Controller Ultra Sensitive to Moisture

Bob P. · Nov 27, 2015

Some may already know this, but the Solo controller is extremely sensitive to moisture. Took it out in light flurries - Solo Link was quickly lost. Luckily Solo on the ground getting GPS. Recovered controller with heat from hair dryer. Now applying advanced waterproofing technology.

nuggetz · Nov 27, 2015

Please share your advanced waterproofing technology application methods

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bob P. · Nov 27, 2015

Trying to upload pic from iPad...to no avail. Controller in zip lock bag. Worked great.

Chip Luck · Nov 27, 2015

Bob P. said:
Some may already know this, but the Solo controller is extremely sensitive to moisture. Took it out in light flurries - Solo Link was quickly lost. Luckily Solo on the ground getting GPS. Recovered controller with heat from hair dryer. Now applying advanced waterproofing technology.

Hmm... as an engineer (not for 3DR) can you back that statement up? My Controller LCD display turned orange and froze the data the display, along with garbled data fields/telemetry on my Android tablet. Then shutdown and a complete WHITE LCD display on the Controller once hooked up to the charger. I'm VERY serious if this is a true issue.

And, 20+ years in military electronics, it's called con-formal coating... protects PCB, leads, and all electronics form the ambient moisture issues. You can take a mil-standard board and soak it in water = no issues at all (except for connectors, and that is another subject).

Cheers

Bob P. · Nov 27, 2015

More detail. Controller would display "waiting for solo" and never connect, nor would the solo network appear on my iPhone. The "Hold to Power" button would appear to work and shut the controller down - another press would even appear to start the controller back up - but same connection problems. Noticed that small snow flurries had melted around joysticks. Said oh !?$&@. Shut everything down and headed indoors. Turned controller upside down to drain any water (could not be but a few drops). Then I noticed a red light still illuminated from within the controller base (through the little slots near the connection of the iPhone mount). I opened the battery compartment and removed power. Red light out. Low heat from a hair dryer for 5 minutes - bingo - everything works great. Plastic ziploc crude, but effective allowed for a morning of video shoots. Obviously there is an easy entry path for any water around the joysticks. I'd love to hear of better waterproofing solutions.

Chip Luck · Nov 27, 2015

Bob P. said:
More detail. Controller would display "waiting for solo" and never connect, nor would the solo network appear on my iPhone. The "Hold to Power" button would appear to work and shut the controller down - another press would even appear to start the controller back up - but same connection problems. Noticed that small snow flurries had melted around joysticks. Said oh !?$&@. Shut everything down and headed indoors. Turned controller upside down to drain any water (could not be but a few drops). Then I noticed a red light still illuminated from within the controller base (through the little slots near the connection of the iPhone mount). I opened the battery compartment and removed power. Red light out. Low heat from a hair dryer for 5 minutes - bingo - everything works great. Plastic ziploc crude, but effective allowed for a morning of video shoots. Obviously there is an easy entry path for any water around the joysticks. I'd love to hear of better waterproofing solutions.

I use the 'Ziplock' method for all my electronics, believe me it's not crude on any account. I'm sure you know, taking a warm item from the indoors to a cold outdoor situation will cause IMMEDIATE condensation, my DSLR camera lenses can attest to that. If you bag it prior, then cool down is slower going, and should solve most issues.

Cheers

Bob P. · Nov 27, 2015

I like that thought. Hadn't considered condensation. I'd used the controller going from indoors to outdoors (but not in flurries) several previous days. It was colder today...so I may have been lucky before. I think I'll acclimate solo in the garage before heading out from now on.

Rich · Nov 28, 2015

This can happen with any radio control transmitter. Keep in mind that the gimbals for the control sticks are very open, so it is very easy for even one drop of water to get inside to the circuit board inside and cause havoc.

There are weather bags designed to help this. Something like this:

Chip Luck · Nov 28, 2015

Rich said:
This can happen with any radio control transmitter. Keep in mind that the gimbals for the control sticks are very open, so it is very easy for even one drop of water to get inside to the circuit board inside and cause havoc.

There are weather bags designed to help this. Something like this:

Now that is a nice setup! I make my own for my DSLR camera's/lenses when I have to grab and go to a gig. Good for keeping sand out also, like at the beach when the wind is blowing and the salt air - which will over time destroy any 'consumer electronic' device unless it's designed under MIL Spec guidelines. Thanks for sharing that...

Cheers

Bob P. · Nov 28, 2015

Very nice! Thanks for the suggestion.

PdxSteve · Nov 28, 2015

Remember, your bird is flying in the same conditions and has a lot of the same hardware and is no more waterproof than the controller.

REDSD · Feb 10, 2016

Got a wee bit of H2O on my controller and I'm hangin' in the red light district also. Mine is probably going back to 3DR for some new hardware. As it's been dry for days... even tried rice though there was barely any water and I never experienced any issues with the screen. Bummer... so now I'm back old school Phantom2 style w/ my manual maneuvers. So yeah... keep it dry people!