Operating P4 in Rain

[WetDog]

I have had my P4 up in the rain on a few occasions and just dried it off good and took the battery out as soon as I landed and it's always seemed to be ok!!! I am not saying it's a good idea but I live in a Rain forest in Alaska so to not fly when there is a chance of rain would pretty much ground my P4 most of the time and that's out of the question!!! I also live on a small Island so I am 90% over the ocean so I am fully prepared to buy a new P4 if this one should go by by! Well over 400 miles and still going strong!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

I also live in a 'precipitating marine environment' (my insurance carriers excuse for not paying for anything). You can fly them in drizzle will little ill effect but the first thing to go is photography. One drop on the lens and it's all over. I fly though fog and cloud on occasion and just wipe down the bird afterwards. I have a Hubsan X4 that is my rain test bed - it's been flying for over a year in actual rain. Only replaced one motor which is actually pretty standard for these things.

Yes, you're not supposed to get electronics wet. But -- modern PCBs are essentially waterproof, they dunk the entire board in water to clean them. The motors can run under water. The camera is the weak link as water inside cameras doesn't work out all that well and you want to watch for rusting eventually. But an occasional run through drizzle to get back home shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[RPP]

Well, turns out my P4 isn't going to smell the raindrops anytime soon. India has restrictions on bringing in drones. I wrote up a post here.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Well, turns out my P4 isn't going to smell the raindrops anytime soon. India has restrictions on bringing in drones. I wrote up a post here.

Where did this little tidbit come from, in your blog post, regarding flying drones in the U.S., "Before every flight, the FAA has to be notified via their mobile app (another minute’s worth of work)."?

 

[apex1]

I would leave the battery in if I got caught in a drizzle because it will generate enough heat to warm the electronics for some time as long as you have been in the air long enough to deplete a substantial percentage of the battery charge.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I would leave the battery in if I got caught in a drizzle because it will generate enough heat to warm the electronics for some time as long as you have been in the air long enough to deplete a substantial percentage of the battery charge.

Most of the rain will be blown off by the air speed and the turbulence from the props. Even one rain drop drying on the UV filter, however, will ruin any video or still shots. The crap in the air picked up by the raindrop during it's formation and descent is left behind. Raindrops are not distilled water!

 

[WetDog]

Most of the rain will be blown off by the air speed and the turbulence from the props. Even one rain drop drying on the UV filter, however, will ruin any video or still shots. The crap in the air picked up by the raindrop during it's formation and descent is left behind. Raindrops are not distilled water!

True, but even around the ocean where we pick up enough salt to change the conductivity of rain water considerably (and rust everything in sight), the Hubsan X4 still is buzzing along. But your middle sentence is key. One drop of water and you're not taking pictures anymore.

I guess the take home lesson is that if you have to run through some rain to get home, wipe the thing down carefully and don't sit in a corner shaking.....

 

[GadgetGuy]

True, but even around the ocean where we pick up enough salt to change the conductivity of rain water considerably (and rust everything in sight), the Hubsan X4 still is buzzing along. But your middle sentence is key. One drop of water and you're not taking pictures anymore.

I guess the take home lesson is that if you have to run through some rain to get home, wipe the thing down carefully and don't sit in a corner shaking.....

Especially when you are flying FPV only, from 4 miles away, and the blurry FPV is your first clue of a problem, from a sudden squall! Get 'er back quickly!

 

[RPP]

Where did this little tidbit come from, in your blog post, regarding flying drones in the U.S., "Before every flight, the FAA has to be notified via their mobile app (another minute’s worth of work)."?

There are questions to be answered via the B4UFly app.

 

[flpholt]

There are questions to be answered via the B4UFly app.

b4ufly app is junk

 

[GadgetGuy]

There are questions to be answered via the B4UFly app.

There is no requirement to use the B4UFLY app before every flight, nor any official notification of the FAA that occurs, if you do use the B4UFly app before any flight. It's simply a one way informational app. It doesn't do anything. Those questions are solely for improvement of the app.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Read the first paragraph of its Disclaimer below:

 

[GadgetGuy]

The submission of your prospective flight information in B4UFLY is solely for improvement of the app. It does nothing to notify any appropriate entities of your flight.

=======

 

[RPP]

Yes, true. However, in my case I am within 5 miles of an airport and the app tells me to notify the airport.

 

[RPP]

I have now corrected it in my blog post.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Yes, true. However, in my case I am within 5 miles of an airport and the app tells me to notify the airport.

"Before every flight, the FAA has to be notified via their mobile app"
The statement quoted simply isn't true. You cannot notify the FAA or the Airport via "their mobile app." So, how do you notify the airport before you fly from home?

 

[GadgetGuy]

I have now corrected it in my blog post.

Much better! The last thing we want to be doing is passing along bad or misleading info. There is enough of that going around already!

Back in January, while buying a replacement P3P, Best Buy's sales guy handed me an AMA membership application, and said "Fill this out to register your drone with the FAA before you fly!"

 

[flpholt]

Much better! The last thing we want to be doing is passing along bad or misleading info. There is enough of that going around already!

Back in January, while buying a replacement P3P, Best Buy's sales guy handed me an AMA membership application, and said "Fill this out to register your drone with the FAA before you fly!"

don't you just love best buy wonder how many people fell for that

 

[Bckmstr]

i had to make an emergency landing as i knew i wasn't going to make it back in a sudden head wind that blew in , battery dropped quicker than expected and i put it down in a bean field, went out to get it and the rain rolled in...took me about 2 hours to find it and almost the whole time it started with a drizzle, then light steady rain, bird was suspended off ground and facing upwards so battery facing about 30 degress to the ground ....wiped the it off , no visual damage threw a battery in and fired it up and thing is just fine....i couldn't believe it tough ol bird plus the fact the way it was shedding the rain off itself and not running back down inside directly....

 

[GadgetGuy]

Much better! The last thing we want to be doing is passing along bad or misleading info. There is enough of that going around already!

Back in January, while buying a replacement P3P, Best Buy's sales guy handed me an AMA membership application, and said "Fill this out to register your drone with the FAA before you fly!"

I corrected him, and told him this $60 AMA membership has absolutely nothing to do with the FAA drone pilot registration requirement, which costs $5 and is currently still being refunded! His response, "Oh, that's what I was told to say in our drone sales training!" Great prices and policies, not so great info!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I have now corrected it in my blog post.

One more minor correction: FAA is Federal Aviation Administration, not Federal Aviation Authority...