A little insurance while flying over water...GetterBack

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So I was surfing on YouTube and found this little gem. It was designed to help a fisherman recover a fishing rod lost overboard, but should work great for a Solo (or any multirotor) which inadvertently crashes in water. It has a water activated float release system with 100' of Kevlar line. It is advertised to work in less than 10' of water. Seems to work well on YouTube. I think I paid about $14 last month on Amazon.
Although it only weighs 11.5 grams, I don't normally have it installed unless I plan some overwater flights. I know the Solo is probably toast if it was submerged, but I'd still like to have it back (at least for parts).
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Or if you fly around salt water there's a new thing called bye bye drone.

Recover, use once or twice, have tons of problems, open up drone and find corrosion wall to wall.

Don't crash over water or be prepared to let it go if you do.
 
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Missed that one...
Lots on here to find... and miss. ;)

I see that you appear to be a reloader? Me too... Dillon 650, and so much more. Competition shooter for >50 years. (started when I was a babe in arms... :))
 
Or if you fly around salt water there's a new thing called bye bye drone.

Recover, use once or twice, have tons of problems, open up drone and find corrosion wall to wall.

Don't crash over water or be prepared to let it go if you do.
You are out of sequence. Most electronics can be largely saved from saltwater immersion by disassembling and rinsing in freshwater FIRST. Plenty of info on this forum from me and others.
 
Lots on here to find... and miss. ;)

I see that you appear to be a reloader? Me too... Dillon 650, and so much more. Competition shooter for >50 years. (started when I was a babe in arms... :))

Yup. Reloading is one of my hobbies that is currently 'on the shelf'. Flying " my toys" as my Wife likes to say is a (slightly) more socially acceptable hobby these days.

I'm not in the reloading equipment league with you, just have a Lee turret press. Could never justify a nice Dillon Progressive rig like you have. Still I find reloading very therapeutic in its own unique way!


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Yup. Reloading is one of my hobbies that is currently 'on the shelf'. Flying " my toys" as my Wife likes to say is a (slightly) more socially acceptable hobby these days.

I'm not in the reloading equipment league with you, just have a Lee turret press. Could never justify a nice Dillon Progressive rig like you have. Still I find reloading very therapeutic in its own unique way!
No kidding... so many hobbies, so little time...

At the height of competing I was shooting 20-25k rounds a year - maybe 4-5K .22s and the rest centerfire. I was turning out some ammo. When I get tired of this drone folly, I suspect I'll return more to that.
 
So I was surfing on YouTube and found this little gem. It was designed to help a fisherman recover a fishing rod lost overboard, but should work great for a Solo (or any multirotor) which inadvertently crashes in water. It has a water activated float release system with 100' of Kevlar line. It is advertised to work in less than 10' of water. Seems to work well on YouTube. I think I paid about $14 last month on Amazon.
Although it only weighs 11.5 grams, I don't normally have it installed unless I plan some overwater flights. I know the Solo is probably toast if it was submerged, but I'd still like to have it back (at least for parts).
4b7326df326ef48e1ec773bf345d7bda.jpg
a44803ceba56808feeb74658092e19f2.jpg
4aabb217f283f19c58595cbf0ee15a4c.jpg
2eceddeb71a54ef90e1fd275889cbb00.jpg



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Check this one out it may be smaller.
Boomerang Retrieval Devices - YouTube
 
So I was surfing on YouTube and found this little gem. It was designed to help a fisherman recover a fishing rod lost overboard, but should work great for a Solo (or any multirotor) which inadvertently crashes in water. It has a water activated float release system with 100' of Kevlar line. It is advertised to work in less than 10' of water. Seems to work well on YouTube. I think I paid about $14 last month on Amazon.
Although it only weighs 11.5 grams, I don't normally have it installed unless I plan some overwater flights. I know the Solo is probably toast if it was submerged, but I'd still like to have it back (at least for parts).
4b7326df326ef48e1ec773bf345d7bda.jpg
a44803ceba56808feeb74658092e19f2.jpg
4aabb217f283f19c58595cbf0ee15a4c.jpg
2eceddeb71a54ef90e1fd275889cbb00.jpg



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Ive put three Solos into salt water.. One never retrieved.. One retrieved after a week and one pilled out after about 2 mins.. After a week, nothing is salvageable.. The Quick Dipper killed the GP but I immediately discoed. The battery, ran to the shower and rinsed for at least 5 mins.. Then took everyithing apart and sprayed mega amounts of wd-40 I had in the car.
One motor wasted.. Gimball operational, main board and daughter boards and pix hawk non functional.. So, it only takes seconds to kill everything in the ocean.. My sense is that the killer was the shorting battery.. (which by the way, started smoking immediately.)
Saved there motors and a gimball.. The shell, legs and some misc.. Ie: antennae.
So, if you're flying over salt water and it goes down, it would be better for your state of mind if you let it go and had back up Solo and GP.. Btw, the memory card was good.. Got the death in high res. FPV. It's depressing.. But not nearly as depressing as it was then when prices were high.

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Maybe when Solo was a grand, it might be worth the effort.
 
I wouldn't say that Solos are actually disposable, but I will say this: Solo, 4 bones - GPH4S - $220 refurb. So, Although it still hurts (bad) it does give the middle and lower class (me) money guys to take some chances at making imagery that is actually cool. ie: close to water and objects for parallax coolness and dynamic shots. Still scary, but not necessarily heart attack stuff. (I might still have a stroke over a salt water submersion)
 
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Well, don't know about "flying over" water, but I needed some insurance while walking near water. I was down on my dock today with my tablet and suddenly, without warning, it jumped out of my hand, right into the saltwater canal. :oops: Then I had to take a swim to go get it off the bottom. :eek: And I always thought it would be Solo taking a dunk. :confused:

Rinsed, going through the process now of drying it out, but not just a lot of confidence. It was a Samsung that isn't made to take apart or replace the battery, but the back was relatively easy to remove with a tiny stainless pry tool that I bought recently for working on my Solo.

Samsung, and therefore Amazon have them on sale until Saturday, so I'll try to fire it up Saturday and know my direction. Life's a beach... :)
 
This is absolutely an awesome idea! This forum rocks. I fly almost exclusively over water and have my 3dr rigged up with a waterproof GP mount (drilled/sealed hole for HDMI. This little deal fits the bill perfect and will allow me to be frustrated with loss of my Solo but happy I still of the GP to fly another day. Now I may get a GP4 instead of using my non integrated hero black 3 :) Thanks for your cleverness Andrew ! Amazon'd it for 15 bucks.
 
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I flew mine into the ocean a couple of weeks ago. It was 1000 feet off shore, but amazingly. I was able to find it when I went looking for it a couple of days later. I didn't expect to be able to reuse anything but the props and shell, and that was certainly the case. Everything electronic was destroyed. Interestingly enough, the motor pod FETs had gotten so hot underwater that they burnt the inside of the shell opposite the PCB. A few of them had even exploded.

I was also amazed to see that the impact with the water had actually bent the gimbal arm!

Anyway, salt water is nasty stuff. I'd expect a total loss if you ever land in it.
 

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