Story Time

[FlyingMantis]

I had my first crash on June the 28th. I was flying my Mavic 2 Pro when I clipped the edge of a light pole ( I was sun blinded). It spiraled into a small catfish pond. It was 2 days later before I was able to retrieve it. It was in about 10 feet of water. I was not sure what to do. So, I decided to try the ole bed of rice trick. I wrapped it in a felt bag, (crown royal bag) and placed it in a one gallon zip lock full of rice. I rolled the bag every day. Today marked the 2 weeks of it going into the bag. I removed it and placed a battery in it. It powered on and the camera was greyed out. I figured the camera was done for. After a couple of seconds the camera popped on. I took it out and flew it around. Every thing is checking out ok! I ran a second battery and had no issues with it either. The battery that was in it when it went into the water took a charge and it works good also. Just thought I'd share the story and let you all know that there is hope!

 

[brew99]

Wow, sounds like you lucked out on that one. 2 days in a pond, and able to revive it, better by a lotto ticket now

 

[hychewright]

Great save! I've also read where people have dropped their phone in the drink and a bag of rice saved it.

 

[jimlips]

I want to see the video!

 

[FlyingMantis]

I want to see the video!

Video of ????
I had been taking pictures. Video was not running.....

 

[MARK (LI)]

I love happy endings

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Good to know. Thanks for sharing.
I’ll have to take up drinking to obtain one of those bags. ?

 

[Little bird]

I had my first crash on June the 28th. I was flying my Mavic 2 Pro when I clipped the edge of a light pole ( I was sun blinded). It spiraled into a small catfish pond. It was 2 days later before I was able to retrieve it. It was in about 10 feet of water. I was not sure what to do. So, I decided to try the ole bed of rice trick. I wrapped it in a felt bag, (crown royal bag) and placed it in a one gallon zip lock full of rice. I rolled the bag every day. Today marked the 2 weeks of it going into the bag. I removed it and placed a battery in it. It powered on and the camera was greyed out. I figured the camera was done for. After a couple of seconds the camera popped on. I took it out and flew it around. Every thing is checking out ok! I ran a second battery and had no issues with it either. The battery that was in it when it went into the water took a charge and it works good also. Just thought I'd share the story and let you all know that there is hope!

You a lucky guy. ?

 

[Dale D]

I would use one of my DJI Refresh replacements as soon as possible.

 

[WildDoktor]

So clipping the light pole didn't do any damage? No broken props or anything?

 

[FlyingMantis]

So clipping the light pole didn't do any damage? No broken props or anything?

The only thing I found broken was one of the 3 mounting tabs on one of the props. I barely clipped that pole....

 

[Zbip57]

... placed a battery in it. It powered on and the camera was greyed out. I figured the camera was done for.

I crashed my brand new Phantom 3 Pro into a river on only its second flight. I was watching my monitor, instead of the Phantom, and failed to spot an overhanging tree branch. The Phantom snagged that branch and fell into water that was a little more than waist deep, but murky. It took quite a while to find it, sweeping the bottom with my feet.

The battery quit the moment it hit the water. I think it melted some sort of fuse within the battery circuitry. I flushed the P3P out with clean water and let it sit open for a few days with a fan blowing air through it.

When I popped in a new battery and tried to start it, Eureka, it started right up and everything worked, everything except...

The camera view on my monitor only worked for a short moment, then fogged over, completely "greyed out". Oh-oh.

It turns out there was still some moisture inside the camera, behind the lens. As the camera warmed up it fogged up the inside of the lens! See photo. The camera worked, but just couldn't see anything past the fogged lens.

I unscrewed the backing plate on the camera to let the interior of the camera air out for a few more days. After that, everything worked perfectly again and I happily flew that P3P for another three years before deciding to go sub-250g with the Mavic Mini.

 

[FlyingMantis]

I crashed my brand new Phantom 3 Pro into a river on only its second flight. I was watching my monitor, instead of the Phantom, and failed to spot an overhanging tree branch. The Phantom snagged that branch and fell into water that was a little more than waist deep, but murky. It took quite a while to find it, sweeping the bottom with my feet.

The battery quit the moment it hit the water. I think it melted some sort of fuse within the battery circuitry. I flushed the P3P out with clean water and let it sit open for a few days with a fan blowing air through it.

When I popped in a new battery and tried to start it, Eureka, it started right up and everything worked, everything except...

The camera view on my monitor only worked for a short moment, then fogged over, completely "greyed out". Oh-oh.

It turns out there was still some moisture inside the camera, behind the lens. As the camera warmed up it fogged up the inside of the lens! See photo. The camera worked, but just couldn't see anything past the fogged lens.

I unscrewed the backing plate on the camera to let the interior of the camera air out for a few more days. After that, everything worked perfectly again and I happily flew that P3P for another three years before deciding to go sub-250g with the Mavic Mini.

View attachment 131957

The grey on mine was from the initial start up. When it popped on, it was fine.