Long story short crashed my p3 near a creek with steep embankments on either side 1.5 hours later in 38 degree heat l went to my mates for a time out 2 hours later went back to search for it after about 40 min l found it underwater . Got it out minus the battery might try looking for it another day anyway let it drip dry for a couple of hours then slap a spare battery in and tried to start it up all good but couldn’t calibrate the IMU kept trying by turning off drone for 5 min and restart maybe about a dozen times then finnaly it worked but couldn’t get the compass working after 2 atemos that was all good and finally while thinking to myself it’s stuff the motors kick in and all seems normal going to take it out for a test flight after work and see how it goes after sitting underwater for over 4 hours
Drowned my phantom 3 standard
- Thread starter Smiley0070
- Start date
Smiley....YOUR very lucky..as most that splash down and sink to the bottom of lakes rivers and oceans are to be lost for ever....i'm very happy that you got the Drone out of the water....got it dryed OFF and made a few attempts to get it as dry as possible Than to get it to work and start UP OK.......keep it close and low...for a few good test flights and "what was your method of the drying process......share that so it might help other readers of this forum .....Thank you.
And the Best Of Luck to you in " Future flights " !
And the Best Of Luck to you in " Future flights " !
I have a few p3 this was my crash test dummy with no camera l Was more annoyed at losing my battery so l wasn’t in a panic to dry it up as l accepted that it was a lost cause but l did shake it a little bit and sat in on the floor of my car as l said it was extremely hot and it was in my car for over 2 hours before l took out and let it rest a bit more before l connected the battery as l wanted to make sure there was no water left inside . And then l turn it on would only calibrate to 1% then stop for the IMU on my first 8 tries then it rose to 5% for the next couple then it wouldn’t connect to my ap as l had four red lights l switch off and waited this went on a few times maybe 3 or 4 then when it finally connected the calibration was successful then l had the problem with no gps l tried to calibrate it 3 times didn’t work so l decided to have a break and flicked it back on one more time and saw that l was connected to 6 satellites so l manually started it and it was a success . I did read somewhere that l should play it safe in case something fails on me later on but l do think that the reason why l was able to save it was because my battery must of pop out as it hit the ground before it decided to go for a swim as there was no power to the motors so l didn’t damage my ESC electronic speed controllers but l do recall a message piping up saying something about my speed controller but after a third restart that was gone l guess l was lucky in that way . They do say to be patient and not be in a rush to reconnect it in case it still has some water specially near the motors as it might end up frying something etc the ESP because your drone was not fully dry
I don’t think the battery landed in the water lm guessing it broke free when the drone hit the ground and that’s where they parted company and in doing so might be the reason my drone was salvageable as it had no power when it hit the water
