Wet Phanton

[dksteele123]

Took a flight Christmas night across the 3/4 mile wide river at my house. Flew a little over a mile and tried to bring it home. I couldn't get it to return home and it auto landed on a warehouse roof because the battery was exhausted. At that point it wouldn't have made it back over the river anyway. There was no access that night or Sunday so the bird spent the night there. We had a pretty decent rain that night. Long story short, after many attempts to have the warehouse maintenance guy retrieve it, I finally went up and got it myself on Tuesday. That's 25 days on a roof. Luckily there wasn't much precip in that time and the bird looks in good shape. Battery that was on board took a charge and held it. Bird has been sitting near a heat vent for 3 days. So .... Do I take the top off and examine the guts ? I figure if it's completely dry I won't fry anything but I'm a bit apprehensive about running a current through. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[JKDSensei]

Sitting near a heat vent for several days probably ran out most of the potential moisture.

But most people recommend placing it in a bag of rice for a few days to make sure.

Hope it works out. Better on the roof than in the river right?

 

[Dirty Bird]

Mine once spent a night nestled in the tree tops @ a 45 degree angle in a pouring rain. When I retrieved the aircraft the next day I was amazed to find only a couple drops of water had penetrated the shell. The camera lens was fogged internally so I removed the camera back & sat the whole thing in rice for a few days then hit it with a blow dryer on low until the lens fogging cleared. She's still flying to this day.

Recently a story was posted where a Phantom sat out in the woods for many months before being found & returned to the owner. The aircraft flew fine & the battery actually still had 1 bar of power!

If you've had it inside near a heater for a few days its probably time to power her up & see what happens. I would go easy at first just to be sure everything is working normally.

Took a flight Christmas night across the 3/4 mile wide river at my house. Flew a little over a mile and tried to bring it home. I couldn't get it to return home and it auto landed on a warehouse roof because the battery was exhausted. At that point it wouldn't have made it back over the river anyway. There was no access that night or Sunday so the bird spent the night there. We had a pretty decent rain that night. Long story short, after many attempts to have the warehouse maintenance guy retrieve it, I finally went up and got it myself on Tuesday. That's 25 days on a roof. Luckily there wasn't much precip in that time and the bird looks in good shape. Battery that was on board took a charge and held it. Bird has been sitting near a heat vent for 3 days. So .... Do I take the top off and examine the guts ? I figure if it's completely dry I won't fry anything but I'm a bit apprehensive about running a current through. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Jtrjr]

I figure if it's completely dry I won't fry anything but I'm a bit apprehensive about running a current through. Any advice is greatly appreciated

Dk,

Remember, all it's going to take is one drop of water in the wrong place and you could smoke your bird. I haven't had to do this with my Phantom yet but have done it with other electronic items.

I have a decent dehumidifier. I took a large box and cut a hole in it to fashion around the front of the dehumidifier. I then set the electronic component in front of the dehumidifier and put the box over top of it. Leave the dehumidifier on for 24 hours and don't remove the box.

You could do a similar thing in a very small room or closet without the box. In my exoerience, the dehumidifier has sucked every drop of moisture from the component in question.

Good luck and sorry to hear of your predicament!

Jerry

 

[ScopeTech]

Bag of rice for a day or two, definitely, even as a preventative measure, but I like Jerry's idea!

 

[2tButton]

In box of rice in airing cupboard.... for a week...at least

 

[Jason Lawrence]

Good thing you were conducting day, line of sight flight so you could at get a visual where it landed.

 

[dksteele123]

All good advice. Thanks...
@Jason. It's was late at night. I found it by looking at Google maps of the area where it was showing up on my telemetry. Unique shaped building. I was lucky to find.
I broke one of my own rules..
Don't Drink and Drone. !! [emoji13][emoji481]

 

[dksteele123]

UPDATE : let the Phantom sit for 4 days to ensure it was completely dry. And after a month on a roof in rain and freezing temps I'm happy to report that there seems to be NO problems !! Four flights and she's fine. Thanks for the advice !!

 

[happydays]

Dk,

Remember, all it's going to take is one drop of water in the wrong place and you could smoke your bird. I haven't had to do this with my Phantom yet but have done it with other electronic items.

I have a decent dehumidifier. I took a large box and cut a hole in it to fashion around the front of the dehumidifier. I then set the electronic component in front of the dehumidifier and put the box over top of it. Leave the dehumidifier on for 24 hours and don't remove the box.

You could do a similar thing in a very small room or closet without the box. In my exoerience, the dehumidifier has sucked every drop of moisture from the component in question.

Good luck and sorry to hear of your predicament!

Jerry

A sealed bag of rice will work as well, if not better

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Mine once spent a night nestled in the tree tops @ a 45 degree angle in a pouring rain. When I retrieved the aircraft the next day I was amazed to find only a couple drops of water had penetrated the shell. The camera lens was fogged internally so I removed the camera back & sat the whole thing in rice for a few days then hit it with a blow dryer on low until the lens fogging cleared. She's still flying to this day.

Recently a story was posted where a Phantom sat out in the woods for many months before being found & returned to the owner. The aircraft flew fine & the battery actually still had 1 bar of power!

If you've had it inside near a heater for a few days its probably time to power her up & see what happens. I would go easy at first just to be sure everything is working normally.

We launched at new product release for the Phantom 4 that now allows the Drone to fly in the rain or any other adverse weather conditions. You might like it.