My SOLO took a swim

User Name · Feb 5, 2017

If I could spot it on a camera, I'd just dive on it. I spent about 45 minutes diving in the area, but the vis ranges from 5 feet to probably 5 inches! It's a green, murky lake, like most in the north east!. I *think* it's only 25 or so feet, but it slopes off down to about 50, and at the thermocline (between 28 to 30 feet), that's where the vis drops. On the dive, it went from pea soup at 25 feet to near pitch black at 30 feet and the bottom came into view inches in front of my mask! I'll find it sooner or later. If nothing else, it'll be a parts engine for the replacing.

Mr GruntHunter · Feb 5, 2017

Bummer! The only other possibility might be to drop a magnet down from a fishing line and see if you get lucky and it finds something somewhere on the engine that will attract it. Probably won't be able to pull it up but it should give you a better idea as to its location. Good Luck.

Mr GruntHunter · Feb 23, 2017

I made a video of my unsuccessful resurrection attempt. ( )
It flies but I'm having internment connection problems. If you want to watch and see what it's doing you can skip the first 8 min. Maybe someone can point me in the direction of the problem. The gimbal appeared dead so I mounted my new space gimbal so I know that's OK. So, my only conclusions are 1.) cable connection issues 2.) GPS module sick or 3.) the main control board is crapping out .

Frank Foster · Feb 23, 2017

Well, it's actually amazing that it's doing as well as it is. I would have thought most of the electronics had shorted out from the water. My first guess would be the wifi card in the solo is bad, or loose connections. Strange that you seem to have control even when it says it's lost connection. Very strange, but still amazing, after all it's been through. I'll bet you get it worked out. Good luck.

Mr GruntHunter · Feb 23, 2017

Frank Foster said:
Well, it's actually amazing that it's doing as well as it is. I would have thought most of the electronics had shorted out from the water. My first guess would be the wifi card in the solo is bad, or loose connections. Strange that you seem to have control even when it says it's lost connection. Very strange, but still amazing, after all it's been through. I'll bet you get it worked out. Good luck.

Thanks for watching and commenting Frank. The WiFI card is on the underside of the board under the battery compartment isn't it? That's the only thing I didn't pull out. Tried it once before when I thought I had HDMI cable connector issues and gave up before I broke something. I guess I don't have anything to lose now though. Someone suggested using DeoxIT to clean all of the connections so I am going to give that a try before I completely give up.

Frank Foster · Feb 23, 2017

Yes, the wifi card is hidden under the main board, and plugs in like a computer card. And the antenna connections are those iddy biddy thigs I can't remember the name, but can be a pain. You've got a tough old bird there, she'll live again!

Mr GruntHunter · Feb 23, 2017

Frank Foster said:
Yes, the wifi card is hidden under the main board, and plugs in like a computer card. And the antenna connections are those iddy biddy thigs I can't remember the name, but can be a pain. You've got a tough old bird there, she'll live again!

You thinking it could just be dirty contacts and not the components themselves?

Frank Foster · Feb 23, 2017

Sounds like that, as it comes and goes.

User Name · Feb 23, 2017

Here's what I would do - remove the main board and remove any plug in component on the board - wifi card, flight controller cube, basically anything that's not soldered down. Look over all the contacts under a magnifying glass to check for remaining water and/or corrosion. Clean everything as best you can, reassemble and give it another try.

It seems everything is working - GPS, video, etc. so it's unlikely anything is burned out. It just seems like it could be poor contacts causing the intermittent problems.

As you say, you don't have much to loose at this point.

jhbass · Feb 28, 2017

I pulled an involuntary Captain Sully w/my Solo this AM but instead of birds I thought that I could clear some treetops. I had to wade out in chest deep water (3 times!) in order to recover it, the water mind you was probably in the upper 30Fs to low 40Fs and the ambient temperature was 42F this AM. But "luckily" it went down close to shore and I saw it go down but the water wasn't very clear and I as walked through it I would stir up silt and then I could see nothing. By the 3rd time I was beginning to contemplate just leaving it there but I knew it was there and I wasn't leaving without it. I had taken off my shoes and was in my socks (so my feet wouldn't get cold

which didn't matter because I couldn't feel my toes after a couple of mins). I started feeling around with my foot and was able to find it. I pulled the battery out while I was still in the water and started to make my walk of shame back to the car (thankfully no one was around to witness my shame and embarrassment).

While it seemed like it was submerged forever it was only in the water for a few minutes; one prop was gone, another was broken and other than that there wasn't any other physical damage. As soon as I got home I pulled the gimbal off and started into it w/a blowdryer. After a few mins of that and after I showered (hot) and threw it all back into the car ad went to the local hobby shop and got some

Performance Plus 4 motor spray and gave everything a could spray right there on the spot. Then I sprayed everything again after about 30 mins. Once I got home I removed the GPS and battery cover and sprayed everything again. I removed the copper GPS shield and sprayed the GPS unit, after it dried I reassembled it w/a small piece of cardboard btw the antenna and the shield. Sprayed the GoPro down and threw that into a Ziploc bag w/some rice.

The battery is shot as far as I am concerned and I ordered another this AM, I've been meaning to get a couple of extra ones but I am going to wait until I am certain that this thing flies OK after this little mishap. Once it arrives my plan is to just let it hover until the battery is almost dead. I'll do that at least a few times and if I can come up w/a say to safely tether it I'll do that so it doesn't freak out and fly off on me.

The new battery won't be here for about a week so in the mean time I'm just going to let it sit over a furnace vent. If we make it through this I'll christen it "Zombie".

On a serious note; if there is anything that I should do that I haven't done please let me know.

Thanks!

Mr GruntHunter · Feb 28, 2017

jhbass said:
I pulled an involuntary Captain Sully w/my Solo this AM but instead of birds I thought that I could clear some treetops. I had to wade out in chest deep water (3 times!) in order to recover it, the water mind you was probably in the upper 30Fs to low 40Fs and the ambient temperature was 42F this AM. But "luckily" it went down close to shore and I saw it go down but the water wasn't very clear and I as walked through it I would stir up silt and then I could see nothing. By the 3rd time I was beginning to contemplate just leaving it there but I knew it was there and I wasn't leaving without it. I had taken off my shoes and was in my socks (so my feet wouldn't get cold which didn't matter because I couldn't feel my toes after a couple of mins). I started feeling around with my foot and was able to find it. I pulled the battery out while I was still in the water and started to make my walk of shame back to the car (thankfully no one was around to witness my shame and embarrassment).

While it seemed like it was submerged forever it was only in the water for a few minutes; one prop was gone, another was broken and other than that there wasn't any other physical damage. As soon as I got home I pulled the gimbal off and started into it w/a blowdryer. After a few mins of that and after I showered (hot) and threw it all back into the car ad went to the local hobby shop and got some

Performance Plus 4 motor spray and gave everything a could spray right there on the spot. Then I sprayed everything again after about 30 mins. Once I got home I removed the GPS and battery cover and sprayed everything again. I removed the copper GPS shield and sprayed the GPS unit, after it dried I reassembled it w/a small piece of cardboard btw the antenna and the shield. Sprayed the GoPro down and threw that into a Ziploc bag w/some rice.

The battery is shot as far as I am concerned and I ordered another this AM, I've been meaning to get a couple of extra ones but I am going to wait until I am certain that this thing flies OK after this little mishap. Once it arrives my plan is to just let it hover until the battery is almost dead. I'll do that at least a few times and if I can come up w/a say to safely tether it I'll do that so it doesn't freak out and fly off on me.

The new battery won't be here for about a week so in the mean time I'm just going to let it sit over a furnace vent. If we make it through this I'll christen it "Zombie".

On a serious note; if there is anything that I should do that I haven't done please let me know.

Thanks!

Hopefully you were in 'fresh' water and not any sort of brackish or salt water. Good that you removed the battery, although I hear they are sealed fairly well so before you toss it try seeing if it'll take a charge. I had just flushed mine off with clean water, blew it off and put it in a bag of rice. A week later I pulled the GoPro out and it's working fine, battery and all. The SOLO .... well ... not so well. In fact I'm in the process right now of putting it back together the second time. I hadn't removed the PixHawk or WiFi card before and when I tested it I have to be within 6ft of SOLO to make connection. I'm suspecting my WiFi card may have dies but I'm going to give it one more try before I give up on it. Good luck.

jhbass · Feb 28, 2017

Thanks!

It was freshwater, an inlet from a river to a lake. I'm hoping that I got enough motor spray in it to flush (excuse the pun) out whatever might be harmful.

If you have to replace the wifi card this might be an option:

Mr GruntHunter · Feb 28, 2017

jhbass said:
Thanks!

It was freshwater, an inlet from a river to a lake. I'm hoping that I got enough motor spray in it to flush (excuse the pun) out whatever might be harmful.

If you have to replace the wifi card this might be an option:

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I have contemplated that. Not sure how much they would cost. When I get it that far apart then I guess I'd have to think about an upgraded GPS card (mine is the original Rev A) and maybe even the new PixHawk that's about to be released. I'm actually more inclined to just sell everything though.

jhbass · Feb 28, 2017

An R11e is $39 each, not too bad. But then again I'm pretty new to all of this.

Mr GruntHunter · Feb 28, 2017

jhbass said:
An R11e is $39 each, not too bad. But then again I'm pretty new to all of this.

Sooo after shipping you're probably looking at around $90. My other option is maybe if I decide to stay in the quadcopter environment is to just pick up one of the new ones I see advertised for $260.

User Name · Feb 28, 2017

jhbass said:
I had to wade out in chest deep water (3 times!) in order to recover it

After reading that, I immediately glanced at your location... and wow, yea, I bet that was cold! I'm in NY too, and standing in any water this time of year is just painful.

I recovered my son's smartphone which spent almost 3 days submerged by putting it in a sealed (ziplock) bag of rice, and alternating putting the bag in the sun, and then airing it out. This was over a summer so I was able to do it outside, so you might have to do it under some other source of heat. What happens is the heat helps evaporate the water for the rice to absorb. After an hour or so, the inside of the bag would have a lot of condensation. I'd open it up and air it out to help remove the moisture from the bag, and then repeat. Kept doing it until little condensation would form in the bag. Rice by itself will help somewhat, but at ambient temperature, it's probably already holding a decent amount of moisture. A little heat will help it absorb a lot more.

jhbass · Mar 2, 2017

User Name said:
After reading that, I immediately glanced at your location... and wow, yea, I bet that was cold! I'm in NY too, and standing in any water this time of year is just painful.

I recovered my son's smartphone which spent almost 3 days submerged by putting it in a sealed (ziplock) bag of rice, and alternating putting the bag in the sun, and then airing it out. This was over a summer so I was able to do it outside, so you might have to do it under some other source of heat. What happens is the heat helps evaporate the water for the rice to absorb. After an hour or so, the inside of the bag would have a lot of condensation. I'd open it up and air it out to help remove the moisture from the bag, and then repeat. Kept doing it until little condensation would form in the bag. Rice by itself will help somewhat, but at ambient temperature, it's probably already holding a decent amount of moisture. A little heat will help it absorb a lot more.

I tried the GoPro this AM and it's a NoPro for the time being, it doesn't even power on. I tried it on a USB cable and no luck there either. It's been sitting in a bag of rice for a couple of days now and I'm hoping that it decides to come back to life. I might pack it into some silica gel.
I ordered a new battery for the Solo and at first it seemed like it was going to be OK. It powers on and makes all sorts of tunes but then the LEDs stay green. At first they were red and white (ish) but after I tried a reset they are a steady green. One motor just sits and twitches. When I first tried it the controller and the app said that it was ready to fly (I had the props off until I was certain that it was going to work) but when I hit the fly it made some sort of tone and just sat there.

I'll try a reset again just to see what happens but I am beginning to think that it's going to have to go in for repair.

That water was cold, I didn't tell my wife about what happened because she would have flipped if I told her that I waded out chest deep into freezing water with no one around just to rescue a drone. I came home, washed my clothes, showered and acted like it was normal day.
I'll tell her about it some day, maybe.

User Name · Mar 3, 2017

jhbass said:
That water was cold, I didn't tell my wife about what happened because she would have flipped if I told her that I waded out chest deep into freezing water with no one around just to rescue a drone. I came home, washed my clothes, showered and acted like it was normal day.
I'll tell her about it some day, maybe.

I bet it was cold! And I bet that shower felt good! A few years back, I took an early spring motorcycle trip to Nova Scotia... I hadn't thought about how far north I was traveling, and by the time I got to a hotel at 10:30 at night, I was frozen to the bone. I stood under a hot shower for probably 2 hours! I still get chills just thinking about it!