity and salty air will eat through just about anything.

Ruggard EDC-30L Electronic Dry Cabinet (30L)

Buy Ruggard EDC-30L Electronic Dry Cabinet (30L) featuring Electronically Controlled Dehumidifier, Reduces Relative Humidity: 60 to 35%, Keyed Door Lock Protects Contents, Door Seal Protects from Dust and Dirt, Adjustable Sliding Plastic Shelf, Fitted Padded Shelf Liner, Contoured Foam Liner...

www.bhphotovideo.com

I agree with @Pappy. We worked in a Pacific island setting off and on for 30 years - cameras, binoculars, calculators, laptop computers etc all suffered from the combination of high humidity, salt and warmth. Storing items in a professional cabinet, a room with a dehumidfier or in ammo cans with silica gel was the only long-term solution.

Items with internal fans that circulate air for cooling are particularly susceptible. Ocean air carries salt which gets deposited. If not removed, that salt attracts moisture from the air when the item is in storage keeping things wet or damp and greatly accelerating corrosion. The salt can be removed from exterior surfaces by carefully wiping the item down before storage, but internal surfaces and circuits can’t easily be cleaned. I never used the conformal coating mentioned by @slup upthread, but I suspect it would have helped a lot. Some electronic devices seem to use that or similar coatings as a step in production, but I don’t know how to determine that.

Howard

 

[pescobar61]

I actually do live in a very humid and salty environment. As you can see by my profile I live in Mallorca, Spain. On an island all surrounded by the Mediterranean sea! How to know when my circuit boards corrode?

You can try using Kafuter in every PCB.