First Crash! Need advice.

[cbrownknox]

I guess a crash is inevitable. I was testing Autopilot's orbit mode I n the middle of a softball field thinking I had plenty of room. Found out 36 mph is pretty quick. It flew into the branches of a tree and landed upside down in the mud. Luckily it was only about 10 feet off the ground, hit limbs, and landed in relatively dry mud.

Broke the camera vibration absorbing board. I've already ordered new one and should be easy to fix. My question is what to do about the mud. Should I take the cover off to make sure nothing got in there? What about the rotors? Anything else I need to be thinking about?


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[fastfed]

when mud dries it becomes sand, which will get deep into the everything.. If it was me.. I'd rinse everything with clean water, and dry everything right away., I'd crack the top shell, rinse the motors.

pictures will help

 

[cbrownknox]

I just took some.

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[cbrownknox]

You said to wash it? It can get wet?


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[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

The motors are brushless, they could get wet. The internal boards should never get wet. I'd let it thourougly dry, and toothbrush the shell clean. Brush as much as possible from the motors and use compressed air to further clean them turning them as you blow air. Should be ok.

 

[NoBiffBetter]

I would take a wet wash cloth with just regular dish soap.. I use it all the time to clean mine cuz I'm OCD. And wipe it down good.. Then look into the vents with a flash light to see how much mud actually got into the quad itself... If it's not an aversive amount and you don't feel comfortable taking it apart I would go find someone who has an air compressor and gently blow the quad out with compressed air.. I have done this a few times to my own just to get rid of dust that could accumulate on the internals and the fan.. Cuz I'm betting once the mud dries it will be more like dusty dirt.. And you should be able to blow 90% or so of it out or at least most if not all.

When I say wet wash cloth I mean damp.. You don't want it to be dripping water into your quads electronics.. Just want enough dampness to clean it off

EDIT: also after cleaning is complete, turn the quad on and make sure it does its normal start up.. Make sure the lights are normal as well..

I would recommend checking your sensor data through settings -advanced settings -sensors.. Check them out, make sure your gyro axis are all reading close to zero.. Make sure your compass MOD is roughly around 1400.. Make sure your accelerometer is not stuck.. Check the accelerometer X Y and Z axis as you tilt the quad slowly in each direction.. Making sure the numbers are slowly increasing or decreasing as per the speed of your tilt.. (Often with a crash you accelerometer can get stuck) or jammed. This is a great test to make sure it's working properly still.

After all of that, if all checks out, do a IMU calibration.. Whether it says it's ok or not.. Just DO IT .. Make sure it's on a flat level surface and follow the instructions.. Once that's done.. If it completes with out error, the. Fix your gimbal mount with the new one you orderd and as long as your gimbal does its dance , you should be back in action.

Hope this helps

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[NoBiffBetter]

Haha gram, I didn't even see your post when I made mine.. Guess great minds think alike. Also I added more to my last post


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[cbrownknox]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate all the help. Sometimes you need someone tell you it'll be okay.

When I got a closer it wasn't nearly as bad as I had made it in my mind.

I cleaned it really good, took the gimbal, off and went for a quick flight. Really quick. Up 5 feet and moved her around a bit. Flew great. I'll check all those settings now.

Thanks again.


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[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

Haha gram, I didn't even see your post when I made mine.. Guess great minds think alike. Also I added more to my last post


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Your advice is sound.

 

[Ohiowoodsman]

landed in relatively dry mud

From the looks of your pic there's not much to worry about

 

[Quadcopterpilot]

Just clean it up, maybe change the props and away you go.
WASH IT, that's the worst advice I've ever heard...my opinion.


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[Fplvert]

Just clean it up, maybe change the props and away you go.
WASH IT, that's the worst advice I've ever heard...my opinion.

Yeah, definitely not dishwasher safe!
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[cbrownknox]

Update: took her up for a quick flight and all seems well with copter and camera.


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[Sasquad]

if it is dry, blow out the motors with some air, 15psi and fly it.