Solo crashed in lake! Recovered!!

[ajcarter]

So on my 3rd flight, I stupidly built the courage to fly in manual mode because I was not getting any GPS lock. within 10 seconds of solo in air, the wind had more control of the solo than I did. Then it went wonky on my and shot up diagonally ~600 feet before nose diving towards a lake 500meters out. I ran towards that lake like WIll Smith in Bad boys, jumped in fully clothed and spent 5 minutes going up and down 30 feet depth to locate the solo. long story short, thank god for the blinking battery LED in helping me navigate towards the bottom of a dark lake.

lost all props and battery had separated as well. after 7 days of drying out, i put it all together now and SHE RUNS! However, the battery will only take charge (charger light red) for 1 minute before battery leds shut back off and charger light turns back to green. Anyone experience this with the battery and have possible work arounds. Seems like the battery isn;t fully toast but also not fully operational. It has no marks or swelling and leds to turn on.

Thanks in advance for any input from you guys.

 

[Dobie Ardmore]

Patience is a virtue when it comes to getting a GPS lock on Solo. BUT as evidenced, it is well worth it.
FLY mode is the everyday fly and best mode IMO.

Have you tried a different battery? Extra batteries are a must have anyway.
Put the "submarine" battery in a warm place and wait to see.

Damn, multiple 30 feet free dives to rescue Solo. You should be an Abalone diver!
Kudos to you for the diligence.

 

[Maddog]

I second what Dobie said.
Let the battery dry out and try again. Lay it with the top side down so water can evaporate up through any small openings in the case. It might take a long time. Week or longer. My concern would be turning it on with water inside which might cause a short.

 

[rcflyingaddict]

So on my 3rd flight, I stupidly built the courage to fly in manual mode because I was not getting any GPS lock. within 10 seconds of solo in air, the wind had more control of the solo than I did. Then it went wonky on my and shot up diagonally ~600 feet before nose diving towards a lake 500meters out. I ran towards that lake like WIll Smith in Bad boys, jumped in fully clothed and spent 5 minutes going up and down 30 feet depth to locate the solo. long story short, thank god for the blinking battery LED in helping me navigate towards the bottom of a dark lake.

lost all props and battery had separated as well. after 7 days of drying out, i put it all together now and SHE RUNS! However, the battery will only take charge (charger light red) for 1 minute before battery leds shut back off and charger light turns back to green. Anyone experience this with the battery and have possible work arounds. Seems like the battery isn;t fully toast but also not fully operational. It has no marks or swelling and leds to turn on.

Thanks in advance for any input from you guys.

Congrat's on getting it back ...not sure I would have/could have done that to rescue the solo. In terms of gps acquisition time how was it on your first two flights?

 

[ajcarter]

Patience is a virtue when it comes to getting a GPS lock on Solo. BUT as evidenced, it is well worth it.
FLY mode is the everyday fly and best mode IMO.

Have you tried a different battery? Extra batteries are a must have anyway.
Put the "submarine" battery in a warm place and wait to see.

Damn, multiple 30 feet free dives to rescue Solo. You should be an Abalone diver!
Kudos to you for the diligence.

lol, trust me, the courage did not come from losing solo! Wife bought it as wedding gist 2 weeks. By the time it made it to Canada and after a gopro, she was done $1000. So in short, it was utter fear of being chastised by the wife that gave me the courage, def not a toy!

 

[User Name]

Damn, multiple 30 feet free dives to rescue Solo. You should be an Abalone diver!
Kudos to you for the diligence.

I'll second that. Northern lakes are typically dark and murky. I get the creeps diving them in scuba gear. Free diving to ~30 feet? No way!!

As for the battery, my advice would be to consider it a loss. Any water that got into it will be there for a while, and there's no telling how it might effect the cells, whether or how much it may have shorted them, etc. Just not worth the risk of loosing the Solo and your camera to a compromised battery that might give out in flight.

Oh, and always wait for the GPS lock until you can fly manually with your eyes closed... figuratively speaking of course!

 

[ajcarter]

I'll second that. Northern lakes are typically dark and murky. I get the creeps diving them in scuba gear. Free diving to ~30 feet? No way!!

As for the battery, my advice would be to consider it a loss. Any water that got into it will be there for a while, and there's no telling how it might effect the cells, whether or how much it may have shorted them, etc. Just not worth the risk of loosing the Solo and your camera to a compromised battery that might give out in flight.

Oh, and always wait for the GPS lock until you can fly manually with your eyes closed... figuratively speaking of course!

very good point about failures in the sky! Looks like im in market for batteries....anyone...?

 

[rcflyingaddict]

very good point about failures in the sky! Looks like im in market for batteries....anyone...?

50 bucks pretty much everywhere - Amazon, B&H, ebay to name a few.

 

[Lon Denard]

very good point about failures in the sky! Looks like im in market for batteries....anyone...?

B&H ships for free to Canada, I think. $50 each like the last guy said.

 

[Maddog]

I'll second that. Northern lakes are typically dark and murky. I get the creeps diving them in scuba gear. Free diving to ~30 feet? No way!!

As for the battery, my advice would be to consider it a loss. Any water that got into it will be there for a while, and there's no telling how it might effect the cells, whether or how much it may have shorted them, etc. Just not worth the risk of loosing the Solo and your camera to a compromised battery that might give out in flight.

Oh, and always wait for the GPS lock until you can fly manually with your eyes closed... figuratively speaking of course!

Good point on the battery.

 

[rcflyingaddict]

Good point on the battery.

Yep - even if it dries out it will always be questionable and for fifty bucks may not be worth the risk. Having said that, back in the day a Trex 450 found it's way into waterfall and one 3S battery was literally submerged for a week until we could get out. Rice bag and a week later and said battery flew dozens more flights.

 

[wsalopek]

Great story...awesome effort...yes...wife factor bumps up the intensity quite a bit.

So you swam out 500 meters...fully clothed....dove repeatedly down to 30 feet (for 5 minutes), and then swam back 500 meters carrying Solo?

Wow.

 

[Solo Keith]

So on my 3rd flight, I stupidly built the courage to fly in manual mode because I was not getting any GPS lock. within 10 seconds of solo in air, the wind had more control of the solo than I did. Then it went wonky on my and shot up diagonally ~600 feet before nose diving towards a lake 500meters out. I ran towards that lake like WIll Smith in Bad boys, jumped in fully clothed and spent 5 minutes going up and down 30 feet depth to locate the solo. long story short, thank god for the blinking battery LED in helping me navigate towards the bottom of a dark lake.

lost all props and battery had separated as well. after 7 days of drying out, i put it all together now and SHE RUNS! However, the battery will only take charge (charger light red) for 1 minute before battery leds shut back off and charger light turns back to green. Anyone experience this with the battery and have possible work arounds. Seems like the battery isn;t fully toast but also not fully operational. It has no marks or swelling and leds to turn on.

Thanks in advance for any input from you guys.

Great story with a good ending. Would have been nice if that scenario was marathon related. I think you would have won even with your clothes on

 

[Lon Denard]

Mine dropped in a river that was maybe 2-3 feet deep and I watched it go... My jeans and shoes cost more than that drone! Hahaha! Bye Felicia! I wouldn't have jumped in that lake after my phone, much less a drone!

 

[FaxMachine]

30ft, okay that's cool, but where'd you keep the darn thing while it was drying out and what was your cover story?