The interior PCA's can be conformal coated (if they're not already). The motors are three lead devices, no hall effect sensors or shaft encoders. Not much to the motors themselves. On my P4, with the props on, I can't see into the motors. Considering the simplicity of the motors themselves, and the care DJI took to protect the motors, they should hold up OK in moderate rain. The only thing I may worry about are the bearings (or whatever the motors use). You can always get a replacement motor and run it in distilled water. No kidding, that is what I would do. Then there's the camera/gimbal. The lens is protected by the skylight filter. The ribbon cable interconnects are another point of entry for moisture. Thick conformal coat (Humiseal) would probably seal up the ribbon cables. Then there's the gimbal motors themselves. They're brushless, but the possibility exists that the gimbal motors use some sort of encoder. I think this may be the case as gimbal positioning motors must position themselves much more precisely than the motors that spin the props (which don't have to position themselves at all), the processor would require more feedback than the back-emf three wire scheme that the prop motors use to send data to the processor. If the gimbal motors have more than three conductors running into them then there is some sort of encoder in there that may not take kindly to water. Perhaps you can construct some sort of skirt (or whatever) to protect the camera/gimbal assembly.Introduction:
I'd like to start a constructive thread on achieving the goal of water proofing a drone.
I've come across threads in the past, and sadly to say there was a lot of naysayers & negative posts of discouragement toward those who were asking.
If you participate in this thread please be constructive. I believing water proofing is possible for DJI drones, and drones alike. This is an important obstacle to address for the future of drones, and drone delivery, as delivery systems will need to be able to fly in rain.
Objective:
To waterproof a drone enough to fly in rain to heavy rain for 15+min, if we can take it further than that as in being even more wet for longer, even better! While sustaining stationary flight in 30+MPH wind.
Open to waterproofing any DJI Drone other than older models such as p2, p1.
What has previously been done:
There is several chemicals on the market that can be applied to electronic equipment to make them water proof. There was a company years back that used to waterproof older Dji drones with liquidpel but they no longer offer this service on newer models, not really sure why, but perhaps it was the complexity?
Questions:
Many questions remain, such as what parts needs to be waterproof, details on rotors and the type, and if they need to be waterproofed etc..
Your invite!
This is an open invitation to the drone community to any who would like to contribute to this community project, and especially to those would like to waterproof your done, so please chime in if this interests you or if you have some ideas, suggestions, or questions relating to this main topic. Please keep this thread focused on the main topic of this thread. I will also try to keep a running list of solutions, ideas, and questions that still need to be answered.
My shopping experience & Project Requirements:
While I hope this thread serves the needs of other waterproofers. I will detail out what I'm looking for.
- Fly in Heavy Rain for 12-15 minutes
- Maintain and hold position in general area in windspeeds of 30+MPH
- Carry payload of at least 1+lb.
I'm looking for a drone that I can buy, or mod that can fly in rain, and sustain a decent amount of wind around 15MPH+. I'm not really interested in a gimbal or camera, all though that would be nice, it should be able to lift at least a 1lb, or more.
I'm attracted to the DJI drones because they are feature rich, large community etc... I've looked at other drones like the new Swell Pro, but it looks kind of cheap for the price and what you get. I've also looked at the QuadH2O brand but they are too expensive... :/
Open to have any suggestions of comparable drones that I could fly in the rain.
Thanks,
It's unlikely that there is an off the shelf solution available, at least nothing affordable. Keeping the bird stable in 15mph winds is possible. Keeping the bird stable with water pushing against it? Who knows?
FWIW, I've been thinking about flying the bird in the rain and snow.
Cheers