P4 with Water Strider' flips into lake on takeoff

normr · Dec 10, 2016

I would try putting some wax on the bottom of the pads or some other chemical to reduce the surface tension

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F3honda4me · Dec 10, 2016

Don MacGregor said:
Wow, tx so much everyone for the great ideas. Re questions ..Unfortunately no flight log or footage on drone sd card. We're in tropical Brisbane Australia. Yes the camera Lady also saw one pod appear to 'stick' to the water, and surface tension issues were my initial thoughts as well, however the manufacturer says no ? Some lateral movement on takeoff is possible, so if I'm ever brave enough to strap the pods on again, I'll try and avoid that. I was wondering about sticking something like the rough side of Velcro strips on the smooth underside of the pods to see if that reduces any surface tension 'stick'. Would be good to hear from anyone else who has used these themselves ?

The manufacturer of the water pods says it's not an issue? Of course they say that, they wouldn't admit to a flaw in the design.

Neon Euc · Dec 10, 2016

I would seriously seek advice about getting them to pay for your drone due to a flawed product

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John Locke · Dec 10, 2016

Mark The Droner said:
IMO you need to be more aggressive on the launch.

Welcome to the site!

Funny, I was thinking the opposite. The surface tension of the water appears to have released on the front pontoons sooner than the back pontoons, so the front took off while the rear was still stuck on the water. I was thinking that lifting off slowly would help release the surface tension more evenly. Once clear of the water, then gas it. I think if the bottom of the pontoon feet were cone shaped this wouldn't happen.

Aotearoa Kiwi · Dec 10, 2016

John Locke said:
I think if the bottom of the pontoon feet were cone shaped this wouldn't happen.

The cone shape should decrease the surface tension markedly, how about making the float fixture so that it will release the floats on positive pull by rhe drone - means you leave them behind when you take off but in my opinion, I wouldnt want to be landing on water unless it was unavoidable!
I may be wrong but to me it looked like the drone was unstable and struggling when it first took off from the land?

Don MacGregor · Dec 10, 2016

Neon Euc said:
I would seriously seek advice about getting them to pay for your drone due to a flawed product

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Drone survived, but I lost a $200 battery, no compensation offered by Drone Raft however :-(

John Locke · Dec 10, 2016

I'm guessing that company doesn't have much money after paying for the tooling to make those floats. I can't believe they're selling very many to make a profit. They definitely have a design that's not optimal. Now it appears they need to redesign. I wonder how much testing they did.

Paul Schulze · Dec 10, 2016

Why land on water, because it's there?

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gppms · Dec 11, 2016

Don MacGregor said:
Looking for help please. My P4 flipped into a lake on it's first water takeoff using the Water Strider'. (See link below). Has anyone seen this before ? Strider was correctly assembled and attached, bird was in P mode, vps off, fps on, and radio has an Itelite extender. Manufacturer can't explain it, so I'm still trying to figure it out. Good news is after a dry out the bird still flys, although the battery didn't make it. All ideas welcome please.

It is very easy what happened.The frond legs touch the water,you didn't push the left stick to take off but the right stick to go forward.Thats why the P4 flipped into water.

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ifsteve · Dec 11, 2016

John Locke said:
I'm guessing that company doesn't have much money after paying for the tooling to make those floats. I can't believe they're selling very many to make a profit. They definitely have a design that's not optimal. Now it appears they need to redesign. I wonder how much testing they did.

What basis do you have to say that the design is not optimal? I am an engineer and I think its a well made well thought out device.

ifsteve · Dec 11, 2016

Paul Schulze said:
Why land on water, because it's there?

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I got a set of these pods and plan to take off and land from water because its much easier and safer that any other method when fishing off my skiff. And I have used the pods on my drone flying around a cut cornfield. Much easier landing in such uneven terrain with the pods on.

Ignacio Perez-Navarro · Dec 11, 2016

i printed this bad boy w. the 3D printer, attached some foam pool noodles and it worked great. however, personally, if i was launching from a boat, i would still hand release and catch .

BoydBros · Dec 11, 2016

ifsteve said:
What basis do you have to say that the design is not optimal? I am an engineer and I think its a well made well thought out device.

this may jog your memory - Explained: Hydrophobic and hydrophilic

Khan Academy

normr · Dec 11, 2016

Think about it, what shape are pontoons in a helicopter or a pontoon boat.

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BoydBros · Dec 11, 2016

John Locke said:
... I think if the bottom of the pontoon feet were cone shaped this wouldn't happen.

View attachment 70544

this cone design may be a better solution but material selection and anti-wetting should be research priority

4lex · Dec 11, 2016

Don MacGregor said:
Drone survived, but I lost a $200 battery, no compensation offered by Drone Raft however :-(

If its any consolation your video will do significantly more than $200 dollars worth of damage to their business and reputation.
A new battery and a caveat that this all dissapears and never spoken of again would of been a wise business decision.

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JohnnyB · Dec 11, 2016

After watching the video a few times, I would almost place a bet that moving the drone forward before taking off made the front two dig in and there was water actually running over top of the pods when he tried to lift off, causing it to flip. I'm chaulking it up to pilot error.

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JohnnyB · Dec 11, 2016

Think about it. Already had forward motion, stick forward, then when he throttled, this would also increase tilt with the right stick still forward but with more throttle. It dug the front two pods under the water in a split second, just like the nose of a surf board slicing through a wave. Those pods are not thick. Turn them up on an angle then there wouldn't be no resistance at all going down into water.

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John Locke · Dec 11, 2016

So the $64 question is, did the OP touch the right stick when taking off. The flight data should contain that information, but I'm unsure if we have access to that kind of detail to review the flight commands.

John Locke · Dec 11, 2016

ifsteve said:
What basis do you have to say that the design is not optimal? I am an engineer and I think its a well made well thought out device.

See my post #24. I suggested a cone design would produce less surface tension upon take-off, wouldn't it? I'm not an engineer, so you tell me. The surface tension of the water potentially the caused the flip.

To optimize further, some of that amazing nano technology would help to coat the float. The water repellent properties of such a coating on the plastic would virtually eliminate surface tension, I'm thinking.