Submerged in river for 12hours , and miraculously revived.

[noctilux]

hi , I'm new to here. I just want to share my experience I had yesterday.

Yesterday at 6PM, I had my inspire1 flight over small river about 6 foot from surface of water , then my i1's props hit the branch of tree, and crashed into water. all signals and camera vision was gone. (there is no vision in water)I searched my i1 around river , but it was too dark and I gave up to find. I went back home with broken heart...

Nextday at 6AM , I went to river again and found it ! but it was completely submerged into water ( 5foot deep ), so I went back home and made a hook , then captured it !

battery was gone , ofcourse , but after an hour, suddenly tale light flashes red color, and give a strange alert sound (beeeeeep....), so I pull out battery.

what i had done after the incident.

1. use air compressor (just like using in bicycle shop) to push out water , especially around main board and motor and camera. camera was heavyly fogged so I use air compressor to push out water again and again, then put it in outside with lens towards to sun (to remove fog completely).

2. then use a hair dryer to evaporates small drop of water from body.

3. at this point I put another battery and try to revive my i1, but it beeped loud alert again,status LED was red (continuously) and was still in flight position (as same as when it was crashed), I try to made it transfer mode from my iPad and remote control , but i1 ignored any command. camera was still black out and moving weird. in my iPad there was sign of "System error". front and rear LED showed Yellow light which I never saw in my i1 in normal use.

4. but at this point DJI Pilot notice me of there is new firmware, so I ignored all the bad condition and put micro-SD card with new firmware and upgrade it. it was succeed, and end of upgrade, i1 moving to landing position. but in my iPad still there is sign of "ESC error"

5. I take out ESC and motor and remove water again by using air compressor .

6. then put my i1 in front of air conditioner about 6 hours.

7. after of all , my i1 flight again! there is no sign of error or anormal moving.


I don't know I'm just lucky or it's normal, but my i1 submerged completely into water for12hours...!
I suspect if it was ocean, it's difficult to survive, but if ur drone crashed into river or lake, there must be chance to revive just like I experienced.

thanx to read and sorry for my broken english.

 

[rimb05]

Great story! I think you were very lucky. Pure water (distilled) doesn't typically hurt electronics, as it has a very high impedance, but most lakes and rivers have enough impurities in the water to ruin the electronics if it's running when it hits the water. I wouldn't be surprised if there is still a considerable amount of water remaining in your Inspire, so I would leave it under a strong fan for another couple of days to be sure! The only sure way to get rid of it all is to take it apart and let it dry.

Salt water is a completely different story. I've lost RC planes in the ocean, and it's not a pretty sight Any electronics that were energized at the time of impact are usually destroyed. I remember a curious effect that all the ground traces on the circuit board were completely etched away by the salt water!

 

[noctilux]

Great story! I think you were very lucky. Pure water (distilled) doesn't typically hurt electronics, as it has a very high impedance, but most lakes and rivers have enough impurities in the water to ruin the electronics if it's running when it hits the water. I wouldn't be surprised if there is still a considerable amount of water remaining in your Inspire, so I would leave it under a strong fan for another couple of days to be sure! The only sure way to get rid of it all is to take it apart and let it dry.

Salt water is a completely different story. I've lost RC planes in the ocean, and it's not a pretty sight Any electronics that were energized at the time of impact are usually destroyed. I remember a curious effect that all the ground traces on the circuit board were completely etched away by the salt water!

thanks for advice! yes, the water of my crash site is very pure (even I can drink it). may be that's the point why my i1 revived. and yes, still there must be water drops in my i1 so I put in front of conditioner again. sadly battery seems completely gone, I found blue-mold like thing in circuit board of battery (and smells like burning). but I feel I'm very lucky, just spend 200$ for washing my i1

 

[Richard-Inspire]

i have a bottle of 80% alcohol solution (or whatever it is) and litres of distilled water for this scenario - although inspire would be harder to take the electronics out and clean them I'm guessing. Generally, wash the electronics with alcohol, which pushes the water away and then evaporates easily. Also try to leave in a sealed bag of brown rice for a few days (at least) as that absorbs water.

It's not inconceivable to completely recover electronics if you do the right things and have a bit of luck. I'm fitting getterbacks too, to try and ensure I can always find her in deep water!

 

[andisblue]

Great job. I can't imagine how relieved you were.

 

[Manuele]

Today I had similar experience but the I1 fallen in sea water. I recovered after 1 or 2 minutes. Back to home i washed with home water and now is inside an oven to dry. Tomorrow morning I'll try to switch on with a new battery because the one during the crash is died. After two minute was already cover by green/black oxide. Have you already fly with your survivor i1 ?

 

[damoncooper]

Today I had similar experience but the I1 fallen in sea water. I recovered after 1 or 2 minutes. Back to home i washed with home water and now is inside an oven to dry. Tomorrow morning I'll try to switch on with a new battery because the one during the crash is died. After two minute was already cover by green/black oxide. Have you already fly with your survivor i1 ?

You are better off soaking it in distilled fresh water, then putting it in a huge bag of rice for a week.

Even still. There is a very good chance it's a write off if it was powered on when it went into the salt water.

Some would deplore you to not try flying it again even if it seemed ok after proper distilled water bath and rice de-humidification, as the electronics are likely now questionable and could result in sudden catastrophic failure potentially causing harm to people or property.

Your call but just giving it a dry in the oven after a salt water plunge with active power may not do the trick.

 

[rimb05]

I wonder if the circuit boards inside the Inspire are dipped in conformal coating (the clear plastic coating you sometimes see on PCBs). It would explain why it survived the salt water. I know for a fact that the battery PCB is coated, but I haven't taken my inspire itself apart, so it's anyone's guess if the flight controller and transmitter boards are...

 

[noctilux]

Have you already fly with your survivor i1 ?

yes, I already tried and scceeded. today I fly with my i1 for 20 minutes, there is no error and no strange move during the flight. hope ur i1 revives as mine !