Had the Air 3S out last night for some night flying. Weather forecast looked clear and had been out for about an hour, when I started feeling some raindrops on my head. Drone was only about 150m away so brought it back and landed ASAP.
Once landed, gave the drone a bit of a wipe over as there were a few drops on it, but it was by no means drenched. No errors or warnings on the way back.
Does anyone have any experience with light showers like this? Should I be okay or is there anything else I need to check?
I’ve been caught short in the rain quite a few times ( not with an air 3s mind )
Like yourself got the drone back quickly gave it a wipe down etc etc has never been a problem,
Once when I went up through the fog/mist it came down like it had been in a bucket of water, wiped it over & when I got home give it a blast with the hairdryer on a cool setting in all the crevices/motors etc with battery removed, then booted it up let the props spin on & off in intervals over about a 5 minute period no issues at all.
When I’ve flown in misty conditions when its landed I take battery out and on getting home leave the drone opened out (ie legs, gimbal cover off) on my desk overnight.
That will be fine , just leave it open in a warm room it will evaporate off , I’ve been caught out in a rain shower before when flying back , obviously it’s best avoided but these things happen, I’ve seen on here where lost drones fire up so you will be fine mate .
Thanks all. I was pretty quick getting it down and it seems okay today, so fingers crossed all good. Battery was out as soon as it landed and have left it out overnight so hopefully will do the trick. Major disadvantage of flying at night is you can’t really see what the weather is up to!
My (MP) has had many trips through misty/foggy conditions and come back pretty damned wet on many of those occasions .. it’s still fully fit at more than 9 years old.
Piece of piss! … I was caught out in the Solent last week in a very unexpected heavy shower and she flew very well back home. I wouldn’t recommend it all the time but it was tested against the conditions.
Wiping the outside doesn’t mean the internals are dry, and booting it up / spinning the motors can turn “wet but recoverable” into shorts, ESC/motor damage, or accelerated corrosion/electrolysis (especially with rain/fog residue). A hairdryer blast (even “cool”) can also push water deeper into seams/connectors and give a false sense of dryness.
Safer approach: power off immediately, remove battery, don’t power on to test, don’t spin motors, let it dry thoroughly in a ventilated place with silica gel/desiccant (and if it was salt/dirty water, consider service because residue drives corrosion).
My emergency rain SOP (DJI drone)
Land immediately & power off ASAP
Power off ASAP
Then find dry cover (even an umbrella)
Quick wipe-down
Wipe exterior gently
Be careful about accidentally blowing/pushing water into vents/ports/seams
Get indoors ASAP
Remove the battery (and SD card if wet)
If model allows: remove props, take off the gimbal clamp, and open any doors/covers (battery/SD) to give moisture an escape path
Do not spin motors “to dry them” (only increasing chance of bearings damage in brushless motors, they’re best left stationary if wet)
Air-dry (initial) - next 3 hours
Place on a table in a cool, well-ventilated area
Use a cold fan on low-mid, positioned nearby (no high-power airflow aimed into openings)
No heat: never place near a radiator/heater or use hot air - triggers internal condensation (way way worse than some water in droplets form)
Desiccant dry (sealed) - next 72 hours
Put the drone (and battery separately) into a sealed case/bag with 100-200 g silica gel
Make sure it’s reasonably sealed (otherwise the silica fights room air)
Replace silica if it’s saturated (after 24 hours)
Only after 72 hours or later: power-on checks
This is the 1st time only that you should be powering on the drone since it was turned off in step 1 (powering at earlier point can cause accelerated corrosion/electrolysis)
Insert battery (also not dis/charged until now - 72 hours) and boot up
Check for warnings (IMU/sensors), confirm gimbal initializes, and camera feed
Then do a short, low hover test in a safe area before normal flight
Depends how wet I guess, those remedy’s worked for me when I got caught out so I’d stick with what I know “ unless “ it be a worser case scenario .
Some of the points I included in my SOP, especially about no heat, powering on or spinning motors, are something that comes from my electrical engineering training. These are normally big nonos. Of course, that doesn’t mean it will damage the drone every time, but it has a huge potential to do so.
