Return of the Quad

Rgolfer

Gearing Up to Fly
Hopefully you folks will get a laugh from this story. I got hooked into the multirotor world during the group build in the spring of 2014 - building a F45o which was fun to build and relatively easy to fly. Being eager for more fun and the opportunity to learn I next built a quad based on one of the Flite Test models. This was August 2014. Still learning to fly, of course. I live adjacent to a golf course and often do my flying on the course when there are no golfers around. During a test flight of the new quad (still a learning pilot) I let the quad get behind me and into the trees in my back yard. I couldn't find it on the ground (SW Florida - lots of brush, palmetto bushes, and a couple of tall palms) and was pretty sure it was in a tree. I looked for the quad in the trees in vain for many days and finally decided that possibly it had flown on and "landed" in a nearby lake. A quad this size could have been easily hiding in a 30 ft palm tree however. From time to time in the last year I have looked in the trees and the brush for the quad with no luck. During this time we have experienced one summer season (lots of rain, humidity, and sun) and a winter season. In the last week or so we have experienced a lot of rain and some high winds (El Nino) and today, while out in the yard, guess what is sitting on the ground - the long lost quad. Obviously the wind dislodged it enough from where it was hidden in a tree to put it on the ground. All the parts are intact but it looks like it has been rode hard and put away wet.

I don't think I could trust any of the parts to fly reliably again but I plan to take the plane apart and see which components still work. Will report later.
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
pics :)

never saw a quad that lived in a tree for over a year and fell back to earth! congrats, the story alone was worth the inital loss! IMHO, from where I'm sitting!
 

Rgolfer

Gearing Up to Fly
pics :)

never saw a quad that lived in a tree for over a year and fell back to earth! congrats, the story alone was worth the inital loss! IMHO, from where I'm sitting!

Here's a pic of the poor bedraggled baby. I think the one motor broke off when it returned to home today. Notice how all the red wires have faded to yellow.
 

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Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
i'd bet the NAZA and receiver are toast but everything else can be made to run again provided you dry it all out really well.
 




Old Man

Active Member
He lives mighty close to the Bermuda Triangle. It might not have been the tree that had it....
 


FLJim

Member
Glad to know that all that wind we got was for some good! The rest of us were grounded, so I guess the lost drone decided it should be too.
 


cootertwo

Member
Yup, I know we here in Florida shouldn't be complaining, but enough is enough. I'm sittin in here right now, just hooked up my new 3 axis gimble on my new Y6, and it's been raining all day, and is still. Oh well, at least we don't have to shovel snow.
 

Rgolfer

Gearing Up to Fly
i'd bet the NAZA and receiver are toast but everything else can be made to run again provided you dry it all out really well.
Over the last couple of weeks I disassembled the quad, dried all the components, cleaned up everything, tested all the components as best I could and reassembled the quad. The quad is basically a FliteTest wood frame and arms, DJI E300 motors and ESCs, a DJI Naza Lite FC with GPS and a JR receiver. I now use a Taranis transmitter so I replaced the JR receiver with a FrSky X6R. Amazingly everything seems to work just fine. It starts and flies much as it always did. See the attached photo and video. The motors look and behave just as good as when new. It is hard to say whether or not this has shortened their life. The ESCs look perfect and the FC seems to work just fine even though it looks like crap. The old receiver would still bind with the old transmitter so it is probably OK as well. I'd say these electronics in general are pretty tough. Hopefully I won't be performing any other tests like this.
 

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Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
that's pretty amazing that it's all working again. congrats, have fun, don't lose it again!
 

violetwolf

Member
Thanks for the follow up! I have one that was in a tree for over 2 years... Rain, snow, and blasting Sunshine. I haven't had the heart to throw it out, but now I'm inspired to see if it'll work!

Did you lube the bearings? Thatll be first on my list.
 

Rgolfer

Gearing Up to Fly
Thanks for the follow up! I have one that was in a tree for over 2 years... Rain, snow, and blasting Sunshine. I haven't had the heart to throw it out, but now I'm inspired to see if it'll work!

Did you lube the bearings? Thatll be first on my list.
I didn't lube the bearings but probably should have. I will before flying again. Totally spaced that idea.
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
if the bearings aren't making noise I probably wouldn't try to lube them. to do it right you'd need to remove them, pull out the shields, soak them in a solvent to dissolve the old grease and then repack them with new grease and install new shields. You could drop sewing machine oil or something similar in there but there's always the possibility the oil will not be compatible with the grease and whatever is in there will break down and the bearings will be ruined anyway.
usually the best bet is to just pull out the old bearings and put new ones in, it's fast, not expensive, and you'll know what you've got going forward. or you can just run what you have and see how long it lasts. the bearings are packed with grease and shielded so it's possible no water got in there unless the motors were submerged. even then, if it wasn't deep then the grease may have still kept water from getting in.
 
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Rgolfer

Gearing Up to Fly
if the bearings aren't making noise I probably wouldn't try to lube them. to do it right you'd need to remove them, pull out the shields, soak them in a solvent to dissolve the old grease and then repack them with new grease and install new shields. You could drop sewing machine oil or something similar in there but there's always the possibility the oil will not be compatible with the grease and whatever is in there will break down and the bearings will be ruined anyway.
usually the best bet is to just pull out the old bearings and put new ones in, it's fast, not expensive, and you'll know what you've got going forward. or you can just run what you have and see how long it lasts. the bearings are packed with grease and shielded to it's possible no water got in there unless the motors were submerged. even then, if it wasn't deep then the grease may have still kept water from getting in.
Good advice. - thanks Bart
 


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