My phantom 2 lost signal and did a Rth but wouldn't let me take control back

[lovepuddleproductions]

Took my drone to film some fireworks over a lake, and as it turns out my drone can't swim, but my girlfriend can! She may have saved the day. She got to it just before the motors shut down, but unfortunately it did take a dunk or two before she got there. I was busy trying to regain control it was returning home by itself and wouldn't let me control it at all. Needless to say I'm freaking out! Went to Walmart and got 60lbs of rice. I think I'll let it sit for a month or so and see what happens. Also, one of my gopros took a dunk so it's in there too. Lets hope this rice works.

Please pray that this works out for us like share and maybe comment some encouraging words of wisdom it's tuff for a small business to get the tools we need and when something like this happens it can really devastate a nonexistent budget

My question is what can make this happen and is there anyway to see what went wrong buy hooking it to my computer ?

It was flying fine then the green lights flashed off and turned solid red and that's when it started coming home

 

[J Dot]

Sounds like battery failure, and return to home was initiated, since it was battery failure, you cannot regain control, it will still land as it believes battery is dead, and is programmed to land regardless. Why it went down in water I don't know, unless it was too dead to make it back to home point. I've had 3 batteries over the years fail on me mid flight, thought the first was a fly a way, as lights went from green to red, alarm went off, and craft rocketed straight up, I had 0 control, I had RTH set to 150', so it went to 150 stopped and descended slowly back down, but lifted off 100%, when battery hit 70ish, went straight to 7% and all crap hit the fan, but luckily it did what it was supposed to do, just freaked me out doing it, other 2, lights turned red and it just descended to the ground ( RTH disabled these times ) ( I did NOT like having no control ) . Dry her out. As long as it was fresh water you should be ok ( maybe a esc or 2 ) but you never know ?
I'd seriously think of replacing the battery. To test, charge her up, pin down bird with weights ( so she can't lift off ) turn her on throttle her up and wait and watch the battery level at around 70%- 78% range for failure, if it fails , quit using battery and replace, I have 14 batteries and 4 have failed. It happens, but keep us informed!

J Dot

 

[lovepuddleproductions]

Thanks that's informative I never thought of it being battery failure but that would make sense cuz it was full and I wasn't up very long and now the battery says it only has one bar left when the bird drys out I'll check the batteries like you said and see what happens

 

[J Dot]

Make sure you take it out now and aging during drying procedure, run a hair dryer through it ( in vent holes and such, just to push fresh dry air through it to help reduce moisture in hard to reach places, not too hot medium setting or low, then place it back in rice. Luckily DJI coats their circuits with a compound to prevent shorts, and to help reduce moisture in boards, in doing so, their circuits fair well In water situations ( except salt ) I've seen one before, not a pretty sight ( complete loss of electronics ) corrosion EVERYWHERE! But fresh water, a burnt speed control or 2 and flying again, some have no damage! I have a craft right now that sat 8 days underwater in a clean river, only had 1 bad speed control ( camera still works ) it is a vision plus, go figure!
$15 part, and it works great, I sprayed it all down with contact cleaner, and a soft paint brush to wipe away any debris, fixed esc, and all is good! So you might get lucky, keeping fingers crossed!

J Dot

 

[lovepuddleproductions]

Make sure you take it out now and aging during drying procedure, run a hair dryer through it ( in vent holes and such, just to push fresh dry air through it to help reduce moisture in hard to reach places, not too hot medium setting or low, then place it back in rice. Luckily DJI coats their circuits with a compound to prevent shorts, and to help reduce moisture in boards, in doing so, their circuits fair well In water situations ( except salt ) I've seen one before, not a pretty sight ( complete loss of electronics ) corrosion EVERYWHERE! But fresh water, a burnt speed control or 2 and flying again, some have no damage! I have a craft right now that sat 8 days underwater in a clean river, only had 1 bad speed control ( camera still works ) it is a vision plus, go figure!
$15 part, and it works great, I sprayed it all down with contact cleaner, and a soft paint brush to wipe away any debris, fixed esc, and all is good! So you might get lucky, keeping fingers crossed!

J Dot

. this is what two of my batteries look like right now

 

[lovepuddleproductions]

That is not the one that was in it when I went down but the one that was is a little bit swollen as well but not as bad as this one

 

[J Dot]

Yeah
I had a couple do that over the years,
I've since replaced them, but they can be a bear to put in and take out. Mine flew fine, I was more worried about them shorting out and catching fire while flying or sitting. They usually fail under a load ( charge, or discharge ) rarely just sitting, but it can happen and has happened luckily not to me. I would look into a new battery, they are pretty cheap now, not like they used to be, I saw on eBay the other day 3 used P2 batteries, and a charger $50 free ship
Again, if they are good or not? Claims flyaway selling extras to buy new drone? But who knows.

Let us know.

J Dot

 

[lovepuddleproductions]

Good news is I checked the GoPro today and cleaned out the rice from all the nooks inside put it back together hooked it all up and everything seams functional its raining today so no flight but I strapped it down and gave it some gas and it looks like it's gonna be fine and the GoPro works fine also as for testing the swollen batteries I think I'm gonna just recycle them and get new ones

And the GoPro finalized the footage from the night it happened but it cut it short so it cuts off about 30 feet above the water [emoji25]