FPV - What didn't they tell you about waterproofing your drone

Real-world FPV waterproofing. All the extra tips on waterproofing a quad for enjoyable flights in the rain or taking dips in streams and ponds.

[@quadronaut]

The scroll back at 0:02 had me rolling!! Awesome video man

[@Maxbl4]

Great tips, thanks! I also used thick silicone grease inside connectors to waterproof them. Only downside grease collects dust

[@nutsidea]

Thank you Vladmimir! Enjoy flying!

[@suzysheer66]

^^^^^ yes, i use a dielectric grease in the connectors, all of them. Also acetone will easily dissolve conformal coating if you have to service it.

[@MadDragon75]

They make rubber booties for the USB

[@UNLOCKEDANDOVERCLOCK]

Do you need to put conformal coating on your whole LED bar or just the connection part

[@opts9]

Quality video! I have conformal coated numerous quadcopters, but never taken a real-world plunge - but it was really interesting seeing and hearing about your experiments. subbed!

[@DrMacca]

Fantastic tips - thanks! Really glad to have found your channel!

[@paulmakesthings]

Thanks for making this video. Gives me a lot more confidence to actually trust the quads I've waterproofed as well as some tips for the next few builds

[@nutsidea]

All the best!

[@shelbeyhollingsworth622]

Thanks for the tips!!

[@illusionfpv1326]

Most helpful video I’ve found. Subscribed

[@mrray52381]

Great video! Thank you!!

[@Xplicit_fpv]

Awesome!!!

[@cyberoverkill5844]

That scroll up at the very beginning XD

[@madladdan]

Surely you can make a plastic cover that covers the stack. Then have rubber opening for the wires.

[@nutsidea]

If you try it, do watch out for heat issue though. The quad can drop from the air when the stack gets too hot. Air circulation is crucial to keeping the electronics cool.

[@madladdan]

@@nutsidea Yea the vtx is going to be an issue. Maybe if you split the housing for the stack up and had slots between each layer for air

[@sunsetpark_fpv]

Very cool experimentation here! Great tips! (that I am too scared to try myself) 😎

[@nutsidea]

I absolutely connect to the fear part. I burned a few ESCs and FCs before getting it right. Since I am not sponsored in any way, it was money bye bye and that was painful. Hence I summarised the experience and shared it here so that others need not go through the painful learning. Glad that it helped others in some ways.

[@VIREGAnet]

don't forget don't cover your barometer sensor if any...

[@ogrows]

You can actually buy little rubber/Silicone USB port plugs for next to nothing instead of filling USB port with waterproofing you can just plug and seal. Makes accessing your usb a whole lot easier if need be.

[@55yxalaG]

That's a cool idea, maybe one could be 3d printed out of TPU or something flexible? I'm working on conformal coating my builds for the (eventually) upcoming winter but at this point I'm not sure if only a light coat would do, or if I really need to cover absolutely everything conductive. My initial impression was that it's only super critical to cover the small component legs that are less than a millimeter apart.

[@xaea-1240]

deff gotta turn that volume up.

[@amerulwahid]

nice info thank you.

[@nutsidea]

Thanks for telling me. My pleasure.

[@skyweaver3199]

Hey man that was a really good video I just wanted to tell you that. I will definitely subscribe to your channel.

[@nutsidea]

Thanks for your feedback.

[@jangtime2098]

Thanks for your video, very informative! I'm in the process myself and wondering: how to you handle the small PH xx plugs from ESC to FC ? Or a pluged VTX ?

[@nutsidea]

Hi. I first connect them, test the flight to make sure that everything works well, before covering them with the conformal coat. Do understand that once you coat them, it is rather difficult to separate them without harming the connecting cables. Hence do it ONLY after testing everything works fine. Alternatively, use blue tag and wrap them around the sockets. Works as well too.

[@jangtime2098]

@@nutsidea Wow, thanks for those hints, valuable ;) And thanks for the super fast reply.

[@ethanandrews5964]

super helpful cheers

[@nutsidea]

Thanks for letting me know.

[@sarah.dxv3]

informative video, thank you :D

[@nutsidea]

Thanks for letting me know.

[@krashskwad852]

Nice bro..very informative.thank u🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@nutsidea]

So nice of you

[@godsun358]

Awesome information brother

[@nutsidea]

Thanks Bro!

[@KolibriFPV]

Great video! Thanks! What do you use fpr waterproofing? Silicone? Acrylic?

[@nutsidea]

For the electronics, conformal coating. For the camera body, I would suggest using glue from the hot glue gun.

[@nutsidea]

Nail polish would work for the FC and ESC as well. I won't suggest silicon although theoretically it will insulated the boards from water. But you don't want a thick layer on the boards because you want good heat dissipation. Else the temperature will run up high very fast.

[@JaydenLawson]

RainX is hydrophobic (creates beading). I’d recommend something that is hydrophilic (creates sheeting/filming), like anti-fog spray for reading glasses

[@nutsidea]

Thanks for the new perspective!

[@TheNonamon]

Thank you for this video ! It’s all I needed, you genuinely answered all the questions I had after watching all the waterproofing tutorials on KZbin :) One question though : what about the XT60 connector ? Does it need to be waterproofed one way or another ?

[@nutsidea]

Thank you for taking the trouble to inform me. Appreciated.

[@nutsidea]

No the XT60 does not need to be waterproofed because the pins are separated and too far apart for electrical to cause any issue. It is when the connectors are very close together that water can become an issue.

[@MrPhilbautista]

@@nutsidea No issues even when submerged?

[@nutsidea]

@@MrPhilbautista no damaged issues. However the video transmission and the radio signals drop-off dramatically when the drone is under water. Thus, you will lose connectivity when the drone is about 5-10 cm submerged. Otherwise it is fine. You will see your LEDS still on even when the drone is under water. But do not. As prevention, always unplug with the drone submerged. Either that or immediately unplug lifting the drone out of water.

[@MrPhilbautista]

@@nutsidea Thanks. What if the antenna is high enough to stick out of the water? If there's nothing interfering with the propellers, is it still possible to fly it out of the water? I've seen it done but no idea what motors they use.

[@TGiFoosday]

I tried nail polish at first because it was cheap and always available but noticed after awhile that it would start looking different and nasty. Probably due to component heat but after a few cameras mysteriously died I wondered if it was also conducting current but haven't tested for that yet as I switched to silicone conformal coating by MG chemicals (amazon) and have not had any problems since. Winter flying demands protection with open frame drones as even launching and good landings will stir up snow that can get on the electronics and cause issues or damage. With these FC components working at 3.3V logic levels it doesn't take much moisture between two adjacent pins to cause IO errors that can bring the drone down. It's Better to protect than Regret.

[@nutsidea]

Thanks for the input! My guess is that the heat caused the nail polish to harden and crack. The moisture thus gets to the electronics eventually. Whereas for conformal, it remains a bit soft and sticky. Thus providing the protection even after prolonged usage. Good information you provided. I am sure others will benefit from your experience. Appreciated.

[@TGiFoosday]

@@nutsidea That is a good assessment of what happens. ** TIPS ** Conformal Coating is also UV light reactive! So you can use a bright blue LED or UV flashlight to inspect your application and spot voids to cover. You can cover the backs of and soldered legs to plug connectors, not the matting parts and don't seal the hole on barometer sensor chips and can be used as lite duty alternate lock-tite too. If your electronics do get wet power off asap and get it cleaned using distilled water to flush if really dirty and needs it, then allow to dry. Re lube motor bearings and/or possibly clean/replace but at least check them. Hope this does help others and glad someone made a good video about protecting them.

[@derelictfpv]

Great tips. I killed a gyro conformal coating and fried another, not sure why. I conformaled it over well. Hey what do you do for your XT 30/60 plug and battery balance wire?

[@nutsidea]

the XT30/60 plug doesn't need any protection because they are already quite isolated by the plug. I am not sure why the gyro fried. Do keep the coating thin to allow heat to dissipate well. But that's just my guess. There is no need to cover the components except for the electrical contacts. The conformal/nail polish is to prevent short circuits due to close proximity of the terminals. Hope it works for you on your next try.

[@derelictfpv]

@@nutsidea Thanks for the tips again. That MG Chemicals 422C silicone coating doesn't appear to be that good. It can flake off fairly easy. I'm trying clear RTV silicone this time. It may be another fail but at least I tried.

[@ShottaIbby]

Would the same logic apply to waterproofing a high payload drone? For example a DJI S900 or Matrice?

[@nutsidea]

I would think so. There's not much to it actually. Just insulate the electronics and exposed connections. However for big stuff, you might want to consider using silicon instead of Conformal or nail polish.

[@HPFPVS]

I know this is an older video hopefully I can get a reply, I'm looking to waterproof my Long Range Quad are the brushless motors waterproof or how would someone waterproof them? I can't find anything on that. Thanks

[@nutsidea]

Hi. There is no need to waterproof the motors. They can even operate without fail in water.

[@GazzFPV]

I have rush tank ultimate vtx which is have a like metal shielding on top of it, so can I coat it bu just flooding it from outside ? or should I open the shield(I dont know if it safe)

[@nutsidea]

From experience, Rush glues the metal casing to chip. You can ply it open quite easily but do it slowly. Also, what I observed is that most Rush stuff come coated with light insulation already. So it is not necessary to coat it anymore if you see that coating when you ply the cover open. You can glue the cover back. However, do check the board yourself. Cos I am not sure if yours is ultimate mini or tank II ultimate. Mine is a mini.

[@giulianobellettini5295]

do you have to coat some part of the motors? i dont find information about the motors in time to coat a drone, pls help me with that information

[@nutsidea]

Plus do NOT coat the motors. No need at all as they are brushless. At maximum, spray or drip a bit of oil into it. I didn't bother. I wash my drone all the time and it never is an issue.

[@nerdCopter]

+1👍

[@JankoBros]

hello is there any issues with overheating using dji fpv system?

[@nutsidea]

Important to turn the temperature control to ON. (you can set it in the DJI goggles) that way the high power mode only kicks in when armed for flying. When flying, with good airflow, it is not an issue. When not flying, it is in low power mode, so that is not an issue at all. Even if you have the temperature control at OFF, on Vista, it takes quite some time before it gets too hot in hot weather. But if you have the Air Unit, it gets hot very fast.

[@AndreasFelix]

@nutsidea how do the moters take the dipping into water? is there anything to consinder?

[@nutsidea]

Hi Andreas. There is no need to worry about soaking the motors in water. The motors are brushless and don't get affected by the dip.

[@AndreasFelix]

​@@nutsidea thank you for the fast response. will coat my thoothpick for the winter season.

[@nutsidea]

@@AndreasFelix That's awesome! Wished I had a snowy landscape to fly around too. All the best!

[@o.x.o7797]

Hi! My quad crashed at water in 5 minutes, is still fine to use?, is there any components to destroy?

[@nutsidea]

If you unplugged the power while it was still in water, it should be fine. However, dry your quad thoroughly before plugging in power to try again. I usually place it on top of my modem box because it it pretty hot and dry there. Takes about at least half a day to ones day. Then plug in and see whether the ESC or FC are still working fine. Rarely does vtx, camera and crossfire get damaged. You can reference this post for the dip mine had. FPV -- How to retrieve your drone from a pond kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWXadIdre6prpNU

[@o.x.o7797]

Hi! Thank you for your response, my vtx and camera are working fine, so it may have a chances to damage later or sooner?

[@nutsidea]

if you are worried about the camera or vtx showing signs of damage later, worry not. It will take quite a bit of abuse to damage these two. Usually it is the ESC that gets damaged first, followed by FC.Bigger motors also are way tougher than the smaller ones.

[@R.B_B]

What I'd that "blue tag or tack" you wrap rge connectors

[@nutsidea]

I presume you are asking me what is that blue tack? Pls refer to this: diy.bostik.com/en-SG/products/stationery-craft/blu-tack

[@R.B_B]

@@nutsidea Yes. Thanks

[@POLARISFPV]

The blue tack thing is genius but it got me thinking 🤔 Why can't you just stick it in the usb port?

[@nutsidea]

Actually you are RIGHT! Brilliant! Thx!

[@djilly75]

It's pretty much water resistant without conformal

[@andrewut7ya511]

Im gonna start building my waterproof drone for the snow that will be coming in the next few months, and stock up on battery warmers

[@nutsidea]

Oh wow! All the best. The waterproofing will certainly keep the quad safe. I would suggest to add GPS and the automatic recovery buzzer to the quad as well. It is not easy to find the quad in snow if you lose it. I am envious of you to have snow to fly in.

[@djilly75]

RainX on the lens im guessing

[@nutsidea]

YES! Spot on.

[@syedmuhdakram8450]

How to waterproof 4in1 esc pin that use connector

[@nutsidea]

Hi. You first plug the connector in. Then coat the whole connector casing with a layer. Remember to apply coat to the where the cables enter the connector. In most cases, the connector can still be separated after months. But occasionally, separating the socket can rip off some stuff.

[@syedmuhdakram8450]

@@nutsidea thanks for your reply 👍

[@djilly75]

Wow nice view count

[@elroytan2851]

Are you from Singapore?

[@nutsidea]

yes I am.

[@thedroneguytoronto]

1 huge tips out a USB plub in the ports... DON'T COMFORMAL COAT THEM.. I don't care what the video says it's extremely hard to dig out comformal coating from that port... Plug the port and cost all over it, you'll be good

[@nutsidea]

u r absolutely right! Thus as suggested earlier, pasting the blue tag over it before conformal coating will prevent the socket from it. leaving the blue tag is an easy way to waterproof it.

[@MRdeLaat]

just dont crash in a lake and dont fly when its raining then u dont need any of those greesy bs

[@nutsidea]

It gives you the option to look at things in the rain. Eg. I went out flying when the river got flooded. Saw how it changed the surroundings.