11 months ago my Phantom 4 crashed in salt water at Bora Bora, French Polynesia for 3-5 mins. It was running good until our trip to Iceland where it was exposed again in the rain for 3 days. The drone started to have gimbal issue(moving on its own), and gimbal overload. Today, I was able to fix it by cleaning the ribbon with lens cleaner.(not sure if it's the right way but it worked) The ribbon looked like it had a rust or water spots which I cleaned thoroughly. The drone is now running like it used to since I bought it. I never update the firmware unless it is known to be stable. The drone is only used when there is no people, car, or house below. I'm staying safe in case something happens.
Water exposure tips: (Based from my experience but I can't guarantee this but it did worked for me)
1. Always bring a box of silica gel when on vacation. This can be used for exposure to rain and water crash. It can also be used to remove water spots/moisture inside the lens.
2. Be careful when using rice as it can go inside the Phantom 4. It took me forever to removed the rice because I don't know how to open it. I was informed that you can put the rice in a sock to contain it.
3. Thoroughly rinse with water. I washed my P4 3 times.(Distilled water if possible)
4. If you don't know how to open the P4 make sure you remove all the water inside. I had water sitting inside the P4 for 2 days. I accidentally got the water out because I was shaking the drone to remove some rice that got stuck inside, suddenly after a lot of shaking a bunch of water came out inside the drone. That was even after I blow dry the drone for about an hour.
5. You can use blow dryer on low or cold setting. Pay attention to the temperature as it can melt some parts or glue inside the drone.
6. Because of exposure to salt and possible salt deposit inside the drone I keep the drone in a large zip lock bag with 10 silica gel. I also keep my batteries inside a zip lock bag with silica gel.(not sure it this is good)
7. I heard alcohol for cleaning is good but I never tried it.
8. Batteries exposed to water/salt water should be discarded and kept somewhere safe as it can cause explosions or fires.
Here is the P4 Footage where you can see the gimbal moving on it's own.
1:53-1:57
5:01-5:05
5:45-5:46
If you pay attention you can still see the movement from the gimbal despite stabilizing it with warp stabilizer.
Any other suggestion to handle water exposure?
Water exposure tips: (Based from my experience but I can't guarantee this but it did worked for me)
1. Always bring a box of silica gel when on vacation. This can be used for exposure to rain and water crash. It can also be used to remove water spots/moisture inside the lens.
2. Be careful when using rice as it can go inside the Phantom 4. It took me forever to removed the rice because I don't know how to open it. I was informed that you can put the rice in a sock to contain it.
3. Thoroughly rinse with water. I washed my P4 3 times.(Distilled water if possible)
4. If you don't know how to open the P4 make sure you remove all the water inside. I had water sitting inside the P4 for 2 days. I accidentally got the water out because I was shaking the drone to remove some rice that got stuck inside, suddenly after a lot of shaking a bunch of water came out inside the drone. That was even after I blow dry the drone for about an hour.
5. You can use blow dryer on low or cold setting. Pay attention to the temperature as it can melt some parts or glue inside the drone.
6. Because of exposure to salt and possible salt deposit inside the drone I keep the drone in a large zip lock bag with 10 silica gel. I also keep my batteries inside a zip lock bag with silica gel.(not sure it this is good)
7. I heard alcohol for cleaning is good but I never tried it.
8. Batteries exposed to water/salt water should be discarded and kept somewhere safe as it can cause explosions or fires.
Here is the P4 Footage where you can see the gimbal moving on it's own.
1:53-1:57
5:01-5:05
5:45-5:46
If you pay attention you can still see the movement from the gimbal despite stabilizing it with warp stabilizer.
Any other suggestion to handle water exposure?
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