Wet Bird

[trevornewkirk]

"Somebody" (me) left a soda cup on me p4p case. The case was standing on end. A few days later I come back to find the cup dripped down through the crease in the case and all over my bird. I'm heartbroken! The drone was dripping from all over, the battery area, out of the gimble, etc. I took the battery out and dried it all off. But I haven't turned it on.

What do I do? And, like a moron, I don't have the insurance.

 

[MotorCycle-Man]

Man Oh Man.......this is going to a mess to clean up........I'm sure it can be done....I wished i could recommend a nice safe procedure....I'm hoping you can get a nice answer asap.....Good Luck... !

 

[WetDog]

Despair not. Be of strong heart. And some distilled water. First off, get another battery. That's a given. Even if it *seems* OK, wet batteries are a real liability and potential danger.

Then, look carefully at the camera. If there is Cola inside the lens, proceed to step C (buy a new camera). If not, put some plastic wrap around the camera body and tape or rubber band it tight. Then pour lots of clean water over the bird (take pictures). Sit in the shower (take pictures). Avoid pools or salt water however. Rinse until you see no evidence of Cola debris.

Then get a gallon of distilled water water and flush all of those nasty ions and minerals out of the bird. Shake carefully and let dry in a warm, dry environment (take it out of the bathroom). For extra credit and to annoy your partner, you can bundle the thing up in some dry rice. I don't think that is actually necessary and takes up a whole bunch of rice. For even more partner annoyance, leave it in your oven on warm for a week.

Spritz a small bit of WD-40 (™) in the motors, rinse the rest of it off (not especially good for plastic).

Be patient, several weeks might elapse (get another drone or another hobby).

Insert battery and test.

The camera and gamble is a bit of a special case. Water inside the camera electronics is no big deal but water on the sensor will mean that it has to be pulled and cleaned. Not impossible but definitely fiddly.

Now, just in case you think I'm making this up, let me tale you a sordid tale. Last winter I lost a P3P when it decided not to return after losing connection. Several days of fruitless hunting made cold and annoyed. I just tossed it up to 'remember to put the tracker on, stupid' and continue to break my other two Phantoms. Several months ago, somebody called me and asked I lost a drone (had the number on the shell). It had been sitting in a forest in SE Alaska (though about 20 inches of rain and snow) for several months.

When I picked it up it was .... damp. Sighed, put it in a closet and forgot about it until one day I got bored an pulled it out. Two motors were frozen so I bought replacements off Amazon. The gimbal was rusted but moved.

After reassembling and judicious use of WD 40, I fired it up. Worked perfectly except the gimbal had a subtle vibration it - possibly from the rust. Replaced it with another gimbal and a third party lens that I never managed to try and it now flies perfectly.

During the winter I also assembled an underwater ROV whose motive power comes from three $18 hobby RC motors. Cheap versions of the ones that are used on the Phantoms. It happily trundles around in 100 feet of salt water for hours at a time. When I pull it up, I hose it down with a couple of gallons of fresh water, a bit of WD 40 and then go home and rinse it in distilled water and treat it to some more WD 40 and a bit of silicone spray.

The moral of this story is that most electronics are fairly waterproof. So much so that it's typical to clean circuit boards in a washing machine-like device. The camera sensor is a bit more problematic since any dried residue will show up on the image, but the electronics won't care.

Good luck. Have fun. There are a number of YouTube videos on how to disassemble the things. Not hard at all.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure this voids your warranty. Professional driver on a closed course. Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Ball.

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

"Somebody" (me) left a soda cup on me p4p case. The case was standing on end. A few days later I come back to find the cup dripped down through the crease in the case and all over my bird. I'm heartbroken! The drone was dripping from all over, the battery area, out of the gimble, etc. I took the battery out and dried it all off. But I haven't turned it on.

What do I do? And, like a moron, I don't have the insurance.

Take apart the drone , Drench the parts affected with Warm Distilled water to neutralize the sugar and acids. If the logic board has syrup on it , wipe it down with some Isopropyl mix.
Coke is very corrosive so Drench as soon as possible with Distilled water even if you cannot take it apart. Drench over and over again.

But you will most likely have to take it apart to get that corrosive syrup off the logic boards because of the acid , salt and sugar left in that syrup.

How exactly did the Syrup make it inside the Gimbal , thru the vents or the battery department , or straight thru the gimbal. ???

 

[trevornewkirk]

Take apart the drone , Drench the parts affected with Warm Distilled water to neutralize the sugar and acids. If the logic board has syrup on it , wipe it down with some Isopropyl mix.
Coke is very corrosive so Drench as soon as possible with Distilled water even if you cannot take it apart. Drench over and over again.

But you will most likely have to take it apart to get that corrosive syrup off the logic boards because of the acid , salt and sugar left in that syrup.

How exactly did the Syrup make it inside the Gimbal , thru the vents or the battery department , or straight thru the gimbal. ???

There was a small amount of puddling inside the battery bay. When I pulled the drone out of the case liquid was dripping off the gimbal. Whether it actually got inside the gimbal, I don't know.

 

[WetDog]

(Hopefully you've done something like this -) Take a damp cloth and wipe down the camera and gimbal.

You've little to lose unless you have DJI Cares or similar insurance. In which case you might want to talk to them about what you should do.

 

[trevornewkirk]

(Hopefully you've done something like this -) Take a damp cloth and wipe down the camera and gimbal.

You've little to lose unless you have DJI Cares or similar insurance. In which case you might want to talk to them about what you should do.

Wetdog coming to the rescue of a wet bird. Sorry, couldn't help myself

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

There was a small amount of puddling inside the battery bay. When I pulled the drone out of the case liquid was dripping off the gimbal. Whether it actually got inside the gimbal, I don't know.

Its critical that you take the best magnifying glass you can get and look at the connections on the back where the battery goes. Im not surprised that the syrup made it into the battery bay as that is where the Rain goes to first also.
The camera should be well protected, so than you just need to take off the main shell and do a visual check or you can get it cleaned up the best you can and just turn it on and check for errors, that will save some time for you.

If its jacked up, you will need to most likely send it in.
But pouring Distilled Water all over that drone is still essential in diluting the acidic film left over.