Was flying my Phantom 3 Standard drone on a programmed Litchi mission today but I started from a different location than I had before. Mission was only 50' high and the drone crashed into some tree limbs and then landed in the water completely submerged for about 30-40 seconds maximum (I fished it out pretty quick). No trauma to the to drone at all, the thin tree limbs and water landing didn't break the case nor any of the propellers.  When I pulled the drone out, it did beep in away that was unfamiliar and I was able to shut off the battery/drone as normal (the lights went out in sequence as they normally do).

Took it home, dried it off as best I could and am just letting it air dry for a few days before I try flying it again. I read about putting it in rice like you would do for a cellphone but decided against it as some guys said that the rice residue can possibly get into the motors and cause more problems.

Any other tips?  Hoping it will fly again when it dries out...

Did the drone float for very long before it sank or did it just sink right away? Did it sink in fresh water, not salt water? If you have a dehumidifier in the house, place the drone in the "dry" air flow coming from the dehumidifier.

If it was fresh water, you'll have a better chance of it working again.  It's just a toss up as to whether it will fly again.  Good luck with it.

Hi, sorry on what happened to your drone. You can send the unit to our support for further help if you'll encounter an error message right away upon turning on the unit. Please see the link below for your reference. Kindly let us know if you have other concerns. Thank you.

www.dji.com/support

Thanks for the replies!  It was 100% submerged in fresh water for about 30 seconds.  It was shallow water of a creek, about a foot-and-a-half deep.  I'll look for those error messages once I try to restart it here in a couple of days.

CraigArtzner Posted at 2018-10-28 12:09
Thanks for the replies!  It was 100% submerged in fresh water for about 30 seconds.  It was shallow water of a creek, about a foot-and-a-half deep.  I'll look for those error messages once I try to restart it here in a couple of days.

If it was fresh water, then it may be salvaged, but consider the battery as expendable. Rice is OK, but drying it in a warn room and then putting desicant crystals with the drone in a box is a better way.

Ok it's been a week and the drone seems dry enough.  I took it outside and it powered up normally, beeped normally, and the camera powered up and rolled into it's default position. I was able to connect the drone to my controller and to the DJI phone app. I was able to view the camera through the app and control it with the joystick with no issues (I guess water never got into the camera!). All seemed very well.

However the drone remains in ATTI mode and will not achieve P-GPS mode. I know which position the upper right switch should be in, so I know it's not that.  So I went out to an open field with no obstacles, knowing that I may be taking off in ATTI; but the drone will apparently not take off without being in GPS and I get two warnings (screenshotted below). One says that the compass is stuck and to restart the aircraft.  I did that 3 or 4 times and am getting the same result.  The other warning just says that the GPS is not connected.  Any thoughts welcome.

Screenshot:

After all you went through, and now this? Ha


Not sure what to think of it.

I sure hope someone can give you some strong positive advice.


RedHotPoker

Sent message to DJI Support and they want me to send it in and will likely be charging me for diagnosis and repair (and of course I'm paying to ship it).  Just looking for a few things that I may be able to try while I have it here before having to do any of that.
I'm seeing Phantom 3 Standard drone "bodies-only" on eBay for between $100-$150 bucks.  Should I just get a new drone body and call it a day? And just keep my old one around for spare parts?

CraigArtzner Posted at 11-5 05:22
Sent message to DJI Support and they want me to send it in and will likely be charging me for diagnosis and repair (and of course I'm paying to ship it).  Just looking for a few things that I may be able to try while I have it here before having to do any of that.
I'm seeing Phantom 3 Standard drone "bodies-only" on eBay for between $100-$150 bucks.  Should I just get a new drone body and call it a day? And just keep my old one around for spare parts?

You might try calibrating the IMU, it won't fly if it is out of calibration.

WD9EON Posted at 11-5 09:35
You might try calibrating the IMU, it won't fly if it is out of calibration.

That's a good suggestion. In Fact, it would be good to bring up the IMU display and take a screen shot of the values, sometimes the accelerometers can get 'stuck'.

WD9EON Posted at 11-5 09:35
You might try calibrating the IMU, it won't fly if it is out of calibration.

Good thinking.

Something has to be the fix, or repair.

RedHotPoker

Geebax Posted at 11-5 13:45
That's a good suggestion. In Fact, it would be good to bring up the IMU display and take a screen shot of the values, sometimes the accelerometers can get 'stuck'.

Why would it get stuck?

I have wonderd about this before...


RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 11-5 13:49
Why would it get stuck?

I have wonderd about this before...

Accelerometers contain moving parts, and sometimes they get stuck. A sharp slap will often free them up.

Geebax Posted at 11-5 13:51
Accelerometers contain moving parts, and sometimes they get stuck. A sharp slap will often free them up.

That’s funny, assaulting the drone. Hahaha


Hopefully, you only bruised it’s ego. Ha


I thought it was all digital internally, with only the flight motors moving.


RedHotPoker

Great news!  I turned on the drone in the living room to try some re-calibrating and poking around in the app and the drone connected to GPS!  I immediately ran out to the driveway to fly it, and it flew as normal and took video! I'm so pleased that it seems to be working now!  Looks like it's lived to fly another day.  Thanks for all the insights.

It evidently wasnt quite as dry as you thought next time, put it in a cooling down oven, i ditched my p4p once through stupidity, when i got home, i opened the body up and put it in my oven that was cooling down, think it was about 50C'ish not enough to melt the plastic anyway, once the oven was cold, i then placed it in the airing (hot water tank) cupboard over night, next day it was good to fly and seemingly no issues since...

dry it with a hair blower