Phantom in the swimming pool

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My Phantom FC40 dove into the pool (shame on me...), and after opening it up and drying everything thorougly, I started it again.
The startup is OK (sound ABCDEF), but there is only yelow light blinking now, even when I turn to GPS mode in the trasmitter; the 2 front rotors work well, and respond to the transmitter, but the 2 rear rotors just "tremble". I tried lubricating it, with no change.
What do I do? Do I need to replace the rear rotors or the problem could be in the rotors controllers? I think there must be some issua with GPS, because I suppose the yellow blinking is altitude mode functioning.
Any help would be appreciated. In my country there is no authorized dealerships/ repair shops, so I must do everything by myseld.

Thank you all.
 
take off the shell, unhook the Naza slap the NASA controller against the table and plug it all back in and it should work. At least that's what worked for me.
 
Stop trying to fire it up!!!

Take everything apart and douse it in a bath of denatured alcohol. Look for stuff that is made of methanol. You can usually find this at Lowe's or Home Depot. Just ask somebody there. Do this outside, since it's a bit on the poisonous side. Swish everything around for a bit to try to get the alcohol into all the nooks and crannies, which will displace the water.

After a few minutes take everything out and allow it all to dry for a few days. I've saved cell phones this way as well as the zip lock bag of dry rice method.

Give the alcohol thing a try though. Just make sure you don't try to dry the battery this way. Not sure what a battery would do in a bath of alcohol. Doesn't seem like a good idea though.

Most importantly....STOP POWERING IT UP!!!!
 
It's not the motors, they can take being run under water, maybe the esc, or other stuff ,put it all in a bag of rice after the aclo bath for a few days, you could try trying one of the esc from the motors that work on one of the ones that don't . See if that works, than you'll know if it's esc or other damage , I only fly over water so I know my times coming, but it's salt water so if I get it back it's a fresh water bath then the aclo bath, rice and warm light, good luck
 
For all of you guys who fly over more water than land, you might want to try this.

I have a few clients that do fly over lakes & rivers and wanted some "insurance" of sorts, so I've been spraying the internals with clear acrylic paint. Couple of light coats and seal her back up. So far have only had one test the theory - flew over a river hit a low branch and Phantom took a ride through some rapids. Said he fished her out, wiped her down then fired her and all was good.

It may not be the perfect solution but it's a step in the right direction.
 
Don't use paint as it can damage electronic components.
There are proper coatings designed for this purpose. Google 'conformal coatings'.
One thing to be aware of - your electronics components will run hotter with any coating. So choose wisely when using them.
 
Before you give it a bath in denatured alcohol or spray anything on it, I'd try my method. I took off the shell and blew her dry with a battery operated leaf blower. Kept her indoors for an evening, then disconnected the NAZA module (labeling all the connections). The NAZA needs to be physically tapped onto a solid object a few times to reset the inner workings. I'm not sure why, but I read it online and gave it a try. It worked for me just fine. The only thing I also noticed I needed to do was the compass dance. It worked like new.
 
iv seen a video of a guy doing that, I think he was resetting the barometer , not sure, I have a spray called never wet, great stuff nothing gets wet , water ,coffee anything cant get on it, home depot had it. look it up . my problem is if it goes in its deep water, warm but very deep lol. flew my flip 260 over water today no gps :p you only live once :lol:
 
Can i use regular alcohol? I live in Brazil, I dont think they have denatured alcohol here... But is pouring alcohol inside electronics (specially the NAZA controler) really safe?
 
STOP trying to power up the aircraft. You might damage it beyond repair.

It takes a long time for the water to evaporate.

If you cant obtain alcohol, keep the whole aircraft in a fridge for at least ten days. The temperature should be no lower than +10 C.

The dehydration action of the fridge - will - in time, suck all the moisture out.

After the ten days, take the aircraft out and then let it stand for at least 30 hours before attempting to power it up.

Good luck.
 
jplastina said:
Can i use regular alcohol? I live in Brazil, I dont think they have denatured alcohol here... But is pouring alcohol inside electronics (specially the NAZA controler) really safe?

You won't hurt anything. Everything has already been submerged in WATER. The reason for using alcohol now to submerge everything is because the alcohol will more or less push all the water out of every nook and cranny. The good thing with alcohol is that it won't leave any residue, and dries fairly quick. Go to your local drug store and see if they have some isopropyl alcohol in a 90-100% range. Hell, check the alcohol content of your rubbing alcohol. You might have some of the good stuff already.

Oh, and if you dip your motors in alcohol, obviously oil all 8 bearings afterwards, since the alcohol will clean out all the old oil.
 

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