I'd like to see a video where you test out "Lipo fire safe bags". I have a tough time believing any are good enough to be worth spending money on them.
@@ironic2468 when I watched that video I was thinking that an ammo can with Fireproof sheetrock inside would be the best option of keeping the flames contained but maybe the ammo can itself would do a good enough job. Either one seems better than one of those battery bags lol
@@SkeezyFPV Closing the ammo can turns it into a bomb. an open can still has flames coming out up to 6 feet in the air. Ammo cans also transfer the heat of the fire into what ever they are sitting on, so your counter or table still ends up ruined. Safest charging locations indoors is inside your oven, or in a fireplace. non-glass top stove with a good vent hood would be third place.
I've been using this stuff for years. All of my builds electronics get coated. I've flown in downpours, crashed into wet grass, puddles, snow and once in a pool. Never had any failures due to water damage. I take a heat gun to it to loosen the cap when it gets stuck to the bottle.
yeasterday I dumped my TP3 into a water bucket. I pluged out the battery before removing it from the water. It survived 100% Thank you Joshua for your tips 11:06
Distilled water flush is great advice. Years ago, I flew a marine life observation drone that landed and floated on the ocean. It required a distilled water flush after each flight followed by a WD-40 spray rinse of the motors. Flushing with (distilled) water is counterintuitive but apparently worked for this specific project.
Not really counterintuitive. Distilled water actual does not conduct electricity. It's the minerals in the water such as salt that makes it conductive. But distilled water is not really something most people have at home :-) fresh water from the tap followed by something else works great. As long as the battery is disconnected it doesn't matter what you rinse with. All that matters is that no residue is left on the components when you do plug in the battery next time. (Unless it was fried before you picked it up... But then nothing's really matters ;-)
On hobby drones I would avoid spraying the motors with WD-40. The bearings are usually shielded, not sealed, so WD-40 will get right in there and break down the lubricant. Though it may be a good idea to lubricate the bearings after they take a swim anyway.
I've done this on float planes I've flipped in the lake. Didn't revive them all but most were okay. Works magic on ESCs. Now my float planes smell like a mechanic's shop.
I am brand new to FPV. I've seen nearly all of your videos over the past 5 weeks. I spent a lot of that time deciding what platform I want to buy, what radio I want to buy, what I want in my tool kit, etc. Last Friday my controller arrived, my brand new RadioMaster Boxer and dang! Believe me when I say it was well worth the investment as my first (hopefully only) controller. I've clocked maybe 4 hours in the simulator and am on lesson 3 of your "how to fly FPV playlist". I don't think I'll be getting a drone until black Friday or boxing day, and I have my eye on the Mobula 6 pro 2024. I am from Canada and I intend on getting my sRPAS Basic licence so I can't graduate to a 5" 6s drone one day. For now, I grind the sim. My free time is limited as I am a full time electrician and a new father of 2 but I'm seeing noticeable progress on each flight. I'm giddy with anticipation of being able to move my drone around while maintaining altitude and speed, and to get it to go exactly where I want, with limited slip through corners and little to no over corrections. Once I'm there... I'll get my first drone... For now. I grind. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk TLDR: thank you for giving me direction on my new hobby, can't wait to see what the future holds. Sim. Sim. Sim.
Thanks! I live most of my summer on a boat and love to fly FPV from my boat but I’m constantly worried about the water. GREAT VID!! Would love to see you actually fly it into the pool and then fly it after it dries. Prior Navy Aviation Electronics Technician here, so I understand the concept of conformal coating for sure… Anyway… Thanks for your awesome service Sir. I’ve watched countless hours, so it’s about time I kick in a little tip for everything you’ve taught me.
A couple weeks ago my meteor 75 crashed. Of all the places it could have landed it ended up in my dogs water dish. I got extremely lucky! It still works! How? No idea! No water proofing at all! Great video Josh!
My first build brushless quadcopter was plopped into a pond on flight #3, as I was unaware of ghostbranches... Spent 5 minutes underwater. Got it out, dried it for a few days. No damage. No coating. More luck than anything else.
Electronics technician in a previous carrier. Never heard of the unplug it before removing it from the water theory. But I suppose I can maybe kinda see some validity to it. Definitely recommend removing the battery ASAP! Also isopropyl alcohol is one of the best tools for removing water from electronics. And air! A little heat doesn’t hurt either.
I’ve had personal experiences and come to this conclusion years before this video. My theory behind it was different though. I had the idea that the much quicker rate that water cools than air aids in keeping individual chips, caps and resistors from frying. I’ve pulled several drones out of water after unplugging the battery submerged and have had good results
I’ve also had the experience of components frying right in front of my eyes pulling them out of the water while plugged in. That’s what first gave me the idea
I was told to unplug it under water because the motors can spin up when you pull it out of the water, which can be really dangerous on bigger quads. I've seen it happen myself to a friend's quad he crashed into water, went to pull it out and a motor went full throttle. What happens is water can get into the plug between the FC and Esc and short the motor signal wires to vcc, causing the esc to spin the motors.
We had spray bottles at work but instead of spraying we put a cotton swab (with hollow plastic shaft) in the nozzle and they you could use it to spread it more accurately.
I had a 16 x 16 iflight pinned stack in a small 2.5 inch that I recently retrieved from a tall tree after being stuck for over 2 years. Surprisingly everything still works fine. Except for the one motor bell that showed my bb gun aim was dead on the money at least once! It had been 90 degrees and better with no rain for a few days prior to the rescue. I have just put the stack in a Darwin fpv tiny ape frame and flown for a few weeks now with no issues at all.
I must say AGAIN, I LOVE this new creative storytelling you add to the videos. And you've done that more than once, the creativity not the water crash, please keep doing it :]
I wouldn't recommend coating with things plugged in - I did an ESC plug like that and I could never get it out again, I broke the wings off the plug trying to get it out. I use Kapton tape to mask off anything I don't want coated and then I spray that sucker. Also (I don't know if this only affects the spray-on type) the solvent seems to soften any silicone items such as wire insulation and gummies. I'd probably remove the gummies and try not to get too much on the wires.
So funny, this video was released just a few hours after I landed my acrobee65 in the garden pond. No conformal coating, did not unplug the battery under water but rinsed the pcb with Flux remover fluid and dried it in the sun. Got lucky, it still flies like a charm
Clear nail polish. works well, comes off easily with alcohol and saves you from anything short of full submersion. For the amount of work most people do to a quad on an ongoing basis, a coating that is 'difficult' is really not so good. Having said that, if you're over water then maybe go all-in with the good stuff.
Make sure after it tacks up a little bit if you apply it with connectors plugged in and USB plugged in, unplug them before they dry, or they may be permanently plugged.......😁👍🏼
The "magnetic nature of motion" has nothing to do with brushless motors being waterproof. The copper windings on the inside are coated in enamel and the wires leading out are sealed. Honestly not even sure what "magnetic nature of motion" is supposed to mean in this context.
The best way to waterproofing the drone is B7000 glue! glue can pour contacts and then remove without residue with tweezers. B7000 can be completely removed without solvent by winding on tweezers. Where I live long winter and rainy spring and autumn so i know what i'm talking about. I filled the boot button and exposed connectors with B7000 glue, and then easily removed them when I needed them in a new build. b7000 can clog the UFL antenna connection without fear of losing connection. I don't like MG Chemicals because it leaves a lot of dirt and is very difficult to remove with a solvent. And also it is very fluid and floods the places that I try to avoid. In this old video, a guy shows how easy it is to apply and remove B7000 glue with tweezers from a flight controller: ua-cam.com/video/qx-ZT6Vo6xg/v-deo.html And this glue is very cheap and sold everywhere, as it is very popular for gluing smartphone screens
I personally have had a Phantom 4 Pro that went swimming in the deep blue ocean on a Natgeo Sharkweek shoot (luckily we had an underwater cameraman, suited up, that immediately free dived down 12m and saved it - what a legend!!) We were still out at sea on the zodiac for a good few hours. As soon as we returned to basecamp, I took my Phantom apart, unscrewed everything and dunked and rinsed my drone in a tub of freshwater for a good 10 minutes, in an effort to get all the salt off the electronics. Afterwards I let all these components in the sun for 2 days, even put it in a box full of rice for another day. After that I sprayed all the electronics with electronic contact cleaner, a product called “mr mckenic”. My drone survived, except the 4k camera, and I fly my drone to this day! (After replacing the camera)! Needless to say, I had no silicon conformal coating on the electronics, prior to the incident. The only other part that had to be replaced was the GPS unit, as expected, as this unit is located in the top part of the shell of the Phantom, and this is the only place I did not open. Of course, the camera and gimbal is the expensive part of the drone, but it was inevitable to lose this part of the drone, sensor got damaged. But still saved me quite a bit of money. Good practice is to spray electronic contact cleaner on your drone parts, if you don’t plan on covering it with conformal coating 🤙
@@TomDenny-s7n That sounds a bit bulky and wasteful of electricity compared to something could be just a little thingy thing switches to infinite resistivity when wet but otherwise just acts like a a wire under normal circunstances; a smoke stopper is not something you would be flying with, specially with smaller drones...
Submerging your quad or just getting it really wet is not usually an issue. Even not conformal coated, you just gotta heat everything up with a hair dryer nice and hot, and all the water bakes off. Done it many times, worked every time!
thats not true, the problem mainly is the mosfets. Although the voltage on our quads is low and therfore it's not the probem itself, but the GATE is very sensitive it only need very little bit od drive current to switch it open. So by water it could create a little leak current and drive the mosfets unintended uncontrolled. This than lead to a short circuit, and so high current or burning the mosfet or pcb traces etc. So ESC's or any switching step down power regulators containing mosfets ,which can be found in many circuitry are notorious for burning. If no mosfet electronics on your pcb indeed you have much higher chances of survival/ less risk of permanent damaging electronics, if it is uncoated.
JB, I have the HS 170 predator small little drone fell in a trashcan full of dirty water I couldn’t find the drone for about 20 minutes finally seen lights flashing at the bottom of a trashcan full of water took the drone out unplugged it dried it with a hairdryer an plugged it back in and flew it. then I had a drone same one laying on some wet grass it was wet and it shorted out, figure that one out!
I have a betafpv meteor 65 that sunk into a washer machine full of dirt water for about 8 minutes, and it survived, is still fully working. I didn't believe when I tested because it's so freaking insane, but is very true...lol
Just rescued a 5” from a pond after 2 weeks under water, no waterproof coating applied. Result 1 seized motor, ESC fried. Flight controller, 3 motors, caddy unit and ELRS, were working. Battery was screwed. The rule here is the ESC Diodes cut power first to the rest of the drone.
My quads always get the conformal coating treatment, they’ve survived dunks into the bath, in the sink, down the (clean) toilet, and my 5” spent an hour at the bottom of a lake while we tried to find it, when we did the first thing I did was disconnect the battery while still under water, stuck in on a desk fan for a few hours and it was fine, even the Caddx Vista and camera survived.
@@hadaralon interestingly no I didn’t which was quiet a surprise. I did put one under a black light once and they do have a very light pink shine to them so maybe some of it is done at the factory. I’m convinced the unplugging the battery while under the water probably saved the vista.
I fly in Minnesota. Sun, rain, and snow....lots of snow. Everyone of my drones gets conformal(some even get bagged as well with a deep design kit) awesome info here.
13:10 I go Big Fat Greek /w the Windex, Ethel Alcohol dries faster. Just be aware that there is a polishing compound in Windex, but I've never had a problem with it being conductive... It becomes some dust to brush off b4 applying a coating.
Instead of conformal coating, I always cover my eletronics with Corrosion X. I live and fly near to the beach. And work great, I have radios, drones and planes working for years. Just apply, a coating once by year. Or if dump into water clean with electrical cleaner and re coat
I conformal coated my 5" kwads and have dunked em in ponds and streams and pulled em out... shook em out... New batt and in the air they went.... They still fly today💪💪💪💪
Good to learn that conformal coating will work when you dump it in water! I conformal coat most of my whoops and quads only landed in wet grass so far and they all still work.
We’re not so lucky with dry ground in Northern England😕Cheers JB for this! Coating has definitely saved my whoops in damp grass, hitting wet branches, even snow…after several burnt boards as a lesson.
Hey Joshua, Long story short, put my non waterproofed Tinyhawk 2 in my pool. I didn't unplug it underwater, and I did use rice for like 3 days. Now when I arm only 3 motors turn and 1 is intermittent. When I raise the throttle, it goes to full throttle and doesn't go down when I go to 0 throttle. I'm assuming the AIO board was damaged. Would that be a good assessment? Probably need a new AIO board. Dang it!! I wish I had seen this video 2 months ago!😞
Talking to a local store here in Norway, they said acrylic solution is better than silicon when it comes to water resistance. Now, I would think the silicon solution is preferred due to the heat resistant properties that is greater than the acrylic solution? From what I've read and understand based on the local store here, the silicon solution will handle 200C and the acrylic solution resists up to 125C.
That's the stuff I have but I hated using it because it looks like the board is covered in slime eventually. Once it has enough grass mixed in with it. It does work well though. Now that I have been doing a good enough job at building and not crashing so much, I haven't had to repair a quad in almost a year now. So I keep thinking I need to take them apart, clean them with alcohol and conformal coat everything.
Somehow managed to leave my taranis out pver night and it rained, had pretty much killed it, opened it up and sat it on a dehumidifier for a couple days and its fine now! Also, used to dry out something else the same way, to speed up the process! Would definitely recommend a dehumidifier if you need to dry stuff out!
Thank you for the complete guide for conformal coating. When you mention products like FPV Worry Free, it looks like people can dump their quads into the water and the quad can fly away without any issue, maybe a part 2 with this kind of product would be useful for us :)
Contact cleaner will clean conformal coating off of anything you need it off of(save camera sensors, and possibly barometers), and will ensure that the component gets working again. It may take a couple applications and some scrubbing with a toothbrush, but it will get it working again.
I bought conformal but have not used it! Thanks for biting the bullet for me buddy. I guess now I'll use it! Glad your quad is ok.... Let us know how it is in a week!
a hairdryer works well too i was my quads with the hose spray with electrical contact cleaner or isopropyl then dry with a hairdryer been doing it for a few years now never had a quad die
Try running a thin coat of petroleum jelly around the threads of your conformal coating jar before you put it up, I have used this method on various things over the years that are prone to this
thank you for this. I was expecting it as an out take of the mobeetle review. but you went a step further and made a great video about water resistance prep. I have recently started to coat all my quads. carefully
AWESOME video! BTW, did you tested the camera? One of my whoops feel into the pool, then water got into the camera and chlorine destroyed the sensor when it dried! 😢
On a roll JB I see the numbers works when you work it. TY for the great info and entertainment in the same takes a talented individual to nerd out and be cool!!
I use B-7000 glue to waterproof my quads. Have flown in fullpower rain totally fine. Heard conformal coating gets micro-cracks after some cooling/heating cycles + high vibration so it needs maintenance once in a while. B-7000 remains elastic like silicone and much easier to apply and control so that it don’t get in usb ports. In fact i apply it on usb ports with a help of gravity so it hardens like a plug. If I need to use it - just tear it off and reapply it back after to seal and preserve these parts as well. So easy to tear it off as well. You just take one part on tweezers and wind on itself. The only downside is - It has little worse thermal conductivity, but if you fly and not wait on a bench for 5 minutes its totally fine. Is there someone who uses B-7000 as well, or any other substance which you found better in your application? Are there someone using conformal without reapply more than 6 month with no issues in heavy rain?
I once dropped my 5'' quad into saltwater due to some weird rxloss. It was approx. ankle deep and full of seaweed, so the quad plopped into that mess right to the upper deck. The battery terminals and the ESC power traces had likely shorted out, everything started boiling and fuming, and as a cherry on top the battery caught on fire. While in water. Yeah. I yanked it out having wrapped my hands in my shirt, but the ESC board has been ruined - some power traces eaten clean off the surface. Silicone insulation on some motor wires had puffed up, cracked and turned brittle, and the carbon fiber near the power terminals had visible pitting. To sum up, I had to replace the ESC board, rewire all motors (thankfully the coils themselves were not corroded) and buy a new action camera. That was enough of a lesson to lacquer-coat the boards.
Thanks for making this video. Oscar Liang has a write up on drone waterproofing and recommends using 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean the board before coating and you can also use a cotton swap dipped in it to clean off conformal coating where you want it to be removed.
Hmm, I took the time and made sure my quads were properly coated, also using 422 silicon (even under the chipset and other SMDs), and we fly in snow and crash into water all the time. Sometimes we even get lucky and manage to turtle out of the snow. Never had any issues what so ever, never let the quad dry either, just slap it against a tree or wall to get rid of the thicker snow or mud, fresh pack in and full throttle again. Of course I don't COUNT on it being fine, but after 50+ crashes in snow I'm confident that proper application of the goop is key, and that it will work way better than some argue.
Right I was kind of blown away he never mentioned silicon but hey I'm use to snow and oceans. I guess some of us just need to deal with water proofing more then others haha. In my experience even manufactures usually use Conformal more for water resistance then water proofing. ie for some casual rain not submersion. The best ones combined them both!
I conformal'd the VTx of my old drone after landing in wet grass killed it. Am looking at ways to waterproof my new one, but it has a barometer that I don't want to ruin. Video appreciated.
All mine have a barometer, and using the brush it’s so easy to just coat round the edges of it, leaving the top clear. Just keep the brush without too much on it and push the end of the bristles towards the component carefully, don’t just try brushing past it.
Thanks a bunch, Joshua! 😊 I've been searching about it to buy some silicone conformal coating, but... Unfortunately I can't find it. 😕 Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Got to admire a guy that admits he's faults... great video
I'd like to see a video where you test out "Lipo fire safe bags". I have a tough time believing any are good enough to be worth spending money on them.
They're not, there's a lot of videos online of them just melting and letting the flames out. Get an ammo box or batsafe or smth.
@@ironic2468 when I watched that video I was thinking that an ammo can with Fireproof sheetrock inside would be the best option of keeping the flames contained but maybe the ammo can itself would do a good enough job. Either one seems better than one of those battery bags lol
I second this motion!
@@SkeezyFPV Closing the ammo can turns it into a bomb. an open can still has flames coming out up to 6 feet in the air. Ammo cans also transfer the heat of the fire into what ever they are sitting on, so your counter or table still ends up ruined.
Safest charging locations indoors is inside your oven, or in a fireplace. non-glass top stove with a good vent hood would be third place.
buy a small toolbox, works way better. helps if you place it on bricks instead of hardwood floor.
"when your done completing the joint, just dab a little bit more" J. Bardwell @8:17
I just go straight to the dab 😂
I've been using this stuff for years. All of my builds electronics get coated. I've flown in downpours, crashed into wet grass, puddles, snow and once in a pool. Never had any failures due to water damage. I take a heat gun to it to loosen the cap when it gets stuck to the bottle.
Try flying while it's actively snowing. Video gets worse but it's so fun.
I love that your fan has an xt60 connector
yeasterday I dumped my TP3 into a water bucket. I pluged out the battery before removing it from the water. It survived 100%
Thank you Joshua for your tips 11:06
Distilled water flush is great advice. Years ago, I flew a marine life observation drone that landed and floated on the ocean. It required a distilled water flush after each flight followed by a WD-40 spray rinse of the motors. Flushing with (distilled) water is counterintuitive but apparently worked for this specific project.
Not really counterintuitive. Distilled water actual does not conduct electricity. It's the minerals in the water such as salt that makes it conductive. But distilled water is not really something most people have at home :-) fresh water from the tap followed by something else works great. As long as the battery is disconnected it doesn't matter what you rinse with. All that matters is that no residue is left on the components when you do plug in the battery next time. (Unless it was fried before you picked it up... But then nothing's really matters ;-)
On hobby drones I would avoid spraying the motors with WD-40. The bearings are usually shielded, not sealed, so WD-40 will get right in there and break down the lubricant. Though it may be a good idea to lubricate the bearings after they take a swim anyway.
MAF sensor cleaner works great for spraying out motors.
I've done this on float planes I've flipped in the lake. Didn't revive them all but most were okay. Works magic on ESCs. Now my float planes smell like a mechanic's shop.
Is there any chance to save a drone that get into a water without any comformacouting done?
Wet grass took out 1 of my esc's on my 4 in 1 about a week and a half ago. New speedybee setup is performing nicely though!
I am brand new to FPV. I've seen nearly all of your videos over the past 5 weeks. I spent a lot of that time deciding what platform I want to buy, what radio I want to buy, what I want in my tool kit, etc. Last Friday my controller arrived, my brand new RadioMaster Boxer and dang! Believe me when I say it was well worth the investment as my first (hopefully only) controller. I've clocked maybe 4 hours in the simulator and am on lesson 3 of your "how to fly FPV playlist". I don't think I'll be getting a drone until black Friday or boxing day, and I have my eye on the Mobula 6 pro 2024. I am from Canada and I intend on getting my sRPAS Basic licence so I can't graduate to a 5" 6s drone one day. For now, I grind the sim. My free time is limited as I am a full time electrician and a new father of 2 but I'm seeing noticeable progress on each flight. I'm giddy with anticipation of being able to move my drone around while maintaining altitude and speed, and to get it to go exactly where I want, with limited slip through corners and little to no over corrections. Once I'm there... I'll get my first drone... For now. I grind.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk
TLDR: thank you for giving me direction on my new hobby, can't wait to see what the future holds. Sim. Sim. Sim.
Thanks! I live most of my summer on a boat and love to fly FPV from my boat but I’m constantly worried about the water. GREAT VID!! Would love to see you actually fly it into the pool and then fly it after it dries. Prior Navy Aviation Electronics Technician here, so I understand the concept of conformal coating for sure… Anyway… Thanks for your awesome service Sir. I’ve watched countless hours, so it’s about time I kick in a little tip for everything you’ve taught me.
Try using your underr desk light to see conformal coating. It might be blue/purple enough to see the coating
A couple weeks ago my meteor 75 crashed. Of all the places it could have landed it ended up in my dogs water dish. I got extremely lucky! It still works! How? No idea! No water proofing at all! Great video Josh!
My first build brushless quadcopter was plopped into a pond on flight #3, as I was unaware of ghostbranches... Spent 5 minutes underwater. Got it out, dried it for a few days. No damage. No coating. More luck than anything else.
Electronics technician in a previous carrier.
Never heard of the unplug it before removing it from the water theory. But I suppose I can maybe kinda see some validity to it.
Definitely recommend removing the battery ASAP!
Also isopropyl alcohol is one of the best tools for removing water from electronics. And air! A little heat doesn’t hurt either.
I’ve had personal experiences and come to this conclusion years before this video. My theory behind it was different though. I had the idea that the much quicker rate that water cools than air aids in keeping individual chips, caps and resistors from frying. I’ve pulled several drones out of water after unplugging the battery submerged and have had good results
I’ve also had the experience of components frying right in front of my eyes pulling them out of the water while plugged in. That’s what first gave me the idea
I was told to unplug it under water because the motors can spin up when you pull it out of the water, which can be really dangerous on bigger quads. I've seen it happen myself to a friend's quad he crashed into water, went to pull it out and a motor went full throttle. What happens is water can get into the plug between the FC and Esc and short the motor signal wires to vcc, causing the esc to spin the motors.
I personally use nail polish top coat. After two crash in to sea quad still working well
We had spray bottles at work but instead of spraying we put a cotton swab (with hollow plastic shaft) in the nozzle and they you could use it to spread it more accurately.
I just want to say that this channel is truly so fantastic.
I had a 16 x 16 iflight pinned stack in a small 2.5 inch that I recently retrieved from a tall tree after being stuck for over 2 years. Surprisingly everything still works fine. Except for the one motor bell that showed my bb gun aim was dead on the money at least once! It had been 90 degrees and better with no rain for a few days prior to the rescue. I have just put the stack in a Darwin fpv tiny ape frame and flown for a few weeks now with no issues at all.
I hit the like button at 9:08. I like to live dangerously.
And you should say..." I learned something today"
I must say AGAIN, I LOVE this new creative storytelling you add to the videos. And you've done that more than once, the creativity not the water crash, please keep doing it :]
I hit the like button at the story in the beginning :D LOVE you Joshua!
I wouldn't recommend coating with things plugged in - I did an ESC plug like that and I could never get it out again, I broke the wings off the plug trying to get it out. I use Kapton tape to mask off anything I don't want coated and then I spray that sucker. Also (I don't know if this only affects the spray-on type) the solvent seems to soften any silicone items such as wire insulation and gummies. I'd probably remove the gummies and try not to get too much on the wires.
So funny, this video was released just a few hours after I landed my acrobee65 in the garden pond. No conformal coating, did not unplug the battery under water but rinsed the pcb with Flux remover fluid and dried it in the sun. Got lucky, it still flies like a charm
Sometimes you get lucky!
Clear nail polish. works well, comes off easily with alcohol and saves you from anything short of full submersion. For the amount of work most people do to a quad on an ongoing basis, a coating that is 'difficult' is really not so good.
Having said that, if you're over water then maybe go all-in with the good stuff.
Josh is the coolest nerd I know, Have helped me in my FPV journey beyond saying.
I cant wait to coat my 10" and try throwing it into the pool later today! 👍🏼
Make sure after it tacks up a little bit if you apply it with connectors plugged in and USB plugged in, unplug them before they dry, or they may be permanently plugged.......😁👍🏼
There are different kinds of conformal coatings and not all of them can be soldered through or dissolved in alcohol. so make sure you check
Worth to mention, that motors don't need to be covered with coating because of magnetic nature of motion. Brushless motors are waterproofed by design.
Strange way to say the wires are enamel coated
The "magnetic nature of motion" has nothing to do with brushless motors being waterproof. The copper windings on the inside are coated in enamel and the wires leading out are sealed. Honestly not even sure what "magnetic nature of motion" is supposed to mean in this context.
@@psyman9780 probably that conductivity isn’t required because the motor functions through electro-magnetic created motion. Just a guess…
I learned something !
That penguin ankle tattoo though...
you can get little rubber bungs to block the USB ports
The best way to waterproofing the drone is B7000 glue! glue can pour contacts and then remove without residue with tweezers. B7000 can be completely removed without solvent by winding on tweezers. Where I live long winter and rainy spring and autumn so i know what i'm talking about.
I filled the boot button and exposed connectors with B7000 glue, and then easily removed them when I needed them in a new build. b7000 can clog the UFL antenna connection without fear of losing connection.
I don't like MG Chemicals because it leaves a lot of dirt and is very difficult to remove with a solvent. And also it is very fluid and floods the places that I try to avoid.
In this old video, a guy shows how easy it is to apply and remove B7000 glue with tweezers from a flight controller: ua-cam.com/video/qx-ZT6Vo6xg/v-deo.html
And this glue is very cheap and sold everywhere, as it is very popular for gluing smartphone screens
thanks for the tip!
You deserve the 👍
Hahahaha JB, that intro. You crack me up!!!!
I personally have had a Phantom 4 Pro that went swimming in the deep blue ocean on a Natgeo Sharkweek shoot (luckily we had an underwater cameraman, suited up, that immediately free dived down 12m and saved it - what a legend!!)
We were still out at sea on the zodiac for a good few hours. As soon as we returned to basecamp, I took my Phantom apart, unscrewed everything and dunked and rinsed my drone in a tub of freshwater for a good 10 minutes, in an effort to get all the salt off the electronics. Afterwards I let all these components in the sun for 2 days, even put it in a box full of rice for another day. After that I sprayed all the electronics with electronic contact cleaner, a product called “mr mckenic”. My drone survived, except the 4k camera, and I fly my drone to this day! (After replacing the camera)! Needless to say, I had no silicon conformal coating on the electronics, prior to the incident. The only other part that had to be replaced was the GPS unit, as expected, as this unit is located in the top part of the shell of the Phantom, and this is the only place I did not open. Of course, the camera and gimbal is the expensive part of the drone, but it was inevitable to lose this part of the drone, sensor got damaged. But still saved me quite a bit of money. Good practice is to spray electronic contact cleaner on your drone parts, if you don’t plan on covering it with conformal coating 🤙
I wish I was you!
Why don't manufacturers apply this to their drones?
Jeeeez Joshua, that fill light from the pool makes you look like youre in a professional video production studio.
I wonder if there could be some sort of "wetness-fuse" that will immediately cut battery current if it gets wet...
Thats basically just a smoke stopper
@@TomDenny-s7n That sounds a bit bulky and wasteful of electricity compared to something could be just a little thingy thing switches to infinite resistivity when wet but otherwise just acts like a a wire under normal circunstances; a smoke stopper is not something you would be flying with, specially with smaller drones...
Submerging your quad or just getting it really wet is not usually an issue. Even not conformal coated, you just gotta heat everything up with a hair dryer nice and hot, and all the water bakes off. Done it many times, worked every time!
thats not true, the problem mainly is the mosfets. Although the voltage on our quads is low and therfore it's not the probem itself, but the GATE is very sensitive it only need very little bit od drive current to switch it open. So by water it could create a little leak current and drive the mosfets unintended uncontrolled. This than lead to a short circuit, and so high current or burning the mosfet or pcb traces etc. So ESC's or any switching step down power regulators containing mosfets ,which can be found in many circuitry are notorious for burning. If no mosfet electronics on your pcb indeed you have much higher chances of survival/ less risk of permanent damaging electronics, if it is uncoated.
waiting on pins and needles for your review of the flywoo x30 spray
My mobula6 HD also took a plunge, I put it on a infrared heating panel with a fan for 24 hours. And boom, it still worked!
I use Urethan based conformal coating, it is more pliable and has better heat resistance.
Definitely costing my drones... Thx for another great clip 🇿🇦
I use spray conformal coating! You just have to be careful!
Fished one out of the sink a week ago and luckily I got there before it shorted itself to death. Still flying! Luck.
JB, I have the HS 170 predator small little drone fell in a trashcan full of dirty water I couldn’t find the drone for about 20 minutes finally seen lights flashing at the bottom of a trashcan full of water took the drone out unplugged it dried it with a hairdryer an plugged it back in and flew it. then I had a drone same one laying on some wet grass it was wet and it shorted out, figure that one out!
I have a betafpv meteor 65 that sunk into a washer machine full of dirt water for about 8 minutes, and it survived, is still fully working. I didn't believe when I tested because it's so freaking insane, but is very true...lol
Just rescued a 5” from a pond after 2 weeks under water, no waterproof coating applied. Result 1 seized motor, ESC fried. Flight controller, 3 motors, caddy unit and ELRS, were working. Battery was screwed. The rule here is the ESC Diodes cut power first to the rest of the drone.
For the USB plug u can use corosiinx 😊
Still works....like 👍
your the best. it was fun contest, and i learned somethings
My quads always get the conformal coating treatment, they’ve survived dunks into the bath, in the sink, down the (clean) toilet, and my 5” spent an hour at the bottom of a lake while we tried to find it, when we did the first thing I did was disconnect the battery while still under water, stuck in on a desk fan for a few hours and it was fine, even the Caddx Vista and camera survived.
Did you conformal coating the vista unit and the camera?
And if you did - how did you do it?
Thanks :)
@@hadaralon interestingly no I didn’t which was quiet a surprise. I did put one under a black light once and they do have a very light pink shine to them so maybe some of it is done at the factory. I’m convinced the unplugging the battery while under the water probably saved the vista.
Thanks for this video - I know what I will be doing for the West Coast winters.!
lol, 13:32, seems like even regular electronics in Joshua's house are powered by xt60 plugs))
I fly in Minnesota. Sun, rain, and snow....lots of snow. Everyone of my drones gets conformal(some even get bagged as well with a deep design kit) awesome info here.
Cool video about waterproof and a little drone I enjoyed watching you almost destroy your mini
Information I could have used last winter before I flew my tinywhoop into the toilet.
13:10 I go Big Fat Greek /w the Windex, Ethel Alcohol dries faster. Just be aware that there is a polishing compound in Windex, but I've never had a problem with it being conductive... It becomes some dust to brush off b4 applying a coating.
Instead of conformal coating, I always cover my eletronics with Corrosion X. I live and fly near to the beach. And work great, I have radios, drones and planes working for years. Just apply, a coating once by year. Or if dump into water clean with electrical cleaner and re coat
CAN YOU PLEASE SEND ME THE LINK FOR THAT PRODUCT? THANKSSS
I'm in UK .. here are all weekends raining 😂😂😂 2023 is so far very wet
That water solution might help with my mobeetle6 board overheating and disabling the gyro
Isopropyl alcohol won't remove conformal coating. Acetone is what you need to use (aka nail polish remover)
or gunwash/thinner
I conformal coated my 5" kwads and have dunked em in ponds and streams and pulled em out... shook em out... New batt and in the air they went.... They still fly today💪💪💪💪
Good to learn that conformal coating will work when you dump it in water! I conformal coat most of my whoops and quads only landed in wet grass so far and they all still work.
conformal coating is essential where i live, i like to use the 422C conformal coating as u can ensure its covered using a uv light.
7:40 Sunlight works great
The shark shot was pure awesome. 🦈
Comic cinematic quality, Bardwell! ^^
We’re not so lucky with dry ground in Northern England😕Cheers JB for this! Coating has definitely saved my whoops in damp grass, hitting wet branches, even snow…after several burnt boards as a lesson.
Hey Joshua, Long story short, put my non waterproofed Tinyhawk 2 in my pool. I didn't unplug it underwater, and I did use rice for like 3 days. Now when I arm only 3 motors turn and 1 is intermittent. When I raise the throttle, it goes to full throttle and doesn't go down when I go to 0 throttle. I'm assuming the AIO board was damaged. Would that be a good assessment? Probably need a new AIO board. Dang it!! I wish I had seen this video 2 months ago!😞
Interesting as always. Did the camera still work?
Yep! 100%.
Talking to a local store here in Norway, they said acrylic solution is better than silicon when it comes to water resistance.
Now, I would think the silicon solution is preferred due to the heat resistant properties that is greater than the acrylic solution?
From what I've read and understand based on the local store here, the silicon solution will handle 200C and the acrylic solution resists up to 125C.
That's the stuff I have but I hated using it because it looks like the board is covered in slime eventually. Once it has enough grass mixed in with it. It does work well though. Now that I have been doing a good enough job at building and not crashing so much, I haven't had to repair a quad in almost a year now. So I keep thinking I need to take them apart, clean them with alcohol and conformal coat everything.
Somehow managed to leave my taranis out pver night and it rained, had pretty much killed it, opened it up and sat it on a dehumidifier for a couple days and its fine now!
Also, used to dry out something else the same way, to speed up the process! Would definitely recommend a dehumidifier if you need to dry stuff out!
Was waiting for a video on this topic! Thanks Joshua.
Lol I clipped a branch above my pool , yep had to buy another lol
A food dehydrator works well, if ya have one!
Thank you for the complete guide for conformal coating. When you mention products like FPV Worry Free, it looks like people can dump their quads into the water and the quad can fly away without any issue, maybe a part 2 with this kind of product would be useful for us :)
Dielectric grease in the connectors helps also ( just not in the usb )
Contact cleaner will clean conformal coating off of anything you need it off of(save camera sensors, and possibly barometers), and will ensure that the component gets working again. It may take a couple applications and some scrubbing with a toothbrush, but it will get it working again.
I bought conformal but have not used it! Thanks for biting the bullet for me buddy. I guess now I'll use it! Glad your quad is ok.... Let us know how it is in a week!
a hairdryer works well too i was my quads with the hose spray with electrical contact cleaner or isopropyl then dry with a hairdryer been doing it for a few years now never had a quad die
Watching this while my drone is leaned up against a dehumidifier
Try running a thin coat of petroleum jelly around the threads of your conformal coating jar before you put it up, I have used this method on various things over the years that are prone to this
Saved my tinyhawk a few times from failure with this. Lost a motor tho. Top tip. 😎
Desiccant, not rice. It will get moisture out better than a fan But may take longer. I’ve fixed fogged cam lenses with it.
thank you for this. I was expecting it as an out take of the mobeetle review. but you went a step further and made a great video about water resistance prep. I have recently started to coat all my quads. carefully
Best silicone conformal coating ever. Ordered me that stuff to germany for 20$ around.
And it was totally worth it.
AWESOME video! BTW, did you tested the camera? One of my whoops feel into the pool, then water got into the camera and chlorine destroyed the sensor when it dried! 😢
Where is the rotor riot pool cover?
Priceless knowledge, especially these days! Happy drying 😁
Hmm thanks for the tips!
On a roll JB I see the numbers works when you work it. TY for the great info and entertainment in the same takes a talented individual to nerd out and be cool!!
I use B-7000 glue to waterproof my quads. Have flown in fullpower rain totally fine.
Heard conformal coating gets micro-cracks after some cooling/heating cycles + high vibration so it needs maintenance once in a while.
B-7000 remains elastic like silicone and much easier to apply and control so that it don’t get in usb ports.
In fact i apply it on usb ports with a help of gravity so it hardens like a plug. If I need to use it - just tear it off and reapply it back after to seal and preserve these parts as well.
So easy to tear it off as well. You just take one part on tweezers and wind on itself.
The only downside is - It has little worse thermal conductivity, but if you fly and not wait on a bench for 5 minutes its totally fine.
Is there someone who uses B-7000 as well, or any other substance which you found better in your application? Are there someone using conformal without reapply more than 6 month with no issues in heavy rain?
I once dropped my 5'' quad into saltwater due to some weird rxloss. It was approx. ankle deep and full of seaweed, so the quad plopped into that mess right to the upper deck. The battery terminals and the ESC power traces had likely shorted out, everything started boiling and fuming, and as a cherry on top the battery caught on fire. While in water. Yeah. I yanked it out having wrapped my hands in my shirt, but the ESC board has been ruined - some power traces eaten clean off the surface. Silicone insulation on some motor wires had puffed up, cracked and turned brittle, and the carbon fiber near the power terminals had visible pitting.
To sum up, I had to replace the ESC board, rewire all motors (thankfully the coils themselves were not corroded) and buy a new action camera. That was enough of a lesson to lacquer-coat the boards.
Thanks for making this video. Oscar Liang has a write up on drone waterproofing and recommends using 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean the board before coating and you can also use a cotton swap dipped in it to clean off conformal coating where you want it to be removed.
Hmm, I took the time and made sure my quads were properly coated, also using 422 silicon (even under the chipset and other SMDs), and we fly in snow and crash into water all the time. Sometimes we even get lucky and manage to turtle out of the snow. Never had any issues what so ever, never let the quad dry either, just slap it against a tree or wall to get rid of the thicker snow or mud, fresh pack in and full throttle again. Of course I don't COUNT on it being fine, but after 50+ crashes in snow I'm confident that proper application of the goop is key, and that it will work way better than some argue.
Right I was kind of blown away he never mentioned silicon but hey I'm use to snow and oceans. I guess some of us just need to deal with water proofing more then others haha. In my experience even manufactures usually use Conformal more for water resistance then water proofing. ie for some casual rain not submersion. The best ones combined them both!
acetone completely removes conformal coating and does not hurt the components, great if you want to clear a board completely
I conformal'd the VTx of my old drone after landing in wet grass killed it.
Am looking at ways to waterproof my new one, but it has a barometer that I don't want to ruin.
Video appreciated.
I was wondering the same. I would think you can just take a very small piece of tape and cover it.
All mine have a barometer, and using the brush it’s so easy to just coat round the edges of it, leaving the top clear. Just keep the brush without too much on it and push the end of the bristles towards the component carefully, don’t just try brushing past it.
Thanks a bunch, Joshua! 😊
I've been searching about it to buy some silicone conformal coating, but... Unfortunately I can't find it. 😕
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊