anyone have any diy dji spark water landing gears? or anyone found any online? i only see one on amazon that looks cheap and the reviews aren’t good. what about a safe thing to just keep it afloat so i could recover the aircraft for dji care refresh? i’m thinking of making either my own landing gear or just attaching a piece of foam to the top of my spark. i don’t know but i’m going to fly it over the ocean in a couple months so i’m just thinking ahead

I have had 3 drones land in water and none of them survived the experience (incl. one Spark). I recovered 2 and lost 1. and to date have not found a suitable float system. From time to time a home made" solution" appears on You Tube, but I have not liked any enough to make one. I have not made thorough searches, but have looked at all that have come to my attention.

Most have been ugly and would effect the flight characteristics significantly. More importantly, none have solved the problem of the drone sucking in the spray kicked up by rotor downwash. However, most would keep a drone on the surface for recovery, which in some (many?) cases might be difficult or even impossible ( I get a mental picture of my Spark heading downstream towards the waterfall, or being blown rapidly offshore by a strong breeze).

If you do find a solution that ticks all the boxes, be sure to post it here. I'm sure there are members who will be interested.  Let's hope that Spark 2 is waterproof.

also i am more interested in just something that will keep my drone from drowning. i am not landing it on water.

Then there are these styrofoam balls. I thought they were way too big, so I bought smaller balls and will fit them to some landing foot. Like you, all I want is something that will prevent the drone from sinking if it ever fall in the water, so no need for something big, just something that will hold it at the surface. I have DJI care refresh and if it fall in the water it is covered, so I just want to get it back and not have to skubadive for it.

Here is what I got in 4cm, but maybe 3 cm would be enough to keep it afloat:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product ... 0_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I was going to dig a hole in the balls and glue them to some little feet and paint the balls in black:

https://www.amazon.ca/Landing-Ge ... n&sr=1-4&ref=sr_1_4

I want this to be as small as possible and not disturb the flight.

There is also the Getterback but I thought it was a little big for the spark:

https://www.getterback.com/

If someone can come with a good solution I'm interested too.

Hello and good day. Thank you for raising this concern. Just a friendly reminder that we do not recommend using 3rd party devices for the DJI Spark. 3rd party devices might affect the drone or its component and can also affect the performance of the drone when in use. Actually, there is a possibility that these 3rd party accessories or devices will be able work on the DJI Spark. However, since it's not yet optimized and tested by DJI we cannot guaranteed the stability of the said accessories or devices if it will work all the time with no issues while using the DJI Spark. Thank you.

Daniella3d Posted at 1-16 15:11
Then there are these styrofoam balls. I thought they were way too big, so I bought smaller balls and will fit them to some landing foot. Like you, all I want is something that will prevent the drone from sinking if it ever fall in the water, so no need for something big, just something that will hold it at the surface. I have DJI care refresh and if it fall in the water it is covered, so I just want to get it back and not have to skubadive for it.

Here is what I got in 4cm, but maybe 3 cm would be enough to keep it afloat:

If I not forgot too much, a 4cm foam "Ball" will get you about 30 g. , 4x30, 120g.
Good, there is Volume in the bird too, but also 300g of weight.
I think that the size of the "water landing gear" needs to be almost as big, as in the sales offers, everywhere.

I think any "water landing gear" would have to be big enough to keep the spark OUT of the water, not just keep it from sinking.

I tried shooting a little brook, but there were many overhanging branches and I worried about bumping into one, stopping the motors and dropping Sylvester in the drink, so I got out of there.

I think it can be little wavy on the ocean.

DJI Stephen Posted at 1-17 07:28
Hello and good day. Thank you for raising this concern. Just a friendly reminder that we do not recommend using 3rd party devices for the DJI Spark. 3rd party devices might affect the drone or its component and can also affect the performance of the drone when in use. Actually, there is a possibility that these 3rd party accessories or devices will be able work on the DJI Spark. However, since it's not yet optimized and tested by DJI we cannot guaranteed the stability of the said accessories or devices if it will work all the time with no issues while using the DJI Spark. Thank you.

alright thanks

fans6f66f9da Posted at 1-17 10:50
alright thanks

You are very much welcome. Have a safe and happy flying always.

S-e-ven Posted at 1-17 07:51
If I not forgot too much, a 4cm foam "Ball" will get you about 30 g. , 4x30, 120g.
Good, there is Volume in the bird too, but also 300g of weight.
I think that the size of the "water landing gear" needs to be almost as big, as in the sales offers, everywhere.

Not sure about your calculation. The current gear that make the spark float is 6cm x 5,5cm. how many grams would that be good for? According to your exemple, that would be 4 x 45g, which is only 180g. So according to this, it should not make the spark float but it does make it float no problem. Something does not add up here.

Tentoes Posted at 1-17 08:15
I think any "water landing gear" would have to be big enough to keep the spark OUT of the water, not just keep it from sinking.

I tried shooting a little brook, but there were many overhanging branches and I worried about bumping into one, stopping the motors and dropping Sylvester in the drink, so I got out of there.

All I want is to keep it from sinking if it ever fall or decide to land in the water. I want something that will be small enough not to impair the flight. Those huge balls are making the Spark unstable at best.

Daniella3d Posted at 1-17 19:08
Not sure about your calculation. The current gear that make the spark float is 6cm x 5,5cm. how many grams would that be good for? According to your exemple, that would be 4 x 45g, which is only 180g. So according to this, it should not make the spark float but it does make it float no problem. Something does not add up here.

ok, I did a quick google (for you):
a 3cm ball will float just 14g
a 4cm ball 33,5g
a 5.5 cm ball 87gr
and a 6 cm ball 113

And that always means, the "thing" on top of the ball is touching the surface!


Which would explain, to me at least, why the "water-landing-gear has a diameter of 5.5 or 6 cm
To make sure that the Spark, which has a floating volume too, of course, will stay away from the watersurface
Every video I have seen, so far, the balls where just about half in the water


But since you have care refresh and only dont want it sink:
Why don't you put your 4cm balls in a washing mesh, together with a sunglass cover/box.
In this box you put about 300gr of something (that fills the volume a bit!) and check out what is happening, as soon the air bubbles out ?

S-e-ven Posted at 1-17 20:02
ok, I did a quick google (for you):
a 3cm ball will float just 14g
a 4cm ball 33,5g

So I should have gone with 5cm I guess. I will definitely do some testing with the same weight as the spark. It 4cm is not enough, I will go with 5cm.

If it impair the flight too much I will buy the getterback.

I made my own a while ago. I have attached a youtube video link of what I did. I still use it when I am fishing but for insurance purposes only. I do not routinely land and take off from the water but as the clip demonstrates it is possible. Spray is not a problem. These days I use slightly longer bamboo skewers and I repeat the advice to make sure sensors are not obscured.

MikB Posted at 1-19 08:27
I made my own a while ago. I have attached a youtube video link of what I did. I still use it when I am fishing but for insurance purposes only. I do not routinely land and take off from the water but as the clip demonstrates it is possible. Spray is not a problem. These days I use slightly longer bamboo skewers and I repeat the advice to make sure sensors are not obscured.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaQ4f03Cz6I&t=81s

how are the sensors unobstructed? i would not feel comfortable flying with that

Yes that surely look as it would be in the way of the sensor. It could really disrupt the Spark in flight or when landing. I decided to buy a Getterback. I will receive it soon.

Daniella3d Posted at 1-22 18:43
Yes that surely look as it would be in the way of the sensor. It could really disrupt the Spark in flight or when landing. I decided to buy a Getterback. I will receive it soon.

how is it?

Water landing and DJI don't mix.

MikB Posted at 1-19 08:27
I made my own a while ago. I have attached a youtube video link of what I did. I still use it when I am fishing but for insurance purposes only. I do not routinely land and take off from the water but as the clip demonstrates it is possible. Spray is not a problem. These days I use slightly longer bamboo skewers and I repeat the advice to make sure sensors are not obscured.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaQ4f03Cz6I&t=81s

Now that’s being creative. It does look like the camera would pick up the white foam ball in video. Have you tested if this is true ?

Lucas775 Posted at 2-20 17:18
Water landing and DJI don't mix.

its just for security

I have used styrofoam spheres  (4 no 6cm diameter). Floatation is perfect but due to statical electricity charged on the styrofoam spheres, i got "compass error". You can fix it by recalibrating etc.  They reduce flying performance especially rotation gets very slower. And it is not very practical to carry spheres with you all the time. Something inflatable must be better.