I was flying my Spark two days ago and clipped a branch then my Spark fell and got fully submerged for about 2 minutes.

As soon as I took it out, I dried off the drone and battery with a towel and I tried starting it again with the same battery (I know how stupid if me) and of course it wouldn’t turn on but the motor lights were flashing. I then took the battery out and let it air dry. I got home about 3 hours later and fully submerged it in rice. Before this I didn’t blow dry it.  After being in rice for 36 hours I plugged in a new battery and the spark turned on fine the first time like it had previously done before I crashed it. I then turned it off and tried turning it on again, but it wouldn’t turn on.  

What should I do? Should I continue leaving the Spark in rice? Should I blow dry it? If so, should I take apart the Spark and directly blow dry the electronic components? Any comments and advice is appreciated.

Sadly I don’t have DJI Care Refresh because I bought the Spark from an individual person who bought it from Best Buy

Hi. I am sorry to know that your DJI Spark fully submerged in water. Since this happened the best thing that you can do is to send the Drone in for repair and further assessment. I will post the online repair request link ( www.dji.com/support ) for you to create a ticket for your DJI Spark. Please sync the flight records as well using your DJO Go 4 application.

Sorry for your Loss.

Some say the Bag of Rice Works, you need blow dry it as much as possible then to leave it a bag of rice for a Few Days.

If you don't have DJI Care Refresh I don't have any other option, just make sure to check the battery as is that Short Circuits it can cause a Fire. If you have other Spare ones I will discard the Water Damaged Battery. If you have a Metal Bucket put it outside your House, just in case.

Take Care.

DMX_MT Posted at 2018-7-7 09:56
Sorry for your Loss.

Some say the Bag of Rice Works, you need blow dry it as much as possible then to leave it a bag of rice for a Few Days.

Thanks so much for the advice. When I blow dry, should I take off the top cover and blow dry the motherboard and other components directly? Or does it even matter?

fans7a19eb37 Posted at 2018-7-7 10:04
Thanks so much for the advice. When I blow dry, should I take off the top cover and blow dry the motherboard and other components directly? Or does it even matter?

Obviously it will help more, I didn't experience this myself, but I am sure it will be far better than leaving the plastic cover on. I don't think it will a very easy task, just be patient and careful Buddy.

If you have some time watch some Youtube Tutorials first.

freshwater is good, you have a shot at saving it.

best think u can do is remove the battery ASAP and do not put battery back in or pop in a dif battery no power at all! ... then in a safe place, spray and drench the drone in 99% or higher isopropyl alcohol. that will naturally displace and absorb some of the water and it will much more rapidly dry it out..  and just leave if for a few days.. ideally 1 week!  but at least 3-5 days. this is to ensure no moisture hidden somewhere being stubborn will damage anything before giving it power.. the more humid your location is the longer you will have to wait without testing it out...

some people like to shake it out and some people like to blow dry it out...  i personally dont i don't want moisture getting into areas it hasn't found a way into yet..

HereForTheBeer Posted at 2018-7-7 10:49
freshwater is good, you have a shot at saving it.

best think u can do is remove the battery ASAP and do not put battery back in or pop in a dif battery no power at all! ... then in a safe place, spray and drench the drone in 99% or higher isopropyl alcohol. that will naturally displace and absorb some of the water and it will much more rapidly dry it out..  and just leave if for a few days.. ideally 1 week!  but at least 3-5 days. this is to ensure no moisture hidden somewhere being stubborn will damage anything before giving it power.. the more humid your location is the longer you will have to wait without testing it out...

So I pour 99% isopropyl alcohol into a spray bottle and spray the whole drone? Even the electronic components and fully drench it? Do I need to dry the alcohol off?

fans7a19eb37 Posted at 2018-7-7 11:20
So I pour 99% isopropyl alcohol into a spray bottle and spray the whole drone? Even the electronic components and fully drench it? Do I need to dry the alcohol off?

yes.  it dry itself off, and as long as not powered on its safe.  and just leave it for a few days to fully dry out.. 3-5 days dont power it  on before that..

fans7a19eb37 Posted at 2018-7-7 11:20
So I pour 99% isopropyl alcohol into a spray bottle and spray the whole drone? Even the electronic components and fully drench it? Do I need to dry the alcohol off?

update us when you retest it in a few days! im curious and optimistic you fixed it!  

fyi, you may need a new battery since that took a dunk and battery has a logic board inside thats connected to the power of the battery,...

Just a word about the so called "rice trick".. This is absolute bs and quite a "die hard" legend.
Rice will never stop oxydation and the only thing that will occur is that damage will be aggravated by the time you lose leaving your drone as is, expecting for a "rice miracle" to occur.
Any water damaged electronic component in the world WILL suffer oxydation anyway, and by far the best option you have is to let it dry real quick and send your drone to a repair center as FAST as possible.

Interesting video here about rice's efficiency pertaining to saving your electronic device from water damage...


That "rice trick" is definately the worst advice one can get. Totally forget about it. Corrosion is your ennemy, time is your friend!

My 2 cents

Everything corrodes. Water, Time and Electricity are a bad combination. Get the battery out and take it apart as much as you dare and leave it sit for a few days, like in a windowsill. Your battery may still be toast because it has water and electricity. Or have DJI look at it.

drop it in a bucket of shellite ???? then let it dry  ...

i wouldnt be using a blow dryer and specially not one with Heat , if you knew what was inside that spark would not take long to melt stuff.....

Hi,

A very good drying agent is silica gel, you may find this product in a hobby store,  craft store. Silica gel is granular like coarse salt and is used among other things to dry flowers to preserve them. About 1/2 a pound of silica gel in a plastic bag should do the job. Silica gel can be regenerated over and over, it is much better than rice.
S.

I wouldn't o that. Send it over to dJI, because the moisture will cause rust all over the electronics.

My spark fell into  a swimming pool, totally immersed in about 4' of water for about 1 minute.  I had just swapped batteries and apparently failed to completely lock new battery in place.    The failure occurred as the Spark was flying over the pool after takeoff and the battery fell out, both fell independently into the pool.   I think that saved the Spark for now, since there was no battery in the Spark, and no shorting of the internal electronics.  The battery was toast.  I shook it out, blew out as much water as I could, but did not disassemble, then let air dry for 6 days in relatively warm low humidity location.  No rice, alcohol, silica gel.  Put new battery in, powered up, all systems are working so far.  Pool water was clean, that may have also helped.   I may send in to DJI support for evaluation, check to see if any corrosion developing.

MGW Posted at 3-7 18:19
My spark fell into  a swimming pool, totally immersed in about 4' of water for about 1 minute.  I had just swapped batteries and apparently failed to completely lock new battery in place.    The failure occurred as the Spark was flying over the pool after takeoff and the battery fell out, both fell independently into the pool.   I think that saved the Spark for now, since there was no battery in the Spark, and no shorting of the internal electronics.  The battery was toast.  I shook it out, blew out as much water as I could, but did not disassemble, then let air dry for 6 days in relatively warm low humidity location.  No rice, alcohol, silica gel.  Put new battery in, powered up, all systems are working so far.  Pool water was clean, that may have also helped.   I may send in to DJI support for evaluation, check to see if any corrosion developing.

You did the right thing. Patience is key here. An electronics device that took a swim needs several days on a warm and dry place to sufficiently dry out. The problem are the fine pitch connectors, where a water film is held up long time.
It is amazing how the "rice bag" BS still survives and people still believe everything that is found on the internet. Make me really crazy....
Silica is good to dry up humid air, it does NOT really help to dry out the water in connectors.
It is good to remove as much of the case as possible and use a hair dryer on low setting. If you want to avoid losing the warranty, taking apart is not an option though.

Cheers,
Wolferl