Flotation device

[Brandon Lowe]

Just a dumb question, is there enough room to put small pieces of pool noodles on the arms and or landing gear to keep the H from sinking should it have a mishap over water? I know it is going to have issues after crashing into the water but at least it will not sink. I would only put these on if I have to do some over water flying. Never comfortable doing that.

 

[Malibu_Rod]

No you don't have enough clearance between the props and the blades or the landing and the arms pool noodles are too thick, haven't tried though. Your right it wouldn't keep the drone upright but it would keep it afloat. Would look pretty funky in the air wouldn't have any problem noting the orientation either.

 

[Brandon Lowe]

No you don't have enough clearance between the props and the blades or the landing and the arms pool noodles are too thick, haven't tried though. Your right it wouldn't keep the drone upright but it would keep it afloat. Would look pretty funky in the air wouldn't have any problem noting the orientation either.

I will have to see what I can do when mine gets here. I'm thinking short pieces cut from a noodle and attached to the arms near the body away from the props. Just enough to keep ot afloat.

 

[Malibu_Rod]

When the lander is retracted I don't think you have the clearance as the noodle thickness is too think not sure they make thinner stuff maybe the stuff they use to insulate the copper pipes.

 

[Malibu_Rod]

There was also a product that floated to the surface once it was exposed to water I saw a YouTube of it can't remember what the heck it was.

 

[Steve Carr]

I have this on my H, but there is a downside. It has to be submerged in several feet of water before it will deploy.
Dynaflex Getterback Depth Activated Fishing Rod Recovery System

 

[Malibu_Rod]

I have this on my H, but there is a downside. It has to be submerged in several feet of water before it will deploy.
Dynaflex Getterback Depth Activated Fishing Rod Recovery System

Yeah Steve that's that's exactly what I saw, couldn't remember where. The demo was pretty cool and at least you get it back. Electronics and water don't ply nice together. There is also a process that a company in southern cal does to waterproof phones its a coating that they do the the circuit boards. I think its a process that they place the phone into a vacuum chamber then inject the solution into the chamber it get into all the internal parts of the phone. They had it a CES a year or two ago and the phone was sitting in water.

 

[Brandon Lowe]

I have this on my H, but there is a downside. It has to be submerged in several feet of water before it will deploy.
Dynaflex Getterback Depth Activated Fishing Rod Recovery System

Yes I saw that. I may get one of those too but I think I would like to keep it floating if needed.
What I need to do it get a good gopro gimbal on my Nova Pro and just use that when flying over rivers or lakes around it. It has pool noodles on the landing gear to make it higher but I'm sure it is enough to float it if needed.

 

[Steve Carr]

Yes I saw that. I may get one of those too but I think I would like to keep it floating if needed.
What I need to do it get a good gopro gimbal on my Nova Pro and just use that when flying over rivers or lakes around it. It has pool noodles on the landing gear to make it higher but I'm sure it is enough to float it if needed.

I agree. I prefer the pool noodles that I use on the Q500. I'm thinking I might use it on the H and leave the landing gear down and the camera locked in the forward position.

 

[RiverRunner]

The take off weight of the H is just under 2 kg so it would take 2 liters of weightless volume to make it neutrally buoyant. Lets say 3 liters to float it higher. Imagine 3 one liter bottles. That's what you would need to keep it on the surface. Or you could use six 500 ml plastic bottles, one under each motor pod.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Yeah Steve that's that's exactly what I saw, couldn't remember where. The demo was pretty cool and at least you get it back. Electronics and water don't ply nice together. There is also a process that a company in southern cal does to waterproof phones its a coating that they do the the circuit boards. I think its a process that they place the phone into a vacuum chamber then inject the solution into the chamber it get into all the internal parts of the phone. They had it a CES a year or two ago and the phone was sitting in water.

They used to do drones but they stopped a year or two ago. I was one of the last ones to get a 350QX done AFAIK.

 

[Steve Carr]

The take off weight of the H is just under 2 kg so it would take 2 liters of weightless volume to make it neutrally buoyant. Lets say 3 liters to float it higher. Imagine 3 one liter bottles. That's what you would need to keep it on the surface. Or you could use six 500 ml plastic bottles, one under each motor pod.

Two pieces of the noodle work fine on the Q which is 1.7 kg.

 

[Brandon Lowe]

The take off weight of the H is just under 2 kg so it would take 2 liters of weightless volume to make it neutrally buoyant. Lets say 3 liters to float it higher. Imagine 3 one liter bottles. That's what you would need to keep it on the surface. Or you could use six 500 ml plastic bottles, one under each motor pod.

I will do some testing with weight to see what I need and then if I can fit it on there. Now I do not float in water very well, I'm what you might call a sinker. I can sit on 1 pool noodle and float just fine and I'm in the 240 range. So I would hope that a few small pieces would float the H enough to get it back working or not. I do not plan on landing it in the water like a seaplane.

 

[Aaron Bxxxx]

I will do some testing with weight to see what I need and then if I can fit it on there. Now I do not float in water very well, I'm what you might call a sinker. I can sit on 1 pool noodle and float just fine and I'm in the 240 range. So I would hope that a few small pieces would float the H enough to get it back working or not. I do not plan on landing it in the water like a seaplane.

Sounds good Brandon. Let us know what you come up with. A photo would be awesome on your final design. Thanks.

 

[vopavatv]

I'm just curious how this all turned out? I too was kind of wondering the same thing. I would love to figure out a way to make the landing gear buoyant as I hope to use a wizard and have the drone follow me while I wakeboard this summer. I was hoping they would have had an accessory for it already, but I geuss not.

 

[vopavatv]

I was thinking about ordering these, putting them on the arms And landing gear assuming worst case and it tips over. There's an inch underneath those blades I'm sure they will fit on there, I may have to play with the length to find the right amount so I'm not messing to much with my h's flight ability. And if I put it on the landing gear and just don't raise it up, do you think that would mess with the flight time significantly??

 

[TurboDad81]

I was thinking about ordering these, putting them on the arms And landing gear assuming worst case and it tips over. There's an inch underneath those blades I'm sure they will fit on there, I may have to play with the length to find the right amount so I'm not messing to much with my h's flight ability. And if I put it on the landing gear and just don't raise it up, do you think that would mess with the flight time significantly??

That is just pipe insulation that you can get at Lowe's or Home Depot for a fraction of that price. I've seen people on YouTube use it in a couple Q500's. They had to make it really long to hold the weight upright. But, they were trying to use it as a way to launch from water.