I wanted to post my recent spark loss and successful recovery here because this fourm has provide me with a lot of useful info over the past year, thanks to all.
Last Saturday I was filming an event on a river. We launched the canoe around 8:15AM and immediately went across the river and launched the Spark. Because I've had the battery eject/fall out over land before I now ALWAYS double check the battery before launching by giving it a few tugs without pressing the release and then pushing back in fairly tightly. The drone had been in air for 4.3 minutes when I decided I had the shots I needed. I brought the drone back to the canoe and paused to take a picture of my friend and I. While hovering about 5 feet away and 8 feet from the surface, the battery popped out and the drone fell into the river.
It took us about 10 minutes to find and recover the drone and battery out of the river. I stuffed the drone back into my dry bag and finished the event. Once home around 3PM that day I put the drone in a large bowl and covered it with 10lbs of rice. After letting it sit for about 30 hours or so I took the drone out and went though the power up cycle. The drone powered on and connected to the remote, but I got a camera feed error. I powered off, disconnected the battery and after 5 mins tried again. Nothing. Though out the day I tried a couple of other times Still nothing. At this point I thought the drone was lost and began filling out the service claim with DJI.
I disconnected the battery and set aside until i could get everything boxed up and shipped out. When I picked the drone up a piece of rice fell out from somewhere. This prompted me to try to power on one last time. I was surprised to hear the familiar welcome tones. I pulled out my phone and connected to the drone. Because i live near an airport i had to take it somewhere else for test flight. Across town I flew the drone and went through all quick shots and return to home. Happy to report back, all is working.
Last Saturday I was filming an event on a river. We launched the canoe around 8:15AM and immediately went across the river and launched the Spark. Because I've had the battery eject/fall out over land before I now ALWAYS double check the battery before launching by giving it a few tugs without pressing the release and then pushing back in fairly tightly. The drone had been in air for 4.3 minutes when I decided I had the shots I needed. I brought the drone back to the canoe and paused to take a picture of my friend and I. While hovering about 5 feet away and 8 feet from the surface, the battery popped out and the drone fell into the river.
It took us about 10 minutes to find and recover the drone and battery out of the river. I stuffed the drone back into my dry bag and finished the event. Once home around 3PM that day I put the drone in a large bowl and covered it with 10lbs of rice. After letting it sit for about 30 hours or so I took the drone out and went though the power up cycle. The drone powered on and connected to the remote, but I got a camera feed error. I powered off, disconnected the battery and after 5 mins tried again. Nothing. Though out the day I tried a couple of other times Still nothing. At this point I thought the drone was lost and began filling out the service claim with DJI.
I disconnected the battery and set aside until i could get everything boxed up and shipped out. When I picked the drone up a piece of rice fell out from somewhere. This prompted me to try to power on one last time. I was surprised to hear the familiar welcome tones. I pulled out my phone and connected to the drone. Because i live near an airport i had to take it somewhere else for test flight. Across town I flew the drone and went through all quick shots and return to home. Happy to report back, all is working.
