I would first like to mention that I am not condoning flying in wet weather, we have all spent a lot of money on our toys/tools and want to see them live a long a beautiful life. But speaking from experience I know these electronic are tougher than we give them credit for. I am a union camera man and have been working with camera platforms far more expensive than any quad (dont like the term drone) for years. I have been on shoots when suddenly the camera gets soaking wet or other times when its exposed to light humidity for long periods of time. I have yet to see a hundred thousand dollar camera fail simply because its gotten wet, at least on instantly. Again I'm not saying this is ok or this is how we should treat our electronics but I do think that people who laugh at the question about moisture and their equipment is valid and and stupid. Although I have not dunked my inspire in the water I have dunked lesser quads (in fresh water) upwards on 2-3 minutes and have seem them recover to their full working capacity after a thorough dry. Use your best judgment, dont fly in the rain, dont fly if it sprinkling, but also dont panic if it get wet, bring it down, let it dry and it will be fine.
Flying in the rain? How wet is too wet?
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I'm too poor to be able to replace mine, so I'd not fly in those conditions. I won't fly if there's even just a chance of some drizzle before I can get safely back, so even rain on the horizon is too much risk for me.
That said, these motors put out some heat, so if it's just moist air, then I'd think that might help with preventing too much condensation forming on the parts that get warm/hot in use. But there would be sure to be some form on the parts that get cold from air flow.
Unless you've pulled the whole lot apart and treated it with "Never Wet" then I'd be avoiding it. It's a lot of money to crash to the ground if an ESC or other critical component decides it doesn't like water.
As for keeping moisture off your lens, I know that with my DSLR whenever I'm doing long exposure night shots, I put one of those air-activated hand warmer sachets under the lens barrel with a rubber band. The warmth stops the lens from fogging up in the cold night air.
I guess it could be possible to rig something similar to keep your camera warm and it could possibly be positioned such as to help keep water droplets off too. But this is all hypothesis.
Personally I'd look into buying a Mariner Drone, or other waterproofed one for those conditions.
That said, these motors put out some heat, so if it's just moist air, then I'd think that might help with preventing too much condensation forming on the parts that get warm/hot in use. But there would be sure to be some form on the parts that get cold from air flow.
Unless you've pulled the whole lot apart and treated it with "Never Wet" then I'd be avoiding it. It's a lot of money to crash to the ground if an ESC or other critical component decides it doesn't like water.
As for keeping moisture off your lens, I know that with my DSLR whenever I'm doing long exposure night shots, I put one of those air-activated hand warmer sachets under the lens barrel with a rubber band. The warmth stops the lens from fogging up in the cold night air.
I guess it could be possible to rig something similar to keep your camera warm and it could possibly be positioned such as to help keep water droplets off too. But this is all hypothesis.
Personally I'd look into buying a Mariner Drone, or other waterproofed one for those conditions.
Flying in a saturated environment is risky (but also rewarding as environmental conditions can be spectacular for some great vids or shots). Fly at your own risk...as always.
Try some RainX applied on the lens. It is used on Formula 1 cars and water just streams off...no wipers needed.
I use it on my windshield and leave the wipers off . At night you don't even know it's raining.
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Water vs. electricity and metal...... not a great idea to mix them. Shorts and oxidation are arch enemies of good functioning equipment and are manifested by mixing the aforementioned components. No doubt, the I1 is a fine machine...BUT.... I'm not going to risk my $4K investment by flying in a wet environment only to watch it deteriorate before my eyes. Just my opinion and it's worth exactly what you paid for it! ;-)
well the "worth exactly what you paid for" i could argue with but generally you are right nevertheless the things and equiptment is protectable and thus also can be prolonged. so when one lives in the rainforest or humid are what are gonna do? not buy a drone?
no offense meant just thinking 3)
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SO, are you saying that my advice was great and that you OWE me money for my opinion? LOL! ;-) Seriously, though, I wouldn't say don't buy a drone if you live in a rainforest, but I would say look for one that's built to be a little more waterproof than the I1. I'd even think that the Phantom series would be more protected. There's an awful lot of open architecture on the I1 that would allow water to get into critical spaces and cause lots of damage if left to its own devices to dry. The articulating joints on the landing gear alone is a concern, much less the exposed connectors in the nose, the unsealed terminals and that LiPo battery.....it just scares me to think about exposing it to a really wet environment. Maybe it would be okay, but as I said earlier...not for me.
i was actually searching for something you described but had no luck really at that time. if you find something like it or exactly what we would need please do share.
thx
Thank you very much for the share. For my part I was looking for something also preventing shorts (looking at our industry). but as an add on that could be good.
There's also Rustoleum "NeverWet"
Both products say not to use on electronics, but Despite that NeverWet have a video of their own product making an iPhone so waterproof it can be used underwater. You wouldn't need much more proof against shorting than to be able to use it under water.
I've also seen video of a drone made waterproof with these products, but the company that did that no longer recommend it. I suspect it creates a problem with heat retention on vital parts.
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Both products say not to use on electronics, but Despite that NeverWet have a video of their own product making an iPhone so waterproof it can be used underwater. You wouldn't need much more proof against shorting than to be able to use it under water.
I've also seen video of a drone made waterproof with these products, but the company that did that no longer recommend it. I suspect it creates a problem with heat retention on vital parts.
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Here im flying the Inspire through the fog this winter.
I have been flying in the rain with the S-Series and the Inspire. I have only had the Inspire in the air with much rain as the rain came when flying and I just went straight back for landing.
The engines should have no trouble in the rain but the ESC I worry about so in the S-series we sealed them as good as we could. The A2 should be safe as we saw it. The Z-15 electronic we also "sealed" in and the servos should be ok and we had no trouble with it. Well I did not trust the screen thought the camera was at least 50cm over the flat ocean. Well it was not :-D
The Inspire as I see it has more electronics that can be affected by moist or water. The Gimball, at least the X3 should stand snow and rain (to a point) fine as we have used it on the Osmo on several jobs in the snow and rain with no problem at all. It was placed on a Snowmobile when it was snowing for 3 hours. Just wiped of the water on the lens and changed batteries.
I made an tips article on Skypixel on how you can combine attachments to get great results.
I have been flying in the rain with the S-Series and the Inspire. I have only had the Inspire in the air with much rain as the rain came when flying and I just went straight back for landing.
The engines should have no trouble in the rain but the ESC I worry about so in the S-series we sealed them as good as we could. The A2 should be safe as we saw it. The Z-15 electronic we also "sealed" in and the servos should be ok and we had no trouble with it. Well I did not trust the screen thought the camera was at least 50cm over the flat ocean. Well it was not :-D
The Inspire as I see it has more electronics that can be affected by moist or water. The Gimball, at least the X3 should stand snow and rain (to a point) fine as we have used it on the Osmo on several jobs in the snow and rain with no problem at all. It was placed on a Snowmobile when it was snowing for 3 hours. Just wiped of the water on the lens and changed batteries.
I made an tips article on Skypixel on how you can combine attachments to get great results.
So if the folks who engineered and built it says "don't fly in moist environments" I'm guessing it would be reasonable appropriate and wise to follow that advice, if you do anyway please avoid flying over anyone or anything that could be damaged.
I had incident with my drone that caused it not to return home this evening 
I know where it is but at this time I can't get it) unfortunately it has just started to rain outside and pretty heavily so do you think my I1 has now gone to the man in the sky ? Will it survive the night ? I hope so.
I know where it is but at this time I can't get it) unfortunately it has just started to rain outside and pretty heavily so do you think my I1 has now gone to the man in the sky ? Will it survive the night ? I hope so.
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The answer to this depends on your device inspire or not. If your quadcopter is at the cheaper end of the market I wouldn’t recommend taking it out on rainy days. The main reason is water damage to your drone. If your drone isn’t designed to be water proof then you’re likely to end up with short circuited wiring and a useless toy that will end up in land fill or sit in your shed for the next decade because you never get around to repairing it.
Here this might hellp you Can Drones Fly in the Rain? - Awesome Drones
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This was back in 2015 so a bit of an old thread and the OP doesn’t reside in the US so the FAA have no authority.
The OP hasn’t logged on in around 3 1/2 years.
