Has anyone tried to make the 3DR Solo waterproof?

Posted by G_H on February 4, 2016 at 3:24am

Hi,

I'm quite new to the Solo and to the forum as well. I want to fly the Solo in the future at the German coast over the ocean. I know that salt water is one of the worst things you could do but I'm not planning to crash anyway. In the case of a crash, what can I do to increase the chances of not losing the Solo?

I already did some research online and my plan is to use CorrosionX for the electronics and attach floats to the landing gear of the Solo. However, I've found that normally ESCs don't work well with CorrosionX and water. It would be better to seal them. In the Solo the ESCs are located right under the motors in the motor pods, right? Therefore, it will be quite difficult to seal the whole board and I'm wondering if CorrosionX is the best choice that I have...


Has anyone ever attempted to waterproof the solo? How would you deal with the ESCs?
Thank you for your suggestions. I'll share my experiences as soon as I start with the modifications

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Tags: 3dr, ocean, solo, waterproofing
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Replies

  • DavidFolts February 8, 2016 at 12:01pm

    I've been overwater out to .5 kilometers with my Solo here by the Gulf of Mexico. I have no great expectations of recovering my Solo should it decide to flyaway and land in the water. I don't think you can even do much to protect the electronics from the high humidity ocean environments, just disassemble and clean it periodically.

    Recommendation: I would invest in a long range antenna. See my posting on the ITELITE DBS antenna. The stock Solo controller antennas are good for about 2500 feet range from the controller over water, at best. Any time you lose link, you just run the risk of losing your drone....although the Solo's software seems robust enough to know what has to be done if it's out of controller range.

    Question: what are you going to do to protect the payload? (I assume its a camera) If the camera immerses in salt water, even in the less saline Baltic, its going to short-circuit the camera control and gimbal circuitry and likely damage the Solo mainboard anyway.

    • G_H > DavidFolts February 10, 2016 at 10:17am

      Thanks for sharing your experiences! For the electronics I still think CorrosionX is the best to protect your electronics. It is even used for boats to protect metal parts against corrosion.  

      Regarding the payload: You're absolutely right. That's a real challenge, especially because the GoPro with a waterproof case doesn't fit to the Solo gimbal. As a first workaround, I might fly without gimbal and try to find a way to attach the Gopro with the waterproof case to the normal Solo fixture. Either another camera or a way to seal the normal GoPro are my ideas at the moment. Anyway, I have to think about it a bit longer... 

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