Phantom 2 Vision Plus drowned today

mgr134 · Oct 12, 2014

I can't give a full recount of events because it's simply too nauseating.. but everyone's worst nightmare happened to me today when my P2V+ tumbled from the sky into the water. It was submerged in about 5 feet of cold Pennsylvania fresh water for about 40 minutes before I could retrieve it. I have it pretty ripped apart and hanging out with rice.

I have to imagine that the battery still lighting up as we speak is shot, and I probably wouldn't trust it anyway. Anyone with a similar experience, how F'd am I? I know every instance is unique, just trying to assess how bad this is and also anticipate future costs. I won't know for sure for several days after it has had time to properly dry.

Any input you can provide is appreciated. I feel like I'm mourning a child.

burlbark · Oct 12, 2014

Whatever you do don't turn the power on until you have thoroughly dried it out. The esc's usually cook but you never know.

Dirty Bird · Oct 12, 2014

Sorry for your situation. The positives here are 1) you got her back, 2) it was fresh water, 3) it was only about 5' deep, and 4, it wasn't submerged for days. Disassemble, blow out as much water as you can, use a blow dryer for a time to apply warm, dry, air. Bury in rice for at least 4 or 5 days. DO NOT POWER ON before then!

DronePilot · Oct 12, 2014

Yup, just recently happened to me too. After 4 days at 45 feet of clear water, ESC's all blown, flytrex core 2 needed regulator replaced, battery cooked, one week after recovery fully operational again. There will probably be a bunch of test flights for me before I can trust it to travel far from home again.

I pulled out all the circuit boards and dunked them in deoxit, then placed them in a warm dry place for a several days before attempting to power anything up. Its quite a bit of work. Fortunately DJI has protected many of the components with conformal coating.

Good luck with your recovery.

trickstar911 · Oct 13, 2014

Vortex ring state , if ya just went straight down . Lost mine same way ... Watch this it will explain it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LCret4rv0HE

un hombre · Oct 13, 2014

Just a question to you two, did your Phantos fell into water because of pilot error?

DronePilot · Oct 13, 2014

Mine occurred due to battery failure.

mgr134 · Oct 13, 2014

Mine just tumbled from the sky. Never saw anything like it. You'd think someone shot it down but that certainly wasn't the case.

mgr134 · Oct 13, 2014

DronePilot said:
Yup, just recently happened to me too. After 4 days at 45 feet of clear water, ESC's all blown, flytrex core 2 needed regulator replaced, battery cooked, one week after recovery fully operational again. There will probably be a bunch of test flights for me before I can trust it to travel far from home again.

I pulled out all the circuit boards and dunked them in deoxit, then placed them in a warm dry place for a several days before attempting to power anything up. Its quite a bit of work. Fortunately DJI has protected many of the components with conformal coating.

Good luck with your recovery.

Thank you for your reply. How much did that set you back if you don't mind me asking (less the already known cost of the battery)? Did you send it out or diagnose it yourself? I may be too green to be able to troubleshoot regulators, let alone replace them.

MapMaker53 · Oct 13, 2014

Were you descending quickly? Did you have prop guards on?

DronePilot · Oct 13, 2014

No prop guards for me. Over 300 flights without issue. My flight with the water landing was a ground station flight so certainly no pilot error.
I did the troubleshooting myself. ESC's are $19 each, all 4 of mine failed. Fixing my flytrex core 2 was pretty easy for me. It's not terribly expensive if I had just replaced it too. I'm thinking of repairing my old ESC's also as I think only the transistors are blown.
Troubleshooting the ESC's was fairly easy, I noticed one had failed because the first time I powered up one of the transistors on that ESC caught on fire (first time you power up leave the lid off). When I ordered one ESC I decided to order all 4 because I didn't know the state of the other 3 and had read other posts here that said that often on water landings all ESC's get blown. I replaced the one, powered it up again, started the motors with no props and I found that of the other three, two clocked jerky and slow and one didn't turn at all so I replaced the other 3 ESC's also. Now it all back to full function.

Best of luck to you!

MapMaker53 · Oct 13, 2014

Actually, was wondering if mgr134 was descending quickly with/without prop guards. Sounds to me like yours (DronePilot) must have been a mechanical failure, being a GS flight.

mgr134 · Oct 13, 2014

MapMaker53 said:
Actually, was wondering if mgr134 was descending quickly with/without prop guards. Sounds to me like yours (DronePilot) must have been a mechanical failure, being a GS flight.

Had prop guards on and no, not even sure I was descending when it happened. I also wasn't near anything.

mgr134 · Oct 13, 2014

DronePilot said:
No prop guards for me. Over 300 flights without issue. My flight with the water landing was a ground station flight so certainly no pilot error.
I did the troubleshooting myself. ESC's are $19 each, all 4 of mine failed. Fixing my flytrex core 2 was pretty easy for me. It's not terribly expensive if I had just replaced it too. I'm thinking of repairing my old ESC's also as I think only the transistors are blown.
Troubleshooting the ESC's was fairly easy, I noticed one had failed because the first time I powered up one of the transistors on that ESC caught on fire (first time you power up leave the lid off). When I ordered one ESC I decided to order all 4 because I didn't know the state of the other 3 and had read other posts here that said that often on water landings all ESC's get blown. I replaced the one, powered it up again, started the motors with no props and I found that of the other three, two clocked jerky and slow and one didn't turn at all so I replaced the other 3 ESC's also. Now it all back to full function.

Best of luck to you!

Thanks appreciate your input.

Ash · Oct 13, 2014

Hi. Sorry for your encounter, I am so understanding because I am so frustrated myself. I have had bad luck after bad luck myself, I feel angry and frustrated!!

I have had mine down twice due to the VRS. Yesterday with an experienced drone flyer and builder giving me some tuition I had two flyaways, my Phantom was calibrated correctly, all updated drivers, no wifi , no interference as I was flying on common ground miles from anywhere, my friend flew his homemade quad wonderfully. I got a good home lock and there was definately no pilot error. My Phatom took off a speed hurling to the ground smashing many parts. The Gopro 3+ I was using survived but of course it wasn't built by DJI. I will have to pay £400 on top of the £1300 I payed initially for the whole setup to put this heap of plastic shite back in the air, sorry if that offends anyone but that's how I feel, I am upset by my loss. I have lost all confidence and have to admit to being afraid to fly again, the speed mine came down onto a track used by walkers and hikers could have done some innocent person some serious injury. I believe Phantoms have flaws.

I know exactly how the original poster feels........... I am really thinking of trashing my Phantom until a good company can come up with something more stable, there are way too many Phantoms coming down for no reasons , Youtube is full of examples.

Sorry for your loss my friend

Best Regards

mgr134 · Oct 13, 2014

Ash said:
Hi. Sorry for your encounter, I am so understanding because I am so frustrated myself. I have had bad luck after bad luck myself, I feel angry and frustrated!!

Sorry for your loss my friend

Best Regards

That's awful man. I'm really sorry to hear that. Did you reach out to the dealer that sold it to you or DJI? What did they say?

DownunderPhantom · Oct 13, 2014

Ash said:
Hi. Sorry for your encounter, I am so understanding because I am so frustrated myself. I have had bad luck after bad luck myself, I feel angry and frustrated!!

I have had mine down twice due to the VRS. Yesterday with an experienced drone flyer and builder giving me some tuition I had two flyaways, my Phantom was calibrated correctly, all updated drivers, no wifi , no interference as I was flying on common ground miles from anywhere, my friend flew his homemade quad wonderfully. I got a good home lock and there was definately no pilot error. My Phatom took off a speed hurling to the ground smashing many parts. The Gopro 3+ I was using survived but of course it wasn't built by DJI. I will have to pay £400 on top of the £1300 I payed initially for the whole setup to put this heap of plastic shite back in the air, sorry if that offends anyone but that's how I feel, I am upset by my loss. I have lost all confidence and have to admit to being afraid to fly again, the speed mine came down onto a track used by walkers and hikers could have done some innocent person some serious injury. I believe Phantoms have flaws.

I know exactly how the original poster feels........... I am really thinking of trashing my Phantom until a good company can come up with something more stable, there are way too many Phantoms coming down for no reasons , Youtube is full of examples.

Sorry for your loss my friend

Best Regards

Was everything on the bird original. I have experienced my bird flying away at speed and flying erratically because of 3rd party props.

Ash · Oct 14, 2014

Hi. I have to admit i may have been using third party props, however I cannot really see the Phantom flying away because it has third part props installed, but I don't know??
I haven't been to the dealer or Dji. I have purchased all the need kit to put this bird back in the air. This is my final attempt at flying, if it fails again I,m finished. I have been feeling really shitty, this hobby I really love, I really enjoy flying and videography but at the cost of the repairs I cannot keep it up. My confidence is bust, I have been checking out so may flyaways on Youtube and there are far too many. Thanks for you input i really appreciate it

mgr134 · Oct 16, 2014

Well an update... she flew today. However it is inaccessible from the app. It also didn't find the satellites, either that or it just can't go into GPS mode. Also, the rear esc lost its green light. I'll probably repair it but in terms of speed control it's working. Lastly, it's in NAZA mode, or was before I crashed it. However the S1 and S2 switches appear to do nothing now. What are your thoughts?