My Phantom 3 S fell 2-3 minutes upside down in pond water (but did not sink, but was full submerged - to hung-up on a branch thank goodness).  No salt, no chemicals - relatively (very) clean water.  I took it out, removed the battery, dried it with a cloth, then a hairdryer (same with battery).

Questions:
1.  Has anyone had this experience?  If so what did you do and what were your results?
2.  Is the battery going to work even if the P3S doesn't?  (of course no one probably knows, just if you've got an idea or had this experience)
3.  I have the 1-year repair coverage -- Is water damage covered?  (I hope so!)

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks very much,

Best regards,

Steve Schulte
Sunday 14 August 2016

I'm no expert, when a PCB..printed circuit board..is exposed to liquid it will short out if it was powered..my advise is do not power the unit on, have DJI take a look at it...JMHO

Good luck

I'm no expert, when a PCB..printed circuit board..is exposed to liquid it will short out if it was powered..my advise is do not power the unit on, have DJI take a look at it...JMHO

Good luck

dgboo7@tampabay Posted at 2016-8-14 10:32
I'm no expert, when a PCB..printed circuit board..is exposed to liquid it will short out if it was p ...

It seems that water damage is NOT covered…  So I think I will just dry it out for a day or so and then try to start-up using my second (dry!) battery…  Any other comments appreciated by you or others!

Best regards,

Steve Schulte
Sunday 14 August 2016

I've heard that you can try and pack it in rice and then place in a freezer for couple days..then pull out out and allow everything to evaporate..repeat..the technic is for cameras and gopros..lets us know?? cheers D

scschulte Posted at 2016-8-15 00:26
It seems that water damage is NOT covered…  So I think I will just dry it out for a day or so and ...

MY P3S IS FLYING SUCCESSFULLY!  After 28 hours of drying (mostly via a fan, but starting with absorbent towels and a hairdryer) the bird is flying fine!

I used the back-up battery - not the one that was on-board when it submerged.  As to that backup battery - it was in a 3 LEDs lite mode when I removed it from the P3S yesterday.  It still shows that.  It has been getting dried-out too -- but when I tried to charge it, it did one or 2 cycles of the 4 LED lights, then the orange start-stop button lit-up and then all went dark.

I am guessing that perhaps something in the intelligent battery circuitry went bad.  I am guessing this battery may not be able to be used…  and I am reluctant to try it (even for ground tests) in my P3S.  As it was water-damaged, it is not covered under my DJI $129 insurance - and perhaps batteries are never covered…  I'll have to check.

I could send it back to DJI for inspection -- but what cost would that be?  Perhaps better just to get another battery…  And if I only have that as a loss…  I'm very very happy - yesterday I thought my entire P3S was gone forever!

Any and all comments welcome.  I won't be doing a lot of water flying in the next few months…

Steve
Monday 15 August 2016
14:24 - Wisconsin

Just curious Steve...Did you have a power failure to make you crash in the water or did you hit an object? I was planning on getting some shots of my son wakeboarding this weekend on the lake. Just curious what happened that got your feet wet.

And thanks for the update. I hope you are good to go. I've heard many recover their phantoms after water landings. Batteries, not so much. They're pretty much toast if they get wet. Congrats on your bird. Hope all is well.

OK here's the full story:  I have participated in a KickStarter program "DroneKraft WaterStrider" for Phantom 3 & Phantom 4.  I was one of the very first to get a production model (see Water Strider YouTubes and on KickStarter).  I live on a placid 1 acre+ pond.  WaterStrider would be idea.  Some initial stability problems with my P3S - likely better suited for a P3A or P3P -- but yesterday with NO WIND AT ALL I had fine flights and landed several times on the pond - taking-off again perfectly.  (I'll post some photos and a video link soon).  Well here's a short video:  WaterStrider on P3S -- water landing & TakeOff  

Then I went very high (well OK very high for a trial with the WS) - say 50' or so and when landing I didn't want to create a vortex wobble, so descended on a 5-10 degree glide path.  I SHOULD HAVE GONE VERTICAL before TOUCHDOWN -- instead the front, red pods hit first - and an immediate flip-over.  

The guys at DroneKraft are super.  I think, well I know because I did it 5-6 times, that if I had just gone 90° vertical before landing-- I would have been fine.

Still this is going to seem risky for many people-- even myself I won't be doing a lot of water landings until I do a lot more field testing -- literally in a field!!!

Lots of fun-- and especially since I have my P3S working 100% now.  I am hoping the battery is not damaged, but will wait to hear from DJI before even thinking of using it on my now high and dry P3S!  BTW:  Do you know if we can eMail DJI directly with these type of questions?  In the past I've just waited until a DJI member replies on these blogs/threads.  Thanks for any comments!  Here's that link again if the other doesn't work:  https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D6554404_07926994_798563

Best regards,

Steve Schulte
Monday 15 August 2016
15:37

  Thats interesting . How is flight with those large pods on there ?

scschulte Posted at 2016-8-16 06:39
OK here's the full story:  I have participated in a KickStarter program "DroneKraft WaterStrider" fo ...

This situation has happened many times on this forum, the battery never survives. Throw it away.

I have written to DJI at   support.us@dji.com  with very prompt, helpful responses.  

bob37 Posted at 2016-8-16 06:50
I have written to DJI at     with very prompt, helpful responses.

Thanks!  I will do that!!

Really appreciate it.

Best regards,

Steve Schulte
Tuesday 16 August 2016

oldpanhead58 Posted at 2016-8-16 06:02
Thats interesting . How is flight with those large pods on there ?

You asked the $64 question all right!  The flight characteristics are much much different than the "out-of-the-box" drone flying characteristics.  In an ideal world those pods could be inflated for landings and then deflated for flight!  (Of course they are rigid plastic… not inflatable balloons!)

And adventure and the DroneRaft guys are working on this-- guess I wasn't the first to get wet and if it only cost me a battery…  But you really have to have a reason to want to land on water -- I live on a pond so it has been fun.

Steve

Did yours have a camera? If so, did it work after?

You are one lucky guy!

"so descended on a 5-10 degree glide path" .............. as you correctly assumed after the event - landing at a glide angle causes trip-over land or water with these. ALL landings of P's should be vertical.

You are very lucky as my P3S was totalled after a 3/4 submersion in freshwater river..... it now sits in its box useless !!

Nigel