Dunked the bird!

[CLR121212]

Well, after a near miss with a wall a few weeks back, today I went one further! I had been flying for about 35 mins and was on my second battery, when I decided to get "one more shot". I took the drone under a low tree canopy, to get a nice shot of a stream. Battery level dropped and the bird went to RTH mode, rose about 2 feet, hit a branch and dropped like a brick about 5 feet, right into the water!!!!!

I dropped everything and jumped straight in after it, luckily only about 2 feet deep, and retrieved it straight away - must have been in the water for less than 30 seconds. Im absolutely devastated

Battery was taken out straight away and i shook out as much water as I could. Into the car and put the aircon on hot to try and blow some water out. luckily its a 10 minute drive home and Its now sitting at the side of a heater, with a fan blowing on it. The lens cover is steamed up, so i took the back off the camera - but the fact that the camera lens is steamed up indicates that water definitely got into the camera and obviously into the body of the bird.

Whats the chances of it working again?

If it was returned to DJI, would I be right in saying that they can tell its been dunked? Is there something similar to the iPhone that has some sort of indicator inside?

If it won't work now and DJI/retailer won't replace it, it looks like my flying days are over before they even begun, because the cost of purchasing a new one will be too much for some time to come.

 

[msinger]

Whats the chances of it working again?

If you didn't land in salt water, all might turn out okay if you let it completely dry out before attempting to power it on again.

If it was returned to DJI, would I be right in saying that they can tell its been dunked?

They will just look at your flight log and see where you crashed it. It would be best to just tell the truth if you're going to send it in for repair.

 

[CLR121212]

If you didn't land in salt water, all might turn out okay if you let it completely dry out before attempting to power it on again.


They will just look at your flight log and see where you crashed it. It would be best to just tell the truth if you're going to send it in for repair.

It was fresh water and I will leave it for a few days, with a fan blowing directly on it, before I try to power it up again. Pilot error unfortunately on this occasion!

Can they get the flight log even though I was using Litchi at the time? Iv not used the DJIgo app for weeks now!

 

[msinger]

Can they get the flight log even though I was using Litchi at the time?

Yes.

 

[MacCool]

It's probably toast. It's not the water, it's the shorting out of various components that kills the bird, or at least one or more of its subsystems. If you're lucky, that didn't happen. You should let dry out a couple of days and see if it works. If it doesn't, I'd send it in and tell them it's water damage. It won't matter if they know it was dunked. They won't replace it under warranty since the crash was pure pilot error.

 

[Droneted]

I would put it in Silica Gel not rice. Wait a week and try it. Amazon sells it on line.

 

[CLR121212]

I will leave it for a few days and then try to power it up. I have read quite a few threads on the subject, some with a positive outcome, most with a negative one! Fingers crossed.

Would I be right in saying that DJI would charge the full cost of a replacement unit?

 

[Droneted]

Yes

Sent from my SM-G935V using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[alokbhargava]

If you have de- humidifier, keep it in front of it, you have good chances of recovery.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[CLR121212]

If you have de- humidifier, keep it in front of it, you have good chances of recovery.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

I have my fingers, toes and everything else crossed that you're right, because I just don't have the money to replace it!

 

[schlepprock]

Even after it dries I would clean the board and all contacts with a good electrical cleaner to remove any residual.

 

[CLR121212]

Even after it dries I would clean the board and all contacts with a good electrical cleaner to remove any residual.

Anything that you can recommend please? I would imagine it would also mean taking the thing to pieces to clean it - not that the warranty is an issue now! I can't believe how stupid i was to let this happen!

 

[CLR121212]

Does anyone know roughly the retail cost of a new bird. Here in the UK I can only find the kit, i.e.drone/controller/batteries etc..... I take it DJi would just replace the bird, rather than the whole lot?

****Scratch the above question. DJI website has the bird at £629GBP!****

 

[flyNfrank]

Many people have been under water and in turn able to save the aircraft. However, you need to address the issue of it being wet as soon as possible. Using a large bag of rice and a constant fan will better then most anything else

It can be beneficial to retrieve both flight logs and post them here for a few us to go over them. And most definitely before even considering to ship the drone to dji! We can diagnose all of what took place all the way to every tenth of a second. That's 10 lines of data for each 1 second of recorded flight. There is a TXT and a DAT flight log file that can be used. The TXT is located in the device that host the GO App. The Dat file would be located in the drone.

 

[Jtrjr]

CLR,

I've had some success with, a dehumidifier. I have a big rectangular dehumidifier in our basement and fashioned a large box that can go around it. I cut a piece out for the back of the unit to get air. I've put parts inside the box and let the dehumidifier run for a couple of days. Seems to suck every drop of water from the components. Just a thought.

Jerry

 

[paul sharman]

Please let me know how you get on mate.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Mako79]

Anything that you can recommend please? I would imagine it would also mean taking the thing to pieces to clean it - not that the warranty is an issue now! I can't believe how stupid i was to let this happen!

methylated spirits and a toothbrush.

 

[CLR121212]

Many people have been under water and in turn able to save the aircraft. However, you need to address the issue of it being wet as soon as possible. Using a large bag of rice and a constant fan will better then most anything else

It can be beneficial to retrieve both flight logs and post them here for a few us to go over them. And most definitely before even considering to ship the drone to dji! We can diagnose all of what took place all the way to every tenth of a second. That's 10 lines of data for each 1 second of recorded flight. There is a TXT and a DAT flight log file that can be used. The TXT is located in the device that host the GO App. The Dat file would be located in the drone.

Unless part of the flight log registered the pilots (mine) stupidity, then it won't tell me what I don't already know. The battery was down to 3 minutes of flight time but I pushed it too far, thinking I could get the last shot in and of course the bird went into RTH mode, which made it lift and hit a branch! My own stupid mistake, nothing more.

I got it dried off as quickly as I could and it's now sat with a fan blowing through it for the next couple of days, at least, until I try to power it up again.

Thanks for the input, it is all much appreciated.

 

[CLR121212]

CLR,

I've had some success with, a dehumidifier. I have a big rectangular dehumidifier in our basement and fashioned a large box that can go around it. I cut a piece out for the back of the unit to get air. I've put parts inside the box and let the dehumidifier run for a couple of days. Seems to suck every drop of water from the components. Just a thought.

Jerry

Thanks Jerry, fingers crossed it will still work next time I try it.....but I'm not holding out much hope!

 

[CLR121212]

Please let me know how you get on mate.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Will do buddy, thanks.