Help with recovering from water damage

[jjphoto]

Hello, gents. I've only been flying my Phantom 2 for 3 days now, and a nasty cross-wind over a river sent me crashing into the brush on the bank, and then into the water, just a couple of hours ago. The battery was already separate from the body when I finally found it (about 10-15 minutes later), so I'm hoping it wasn't powered up when it hit the water.

Once I got home, I took apart the shell, blew out all of the water I could, and ran a hair dryer on cool over it for a while. My questions are:

1) What's the accepted general wisdom on how long I should wait - 2 days? 20?
2) With the damage I'm seeing on one of the arms, is there any way this shell is re-usable? Or am I going to have to replace it, hands-down?

I bought the Phantom 2 when I did, in order to capture some important milestones at work (at the end of this coming week), which means I might just have to suck it up and buy an entirely new Phantom 2 - I'm hoping the gimbal might have survived? Should I stop messing around and just order the new d*** copter?

Grumpily yours,

-jesse

 

[J Dot]

This has not happened to me with my phantom, but did happen with an RC CAR once,
Not 100% sure what to do, but do have a couple precautions for you!
Water damage ;
MAKE SURE YOU CHECK EVERYTHING ( everything )
Every plug, or connection ( as they can HOLD water. )
The MOTORS, have TONS of windings inside with a lot of small spaces, ( that can hold water )
( I recommend blowing them out with high pressure air ) from compressor or ? If there is ANY moisture in Anything, it WILL SHORT OUT!
Just scrutinize it CAREFULL and THOUROUGHLY! Do not overlook ANYTHING, even if it requires complete disassembly!
As I did not and lost all my electronics ( I just used blow drier, and left air out for a couple days, the speed controller was full of water, and I never checked it ( totally my fault ) the speed controls on the phantom are shrink wrapped and may have moisture inside be VERY CAREFULL! I do not think it is a time or day or month issue, more of a dry issue, as long as everything is completely dry, you should be able to fly right away! ( but if ANY MOISTURE PRESENT ( burnout is inevidable ))

As for the case
I cannot really tell full extent of damage ? But I have seen people use ( epoxy, and superglue, and even a bit of duct tape ( inside ) to fix broken shells and motor arms! Just a thought ( there is a guy selling shells for under $50 ( EBAY ) I believe he buys phantoms, disassembles them and sells the parts individually to make a profit? But not sure, and cannot remember his ID off the top of my head right now?

I wish the best for you And your phantom, please let us know if she flies again!

Jerry D
USA
( J Dot )

 

[jimdenburg]

I've read about several people putting it in a container of rice to help with the drying out process with some success. I haven't yet had the pleasure of trying it out myself (notice the "yet" part).

I did do some crash damage to my shell, although not as extensive as yours and I used duct tape to keep the thing together. It flew okay after that, but nearly as smoothly as it did pre-crash. So you might get it up in the air with the damaged shell, but don't be surprised if it wobbles. I finally broke down and got a shell after damaging a motor/esc in another crash. Figured I was gonna I was gonna have to take it apart anyway, and I really hated looking back at my first videos with the thing and seeing how smooth the footage was out of the box.

Oh and if your battery took a bath, it's probably toast so I hope you have a spare. Otherwise, I'd see how everything funcitons after drying out and if you do have issues with any components you could then order those along with the shell. good luck!

 

[jjphoto]

Thanks, guys. I broke down and bought a new Phantom 2 and GoPro White yesterday (another $1000 spent!), figuring that (best-case scenario), I will end up with spare parts from this old one. The real bummer is that I had a GoPro Black before, which was $400 - I bought the SquareTrade 3-year "accidental breakage" warranty this time.

Looks like I might have to wait a little bit before I order my FPV setup!

 

[J Dot]

That is really cool,
I'm sorry you had to spend the cash, but am totally excited you have another phantom!
Are you still going to try to salvage the old one, or just scrap it for future parts?
( just curious, that is all! Just wondering if it would ( fly again or not )? After it's bath!

Are you going to film the weekend event still?
Man that is really cool! Congrats! ( on the new phantom )
Makes me remember the day I got mine, I was SO EXCITED !

We'll,
Fly on my friend, and may your future flights be EVENT FREE !

Your friend!
Jerry D
USA
( J Dot )

 

[SilentAV8R]

Search for a product called "Corrosion X". This is used by RC boat racers to dewater the electronics on their boats after a dunking. I used to race electric RC boats, we soaked motors, ESCs, receivers, etc. Anything electronic. It is hydrophobic and drives the water out without harming the electronics. Great stuff. In a pinch WD-40 can also be used. I used canned air to first blow out as much water as possible, the the Corrosion X, then a another blast of air.

 

[jimdenburg]

Search for a product called "Corrosion X". This is used by RC boat racers to dewater the electronics on their boats after a dunking. I used to race electric RC boats, we soaked motors, ESCs, receivers, etc. Anything electronic. It is hydrophobic and drives the water out without harming the electronics. Great stuff. In a pinch WD-40 can also be used. I used canned air to first blow out as much water as possible, the the Corrosion X, then a another blast of air.

I imagine JJ will be pretty hydrophobic when flying his new rig near water.

 

[jjphoto]

Thanks again for the support, guys. The new rig showed up today, and I've given her two flights, none of them near water, and both of them VERY nervous. I posted my first quick jobsite flight (raw, no edits, still with fish-eye, etc.) here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfh7dZvpy6o[/youtube]

And for those of you who want to relive my ultimate sadness, you can see my crash video (it cuts out 5-7 seconds before the crash itself, since the GoPro died and lost its cached video), but here it is:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMWds07TUyI[/youtube]

I'm planning on trying to salvage the crashed copter, either as parts, or maybe as the beginning of a large carbon-fiber rig? Anyone have suggestions on where to go to start dreaming up a project like that?