My Phantom Ditched into the Salty River

[stuartWwilson]

I was able to recover after diving down to about 8 feet, It was on the bottom for about 10 minutes. I removed the battery then rinsed it under a fresh water tap then sprayed it with wd40, am drying it out at the moment. Havent tried to start it. What should the prognosis be? BTW I hit a over hanging tree branch before ending up on the bottom. What is usually having to be replaced is it the whole bird? regards Stuart

 

[hey_moe]

OUCH! A pilots worse nightmare. Sorry to here that happen. Hope you can get it up and running. From what I have read Salt water is the worse thing that can happen to a Drone.

 

[PsychopathRC]

Have you stuck it in a load of rice? Normally if someone drops their phone in water, it's advised to put it in a bowl of rice. The rice then draws the moisture out of the phone. Maybe the same will work with the drone?

Whatever you do, don't power it on until you know its dry.

 

[stuartWwilson]

Have used the hair dryer and the lube to remove the moisture so far.I thought the bird may have been to big with to much open space inside her.

 

[stuartWwilson]

Started her up is now beeping and one of the arms is very hot, any ideas?

 

[stuartWwilson]

When the beep happens the left motor of where the battery goes twitches.

 

[burlbark]

Started her up is now beeping and one of the arms is very hot, any ideas?

Yep the esc is cooked and you should not start it up anymore as you can back feed the flight controller. I see this all the time so please dont make it worse. Replace the esc, I would expect all the esc to be dead.

 

[stuartWwilson]

So replace the four esc ?

 

[stuartWwilson]

Would the actual camera take on water?

 

[stuartWwilson]

Has anyone else sank there bird? I am trying to work out what the cost will be to fix, or do I save up for another one. I miss the bird need it in the air. Is a devastating feeling as she hit the water.

 

[DronePilot]

My bird had a battery failure and autolanded in a lake where it sat in 45 feet of water for four days before I could recover it. A week later it was fully functional and is still operating well. The only thing I needed to replace was the battery which failed before it hit the water and the four ESC's which I have since replaced again with the upgraded propulsion system. So if you don't have a v3.0 then you might look at this as an opportunity to upgrade your propulsion system.
For mine I very carefully removed all the electronics and dunked them in deoxit and then left them on top of my furnace for a few days before reassembling.
I hope for you the salt doesn't cause more of an issue. From what I'm reading here it sounds like at least your ESC's are in need of replacement. Good luck with your recovery!

 

[oilswoodhome]

FliteTest has a good video about water and electronics,
http://youtu.be/s4z8QMgTEA4

 

[stuartWwilson]

The camera was twitching and moving erratically when she was first turned on, I hope it is only the ESC's.I used WD40 lube to spray where I could.

 

[tritontr21]

If salt water... it's gone. It will never be ok. It slowly eats ALL metal parts inside. Green rot it like cancer.

 

[stuartWwilson]

There must be an answere to the salt issue, I was able flush under fresh water as soon as it was removed from the salt water.

 

[robinb]

it needs to have a full flush, then dried for about a week.
Some use pure water or alcohol, then as mentioned use rice sealed in a bag this needs to be done for several days to give it time to dry it out fully.

 

[tstowe]

If salt water... it's gone. It will never be ok. It slowly eats ALL metal parts inside. Green rot it like cancer.

NOT TRUE.

I did almost the EXACT same thing. Dunked it in salt water for a good 10 minutes. Sold it to a guy here. He had it flying again the same day he received it.

Contact this guy and have him fix it: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27737

HIGHLY recommend him!!!!!

 

[tritontr21]

If salt water... it's gone. It will never be ok. It slowly eats ALL metal parts inside. Green rot it like cancer.

NOT TRUE.

I did almost the EXACT same thing. Dunked it in salt water for a good 10 minutes. Sold it to a guy here. He had it flying again the same day he received it.

Contact this guy and have him fix it: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27737

HIGHLY recommend him!!!!!

Oh it's true. Might not be immediately. But it will green rot itself from inside out. I wouldn't fly it or try and salvage anything electrical. I've lived on saltwater my whole life and have been in the boating industry for 20+ years. It's a goner. Maybe not today. But soon... you can gut it and install new electronics. But you're asking for misfortune attempting to fly that thing over or around people.

Good luck.

 

[hunch]

i was the one who purchased it and after replacing almost all the electronics inside that bird was in the air that day.
some stuff is salvagable but you are correct, most of it will need replacement.
still much cheaper than buying a brand new one.

StuartwWilson, let me know if you need help.

thanks

 

[DCGOO]

I removed the battery then rinsed it under a fresh water tap then sprayed it with wd40, am drying it out at the moment. Havent tried to start it.

You sprayed it with WD40? WTH for? That is what probably killed it.

I dumped mine into a river (fortunately only in about 3 feet of water) retrieved it and let it dry out thoroughly (like weeks). It recovered completely, even the camera. The only thing that did not survive was the flight battery. It is dead. But the bird is fine. I did absolutely nothing to it to recover it, I did not even open it up. Powered with my other batteries, it is 100% operational. Which I did not expect.

Spraying it with WD40 turned it into an oily mess, and probably destroyed it.