Wet landing... HELP!

[parish84]

Hi guys, I am new here so apologies if this has been brought up before!

I am flying (or was flying!) a Phantom 2, H3-3D gimbal with a gopro hero 3 black. Yesterday I had my first Phantom freak out... unfortunately it was over a pond at the time, the phantom violently went from side to side, then spun, then went full speed into the water. It was under there for over an hour- I had to drive home to get a kayak and then due to the amount of vegetation in the water it took a while to find the copter a couple of metres down.

I took the phantom apart when I got home and dried it out. Tried to start it up the next day in the house (without the props) and it started fine. I then went to a big field to try a flight and when I power on it does its start up beep thing then flashes yellow as normal. It never got the green lights going for GPS but I thought I would try a flight anyway, but when I tried to power up the motors I just got flashing red lights. The battery was full, and not the one that took a swim! I have the latest software version and tried the IMU advance calibration in case it was that.... but no joy.

Anyone know whats up? Thanks

 

[JesterR1]

Well there really is no telling what the water did to the internals, something might be messed up. I'd recommend not flying with the gimball and gopro for the time being, if you really want to get it airborne. As for why it wouldn't take off, if you have proven the motors work by hooking up to the NAZA software, did you recalibrate the compass before flying?

 

[parish84]

Well there really is no telling what the water did to the internals, something might be messed up. I'd recommend not flying with the gimball and gopro for the time being, if you really want to get it airborne. As for why it wouldn't take off, if you have proven the motors work by hooking up to the NAZA software, did you recalibrate the compass before flying?

Yes, I recalibrated the compass. I try to make a habit of doing it quite regularly. I had already been on three other flights on the day of the incident..

The motors originally did spin up this morning but now they won't. All I am getting when I point the sticks inward and down is the two red flashing lights, then when I release the sticks the lights go back to yellow.

 

[parish84]

Also the gopro is dead... I am hoping a few days in a box of rice will sort that out.

Randomly I just tried the phantom again and its working once more! I am going to screw the top back on quickly and see if I can get it airborne!

Does anyone have experience of why it might have freaked out in the first place? wifi on gopro was off, not near power lines, antenna, dishes or anything. It just went nuts, I naturally hit UP to clear any danger but it was unresponsive, then it decked itself into the water. Also anyone know what the flashing red lights mean when I was trying to spool up the motors?

 

[JesterR1]

I'd be worried about trying to fly it unless I was in a big open area away from everything. Your NAZA may be fried.

Not sure on the reason for the crash, low batt perhaps, did you just do a NAZA update? Anything new or different before the flight originally?

 

[parish84]

I'd be worried about trying to fly it unless I was in a big open area away from everything. Your NAZA may be fried.

Not sure on the reason for the crash, low batt perhaps, did you just do a NAZA update? Anything new or different before the flight originally?

I had done the most recent update yes, but like I said it wasn't my first flight of the day with that software... Strange... The battery was full.
I just now managed a small test flight- stable hover, full range of motion, landed, I powered down. Then it wouldn't let me power up the motors again. Its really weird. I don't know why it would work one moment and not the next- unless maybe there is a little moisture still inside and its moving??? What do you think? Know of anyone else who has had this?

 

[ladykate]

Another member dropped his in the drink and managed to save just about everything but the motors and vtx. I suggest taking it apart and making sure the NAZA and GPS are dry (they are not necessarily water proof).

As far as why it did it, I cannot say based on the information provided.

 

[parish84]

I have been thinking long and hard since it happened... The pond is fed by a stream that is orange, so I think it is rich in iron. Do you think that this could affect the compass somehow? I can't imagine it would be strong enough but maybe one of you has experienced something like this?

 

[jimdenburg]

Did you unplug all of the connections inside and make sure they were dried out and corrosion free? It seems like a poor connection somewhere probably due to moisture/corrosion. I also recall reading about someone who had an issue with their naza, so they took the thing off and banged it on a table and that fixed it (of course you might want to do a search and not just go from my hearsay).

As far as the crash, were you descending at anytime prior to that? The violent shaking and the lack of response when trying to provide lift make it seem like a ring vortex condition. I've had that happen a couple of times and was just lucky to save it at the last second on each occasion. Good luck.

 

[parish84]

Thanks for your help.

I wasn't descending at the time, in fact I wasn't even moving it- when it freaked out I instinctively hit up but it did not respond. My gopro had the gopro logo on the screen this morning when I tried the battery in it but nothing else. So it's an improvement, but I'm not hopeful.

 

[AmosMoses]

Sounds like you might not have waited long enough after it took the swim. I fortunately don't have any experience with a wet bird but I would have let it dry out for a couple of days at least.
Hope you have luck getting it back in the air. I hate reading stories like this!

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

 

[parish84]

The phantom has been sent back to dji for them to repair it, I am waiting to hear back if I can get any help getting a new gopro.

 

[paulsheaves]

Hi Parish,

What happened after you got it sent for repair? - I have just damaged my PV2+ with sea water, and have posted in the general forum - you will find it by searching "sea water" in the search! Wouldreally appreciate your advice.

Paul

 

[parish84]

I am still waiting for it to be returned. They have had it for a couple of months now, my supplier said there was nothing they could do to replace the go pro as it is in their terms and conditions- however go pro themselves offered me 40% off a new hero3+ black, so I took them up on the offer and got the camera from them. Go pro really do have great customer service.

I am going to chase up my phantom though as it has been a while since I heard anything. I will let you know what repairs have taken place Paul when I have it back... PS, you are a brave man sticking your hand in the spinning rotors! Hope you still have all your digits attached!

 

[scottwsamson]

I had a similar situation yesterday. Not the first flight of the day. Flying in my back yard, I live on a lake so there is lots of water around. Everything was perfect calibration 7 sats, snapped a few pictures of the sunset and My phantom PV2+ went out of control. It cirlced at high speed then crashed in about 15 feet of water. I recovered it right away. The battery was still on underwater. As soon as I pulled it out of the water the start up chimes came on. I shut it down and I am drying it out. Really not any damage so I am hopefull. Any dry out advice? One thing I noticed was the battery pack was not fully in, I am not sure if this jarred loose on impact or if that was the problem.

Scott

 

[parish84]

I would take everything apart, and seal what parts you can with loads of rice in some tupperware closed tight. Do not get tempted to try it out earlier than a week after you have put it in there, and even then I would use extreme EXTREME caution because there is no telling what it will do. My battery was bleeping when I rescued mine out of the water, and that was a couple of hours later. Hope that because you rescued yours earlier than I did its saveable, but it is very difficult to tell what is fried. Fingers crossed for you!!

 

[scottwsamson]

I have it all apart now. Using some canned air to blow off then dry it off.

Scott

 

[rrmccabe]

I think rice and patience is the thing. My uncles went into lake Michigan for about ten minutes over the 4th holiday and everything except camera survived.

In his case it was operator issue as he clipped the side stay on his sailboat.

But seems to fly just fine now.

 

[scottwsamson]

Good news, Bird is flying. Just some compressed air and drying it out. GPS works no cam yet though. It wont connect

Scott

 

[scottwsamson]

Just got the camera back up and running. Just some drying out and it works perfect. Hard to believe it was 15 feet underwater.

The battery that went for the dive is acting up though. So maybe I just lost a battery

Scott