Shendrones Hydrophobe

By SlightlyScratchedCorolla on Nov 23, 2020

7  1,233  17

At first I wasn't willing to go through the hassle of thermal paste and E6000 glue (thermal paste between the esc, fc and the aluminum mid plate doubled as heatsink, also between air unit and the aluminum mid plate; E6000 to seal the holes and the TPU skirt, hasn't sealed the skirt yet). But everyday I saw people would post "It's whoop season!" on the internet, I would go "hell no it's not", and my desire to fly through rains and snows is strong enough to push me over the edge. I knew conformal coating is a thing, but this fully closed frame just gives me that extra peace of mind.

Still conformal coated my eletronics though. 200g frame resulted in 800g auw with a hero 7 and a 6s 1100mah. Maidened on a wet morning (but not wet enough), it flies... like a quad.

I used to be a pluviophile until I started flying FPV, now I'm back at praying for a pouring rain and some snowstorms (you whoop season folks don't mind this anyways right?) to fully test out its potential.

11/26/2020 update:
Sealed everything with e6000, it was not as messy as I suspect. I found instead of taking off the whole skirt to put the glue on, it's easier to just loose the standoff screws, and use a precision tip to fill the gap between the skirt and the top/bottom plate. This will help you screw on the skirt as fast as possible, because e6000 do start getting dry just after a couple minutes.

Applied some RainX on camera lenses, flew in some decent rain this morning, no issue.

Total wet flight on Christmas eve

Photos

Discussion

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bentoogood   Jan 24, 2024  

Hi, I've just built my 6 inch hydro there and have been wondering about the FC/ESC overheating. 2 mins into flight I'm getting 70deg+ Core Temp warnings. I have Skystars 55a 20x20 esc with thermal pads underneath it and the base plate. Did you have any issues with the FC overheating at all, or getting temp warnings inflight?

Bikke Vliegen FPV   Jul 31, 2021  

Would a 30*30 stack fit?

SlightlyScratchedCorolla   Jul 31, 2021 
1

Nope. 20x20 only. I guess you can put a 30mm fc on the esc if u can print an adapter. But the holes are drilled for 20mm only.

Edit: on second thought, 30mm fc wouldn't work too well either. The tpu skirt is pretty narrow.

Bikke Vliegen FPV   Jul 31, 2021 

thx

tenzmedia   Oct 09, 2021 
1

i can confirm what SSC wrote.. its a 20x20 frame.

tenzmedia   Oct 09, 2021  

didnt you had no problem? i built my second and still couldnt fly it "hard" to tune it correctly. it would shut down after hard manouvers :(

Bikke Vliegen FPV   Jul 31, 2021  

Wonder how well it flies if you add some float foam, as it's already pretty heavy.

SlightlyScratchedCorolla   Jul 31, 2021 
1

Never done it. But by the time you add floats, it's unlikely that it's going to be doing any flippy floppy, and those footages would require stabilization anyways, then it's only a matter of getting the job done.

crashingdrones   Jun 13, 2021  

yout base plate is upside down btw, groove bits are supposed to be facing outwards :D

SlightlyScratchedCorolla   Jun 13, 2021 

if you have read his original blog btw, you'd see he initially put the slots upwards. That's also how QSL built their Hydrophobe early on. Slots facing down does provide better heat dissipation but I don't want to going through the hassle of building this thing again.

altairpro   Jan 09, 2021  

Looks like you used the iFlight SucceX-D Mini F7. That's the one I picked up. I'm curious on how you mounted the ESC. Were the motor pads up? Or were the down? Just curious if it makes a difference as far as heat dissipation.

SlightlyScratchedCorolla   Jan 10, 2021 

Pads up. ESC conformal coated, thermal paste between the esc and the aluminum plate. Dunno if pads up/down has any effect on heat dissipation and I don't have a second one to compare. But so far it hasn't burned out on me.

altairpro   Jan 10, 2021 
1

Awesome, thanks a ton!

F.P.   Dec 22, 2020  

The motors can get wet without issues, right?

kwadkenstine   Dec 22, 2020 
4

Motors are waterproofed by consequence of their manufacture ie insulation between the wires.
BUT SALTY WATER WILL rust / corrode the motor windings and bearings INSTANTLY

AndMiles2Go   Dec 16, 2020  

Great looking build! Have one coming next week for winter flying. Do you find the props out setup is effective at reducing water droplets on your camera lens?

SlightlyScratchedCorolla   Dec 16, 2020 

Thanks! What you really need for water droplets on cam lenses is RainX, I don't think props in/out matter much when you are in the air. However I wouldn't know anyhow because all my quads are props out. Seriously, get RainX.

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