Sank in muddy water on the second day. What to do?

[IceFireSoul]

Hello ((

Today I went on to fly. Strated from a small field surrounded by trees and a creek. Waited for about 8 minutes, got the seven green flashes for recording direction and home location, but satellite always had one or two red lights. Finally decided to fly it on the one red light, believing that gps will still work. It did not! It was in atti mode. I easily got disoriented and it went right towards the creek, subsequently landing all in with the bottom in the water. Led was blinking yellow when I ran to it and took it out. There is some mud in and on the motors

Plugged battery out asap and... Thats it. Dont want to touch it. And sad.

What is my best couse of action now?

 

[edunwody]

Did water get into the case?


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[IceFireSoul]

Yes, how would it not with all the holes on all sides of the case... It was not fully flooded, but when I took out the lipo (dry); water did came out of the case in small stream and drops. And again, the led was flashing yellow.

I feel the same way I did when my gf dumped me.

 

[edunwody]

Let it dry out. Open the top and use a hair dryer on LOW.

From there, your on your own I'm afraid.

Let some other folks chime in.


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[jumanoc]

Yes, how would it not with all the holes on all sides of the case... It was not fully flooded, but when I took out the lipo (dry); water did came out of the case in small stream and drops. And again, the led was flashing yellow.

I feel the same way I did when my gf dumped me.

First, you have to open the shell and vent all water, try with a compressed air cleaner without disassembling at all, but move and turn allthe ways while spraying air, then, let phantom in dry environment at least 2 days. Suggests is not using the battery, Generally they go bad after weting. Try connecting without propellers. For checking each component, if you see or smell something wrong as smoke or bad sounds, power off and recheck. Keep us infromed in advances. Good luck with that.

 

[IceFireSoul]

So is it No using the gps when the light is not ONLY green???

 

[edunwody]

Red means Stop, don't fly.


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[IceFireSoul]

So what are my chances of it being ok from your experience? If parts are burned, how can I know which ones so to replace them? The lipo is not puffed at all and was almost dry when i took it out. Can I give it a chance? When it was in the water it was blinking fast yellow (no connection the TX) does that mean that at monimum the receiver is dead or does the phantom just have an emergency cut off?

 

[jumanoc]

So is it No using the gps when the light is not ONLY green???

For getting GPS mode works, must acomplish some stages:

1) Let warm until you get1 or 2 GREEN flashes only.
2) Move upper right stick to GPS mode
3) No more than 1 RED flashes when GREEN flashes are, ( no t enough satellites locks)

 

[IceFireSoul]

Great. But I did have one red only and it still had no gps navigation (switch in gps mode)!

 

[edunwody]

It needs to really dry out before you do anything.
At least a day or two. If you are impatient then you may fry it.

Dry it out and walk away for a couple days.

Good luck.


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[jumanoc]

It needs to really dry out before you do anything.
At least a day or two. If you are impatient then you may fry it.

Dry it out and walk away for a couple days.

Good luck.


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+ 1. Just let it dry, you dont't want to get a worst damage.

 

[GearLoose]

Don't panic; I dunked my Phantom into a river -- like yours it was wet but not completely submerged. I immediately disconnected the battery (which btw I'm still using, seems fine but don't risk it) and tipped the quad from side to side to drain it as much as I could.

Took it home and opened the shell. I don't have compressed air or a hair drier so I put it on top of the car in full sun. Let it dry thoroughly -- I'd say for at least a full day or even longer.

One of the motors felt gritty when I turned it so I took it apart and dunked it in rubbing alcohol, swished it around. Later I oiled the motors -- they all work just fine now.

I got off lucky with my water crash and you might also -- but be patient. Don't plug in a battery until you're sure the thing is bone dry.

 

[Roadkilt]

Same like Gearloose. I caught a tree over a river, no surprise if you've seen my videos on YouTube! Fell fourty feet, bounced off a boulder into a river, snapped the gopro off. The quad hung upside down in the river saved by its noodle floats I put on the landing skid. I ran downstream and got it out, unplugged the battery and shook everything I could out. It was about 6 hours before I could get home but I put a blow dryer on low, then cool, into its battery door and let it run for a couple of hours. Next day rebalanced props, did full recal on the computer, rotated motors for any grit, didn't feel anything. Then in a big grassy field did lots of slow careful flying checking everything out. No problem. I was amazed and thankful it was freshwater and not the usual salt I fly over. I think the landing did bang one of motors out by 1 or 2 degrees from the vertical, just looking at it. But the NAZA controller seems to have accommodated it. Happy ending.....so far! Good luck with yours, what have you got to lose now? Keep trying it.

 

[IceFireSoul]

Yeah, I am at home now in bed, lieing depressed. It feels terrible on day two. I was having so much fun, and now-nothing. Again, when I got to it, it's yellow light was blinking fast (was upside down in the river) so I certainly must have toasted it ;(

 

[GearLoose]

You need to chill out and quit whining... dry it out, check it out thoroughly, do whatever is necessary to get it back in the air. I learned this the hard way myself -- this isn't a hobby for the faint of heart! Cheer up!

 

[PhantomHubert]

Fast blinking yellow is failsafe/rth.
So it must have lost connection somewhere. Maybe you turned transmitter off after the crash, or there was a problem before that caused the crash. Normally one red light flights fine, no big deal.

 

[IceFireSoul]

Ok... Already opened. Trying it out and encoding the video in Sony Vegas; so you can all see what happened : )

First checked the engines; one had mud in it. Can't get it all out; but they spin very well. Will wait for mud to dry out and then blow off the dust ones it's de-moisturized.

On the phantom itself, fit's pretty dry inside; just some water here and there. I see there is EPOXY thin layer on many chips and boards inside that is probably meant to protect it at least to some extend from water. We'll see.

So, the QUESTIONS:

What do I do once it dries out completely? I've had an Ar.Drone - there you will either have a dead motherboard; or it will show you in turn what is blown. How about the phantom? How do I actually see error messages and figure out what might have failed so to replace? Are there spare parts?

Thanks! Drinking palinka already to cheer me up : ) So cheers!

 

[IceFireSoul]

Here is the video. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nRBMFpMIO0

 

[edunwody]

Here is the video. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nRBMFpMIO0

Oh my, those Phantoms are really attracted to water.
What part of the world do you live?
I was expecting a alligator to grab it at any moment.
Fresh water? I think you might be ok after it drys out.


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