Water Damage Mavic Air

[coryj10]

Hello guys! I'm new here, but I have a question. I was recently given a Mavic Air Fly More Combo by a family member of mine that had pretty bad water damage. Gimbal overload, 4 ESC errors, etc. I started looking at the DJI Care Refresh video submission, but it seems as if there has to be no errors and be able to fly to qualify for the $69 replacement per year. My uncle got a quote from DJI for repair and it was going to be around $800, which is more than just buying a brand new one. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what I should do as far as repair or sell as-is and try to buy a new one?

Thanks guys!

 

[Mavic Mac]

First - Welcome to the forums - a lot of good info here. Also, the search function (magnifying glass icon upper right) is a great way to find answers to many of the questions a "newbie" will have. We were all "newbies" at one point.

The tech guys can probably give you an answer - buy not sure how much it would be worth. Like you said, you can almost buy a new for the cost of repairs.

 

[coryj10]

First - Welcome to the forums - a lot of good info here. Also, the search function (magnifying glass icon upper right) is a great way to find answers to many of the questions a "newbie" will have. We were all "newbies" at one point.

The tech guys can probably give you an answer - buy not sure how much it would be worth. Like you said, you can almost buy a new for the cost of repairs.

Thanks so much for the reply. Yeah, I was thinking the same. I have a DJI Spark as my personal drone and if I sell it and try to sell the other one out for parts I can definitely afford to get a refurbish Mavic Air from DJI. They are only $499 right now and I can get $50 off being a college student (gotta love the college perks, eh?).

 

[bumper]

Not much to loose, except for the price of a few gallons of distilled water. Probably worth a shot to try submerging it, shake it up, drain repeat several times, then final rinse in fresh distilled water. Drain and thoroughly dry, use desiccant, or direct a fan toward the vents, dry for several days (you can search for the procedure here too, but that's the gist of it). Dry rice is often used to remove moisture, it's efficacy (at least compared to silica gel or other good desiccant), is questionable.

It may not work, as damage may have been done if trying to power it up with water contamination. Pure water is an insulator, but most all water contains minerals and other impurities that allow it to conduct electricity - - then bad things happen, electrolysis and corrosion.

 

[lannes]

First off is it freshwater or saltwater damage, if it's saltwater and it's been a while it will be a lost cause.
If it's freshwater it might be still salvageable depending on the level of corrosion.
In either scenario the battery will be toast and will need to be replaced.

After the dunking in distilled water recommended by Bumper, I'd open it up and spray Iso-propanol alcohol (try to get as pure as possible, so that there is less oil residue left behind) all over it to reduce some of the corrosion that has already happened. There are many tear-down video's on youtube to provide directions for dismantling the MA.

If you see any corrosion, give it a bit of scrub with a soft toothbrush to remove it. Then dry for a long time before trying to restart

 

[coryj10]

Not much to loose, except for the price of a few gallons of distilled water. Probably worth a shot to try submerging it, shake it up, drain repeat several times, then final rinse in fresh distilled water. Drain and thoroughly dry, use desiccant, or direct a fan toward the vents, dry for several days (you can search for the procedure here too, but that's the gist of it). Dry rice is often used to remove moisture, it's efficacy (at least compared to silica gel or other good desiccant), is questionable.

It may not work, as damage may have been done if trying to power it up with water contamination. Pure water is an insulator, but most all water contains minerals and other impurities that allow it to conduct electricity - - then bad things happen, electrolysis and corrosion.

I will definitely have to take a look at that. It would save me a ton of money if that worked. Thanks!

 

[coryj10]

First off is it freshwater or saltwater damage, if it's saltwater and it's been a while it will be a lost cause.
If it's freshwater it might be still salvageable depending on the level of corrosion.
In either scenario the battery will be toast and will need to be replaced.

After the dunking in distilled water recommended by Bumper, I'd open it up and spray Iso-propanol alcohol (try to get as pure as possible, so that there is less oil residue left behind) all over it to reduce some of the corrosion that has already happened. There are many tear-down video's on youtube to provide directions for dismantling the MA.

If you see any corrosion, give it a bit of scrub with a soft toothbrush to remove it. Then dry for a long time before trying to restart

It was freshwater. The battery that was in it at the time of crash is toast, but I have 3 extra and was able to get it powered on and connected to my phone (which is how I found the exact errors that it was getting). I am going to try the tear down and distilled water for sure because, like he said, what do I have to lose? And if it actually works it’ll save me $500-$800

 

[THE CYBORG]

Hi coryj10 Welcome to Mavic Pilots
Hope you get it working

 

[Mavic Mac]

Why NEVER use rice. The article below is from THIS link


Liquid damage in electronics is a bit like pancake batter on the counter: on Sunday morning, it's relatively easy to wipe off. Dried pancake batter on Sunday night—that's a different story. The same thing happens with water/liquid damage.
When we put a phone in rice, it is the same thing as doing nothing. It just FEELS like we're actively trying something. Corrosion is instant when a phone hits water. Sometimes the corrosion hits important components, sometimes not. If we resist turning the phone on until it dries on the counter, in the rice bag, or anywhere else, sometimes we get lucky. If we had the phone in the rice bag, we think the rice saved the phone. But it didn't! Even if the phone seems to be working, it will have oxidized solder joints that are weakened and brittle. Corrosion will continue to spread inside the phone. We have done nothing but experienced temporary luck.
The real secret to water damage? You don't want to dry it!
What you want to do is first displace the water—or more specifically, all the conductive stuff in the water. You can do this best by using 90%+ isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and a toothbrush. Open your device as soon as you can, take out the battery, and get scrubbing. Submerge the whole motherboard in alcohol, and scrub away. Only then, dry it and see where you stand. By getting the liquid displaced before it can dry, we are cleaning the pancake batter on Sunday morning. This is your best strategy for liquid damage.
Of course, it's tempting to just put the phone in rice—you never know, it might be okay. We want to ignore all that work above and just hope for the best instead.
You'd be hard pressed to find any experienced professional in the repair industry that doesn't roll their eyes when they hear the word "rice." We see the sad result of phones/devices that have been carefully placed in the Mahatma bag with fingers crossed.
To all repair professionals out there: please join in sharing some pictures of what a phone/device really looks like inside when we open it up after its romp in the rice. A picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe it will help show folks the reality of the role of rice in water damage.