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Flying in the rain? How wet is too wet?

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So I'm looking at buying the Inspire, but I live in a temperate rain forest with 220 days of rain per year. Literally. By rain... I mean a constant misty haze. (See attached pic of a typical day) A strong rain is obviously bad, but I'm looking to get some insight from actual Inspire owners as to whether or not it will take this kind of reoccurring dampness.

Thanks for any info your willing to share.
KS
 

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I definitely wouldn't fly it in that environment. Even heavy fog can condense very quickly on the quad and create large enough water droplets to cause a short in the motors or electronics.

Because the moisture in the air is so thick and in vapour form, it can easily get into places where liquid would normally not. Once it condenses back to liquid, you're going to be in a whole heap of trouble trying to dry it out.
 
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I definitely wouldn't fly it in that environment. Even heavy fog can condense very quickly on the quad and create large enough water droplets to cause a short in the motors or electronics.

Because the moisture in the air is so thick and in vapour form, it can easily get into places where liquid would normally not. Once it condenses back to liquid, you're going to be in a whole heap of trouble trying to dry it out.

According to manual you shouldn't fly in a wet environment including fog ( flying in the fog is also safety hazard);
but in my opinion the fog and light mist doesn't create any hazard.
I don't have a inspire yet ,and can't tell how well the electronics are protected from rain , ( electronics are only concern when geting wet and create short, ) ,but there are some companies who offer some coating as a water protection.
As far as the motors ,in fog and mist ,you can't get any water in side ,because ,the motors are spinning and your props are creating enormes air movement around the craft.
Only time the moisture in the air can be a hazard is during winter ,when the ice will build-up on props might cost the craft to crash.
 
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Apart from the previous posts on this thread about the potential for moisture to cause shorting in the electronics (pretty low likelihood in all reality), the biggest issue you will face when flying in mist or drizzle is simply the moisture droplets forming on the camera lens which will ruin your video footage. The camera is situated as such that the down draft from the props wont effectively clear the moisture from the lens. I've flown my Phantom in heavy mist and noticed the drops on the FPV monitor and the video afterward which distorted the footage. The brushless motors will run under water and the ESC's are pretty well protected too.
 
I flew mine last weekend in similar conditions, and it performed well. Like previous poster said, main problem is moisture forming on the lens. Recommended? Probably not, but the kids love it.
 
I appreciate the feedback from all of you. It is far more helpful than the reply I just got from DJI tech support. See below.

To help me further evaluate moisture protection. Would some of you chime in with how wet your inspire has been and how it fared afterwards.


--------------
"Thank you for contacting DJI Technical Support.

We are sorry that there is no any information or documents related to the water protection, the inspire does not have any water/ moisture protection that could be used in the rain, and if it is made to work in the rain, the electric component will be damaged and thus might cause incident.

It is strongly not suggested to fly it in the rain, sorry to your inconvenience.

Thank you for choosing DJI.

Best Regards,

S. Chen
-----------
 
Phantom 2 has a surface of some kind, above all components on the PCB.
It should protect against moisture and some rain.

Is it the same protection on INSPIRE 1?
 
You might consider buying the Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac Air Duster:

It wil blow away a lot of moisture because of its incredible power. I use it for my Inspire to remove dirt and dust. You can also use canned air which is after about 25 flights more expensive than the air duster. One downside; you need an outlet for the power.
 
A close analogy to the question posted would be a Phantom Vision I have routinely flown on the west coast of Washington State. After only one flight in foggy/misty weather I brought the Quad inside to dry (water did indeed condense on the shell). A couple of days later I took it outside to fly and found 3 of the motor bearings had seized up and the fourth was getting ready to go. Therefore, other than electrical issues to consider, mechanical problems may become evident when flying in a supersaturated environment.
 
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Apart from the previous posts on this thread about the potential for moisture to cause shorting in the electronics (pretty low likelihood in all reality), the biggest issue you will face when flying in mist or drizzle is simply the moisture droplets forming on the camera lens which will ruin your video footage. The camera is situated as such that the down draft from the props wont effectively clear the moisture from the lens. I've flown my Phantom in heavy mist and noticed the drops on the FPV monitor and the video afterward which distorted the footage. The brushless motors will run under water and the ESC's are pretty well protected too.


With all respect ,I kind of disagree with you
 
I disagree with it too - any condensation on an ESC, depending on said ESC's design, can cause it to fry itself instantly. And as said nothing is water-protected on the I1.
So I wouldn't fly in any type of condensing environment.

I've done so with another machine, but that was a tough mini-H quad that will stand anything without any heavy damage so I took the risk. And it was worth it too, even if I actually did crash at the end (will never know if it was due to the humitity though - RC loss, most likely becasue I was too far behind a hill. But the receiver may have decided to give up in the frost, who knows :) )
This particular hardware stood up even pretty much completely drenched, but I wouldn't want to "just try" with an I1.

 
never recommended. I flew mine in some pretty serious snowfall. No issues.
 
when you live in california check --- liquipell--- a dji drone was coated with it from them and it's kind of waterproof. you send it in and you get it back protected. normally it is used and the company advertises as protection for phone and tablets but it is actually totally water resistable.
 
Hey KS,

Im in Sitka, I try not to fly in the rain, however I've flown in the fog. 90% of my flights are over water, its kind of hard to avoid. I going on over 50 flights now with the I1, I still try to avoid a majority of moisture.
 
Were out on the job today and when I flew a distance away, it started to rain. Took a few minutes before I could land, but it flew well and still works fine.
Ipad and RC seemed to cope with the rain too ..
The only thing that happened was that I got water droplets on the lens.
So I had to throw a few Pictures, that I could not do anything about.

It is indoors and dry now. Poor little thing.. :)
 
Were out on the job today and when I flew a distance away, it started to rain. Took a few minutes before I could land, but it flew well and still works fine.
Ipad and RC seemed to cope with the rain too ..
The only thing that happened was that I got water droplets on the lens.
So I had to throw a few Pictures, that I could not do anything about.

It is indoors and dry now. Poor little thing.. :)

you can let it make waterproof. a company in Cali called liquipel (not sure about spelling) but they have a nanotechnology that´ll make it water resistant.
 
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If you didn't have so much consistent rain, it probably wouldn't be too much (I use this lightly) problem BUT given you stated you have 220 days of straight rain whether it's light mist or otherwise, that will surely cause an issue at some point...the Inspire might last it's first flight...might last 10 flights but eventually it will be ruined by such a harsh environment...it's not waterproof nor is it water resistant (this would've been a selling point) sure brushless motors are waterproof but that will be the least of your worries.
 
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