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WD 40 (Water Displacement 40)

OldGuy

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Since I have become a member of Mavic Pilots I have read a lot of reports regarding water damage to drones which have landed in the sea or in lakes etc. In the old days when I flew fixed wing one of my planes ended up in the sea. My electronics friend took out all the radio and electrical gear and sprayed them with WD 40. He explained that it was developed for the Atlas missile program and was water repellent, none conductive and did not damage electrical components etc. Within a few hours my plane was flying again with no apparent damage. Does anyone else have experience with WD 40 as it could help our fellow members who have accidentally ditched their drones?
 
I only use it to displace water, mainly on my bike chains after washing, people believe this to be a good lubricant but more fool them!
 
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Since I have become a member of Mavic Pilots I have read a lot of reports regarding water damage to drones which have landed in the sea or in lakes etc. In the old days when I flew fixed wing one of my planes ended up in the sea. My electronics friend took out all the radio and electrical gear and sprayed them with WD 40. He explained that it was developed for the Atlas missile program and was water repellent, none conductive and did not damage electrical components etc. Within a few hours my plane was flying again with no apparent damage. Does anyone else have experience with WD 40 as it could help our fellow members who have accidentally ditched their drones?

There is some truth to these type of sprays working on protecting the circuit boards as there use to be a product such as this designed specifically for coating boards making them more more water resistant.

The Problem with these type of sprays is how flammable they our and thus that water sealing product was taken off the shelves in the US.

WD 40 has changed over the years to lower its Flammability but its still flammable


I think the flash point of WD 40 is 110 F give or take.

Seeing that we have flown both the Mavic and the Phantom under the water for short periods of time, I suspect the boards from DJI already have a similar coating on them

Noted: were talking about fresh water not salt water .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain.
Coal
 
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The other question is how much WD40 is as a solvent. Sure plain old circuit boards and common components on them will handle it, but what about neighboring plastics and such?
 
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The other question is how much WD40 is as a solvent. Sure plain old circuit boards and common components on them will handle it, but what about neighboring plastics and such?

When you have fished your drone out of the water what have you got to lose?
 
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There is a vastly superior product to WD40 available to protect against water exposure.
Don't get me wrong, WD40 is a great product but it is not up to the task to protecting our drone's sensitive electronics against water damage, especially SALT water.
I fly RC float / sea planes that are constantly getting quite wet on takeoffs and landings. The product of choice for all our club members to protect our expensive aircraft is called CorrosionX Part # 90101. A six oz can will set you back about $10, but that is cheap compared to the alternative. We periodically spray ALL our electronics, boards, esc's, connectors and batteries and it works great.
BTW....I am NOT affiliated in any way with this company. I am just a very satisfied end user of their product.
YouTube has some great videos of entire RC systems, including batteries sprayed and then fully immersed in SALT water and operated with no issues.
Worth checking out.
IF, I say IF I were ever to fly over water (not likely), I would take the time to remove the plastic shell from my drone and spray everything I could find to try to protect it against water damage.
:) Thumbswayup
 
Since I have become a member of Mavic Pilots I have read a lot of reports regarding water damage to drones which have landed in the sea or in lakes etc. In the old days when I flew fixed wing one of my planes ended up in the sea. My electronics friend took out all the radio and electrical gear and sprayed them with WD 40. He explained that it was developed for the Atlas missile program and was water repellent, none conductive and did not damage electrical components etc. Within a few hours my plane was flying again with no apparent damage. Does anyone else have experience with WD 40 as it could help our fellow members who have accidentally ditched their drones?
Never ever use WD-40 on anything. I spent 10 years in the garage door business removing damaging WD-40 from just about everything. Instead of WD-40 use spray tar on your drone it is just as good and may be cheaper.
 
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I worked at a dive shop through college. We would get flooded Nikonos cameras fairly frequently. The best way to deal with flooding was first, remove the battery. Put the item in distilled water and swish it around to get out the salt water or any water born contaminants. Do this a couple of times, changing the distilled water with fresh. When you are satisfied it is clean and flushed, then start with isopropyl alcohol, preferably 90%. Alcohol will mix with water, so any water in the device will be diluted with alcohol. You need to do this a few times to make any water in the device come close to the 90% that the alcohol is. It is virtually impossible, outside of laboratory grade, to get pure alcohol.

Shake as much water as you can from the device. If you have silica gel, you can put the device in a sealed box with the packets (lots of them).You can re-activate silica gel packets by putting them in the oven at around 100° C for an hour. In a pinch, some pieces of wall board can be activated by heat and the gypsum will also draw water vapor from the air. Give the device a day or two to dry.

WD-40 is not a lubricant, it is just something used to get water our of connectors. It can react with various plastics. It was originally a machine cutting tool cooling/lubricant. It works great if your drilling a hole. It has too many volatiles to be a lubricant for any length of time. I used to drive by the factory in San Diego going to North Island to fly, every day, that smell...
 
Since I have become a member of Mavic Pilots I have read a lot of reports regarding water damage to drones which have landed in the sea or in lakes etc. In the old days when I flew fixed wing one of my planes ended up in the sea. My electronics friend took out all the radio and electrical gear and sprayed them with WD 40. He explained that it was developed for the Atlas missile program and was water repellent, none conductive and did not damage electrical components etc. Within a few hours my plane was flying again with no apparent damage. Does anyone else have experience with WD 40 as it could help our fellow members who have accidentally ditched their drones?
WD40 was as you say developed as a water dispersant “ on the surface of rockets” not the electronics to stop or reduce oxidation of the unpainted skin of early rockets
If you use it internally especially on motors you will get a paste of WD40 and dust in the bearings
If you must fly in damp conditions try Neverwet it is super hydrophobic and sheds water off all surfaces!
 
When you are satisfied it is clean and flushed, then start with isopropyl alcohol, preferably 90%. Alcohol will mix with water, so any water in the device will be diluted with alcohol. You need to do this a few times to make any water in the device come close to the 90% that the alcohol is. It is virtually impossible, outside of laboratory grade, to get pure alcohol..

Good advice re isopropyl.
Just wanted to point out it can be obtained easily (perhaps in some places) in 100% form.
I buy it in 20lt for one of my businesses.
It can’t be transported though in general, so I just pick it up when on a road trip from wherever.

It would’ve perfect to remove moisture after flushing with distilled water.
 
Since I have become a member of Mavic Pilots I have read a lot of reports regarding water damage to drones which have landed in the sea or in lakes etc. In the old days when I flew fixed wing one of my planes ended up in the sea. My electronics friend took out all the radio and electrical gear and sprayed them with WD 40. He explained that it was developed for the Atlas missile program and was water repellent, none conductive and did not damage electrical components etc. Within a few hours my plane was flying again with no apparent damage. Does anyone else have experience with WD 40 as it could help our fellow members who have accidentally ditched their drones?
OldGuy,
WD40 is a solvent more than a water repellent.
If you want to save a drone from water immersion take a look at www.drone-retriever.com to learn about What Actually Happens to a Drone After a Water Event.
Hope this helps.
 
I would like to add that DJI makes a pretty **** good drone! I have previously lost a DJI mavic pro and it landed apparently in a tree and was stuck up there for several months surviving heat Wave and a hurricane before the homeowner of that tree realized it was there and got it down.
Once they got it down they realized there was a card in there that had my information and they called me and I got the Drone back it only had a broken leg and from that point after I cleaned out all the cobwebs and everything else I douched it WD-40 and then are dried all the excess and I am still flying this drone today. So my point is don't be overly paranoid if he got a little moisture on these things because they are awesome!
 
 
Never ever use WD-40 on anything. I spent 10 years in the garage door business removing damaging WD-40 from just about everything. Instead of WD-40 use spray tar on your drone it is just as good and may be cheaper.
That's because WD-40 is a light weight viscous fluid that washes away all the grease and other heavy lubricating oils etc... This causes damage and abnormal wear on parts designed to be lubricated with grease. Don't ever use these light spray type lubricants on important car parts like chassis and suspension areas with high movement the WD-40 will eventually disperse plus mostly dry away and do nothing for lubrication after awhile. These types of lubricant spays are best used for breaking bolts loose, cleaning + polishing certain metals light lubricating for things like shears & trimmers and of course works well in dispersing water. WD-40 has other uses though!! In fact I used to polish my entire mustang with it when I took it to car shows. Nothing shined deeper and brought out the color better(works especially well on black) It made it look like it was wet for hours. Just don't drive it like that...lol every particle of dust loves to stick to it!! I used it for years and it never corroded my paint or caused any negative side effects.
 
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