Hi guys !

The worst case scenario happened to me a few weeks a go : take off under the trees (nongps), fly over a bridge, kids running away, bad move, branches, drop, bath ...
I retreived the MA in less then a minute, all shut down. It was all my fault here (will try to post the last 2 scds video into water before it died).

Notes for next time :
1. Never fly in a rush,
2. Never fly in a rush,
3. Never fly in a rush.

I also (surely a bad idea) tried immediatly to power it on. Made strange sounds, lights and move so I switched it back off.
Then removed the battery, blew air (with mouth) in every hole removing as much water as I could, spent 1/2 hour in the car blowing dry hot air from ventilation while waiting for kids to return.
Back home (30 minutes drive), tried the rice bag trick (MA + battery) overnight and, next morning, blew some WD 40 « for electronics » everywhere.

Grabbed a fresh battery, powered it on and ... it was responding 100% normal !!! Until ... it showed the feared « battery error », i.e. « check if well secured, restart, if not responding contact support » ... damn ... After a couple of tries I found a way to by pass the battery error as I really wanted to see if it would be able to fly again : and it did !!!

I have had a couple of flights since then and the MA behaves absolutely normally appart from the battery error !!!

Battery error symptoms :
- Normally, prevents to take off,
- Battery info appears in the DJI go 4 app EXCEPT for the duration of use (duration display remains as : ../..)
- Does not show possible remaining duration of flight while in flight,
- SOMETIMES comes back to normal (no battery error when MA is turned on or show remaining capacity in flight on the app) for a few seconds / minutes before desappering again.

I tried several times to refresh the firmware, did it with my 3 batteries but problem remains.
To be noticed : the battery that went down with the MA works normaly.

I suspect a hardware issue on the power board of the MA, maybe a shortcut when it dropped or right after when I tried to turn it back on.

Just wanted to let you know. I will try to install a new power board.

Questions:
- Did someone here tried to change the power board at home ? How did it go ?
- Does anyone knows how to perform (if possible) a full system diagnosis in order to identify the faulty component ?

I’ll keep you posted with further developments.

Hi, we are really sorry about that. However, we do not recommend to self repair your drone because it can worsen the damage and this will void the warranty of your drone. I suggest you send it in for repair. You may email us at support@dji.com for further assistance. Should you have other concern, please let us know. Thank you.

DJI Natalia Posted at 2018-8-21 11:05
Hi, we are really sorry about that. However, we do not recommend to self repair your drone because it can worsen the damage and this will void the warranty of your drone. I suggest you send it in for repair. You may email us at  for further assistance. Should you have other concern, please let us know. Thank you.

Hi Natalia,

Thank you for the advice, dully noted, but I guess that as all that is the result of my misbehaviour, warranty is void anyway.
Plus living on a remote island in the Caribbean, with no DJI repair center in the vicinity, it will cost me a new drone of going through the all « ticket / send / repair/ send back » process.

Unless you convince me of the contrary ;-)

You should not turn it on again until you sure it’s 100% dry. Water hidden inside the aircraft can damage the circuit when power on. Normally it needs to dry out for days before try to turn on.

buy a new battery. and finish drying it out with more rice.

GDL Posted at 2018-8-21 17:51
You should not turn it on again until you sure it’s 100% dry. Water hidden inside the aircraft can damage the circuit when power on. Normally it needs to dry out for days before try to turn on.

Wonder if Mavic drone's internal components could survive a drying out in a Vacuum chamber?

GDL Posted at 2018-8-21 17:51
You should not turn it on again until you sure it’s 100% dry. Water hidden inside the aircraft can damage the circuit when power on. Normally it needs to dry out for days before try to turn on.

Thanks for the tip ! Should have read it before dropping into the river ...  It is definitely an advice those wanting to fly over (clear) water should add in their pre flight check list.
Too late for me.

LordoftheFlies Posted at 2018-8-21 19:08
buy a new battery. and finish drying it out with more rice.

Did not read the full post  (I know its long) : the one that fell into the water is doing well.

The 2 others, that were in my bag, are now triggering the error as well. Let me think it is not related to the batteries but to the craft.

Thanks anyway for your input

You not getting that you are FRYING YOUR BATTERIES. Stop putting them on the craft, open that puppy and up and inspect it for shorted components at this point.

I would just send it in and get it fixed, if you open it up you could do more damage.  MA