My Emax Nighthawk 280 PRO fell into the water … by David HK February 2017

My Emax Nighthawk 280 PRO fell into the water … by David HK February 2017

A few weeks ago my NH 280 quad fell into a small water way, whole quad was submerged under water, but the standalone self flashing LED that I soldered in front was still flashing when I saw it in the water. 

Below youtube is the last video before it fell into the water, the actual one that was being recorded when it fell into the water didn’t make it to file saved stage. 

https://youtu.be/yWDODlLKG14

The reason for the fall was because there was no fpv video signal for some reasons, later found out was due to the faulty fpv camera.  Even in above video when it fell onto a tree was because no video signal so I cut the throttle immediately.  But I wasn’t lucky enough the 2^nd time as the quad fell into the water.

The waterway was with still water about 1 foot high, at the bottom was black dirt, so after I rescued it out of the water, I need to give it a clean wash under the tap, then dismantle everything and dried it under the sun,

also use 70% alcohol (this is actually my medical alcohol in the house) with a cotton stick to clean out any possible corrosion joints.  Then put all the components on top of my fridge for 24 hours (as the back of the fridge generates small amount of heat and thus dry air flows over the top constantly, I dry my water bottles there all the time), then tested every components individually one by one, it is amazing all components are still working, except the following:

1.       The fpv cam, I guessed this is the source of the no video signal problem.

2.       The Vtx, I thought I tested it immediately after drying and it works, but when I installed into my replacement quad, it no longer works. Oh well…

3.       The Firefly Q6 HD cam LED screen no longer works.  It was working after I washed and dried it on the same day, but next day, I was cleaning all solder joins using alcohol, and put it under the sun for an hour, somehow the LED screen no longer works, but the actual Q6 camera can still do recording.   So I ordered a replacement LED from Gearbest for around US$4, hopefully it is the actual LED screen and not other components. However, the LED screen pins are soldered directly to the camera board, not using any click socket like most mobile phones. It will be a test against my soldering skill.

For the motors, I took out the bell and shaft, use alcohol to clean the inside and the shaft, then added lubricant oil to the shaft and ball bearings.

As the NH 280 has been with me for over a year, the frame is a bit big and heavy, and the controller is Naze32 v6 (was a replacement to the original AIO board about 6 months ago), which is an F1 board, I want to try F4 controller and 5” frame.  The rest of the components are KK2205 2300kv motors, Racerstar 30A lite ESC (the BB1 version, so can only run up to Dshot300).

I’ve ordered the Martian II 220 frame, and got my 2^nd ONMIBUS F4 Pro v2 controller delivered already; these will be my next build with the rest of the existing components.  Of course need to buy a new fpv cam; target is Foxeer HS1177, and a new Vtx as well.