How to Waterproof A Drone?

If you’ re prone to getting your drone caught out there in the rain, after that its probably a good idea to give it some protection against the elements.

Here are four of the greatest waterproofing options for your drone. Each technique was designed for people with various experience levels. For example , some people will feel comfy stripping their drones completely, while others won’ t even wish to remove the drone’ ersus outer case. When you’ re a bit of a technophobe, don’ big t worry, we’ ve got a method for you personally too.

Now if you’ re happy to take your drone apart, you’ ll need to know which are the most important electronic components to tackle initial. I’ m going to assume you have minimum experience with electronics, so I’ ll try to explain this within the most simple terms achievable. Don’ t let this intimidate a person, it’ s actually quite easy.

If you don’ p feel comfortable opening your drone, please pass-up to method quantity 4.

Important Electronic Elements That You Should Be Securing First

Just before getting started, you’ ll need to know what electronic components you should be covered in the first place. I recommend you focus on the areas of the drone which are the most sensitive in order to sudden voltage changes. Keep in mind that some of the protecting methods mentioned below will need you to remove these important digital components, while additional less effective methods don’ t require take apart your drone at all.

Printed circuit boards.

The electronic elements that are at the highest risk can be found in the particular legs of the IC’s, (Integrated circuit, ) on the printed signal boards. Which are the best green looking planks with a lot of chips on and lines on them. These planks have hundreds of little charges of electrical power that can easily be disrupted even by a drop of water. So you want to take out as many printed outlet boards as possible.

Motor TECHNOLOGY OF ESC, (electronic speed control, ) connections.

If the integrated circuit on these cable connections short circuit, then it can fry your engine or even your digital speed control. They are usually situated within the drone’ s left arm where the wires that can come out of the motor attach.

Battery or small ports.

Today, these areas are usually weak points on the drone because they are always open. This makes it hard to waterproof. Ports generally include battery slots or any areas where some thing can be plugged in. Many people skip over ports because of this, however , if you want to make your drone extra waterproof, after that make sure you use the strategies below that allow it. DO NOT use silicone in slots, it will stop the particular plugs from working.

Should you take apart your own drone?

Since you know what to remove, you’ re probably wanting to know how to remove them. Today, this step will obviously heavily depend on your type of drone or even quadcopter. I’ ve gone ahead plus sourced a video approach take apart a DJI Phantom to help you on the way. However , I recommend you find a tutorial video that taking walks through how you can disassemble your specific drone.

How far you should want to break down your own drone is also completely up to your choice and the method you select below. So make sure you go through the entire write-up before you start removing electronic components.

IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that you may void your guarantee when breaking down the drone or using any of the steps below to waterproof your drone.

01. Waterproof Drone With DryDrone Get rid of ‘ n Bake

This stuff is really a powder made by several chemicals. The product was designed to overcome a few of the limitations that come with conformal coating. This product, in contrast to formal coating, is not really electrically resistant. That might sound like a bad matter at first, however , hear me out for a minute.

The liquid has water-resistant qualities, however , it still allows electrical power to flow. This excellent combination allows you to completely coat your entire drone without worrying about stopping the flow associated with electricity on slots and plugs.

The downside is the fact that is isn’ testosterone levels as effective against liquid short-circuiting any of the electronic components.

Before starting.

• Get some DryDrone Shake ‘ n Bake right here.
• Don’ t leave the bottle open. This stuff evaporates extremely fast.
• You can possibly paint it upon or use the bag method, in this guide I’ ll become talking through the handbag method which works more effectively in my opinion.
• You’ ll need to take any electronic elements that you want to water-proof out of the drone before you start this process.
• Make sure you still have the Shake ‘ and Bake bag. You’ re going to use it to shower your electronic component. Get it here.
• You’ lmost all be able to solder with the thin layer associated with Shake ‘ n Bake if you need to make any future repairs.
• Don’ t use this upon any internal components of your camera.
• This might void your warranty.

Let’ s get started.

1. Get your electronic component ready to soak with Shake ‘ and Bake.
2. Use the eyedropper and fill it up with some DryDrone and press it into the Wring ‘ n Make bag. You can use as much eye dropper amounts as you think is essential to cover your digital component. Keep in mind that you are able to still pour it in return in the bottle, so you’ re not wasting anything.
3. Remember to close the bottle.
4. Place your own electronic component into the bag and close up it. Squeeze as much air out of the handbag as possible.
5. Then shake it making sure you get the liquid on all areas of the component.
6. Take it out of the bag with the paper clip provided.
7. Do the next component.
8. You could also brush these products on any digital components that you don’ t want to remove out of the drone.
9. The last action is to brush over any electronic terminals.

INSIDER TIPS: If you know your drone will be getting soaking damp, you could paint upon some conformal covering on the more important element after you’ ve gone through the Protein shake ‘ n Make steps.

02. Waterproof Drone With Silicone Conformal Coating

This is designed to completely water-resistant your drone, nevertheless , the downside to this method that because it’ s so good at separating electricity that runs through the elements from the elements, there is a high risk of coating the wrong locations, such as plugs, that could cause them to stop working.

A quick way to limit this issue is to be sure you use the paint around the version instead of the squirt on. With the spray on, it’ ersus really difficult to control where you get the silicone on which will obviously increase the chances of getting the silicone on the wrong components of the drone. In case you’ ve actually used spray color to paint, you’ ll know what I’ m talking about.

Before starting.

• Take out any electronic components that you want to water-proof. Remember the most important and many sensitive components that you simply probably want to be water proof are the printed outlet boards.
• If you want to paint around ports and plugs, make sure they are plugged in initial to avoid covering all of them by mistake.
• Make sure you don’ to get any silicon on ports where you would have to plug something in. Remember that silicon will blog these ports because it resists current.
• You’ ll have to grab a bottle of Silicone Conformal Coating from Amazon here.
• You’ ll be able to solder straight through this particular if need be, therefore don’ t allow that worry you.
• Don’ p use this on any kind of internal components of your own camera.
• This will more than likely gap your warranty.

Enables get started.

1. The first step, take out your own drones battery plus any other media cards.
2. Begin by taking off your drones and opening this to a point that will leaves as many printed circuit boards uncovered as possible.
3. Start brushing the particular silicone over published circuit boards. Cover as much surface area as possible. The silicone must have a slight shine into it so you’ lmost all have a visual benchmark of parts you have missed.
4. You could move on to the chips and digital motor connections in which the wires that come out from the motors meet with the particular printed circuit plank, however , they aren’ t nearly while sensitive. And I would certainly recommend using Tremble ‘ n Bake or CorrosionX instead.
5. The only real electronics you can’ t cover with silicone are the ports. Skip these.

INSIDER TIP: If you haven’ t done so currently, use Shake ‘ n Bake or even CorrosionX HD on all ports. This will give it at least some sort of protection against water.

03. Waterproof Drone Along with CorrosionX HD

This stuff is in the spray bottle which will get everywhere, so it will get messy. However , unlike Conformal Covering, it won’ big t block electric current, which means that you can get it straight into ports and any plugs without any complications.

And top of that, because it can be sprayed out you don’ t need to break down your drone as far as if you were going to use Conformal Coating. So why not just use this stuff to begin with? Well, the only bad thing is it’ s not really nearly as efficient.

Prior to starting.

• You’ ll need to grab a bottle from Amazon.
• You will need to at-least take off your drones outer case.
• This process can get messy!
• You can also solder all the way through this stuff without any issues.
• This may void your warranty. Make sure you double-check with customer support if this is definitely something that worries you.

Let’ s get started.

1. Start by taking out your drones battery and any media cards.
2. Remove your drones outer case, exposing as much of the internal consumer electronics as possible.
3. Lay the parts that you’ lmost all be spraying over a large paper hand towel, or do it outside where you don’ p mind getting stuff dirty.
4. Shake the may.
5. Stage the straw towards the components you want to aerosol.
6. First, go for the printed circuit planks, tap the squirt quickly, and adjust. A lot will come away so get used to the spray before going insane.
7. As soon as you’ ve protected all printed rounds boards, begin spraying it on any kind of electronic motor cable connections. They are usually where the wires that come out of the motors meet with a printed circuit board.
8. Once that’ s done, you start spraying it upon any ports. Remember that this won’ p stop any electric energy, so you don’ testosterone have to worry about things not really connecting.
9. Make sure every nook and cranny can be covered.

INSIDER TIP: Use conformal finish on as many internal components first to give them a strong amount of protection, then make use of CorrosionX on slots, any hard to get to areas and places you might have missed.

Right now for the ultimate test. The video below shows a drone that was fully submerged after getting covered with CorrosionX HD.

04. Work with a Wetsuit to Water resistant your drone

This method is extremely user friendly because you won’ t need to take apart your drone. However , remember that it might be a lot more expensive. Wetsuits for the DJI Phantom 4 can cost you around $69, in case you don’ testosterone want to open your own drone at all then it might be your just option.

Some drawbacks. Like many other methods, this one furthermore comes with its drawbacks. Because of the added weight on the drone in the wetsuit, you will notice a decrease in flight time and distance. In this particular forum, a phantom 4 owner mentioned that this wetsuit cut his flight time by around 2 to 3 minutes, which isn’ t bad thinking about the drone can generally fly for around twenty-eight minutes.

One more drawback is these types of wet suits aren’t nearly as effective as some of the finish methods above. They are designed to keep the drinking water from seeping through the cracks of the body, which does secure some of the most important electronic components, however , they are doing very little for the motors of the drone. Which, lucky for us aren’ t as sensitive to water.

That being said they certainly do the job and if you have very limited electronic understanding this might be the best option. However , If your drone does get captured out in the rainfall with a wetsuit upon, I would still advise that you go through actions that explain ways to dry your rhyme.

Here’ s where you can have them.

Selecting these wetsuits are pretty tricky, yet I found a few for a few of the more popular drones. Just a point associated with note, I’ meters not really sure just who makes these things. They aren’ t on any of the drone manufacturers’ websites so I doubt they manufactured them. That being said, make sure you the actual research soo that you don’ t go that damages your own drone. Here they may be: