Ph2+ went down in lake. Is it worth going after??

[Gonefishing51077]

Well long story short my phantom 2+ is in the lake. Is it wort going after or is it toast. I was thinking maybe the battery was worth saving but it has electronic board in it also.

I'm guessing total loss. Which is great considering I just installed stage 3.

Sigh..... So go life. The good lord giveth and I sinketh.

In the grabd scheme of life this really isn't that big a deal. All my family is healty..ect. But it still sucks. Lol

 

[gfo315]

If you could return it as faster as you can, it would be great. It's quite a little expensive to just give it away like this.
Try and take it from the lake, disassemble the device, and get the boards to lay inside a closed container along with rice. That will dry out the boards, and you may get a result after all.

Just try it dude, good luck

 

[msinger]

A lot of it might be salvageable since it's not in saltwater.

If you do get it back, you might consider installing a GetterBack on it if you fly over lakes frequently.

 

[offthefront]

So how deep is it? Did you see it hit the water? We fly over the water a lot and have been wondering how we could retrieve it if our when it goes down ..... otf

 

[Larry L]

Great attitude you have. Your right, at least family is doing great. I would try to get it back as everyone has said. Since it is not salt water, it might be salvageable. The ESC's are most likely toast but probably not a total loss. There are a lot of posts about what to use from rice to dry alcohol. What is there to loose? Good luck & let us know the outcome if you get her from Davy Jones locker.

 

[Larry L]

So how deep is it? Did you see it hit the water? We fly over the water a lot and have been wondering how we could retrieve it if our when it goes down ..... otf

Look into a getterback like msinger suggested! It hooks on the leg & when it hits the water, a float is released with string that floats to the surface & you just pull it up.

 

[terrylowe]

I really hate that for you. Do you have any friends that SCUBA?

 

[msinger]

Or, if the lake is not too deep, perhaps you could hook an underwater camera to a pole. I saw someone do that in another thread somewhere here.

 

[Gonefishing51077]

Depth is a hard thing to guess. It's only 30-50 yards out and the lake is super super low. I'm making a bunch of low water level lake videos. I'm guessing it's less than 6ft but I had no way to get out to it. I'm not risking my life with cold water to try to save this phantom. I will take my kayak back there tommorow and try to find it. I'm thinking it super shallow in that area because the have an area marked off as a boat lane another 300 yards out. But this lake has some monster boats in it.

Here's what happened.

Don't trust the height reading.

I was bringing phantom down and lost sight of it. The sun was bright. My transmitter said I was still at 127ft high . So I kept coming down very very slow then The pic on my screen went in and out. Then it started jumping around like crazy. I looked up and could see the prop wash on the water. My screen still said 100ft but my phantom was less than 5ft off the water. I tried to bring it to me it moved a little and then dropped into the water. My best guess in that I lightly dunked it. Not enough to hit props but enough to jack up the camera and the cause the battery to short out. I had done a compass cal just before take off but I can not tell you forsure if my altitude was at zero upon take off. When it hit the water it said 88ft.
This all happened in about 10 seconds. I felt like throwing up but after a while I relized that it's not the end of the world and I have a bunch to feel thankful for. In fact I called my wife and told her what happened. She never missed a beat and said that I could use part of our tax return to get another one. I laughed and told her that's what I loved about her. I won't do that. I'll save up just like I fid for the one sitting in the lake right now.

I'll let yall know what happens tommorow.

 

[Gonefishing51077]

Any tips that yall have in how to dry it out and what pieces to check first would be great.

What are odds that camera will ever work again.

 

[erikgraham]

Fish it out. Rinse it in clean fresh water. Dry it. Throw in a new battery and fire it up.

The battery is probably the only thing that's not salvageable. If you make sure it completely dries (and that's the hard part), I wouldn't be surprised at all if you can get it flying again.

 

[msinger]

A lot of people say rice helps dry out electronics. For example:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to- ... y-s-107945

 

[erikgraham]

Just realized the original poster's name is "GoneFishing" ...
I support that's exactly what he needs to do.

 

[Larry L]

Here is the post about the anhydrous alcohol for drying it out. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=33413
Others say use rice. I have had luck with rice with a phone, if you use the rice method, make sure you get it all out.

 

[Couchie]

The rice method is good for drying it out, but you need to inspect closely AFTER the rice treatment to ensure that first of all it is entirely dried out AND that minerals and/or corrosion left behind is non-existent. These are definite electronic killers as well! I'd hate for you to dry it out only to have a crash a few weeks later due to either corrosion or mineral remnants.

 

[ToThePoint]

Get it out the lake.
Open everything carefully and take pictures before you disassemble something.
There are a lot of ( different ) screws so don't put them all in one container, keep everything separate.
The pictures comes handy after everything dried out and you can use them as a reference when assembling.
If the lake is fresh water ( i guess it is ) then you have a fair good chance to revive the bird ( maybe the battery, but that is only a 1% chance ).
If its salt water then rise first with plenty of fresh water.
What i also do is rinse electronics thoroughly in alcohol.
Alcohol mixes with water and it evaporates quick.
I use methanol ( CH3OH ) and can be found in a DIY.
Lubricate the ball bearings of the motors with liquid Vaseline.
Liquid vaseline is the lubricant used to lubricate sewing machines.

 

[rwskinner]

If you can get it, then go for it. As soon as you remove it from the water be prepared to disassemble it. Take each board and rinse with distilled water the best you can. Afterwards spray it down very well with alcohol, denatured is preferred. Blow everything off with compressed air. Water will generally try to seep out of some of the components so you can continue to spray it with alcohol and air.

Do not use tap water for the rinse. The first rinse with water is to help rinse away impurities and minerals. The alcohol also cleans and helps displace the water.
The problem with rice, it will dry everything out, but it will also allow the impurities to stay in place causing problems.

The difficulty will be with all the small subcomponents such as the Wifi xcvr, Camera, Naza controller because those will be slightly more challenging to disassemble to clean and dry. The rest should be pretty easy.

Well long story short my phantom 2+ is in the lake. Is it wort going after or is it toast. I was thinking maybe the battery was worth saving but it has electronic board in it also.

I'm guessing total loss. Which is great considering I just installed stage 3.

Sigh..... So go life. The good lord giveth and I sinketh.

In the grabd scheme of life this really isn't that big a deal. All my family is healty..ect. But it still sucks. Lol

 

[Gonefishing51077]

If I go the alcohol system of removing moisture. Should I dunk the entire copter in a tub of alc? If so how long should I let it soak?

Headed to lake now.

 

[ToThePoint]

If I go the alcohol system of removing moisture. Should I dunk the entire copter in a tub of alc? If so how long should I let it soak?

Headed to lake now.

Going for the easy way ?
Disassembling is the only way to make a chance.
You can't just dunk the bird into a tub with alcohol.

 

[rwskinner]

I wouldn't dunk the whole thing, take it all apart and do each board individually front and back and try to get under all the components real well. I wouldn't even unsolder anything if you can pull it all out together somehow. I personally spray stuff down with a Wyatt Earp (wash down gun) and air compressor, but you can go get it in the spray cans (Electric cleaner). It's just much cheaper to use bulk alcohol. I've used rubbing alcohol many times when I didn't have denatured. I do not know how the alcohol will act on the plastic shell of the Phantom but somebody else may know. It shouldn't affect it but again, I'm not sure.

I've cleaned many submerged electronics like this and had very good luck. I had a cell phone get washed off the dash of an offshore boat and was under salt water for 10-15 minutes before I found it and it was still in use a couple years later. I've cleaned several industrial computers that were totally submerged in flood waters. They are proprietary so you can't just run out and buy new ones. They are still in service since I cleaned them in 2008.

You just have to be very thorough regardless of salt or other minerals. They usually will not start corrosion until you bring it out and the air hits it.

Completed circuit boards undergo a water wash down as they come off the production line. The key here is to use distilled water and dry them really good. The alcohol speeds that process.

If I go the alcohol system of removing moisture. Should I dunk the entire copter in a tub of alc? If so how long should I let it soak?

Headed to lake now.