Water crash battery led always on...

Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Messages
24
Reaction score
6
Location
Zurich, Switzerland
Hi there,

I'm in vacation in the Maldives and on a mobile, sorry for typos etc.

Yes stupid me, after a year with a cheap drone to learn to fly, and many safe flights with the P3 advanced I was slow reacting during a windy day, where I shouldn't fly but I was confident and instead I did (stupid me), had the drone pointed to me, ready to fly away, going with the wind in my direction, I panicked and instead of flying it away I made it go down (wrong control), so the wind made it hit a palm tree and it landed in the sea, just 2m away from me. The sea near the shore was about half a meter deep, an the drone floated on the water. I run to take it out. I tried to turn it off by pressing the battery button the usual way. Didn't work. I heard a buzz and smelled something burned, it was one motor. I took off the battery, hoping to save the other motors.

I checked some threads and put the drone in the rice, to dry. I rinsed the camera with fresh water, but not the rest of the drone (internally) some guys at the hotel found a set of screwdrivers to open the drone. Some screws begun to corrode, but I was lucky enough to clean them and put them in fresh water and then dry them.

Now the problem is the battery, I read that usually after water crash it's toast, but one green led (the second from the left) is always on. I tried to turn it off in the usual way, no chance.

After letting the drone and battery dry in the rice and under the sun of the Maldives for 24h I'd like to put the battery back in the drone, do you think it's a bad idea?

The battery was about 20%, it was really a stupid flight I did, I wanted to kill the battery with a 2 min flight, instead I killed the whole drone...

Anyway, if by chance the green led will go off I guess the battery drained.

I think it's a bad idea then to try to recharge it.

I still have 2 days here, then going back home where I have another spare battery.

If I try to charge the battery, can it explode or burn? The charger can get damaged too?

Have you any hint to help me to deal with this situation? Any good suggestion is welcome.

Update, after 24h, see attached picture 2,showing green corrosion...
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160417_170002.jpg
    IMG_20160417_170002.jpg
    4 MB · Views: 453
  • IMG_20160418_095243_1460961511614.jpg
    IMG_20160418_095243_1460961511614.jpg
    127.5 KB · Views: 394
Last edited:
I wouldn't risk it. All guidance, including the battery manual clearly indicate that you shouldn't use the battery after it's been immersed in water.

Lipo batteries are difficult to handle and can't take any abuse. DJI makes them really reliable and pretty much fool proof, so it's hard to understand how very unstable LiPo's can be unless you've had the pleasure of charging and maintaining a regular LiPo battery. Here's a short reel I took of a home not far from me that went up in flames in 15-mins..fire started in the garage. A bad LiPo battery is suspected.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
Unfortunately I think you are wasting rice here.

Your only hope with salt water is to immerse in fresh water immediately followed by complete disassembly further washing and use of another solvent, IPA often used.

The camera will be the biggest nightmare.
 
Thanks for the reply, so you would just toss the battery out without trying anything? The green led is off now. So I think the battery just drained. If I keep it as is in the rice to dry I believe nothing should happen. I read other threads and in similar water crashes some people had the battery burning after a few hours. I guess I was lucky then...
 

Recent Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,352
Members
104,933
Latest member
mactechnic