First vid of the year on this channel! Sorry for the delay, I've been a bit sick my vlog: • CRASHING DRONES IN SNOW! the conformal coating I used: amzn.to/2m94MMP
Left a comment on your other video with more detail. Order up some Kafuter 705 Clear RTV from Hobbyking. (there are more expensive and harder to get industrial versions from GE and Dow, but this is good stuff, easy to get, and is priced right) It's a "next level" coating that most quad guys don't seem to know about. I'm an Industrial Controls Engineer and know my way around protecting PCBs from harsh conditions. I've done several of my quads and have not had a single failure. I do add a layer of tape over the ESCs (which is pretty standard) and seal the ends of the tape with RTV and I cover the FC with electrical/duct tape to form a physical shield - it looks crappy, but provides physical protection from the snow which will melt on contact with ESCs and even FCs unless it's VERY cold out. If you can keep the bulk of the snow off, it's a plus. To sum it up, I use a 3 tier system, 1st layer is MG Silicone Modified Conformal coating #422b-340g - it's a spray, spray it in a container and let it set and flash off some of the solvent until it starts to thicken up. 3 coats on everything but connectors. This is the same as the Acrylic coating, but has some silicone added for higher temp tolerance, some flexibility and to thicken the film. You can use Krylon "Crystal clear" or any clear Acrylic Spray in a pinch. Another tip: Use a standard "COOL White" LED light to see the film (it throws a lot of UV (blacklight)) 2nd layer is Kafuter 705 (mid viscosity) clear Electronics grade RTV (don't use hardware store RTV, it's corrosive (acetic cure) and not removable). Kafuter is worth ordering and is easily removable with a stiff toothbrush. Be careful on the VTX, if you put too much coating on it may get hot. 3rd layer Silicone self bonding tape on resc (arm mount) and Electrical tape over that, seal ends with RTV or goop in a pinch. Cover the FC, VTX (warning above), and any other device with tape to protect from snow, water and slime as best you can. looks funny, but flies great!! 4 - almost forgot - get some "Silicone Dielectric Grease" from your autoparts store or Wal-mart even - this is sold for ignitions and protecting headlight connectors, and can be found at most parts counters. Use this for your connectors - fill all connectors with this BEFORE sealing and it will keep the other coatings from interfering with the connectors. You can use Corrosion X, but this is much better. Hope this helps.....
great call. I suggest that is functionally equiv to what you can easily purchase at local auto parts store. example: Permatex Clear RTV Silicone Adhesive Sealant @ amzn.to/2Um0mlo
Im native german and my english is not perfect.. That`s why I´m asking here: you wrote: "I do add a layer of tape over the ESCs (which is pretty standard) and seal the ends of the tape with RTV..." 1. Like "E-Tape" or Heatshrink the ESC right ? ( pretty standart ) 2. Seal the end of the Heatshrink with Silicone glue right ? ( I already have bought "Tian Mu 704 white/black silicone glue" from Bangood..should be the right ? )
@@Cre8ionz. 1 -The silicone I recommend is flowable (but VERY viscous) and non-corrosive, as well as being somewhat soft once cured, allowing you to brush it off easily if you ever need to service the board. The flowability is the key character that allows it to form a nice even coat and act as a water barrier that also provides some mechanical protection. If your silicone meets these requirements it should be OK. You can tell a corrosive silicone if the tube says "Acetic" on it, or if the uncured silicone smells like vinegar. I looked up the Tian Mu 704 and it says it's non-corrosove, so it should work ok, but may be too thick to flow out and non-removable. Service later on may be difficult. I'd recommend doing a test on an old (scrap) PCB to see if you can remove it without damage to resolder motor leads etc. 2 - The ESC/Arm covering, Yes use silicone glue to seal the ends of the wrapping. Heatshrink will work, but can be hard to find a size that will fit over the motor mount and still shring down tight on the narrow section. They now sell 3:1 heatshrink which will help. I like the electrical tape because it's something I always have on hand, and is easily opened to check for damage in the field. What I do (Used to do, currently I'm running all 4 in 1 ESCs, except for a few older quads) - FWIW- I Like the Diatone Mamba stack) is attach the ESC to the arm with 3M foam automotive trim tape, then wrap the ESC with self bonding silicone tape (the kind that has no adhesive, but fuses to itself forming a solid rubber mass) This layer provides a good level of water protection and especially a "Cushion" to protect against impacts, (a small piece of old prop blade affixed at the point where the prop tip will hit is a cheap insurance against a deflected prop damaging the wrap and ESC). Next I use the silicone sealer to seal up both ends of the rubber "tube" you've created around the arm. The self bonding tape leaves a somewhat tacky rubber surface, so I wrap the rubber tape and silicone glue (while still wet) with a layer or 2 of plain vinyl electrical tape (like 3M 33+) to finish off the installation. This results in a very durable and waterproof system which is still easily opened for ESC or motor replacement. I hope this helps, if you're not clear or you need something re-phrased to translate better, feel free to ask. Happy flying!
Hey Scott, newby here from Australia. Can you please let me know your thoughts on the dry drone shake n bake product. I'm using it for my phantoms and mavic. I'm curious how far you can go with these products as in how much of the drone can be done. As the fella said in the video, people are flying underwater. Not that I plan too but I'm curious and will be looking that up next on here. Great advise and thanks so much for sharing.
@@axemanarbor I've not used the Shake and Bake kit, but from the tests and reviews I see online, all it seems to be is a small bottle of conformal coating and a bag to shake your parts in. I see a couple of very real concerns to using a dip or worse yet a "Shake and Bake" technique of application. #1 is that it will cover all connector terminal surfaces, rendering them non-functional, or at very least unreliable. #2 is many flight controllers have a PC board mounted barometers in them which have a small (pinhole sized) hole through which atmospheric pressure is detected. If conformal coating enters or blocks that hole, the Barometer will be destroyed, and it's a critical function for many autonomous drones, especially the Phantom and Mavic. If the Barometer were damaged on those quads, they would probably shut down for safety reasons, and would , at very least throw an error and have poor landing and proximity performance. If I had some Shake N Bake and wished to use it, I would paint it on with a modeling brush, probably using 2 or 3 coats, and be careful to avoid the barometer and any electrical connectors. The Barometer is usually a small rectangular or square metal device, with a hole in the top or side. They are often covered with a small piece of black foam, as some of them are sensitive to light shining in the case opening (the light effects the semiconductor chip in a way similar to how a solar cell works). In some larger drones, the atmospheric pressure reference is carried to the outside of the drone using a piece of plastic tubing, but these are usually the real high priced commercial variety. As far as what you need to protect, and what you can safely protect, I usually seal all the open PC boards and connectors where water can get in. The motors are pretty much waterproof as is, except if they get very wet, they should be dried completely and the bearings re-oiled. Rust kills the bearings, but the wiring is pretty well immune to water. If your boards are protected against splashing by a plastic body, like a Phantom, you're good for most light rain and such, but not against submersion, like a puddle landing. If you want to guard against submersion, nothing is going to be 100% effective unless the quad is designed for submersion, but you can get most quads protected well enough that an accidentally landing in a creek isn't a death sentence. To do so, Conformal coat all the boards, leaving any questionable components and connectors free of conformal coating. Connectors can be well protected by sealing with Dielectric grease (Vaseline/Petroleum jelly works in a pinch, but melts at high temps). The grease can be used to seal anything you don't want conformal coating on like connectors and grommets where wires pass through. You can even coat boards with it, it works so well the telephone company used it in all their switchgear - at least here in the US (back in the days of land based phones). Seams in bodies and screw holes can be sealed with electrical tape (available in white and many colors, so your drone doesn't look patched together), or even the grease, but I generally avoid using the grease on the outside too much, as it picks up dirt and is messy. The Electronics grade RTV isn't a bad choice for grommets and seams as long as you can get it off again -- this is where the Kafuter 705 shines, it's weak, and is easily removed for service. I'm flying mostly DJI HD stuff these days, but still use the Electronics grade RTV and MG Chemicals Spray for conformal coating flight controllers and ESCs, usually applied by spraying it in a small container (the can cap) and then using a model paint brush to apply to the PCB. The DJI large Air unit and camera are well sealed from the factory, but the lightweight options (Caddix) are open PC Boards and need the usual treatment if you're going to get them wet. I use silicone dielectric grease to fill and seal the connector on the DJI Air unit. This grease is available at auto parts stores and is used on autos for the same purpose. Here in the US it's sold next to the replacement headlamps and bulbs, and it's readily available online as "Dielectric Grease" or "High Vacuum Grease" (it's also used for sealing laboratory glassware). Last, and probably most important is what to do when it happens. Get the quad out of the water and powered down as fast as possible. The longer it's wet and hot, the lower the chances of saving it get. The battery is a hazard, so remove it and place it somewhere where it won't burn anything down if it goes off. I carry WD-40 or any good moisture displacing spray in my truck, as soon as the battery is out, shake out or blow out (a can of computer "air" is good to keep in your vehicle) as much water as you can. If it's dirty or salt water rinse it off until it's only wet with clean water, then proceed. Once it's as dry as you can get it spray the motors, PC boards (stay away from Barometers, camera sensors etc if possible) and all connectors until the WD-40 runs clear (no water droplets). repeat the blow off and dry with paper towels or rags. It's now good to get home and dry properly. 24hrs or more with low temp high flow air is best, don't bake it. A plain old window fan works well, assisted by a hair dryer on low until there are no signs of water. The longer you can wait until you power back up, the better. I often give it a week, but a couple days is pretty safe, a day is pushing it, but I've done it a lot. The truth be known, if you did a good job sealing it up, A good shake, some WD-40 (maybe) and another good shake, clean the lens and 85% of the time you're good to go back in the air. Keep it close to home for a while. Hope that helps, happy flying down under!
This is an old post and I am sorry for that, just now finding your videos. I put 4 complete coats waiting for it to dry in between coats. One thing you missed though, the heat sinks on the ESCs, unless you take them off of the mosfets the conformal coating can't get down in there, if the heat sinks do not come off you kind of have to flood the conformal coating under them or get some high temp silicone (Blue RTV silicone from any hardware store is awesome) and put a bead around the base of the heat sink to keep water/snow from getting underneath. It would probably be a good idea for the RTV around the cracks in the camera shell that CC cannot fill up. I used to repair consumer electronics for a living, what you are doing by letting them dry out is spot on, corrosion doesn't tend to start without power there is no electrolysis, but add water and power and it will corrode sometimes in mere seconds so unplugging everything, letting it dry by a heat/air source overnight is perfect. Sorry for the novel.
I meticulously applied conformal coating to my build. It survived two months high in a tree with frequent rain. Blew it out with some clean air and it is fine, Now with a delicate rust patina on the bevels of the Diatone motor screws. I think the coating helped it survive along with the sympathetic magic I invoked by wearing a NASA T-shirt when I applied it.
I have to say, using Turtle Mode in the snow is awesome. I just posted on Snowproofing my ET125. I like it because there is some extra protection for the components with the cover on it. But it isn’t really an acrobatic quad. I put two coats on everything and with that I was able to dive it into the snow and fly it out several times.
Great info Drew, I personally don't use conformal coating liquids - It's almost always raining in Scotland, I use plumbing silicone tape around my components, the tape fuses together nicely but when you need to make a repair, you do need to remove it from the component and then reapply it afterwards. It's not the cheapest solution but it works for me, it comes in various colours including clear if you (like me) have RGB ESC's you can show off your "bling"
Only a few things I can think of to better protect components: -Like you say in your video, two or three coats is better. But when applying coats, I wait for the first layer to dry out, then repeat for the next two or three coats. Giving it time between coats is key. -Second thing is coat the edges. I didn't really see you coat the sides of the boards (FC, ESC, VTx, Camera, Rx). I coat the edges the same amount as everything else with two to three coats while letting it dry in between coats. -I guess if in doubt put a fourth layer on to really seal it all up. -Also, if there is a bind button on a component (say the FC, VTx, Rx) coat around it. If the confromal coating gets into the button, it is really difficult to push the button afterwards.
Maybe the all issue came from the ESCs, they have a heatsink and can not conformal coating the mosfets. By the way, that FC came already coated from factory.
Another thing you would like to check into is Dielectric grease as it will be able to go into the ports that you don't use or even the USB port to do use this will also allow you to have great connectivity and prevent oxidation on components and tabs
Another thing that you may not know of or some other people may not know of but using a black light will help illuminate the conformal Coating in a way that allows you to see spots you may have missed that you thought you got real well
From my experience ESCs are first thing to die from even moisture. You need to take special care on them like 2 or 3 layers. Secondly on Aria you should take off metal plate and coat the whole ESC (not sure if you have done it). I coat my quads always before flying in snowy area and never had electronics failure, recently I even used nail polish because I had no access to anything else (trip in the mountains). Be supercareful don't miss any spots and the you can literally have snowman quad which will fly without any problems.
Few tips from what I have learned: 1.Remove the stickers from your ESC's so you can get it stuffed better in there. 2. Apply much more than you are supposed to. I added like 8 layers. Waited around 15 minutes between layers and after final layer wait for 12 hours. 3. Add some hotglue around your camera case to completely seal it. If you get moisture in there it will fog your lense from the inside. 4. Dont coat any press buttons because they will prettymuch stop functioning. In Finland prettymuch everyone coats their rig becausw there is snow literally everywhere and we still do fly and crash alot. Some good products that I have used are electro lube FSC, PVB60 and PRF202.
I used to work at a place and we made circuit boards for gas meters and we used conformal coating but we put on thick coating then circuit boards went through environmental chamber hot and cold for 24 hours. With all that said I think you just need more coating. Also have to make sure NO moisture gets caught under the coating. It caused serious problems on the ADC part of the circuit.
Please always do this in a well ventilated area, wear protective gear and if you have a mask, use that too. This stuff is harmful. Get a UV Light to check that all is coated correctly, this stuff glows under UV. Happy coating!
I'm pretty ignorant and new on the subject , but after watching the guy flying his quad in the pool I have to give it a try ! so i got the Silicone Modified Conformal Coating stuff on order . But now my excitement is waning with your so so results ..... A few concerns though about your cleaning . It looked a bit rough with such large amounts of alcohol applied and quite hard scrub Scub SCUB with a stiff looking tooth bush ! Could a hidden pool of alcohol be lurking in a sensitive spot causing you SMCC not to stick and water getting in , or a component scrubbed loose existing , giving you an unreliable connection ? Because two coats should have done the trick . I'm going to start on my $14 H8 Mini , use a vacuum and soft paint brush to clean dust and dirt ! Ruining expensive stuff makes cry ....... I like the cheap ideas , clear nail polish $1 or Silicone WD40 $10. The SMCC costs $26 , as much as two H8s here . Someone needs to do a comparison to test of all options for effectiveness and durability . I also suggest everybody use flotation if you fly over deep water . What about using a blow dryer for faster curing and guaranteed drying ? The pool guy said a UV light was a necessity so you don't miss a spot . What are your issues after a wetting , so people can help sort out your problems ? Anyways , you're more of an expert than me , and thanks for a Great vid ! Hope you sort it out !
Use MGs application directions. Thin layer, wait 60 sec. then thicker layer, dry (24hrs. or in oven) and do it again. I shellac that stuff on and have no problems with snow. After reworking joints I don't clean I just do the above and shellac it again...worked so far...
Also is there a way to tell what could be a gyroscope on the FC so I dont mess with it. Joshua bardwell said conformal coating could mess with stuff like that. Could be wrong about it being the gyroscope but just wanna be sure haha
I only build conformal coated now ich just use Platik70 its acrylic and not as good as silicone stuff but get's the job done for me. Anyways I just coat every part while building up the quad. That way you just save a lot of time and effort.
I think he should do a follow up to mention this detail. Thank you Smokin Mesa! I almost coated over mine. Of course you could just burn it off the barometer with a soldering iron if you coated over it i suppose?
Is 70% isopropyl okay? I know the other 30% I've heard is water so I dont want to ruin a board by trying to make it safer hahaha. Im sure if I just dipped the toothbrush and not dumped the isopropyl straight onto the PCB'S/Stack
What do you guys think....spray corrosion x on everything first and then conformal coat????? Or the other way around ??? Would that make it any better ????
Just move to a desert like me. Skies always blue too and it rarely gets below 10 degC. Soldering after silicon conformal is do-able, but it's like you don't have enough heat. You get to dog poo points and dull joints.
I know this answer is kinda late. but I always just desolder my motors. Plugin and cover up the USB port. Drop the entire ESC and FC receiver and VTX into a bucket with Conformal coating. Keep in mind when you do it like this it is final! then I use some alcohol to clean the ESC pads. solder the motors back on. and coat them by hand. Put everything back on the frame and. OFF YOU GO! Into the SNOW!
PLEASE HELP, I use a DX6i radio and bought the spektrum race quad receiver at get fpv. It flies just normal, but sometimes when I fly in sertain directions I suddenly have failsafes. My antennas are mounted at an 90 degrees angle and I plugged it right into the satelit port and set it up in Betaflight. What could be goin wrong? I now switched back to my orange r620x v2 (ppm) beacause I haven't had any of those issues with it. :(
I realize this is an ancient comment, but do you happen to know why that is? I read something about it being tricky to get things sealed properly because of heat sinks shielding access to the components they're attached to (the MOSFETs, I believe), leaving gaps where water can still get in and cause damage if you don't get the conformal coating up under the edges of the heatsinks. Does expoxy just make it easier the get the whole thing sealed up?
I do know there are companies that can fully waterproof anything electrical using a molecular bonding system but I can't for the life of me remember what substance they use to do it.
You can get this UV flash light to check to ensure you are not missing any spot. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C1UXEP0. Also, the conformal coating has pretty nasty chemicals. Apply the coating outside with good ventilation and wear protective gloves. Just to be safe, wear a respirator with filters for organic vapor.
Sounds too risky to me, ive never crashed anything but im still not confident, with moving parts and heat and holes that need to be left unprotected its a gamble.
Have you ever tried to use Rust-Oleum NeverWet people was using it on their cell phones and some other things might be something you might want to check into
You may already know being as this was 2 years ago but the motor wires are the only thing you need to coat if anything. The stator and the like in the motor is already insulated as a necessity for the motor to actually function. That said while you can technically turn a quad into a submarine doing this, the bearings are the failure point here, as the motors run in the water it will forcibly displace the grease in the bearing and cause those to fail sooner than later, might be able to simply replace them, I've not yet taken apart a motor to see how difficult that may or may not be.
If John hill and Bardwell had a baby it woule be le drib haha. On the real I just had my bottle show in the mail the other day. Let it dry for a day and when i plugged in my kwad.. it smelled like somthing fried but it flys fine and didn't see any smoke so screw it till it actually malfunctions (probably not the smartest but oh well lololz)
This shit doesn't work for me at all! I covered my drone electronics 3 layers and after fall in the the river I just burnt 3 of 4 stm on esc. Previous time I fell in snow and burnt stm on flight controller and 1 stm on esc. Thanks God I have a friend who knows electronics and explained me how to make diagnostics and repair this boards buying 10$ stm for a fc and 6$ stm for esc, but not buying 100$ stack again and again
hi everyone. Is there anyone that could help me? I have conformalcoated my flightcontroller but now all the 5v outs like those that go to the camera or vtx or.... only give 0.04v anymore so basically nothing? I did not get coating on the connectors the board just doesn't give out 5v anymore after coating, before coating it was perfectly fine. I removed the formal coating but it still didn't solve the problem. The ESC's power up and the flightcontroller is recognized by computer. just the 5v out's aren't working so receiver , vtx and camera are not getting 5v anyone got any thoughts, idea's on what might be wrong?
Save yourself a bit of money and get your hands on a .99 cent bottle of clear liquid nail polish. I've been using it for 20 years to protect my electronics. Never fried anything. 20 years experience???????? ;)
Left a comment on your other video with more detail. Order up some Kafuter 705 Clear RTV from Hobbyking. (there are more expensive and harder to get industrial versions from GE and Dow, but this is good stuff, easy to get, and is priced right) It's a "next level" coating that most quad guys don't seem to know about. I'm an Industrial Controls Engineer and know my way around protecting PCBs from harsh conditions.
I've done several of my quads and have not had a single failure. I do add a layer of tape over the ESCs (which is pretty standard) and seal the ends of the tape with RTV and I cover the FC with electrical/duct tape to form a physical shield - it looks crappy, but provides physical protection from the snow which will melt on contact with ESCs and even FCs unless it's VERY cold out. If you can keep the bulk of the snow off, it's a plus.
To sum it up, I use a 3 tier system,
1st layer is MG Silicone Modified Conformal coating #422b-340g - it's a spray, spray it in a container and let it set and flash off some of the solvent until it starts to thicken up. 3 coats on everything but connectors.
This is the same as the Acrylic coating, but has some silicone added for higher temp tolerance, some flexibility and to thicken the film. You can use Krylon "Crystal clear" or any clear Acrylic Spray in a pinch. Another tip: Use a standard "COOL White" LED light to see the film (it throws a lot of UV (blacklight))
2nd layer is Kafuter 705 (mid viscosity) clear Electronics grade RTV (don't use hardware store RTV, it's corrosive (acetic cure) and not removable). Kafuter is worth ordering and is easily removable with a stiff toothbrush. Be careful on the VTX, if you put too much coating on it may get hot.
3rd layer Silicone self bonding tape on resc (arm mount) and Electrical tape over that, seal ends with RTV or goop in a pinch.
Cover the FC, VTX (warning above), and any other device with tape to protect from snow, water and slime as best you can. looks funny, but flies great!!
4 - almost forgot - get some "Silicone Dielectric Grease" from your autoparts store or Wal-mart even - this is sold for ignitions and protecting headlight connectors, and can be found at most parts counters. Use this for your connectors - fill all connectors with this BEFORE sealing and it will keep the other coatings from interfering with the connectors. You can use Corrosion X, but this is much better.
Hope this helps.....
great call. I suggest that is functionally equiv to what you can easily purchase at local auto parts store. example: Permatex Clear RTV Silicone Adhesive Sealant @ amzn.to/2Um0mlo
Im native german and my english is not perfect..
That`s why I´m asking here:
you wrote: "I do add a layer of tape over the ESCs (which is pretty standard) and seal the ends of the tape with RTV..."
1. Like "E-Tape" or Heatshrink the ESC right ? ( pretty standart )
2. Seal the end of the Heatshrink with Silicone glue right ?
( I already have bought "Tian Mu 704 white/black silicone glue" from Bangood..should be the right ? )
@@Cre8ionz. 1 -The silicone I recommend is flowable (but VERY viscous) and non-corrosive, as well as being somewhat soft once cured, allowing you to brush it off easily if you ever need to service the board. The flowability is the key character that allows it to form a nice even coat and act as a water barrier that also provides some mechanical protection. If your silicone meets these requirements it should be OK. You can tell a corrosive silicone if the tube says "Acetic" on it, or if the uncured silicone smells like vinegar. I looked up the Tian Mu 704 and it says it's non-corrosove, so it should work ok, but may be too thick to flow out and non-removable. Service later on may be difficult. I'd recommend doing a test on an old (scrap) PCB to see if you can remove it without damage to resolder motor leads etc.
2 - The ESC/Arm covering, Yes use silicone glue to seal the ends of the wrapping. Heatshrink will work, but can be hard to find a size that will fit over the motor mount and still shring down tight on the narrow section. They now sell 3:1 heatshrink which will help. I like the electrical tape because it's something I always have on hand, and is easily opened to check for damage in the field.
What I do (Used to do, currently I'm running all 4 in 1 ESCs, except for a few older quads) - FWIW- I Like the Diatone Mamba stack) is attach the ESC to the arm with 3M foam automotive trim tape, then wrap the ESC with self bonding silicone tape (the kind that has no adhesive, but fuses to itself forming a solid rubber mass) This layer provides a good level of water protection and especially a "Cushion" to protect against impacts, (a small piece of old prop blade affixed at the point where the prop tip will hit is a cheap insurance against a deflected prop damaging the wrap and ESC). Next I use the silicone sealer to seal up both ends of the rubber "tube" you've created around the arm. The self bonding tape leaves a somewhat tacky rubber surface, so I wrap the rubber tape and silicone glue (while still wet) with a layer or 2 of plain vinyl electrical tape (like 3M 33+) to finish off the installation.
This results in a very durable and waterproof system which is still easily opened for ESC or motor replacement.
I hope this helps, if you're not clear or you need something re-phrased to translate better, feel free to ask.
Happy flying!
Hey Scott, newby here from Australia. Can you please let me know your thoughts on the dry drone shake n bake product. I'm using it for my phantoms and mavic. I'm curious how far you can go with these products as in how much of the drone can be done. As the fella said in the video, people are flying underwater. Not that I plan too but I'm curious and will be looking that up next on here.
Great advise and thanks so much for sharing.
@@axemanarbor I've not used the Shake and Bake kit, but from the tests and reviews I see online, all it seems to be is a small bottle of conformal coating and a bag to shake your parts in. I see a couple of very real concerns to using a dip or worse yet a "Shake and Bake" technique of application. #1 is that it will cover all connector terminal surfaces, rendering them non-functional, or at very least unreliable. #2 is many flight controllers have a PC board mounted barometers in them which have a small (pinhole sized) hole through which atmospheric pressure is detected. If conformal coating enters or blocks that hole, the Barometer will be destroyed, and it's a critical function for many autonomous drones, especially the Phantom and Mavic. If the Barometer were damaged on those quads, they would probably shut down for safety reasons, and would , at very least throw an error and have poor landing and proximity performance.
If I had some Shake N Bake and wished to use it, I would paint it on with a modeling brush, probably using 2 or 3 coats, and be careful to avoid the barometer and any electrical connectors. The Barometer is usually a small rectangular or square metal device, with a hole in the top or side. They are often covered with a small piece of black foam, as some of them are sensitive to light shining in the case opening (the light effects the semiconductor chip in a way similar to how a solar cell works). In some larger drones, the atmospheric pressure reference is carried to the outside of the drone using a piece of plastic tubing, but these are usually the real high priced commercial variety.
As far as what you need to protect, and what you can safely protect, I usually seal all the open PC boards and connectors where water can get in. The motors are pretty much waterproof as is, except if they get very wet, they should be dried completely and the bearings re-oiled. Rust kills the bearings, but the wiring is pretty well immune to water.
If your boards are protected against splashing by a plastic body, like a Phantom, you're good for most light rain and such, but not against submersion, like a puddle landing. If you want to guard against submersion, nothing is going to be 100% effective unless the quad is designed for submersion, but you can get most quads protected well enough that an accidentally landing in a creek isn't a death sentence. To do so, Conformal coat all the boards, leaving any questionable components and connectors free of conformal coating. Connectors can be well protected by sealing with Dielectric grease (Vaseline/Petroleum jelly works in a pinch, but melts at high temps). The grease can be used to seal anything you don't want conformal coating on like connectors and grommets where wires pass through. You can even coat boards with it, it works so well the telephone company used it in all their switchgear - at least here in the US (back in the days of land based phones).
Seams in bodies and screw holes can be sealed with electrical tape (available in white and many colors, so your drone doesn't look patched together), or even the grease, but I generally avoid using the grease on the outside too much, as it picks up dirt and is messy. The Electronics grade RTV isn't a bad choice for grommets and seams as long as you can get it off again -- this is where the Kafuter 705 shines, it's weak, and is easily removed for service.
I'm flying mostly DJI HD stuff these days, but still use the Electronics grade RTV and MG Chemicals Spray for conformal coating flight controllers and ESCs, usually applied by spraying it in a small container (the can cap) and then using a model paint brush to apply to the PCB. The DJI large Air unit and camera are well sealed from the factory, but the lightweight options (Caddix) are open PC Boards and need the usual treatment if you're going to get them wet. I use silicone dielectric grease to fill and seal the connector on the DJI Air unit. This grease is available at auto parts stores and is used on autos for the same purpose. Here in the US it's sold next to the replacement headlamps and bulbs, and it's readily available online as "Dielectric Grease" or "High Vacuum Grease" (it's also used for sealing laboratory glassware).
Last, and probably most important is what to do when it happens. Get the quad out of the water and powered down as fast as possible. The longer it's wet and hot, the lower the chances of saving it get. The battery is a hazard, so remove it and place it somewhere where it won't burn anything down if it goes off. I carry WD-40 or any good moisture displacing spray in my truck, as soon as the battery is out, shake out or blow out (a can of computer "air" is good to keep in your vehicle) as much water as you can. If it's dirty or salt water rinse it off until it's only wet with clean water, then proceed. Once it's as dry as you can get it spray the motors, PC boards (stay away from Barometers, camera sensors etc if possible) and all connectors until the WD-40 runs clear (no water droplets). repeat the blow off and dry with paper towels or rags. It's now good to get home and dry properly. 24hrs or more with low temp high flow air is best, don't bake it. A plain old window fan works well, assisted by a hair dryer on low until there are no signs of water. The longer you can wait until you power back up, the better. I often give it a week, but a couple days is pretty safe, a day is pushing it, but I've done it a lot. The truth be known, if you did a good job sealing it up, A good shake, some WD-40 (maybe) and another good shake, clean the lens and 85% of the time you're good to go back in the air. Keep it close to home for a while.
Hope that helps, happy flying down under!
Drone Mesh has a great series on conformal coating components. Thanks for your addition to this!
I conformal coated myself and now I don't use towels after shower anymore
Mateyhv1 - so how did you get the rock salt out of your arse..? Did your component shrink when soaked in alcohol..?
Genius
@@Nothinglefttosay lol
like a Boss !!
why do you shower if you don`t get dirty anymore? :D
No one seems to mention that you should check the MSDS safety sheet on this before using.
Also, a UV light is immensely helpful.
Happy rain dancing!
This is an old post and I am sorry for that, just now finding your videos.
I put 4 complete coats waiting for it to dry in between coats.
One thing you missed though, the heat sinks on the ESCs, unless you take them off of the mosfets the conformal coating can't get down in there, if the heat sinks do not come off you kind of have to flood the conformal coating under them or get some high temp silicone (Blue RTV silicone from any hardware store is awesome) and put a bead around the base of the heat sink to keep water/snow from getting underneath.
It would probably be a good idea for the RTV around the cracks in the camera shell that CC cannot fill up.
I used to repair consumer electronics for a living, what you are doing by letting them dry out is spot on, corrosion doesn't tend to start without power there is no electrolysis, but add water and power and it will corrode sometimes in mere seconds so unplugging everything, letting it dry by a heat/air source overnight is perfect.
Sorry for the novel.
I meticulously applied conformal coating to my build. It survived two months high in a tree with frequent rain. Blew it out with some clean air and it is fine, Now with a delicate rust patina on the bevels of the Diatone motor screws. I think the coating helped it survive along with the sympathetic magic I invoked by wearing a NASA T-shirt when I applied it.
I have to say, using Turtle Mode in the snow is awesome. I just posted on Snowproofing my ET125. I like it because there is some extra protection for the components with the cover on it. But it isn’t really an acrobatic quad. I put two coats on everything and with that I was able to dive it into the snow and fly it out several times.
hey bro the conformal coating has aerosol too... would that work instead of painting it on?
Im amazed that with such a liberal amount of coating and you still had issues with the snow!
Great info Drew, I personally don't use conformal coating liquids - It's almost always raining in Scotland, I use plumbing silicone tape around my components, the tape fuses together nicely but when you need to make a repair, you do need to remove it from the component and then reapply it afterwards. It's not the cheapest solution but it works for me, it comes in various colours including clear if you (like me) have RGB ESC's you can show off your "bling"
Thanks drew! Can’t wait to get your motors in my mailbox bro! Don’t catch that flu bug going around hope you feel better man!
Only a few things I can think of to better protect components:
-Like you say in your video, two or three coats is better. But when applying coats, I wait for the first layer to dry out, then repeat for the next two or three coats. Giving it time between coats is key.
-Second thing is coat the edges. I didn't really see you coat the sides of the boards (FC, ESC, VTx, Camera, Rx). I coat the edges the same amount as everything else with two to three coats while letting it dry in between coats.
-I guess if in doubt put a fourth layer on to really seal it all up.
-Also, if there is a bind button on a component (say the FC, VTx, Rx) coat around it. If the confromal coating gets into the button, it is really difficult to push the button afterwards.
recoat time is only 5 min for the #422b conformal coating
Maybe the all issue came from the ESCs, they have a heatsink and can not conformal coating the mosfets. By the way, that FC came already coated from factory.
This has been on my mind since the snow has just begun
Another thing you would like to check into is Dielectric grease as it will be able to go into the ports that you don't use or even the USB port to do use this will also allow you to have great connectivity and prevent oxidation on components and tabs
good to know !! bought :D
Another thing that you may not know of or some other people may not know of but using a black light will help illuminate the conformal Coating in a way that allows you to see spots you may have missed that you thought you got real well
if you watched the video he says that, so i guess he does know..
From my experience ESCs are first thing to die from even moisture. You need to take special care on them like 2 or 3 layers. Secondly on Aria you should take off metal plate and coat the whole ESC (not sure if you have done it). I coat my quads always before flying in snowy area and never had electronics failure, recently I even used nail polish because I had no access to anything else (trip in the mountains). Be supercareful don't miss any spots and the you can literally have snowman quad which will fly without any problems.
conkerkh did fingernail polish work?
Few tips from what I have learned: 1.Remove the stickers from your ESC's so you can get it stuffed better in there.
2. Apply much more than you are supposed to. I added like 8 layers. Waited around 15 minutes between layers and after final layer wait for 12 hours.
3. Add some hotglue around your camera case to completely seal it. If you get moisture in there it will fog your lense from the inside.
4. Dont coat any press buttons because they will prettymuch stop functioning.
In Finland prettymuch everyone coats their rig becausw there is snow literally everywhere and we still do fly and crash alot.
Some good products that I have used are electro lube FSC, PVB60 and PRF202.
I used to work at a place and we made circuit boards for gas meters and we used conformal coating but we put on thick coating then circuit boards went through environmental chamber hot and cold for 24 hours. With all that said I think you just need more coating. Also have to make sure NO moisture gets caught under the coating. It caused serious problems on the ADC part of the circuit.
Yes, multiple coats is a must! I would like to see the under water test.
Damn I fly spektrum my self, over due for an upgrade. But just dnt forget where u came from bro 👊🏻
hey dribs, always enjoy your vids, would love to see a tutorial on how you cut your vids on the puter :)
Please always do this in a well ventilated area, wear protective gear and if you have a mask, use that too. This stuff is harmful. Get a UV Light to check that all is coated correctly, this stuff glows under UV. Happy coating!
Hi Drew, another gear post. I see you are using the DYS F4 Board as I do (love it) But I just wondered what you think of the new version ?
tip... use denatured alcohol, not isopropyl.
the motors are beautiful
I'm pretty ignorant and new on the subject , but after watching the guy flying his quad in the pool I have to give it a try ! so i got the Silicone Modified Conformal Coating stuff on order . But now my excitement is waning with your so so results ..... A few concerns though about your cleaning . It looked a bit rough with such large amounts of alcohol applied and quite hard scrub Scub SCUB with a stiff looking tooth bush ! Could a hidden pool of alcohol be lurking in a sensitive spot causing you SMCC not to stick and water getting in , or a component scrubbed loose existing , giving you an unreliable connection ? Because two coats should have done the trick . I'm going to start on my $14 H8 Mini , use a vacuum and soft paint brush to clean dust and dirt ! Ruining expensive stuff makes cry ....... I like the cheap ideas , clear nail polish $1 or Silicone WD40 $10. The SMCC costs $26 , as much as two H8s here . Someone needs to do a comparison to test of all options for effectiveness and durability . I also suggest everybody use flotation if you fly over deep water . What about using a blow dryer for faster curing and guaranteed drying ? The pool guy said a UV light was a necessity so you don't miss a spot . What are your issues after a wetting , so people can help sort out your problems ? Anyways , you're more of an expert than me , and thanks for a Great vid ! Hope you sort it out !
Use MGs application directions. Thin layer, wait 60 sec. then thicker layer, dry (24hrs. or in oven) and do it again. I shellac that stuff on and have no problems with snow. After reworking joints I don't clean I just do the above and shellac it again...worked so far...
My 5" drone dries out and flies again, but my small Mobula 7 is pretty damaged after falling into the snow a few times :/
Yeah the AIO boards are unfortunately not as forgiving when it comes to stuff like that..
Also is there a way to tell what could be a gyroscope on the FC so I dont mess with it. Joshua bardwell said conformal coating could mess with stuff like that. Could be wrong about it being the gyroscope but just wanna be sure haha
According to Peter in Flight Test Waterproofing Electronics video epoxy is good for waterproofing an ESC.
Wait what motors are those? They look sick but there isn't a link in your description
i take it if its a new diy drone kit u have to do all the soldering before i coat everything
May be u can try shake n bake dry drone solution to waterproof the quad
Hi just on with my FC and esc now.. should an EMI shield be left clear of coating or coat that as well?
And you gotta wait for the alcohol to dry. Wait at least an hour after cleaning before applying conformal.
Not sure if you coated the mosfets under the heat sink on the esc’s. Chances are this is where the problem persists.
I only build conformal coated now ich just use Platik70 its acrylic and not as good as silicone stuff but get's the job done for me. Anyways I just coat every part while building up the quad. That way you just save a lot of time and effort.
You need UV light to check what is covered.
Pro Tip: Don't coat over your barometer 👍
Can I ask why since is only flight Acro??thx
Samuel Pruneau the barometer has small holes to detect air pressure changes. Blocking those will stop it working.
thx
Samuel Pruneau you're welcome dude, hope it goes well.
I think he should do a follow up to mention this detail. Thank you Smokin Mesa! I almost coated over mine. Of course you could just burn it off the barometer with a soldering iron if you coated over it i suppose?
How do you know if your kwads ok to conformal coat? I wanna do my nazgul evoque. F7 blitz mini.
What did you do about where the micro USB plug connects?
So does the us. Port not matter if water doesn’t get in?
Is 70% isopropyl okay? I know the other 30% I've heard is water so I dont want to ruin a board by trying to make it safer hahaha. Im sure if I just dipped the toothbrush and not dumped the isopropyl straight onto the PCB'S/Stack
Drew! Where can I sign up for kwad camp detroit??? My guess is that might be held at Excel??
Do I have to remove flux residues before applying conformal coating ?
What do you guys think....spray corrosion x on everything first and then conformal coat????? Or the other way around ??? Would that make it any better ????
Just move to a desert like me. Skies always blue too and it rarely gets below 10 degC.
Soldering after silicon conformal is do-able, but it's like you don't have enough heat. You get to dog poo points and dull joints.
Yeah ideally you carefully take a small piece of sandpaper to the conformal coated joint before soldering.
What spektrum reciever is that and where can i get one?
I know this answer is kinda late. but I always just desolder my motors. Plugin and cover up the USB port. Drop the entire ESC and FC receiver and VTX into a bucket with Conformal coating. Keep in mind when you do it like this it is final! then I use some alcohol to clean the ESC pads. solder the motors back on. and coat them by hand. Put everything back on the frame and. OFF YOU GO! Into the SNOW!
Question: why not coat the motor coils ?
Nah man if its done right your good.. I live in Michigan too I've had no issues..
How about the battery and the motors do we do them too?
PLEASE HELP, I use a DX6i radio and bought the spektrum race quad receiver at get fpv. It flies just normal, but sometimes when I fly in sertain directions I suddenly have failsafes. My antennas are mounted at an 90 degrees angle and I plugged it right into the satelit port and set it up in Betaflight. What could be goin wrong? I now switched back to my orange r620x v2 (ppm) beacause I haven't had any of those issues with it. :(
Hey, Hope you feel way better real soon man. Peace, John in Idaho :)
How does this do over solder joints?
Do you have to scrape the coating off to solder things?
Nvm didnt finish video. He says you can burn through it
Pardon me sir Le Drib but I have to ask : HypeTrain Le Drib edition ? When ? How ? How much ? :)
Already on the rotor riot store. $26 each.
Yeah small Easter egg there....
Hi! why motors aren´t necessary to "paint"??
Pipeando brushless motors are not effected by water. It is the esc that will easily fry
Benjamin Chippeaux thanks!!
Conformal coating doesn't work on esc's. you have to use a thick coat of epoxy.
I realize this is an ancient comment, but do you happen to know why that is? I read something about it being tricky to get things sealed properly because of heat sinks shielding access to the components they're attached to (the MOSFETs, I believe), leaving gaps where water can still get in and cause damage if you don't get the conformal coating up under the edges of the heatsinks. Does expoxy just make it easier the get the whole thing sealed up?
@@ledchickenfpv7164 i might try it with an old ESC first hmm
Awesome video Brother just ordered some of this amazing Drone juice ha ha Thanks for sharing
are you going to do a vid on your new motors
What antenna are you using? Thanks.
What if you coat the pigtail connections?
If I would have done this, my last video wouldn’t be me crashing into a dirty canal and swimming in it to recover my drone
Try corrosionX , I have used it on rc truck esc works awesome , way easier then that. I believe it is military grade.
Drew did you read the caution on this product 😷😱
I do know there are companies that can fully waterproof anything electrical using a molecular bonding system but I can't for the life of me remember what substance they use to do it.
Please do link to this scuba diving drone! ?????
You can get this UV flash light to check to ensure you are not missing any spot. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C1UXEP0. Also, the conformal coating has pretty nasty chemicals. Apply the coating outside with good ventilation and wear protective gloves. Just to be safe, wear a respirator with filters for organic vapor.
try liquid electrical tape
Just ordered some of this.
Sounds too risky to me, ive never crashed anything but im still not confident, with moving parts and heat and holes that need to be left unprotected its a gamble.
I'm coating my Alien RR5. Your video will help, also I'm the 100th comment
Have you ever tried to use Rust-Oleum NeverWet people was using it on their cell phones and some other things might be something you might want to check into
Is your hair purple, or is it just the lighting?
Nathan Schlenker it is
🌩⚡
When is the test ?
Motors?
Bruh just realized you have a second channel
WHY ANOTHER NEW CHANNEL ?
Personally I just seal up the gaps in the camera case with the silicone rather than taking it apart.
BEAST👽👊
how do you coat your motors?
You may already know being as this was 2 years ago but the motor wires are the only thing you need to coat if anything. The stator and the like in the motor is already insulated as a necessity for the motor to actually function. That said while you can technically turn a quad into a submarine doing this, the bearings are the failure point here, as the motors run in the water it will forcibly displace the grease in the bearing and cause those to fail sooner than later, might be able to simply replace them, I've not yet taken apart a motor to see how difficult that may or may not be.
how many packs do you own? I own a total of about 1
What?
I currently own 6 4S batteries.
Drib 2 ok i thought im the only one who owned a small amount of batteries :D
Wow only 6?? I used to have 10 but im down to 4 now I keep destroying them lol. May I ask how many packs you fly on a daily basis?
I only have (4) 5s lipos
Time out: YOU don't have a blacklight? Do you know how cool your hair and makeup would look under blacklight. I'm gobsmacked!
How did you cover the esc’s ?
I think one of the issues is that frames leave components very exposed.
If John hill and Bardwell had a baby it woule be le drib haha. On the real I just had my bottle show in the mail the other day. Let it dry for a day and when i plugged in my kwad.. it smelled like somthing fried but it flys fine and didn't see any smoke so screw it till it actually malfunctions (probably not the smartest but oh well lololz)
Haha that’s hilarious!
LOLz at john hill yeah you're right
HardTimeZFpv my mobula7 pcb smoked after coating with this stuff. Maybe I didn’t let it dry long enough? Seemed good and dry though.
I am going to try liquid electrical tape it's black rubber coating
just put it in a ziplock bag like damnnn how hard can it be??!
This shit doesn't work for me at all! I covered my drone electronics 3 layers and after fall in the the river I just burnt 3 of 4 stm on esc. Previous time I fell in snow and burnt stm on flight controller and 1 stm on esc. Thanks God I have a friend who knows electronics and explained me how to make diagnostics and repair this boards buying 10$ stm for a fc and 6$ stm for esc, but not buying 100$ stack again and again
hi everyone. Is there anyone that could help me? I have conformalcoated my flightcontroller but now all the 5v outs like those that go to the camera or vtx or.... only give 0.04v anymore so basically nothing? I did not get coating on the connectors the board just doesn't give out 5v anymore after coating, before coating it was perfectly fine.
I removed the formal coating but it still didn't solve the problem. The ESC's power up and the flightcontroller is recognized by computer. just the 5v out's aren't working so receiver , vtx and camera are not getting 5v
anyone got any thoughts, idea's on what might be wrong?
Use a UV light for any spots you maybe mist.
TOP TIP - don’t crash....!
DENTISTS APPROVE!! hahah
🚿scrub scrub scrub🚿
And that bottle of stuff will last forever, it doesn't take a whole lot
Two coats of liquid electric tape.
G-nice perfect. Then when you have an issue just throw the whole quad in the dumpster. Lol. J/k sort of??
You can peel it off pretty easy. You'll need 2 coats, the more coats the easier it is to remove.
G-nice I may do it to my beater quad for sketchy lousy weather flying. My biggest nemesis is water. I always ruin esc's because of water.
Did i hear a "Chris Rock" reference?!😂😂😂
First,sup drew!!!
epoxy resin is the best way..
Save yourself a bit of money and get your hands on a .99 cent bottle of clear liquid nail polish. I've been using it for 20 years to protect my electronics. Never fried anything. 20 years experience???????? ;)
thats basically acrylic conformal coating.
Yes, that's why he said save some money, .99 cents is much cheaper.
And my point is that Drew already tried that acrylic coating and it didn't work for him, hence why he switched to the silicone based coating.
And silicon didn´t work for him as well :)
Nothing works for me 😭😭😭
Lol