When you fly in humid or moist situations, it’s essential to guard your electronics from potential water harm. Enter the Flywoo X30 Waterproof Superhydrophobic Spray. This revolutionary product guarantees to offer an easy-to-apply, efficient resolution for waterproofing your drones and different electronics. On this evaluate, I’ll share my hands-on expertise with the Flywoo X30, detailing its software, efficiency, and total effectiveness.
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What’s Flywoo X30
The Flywoo X30 is a superhydrophobic spray designed to waterproof electronics by creating an invisible barrier that repels water. In contrast to conventional conformal coatings, which may be messy and time-consuming to use, the X30 is available in a handy spray bottle, making the applying course of easy and hassle-free. After making use of, water simply beads up and rolls off the handled floor, preserving the elements dry.
Get the Flywoo X30 Spray from:
Every bottle incorporates about 56.7g of the superhydrophobic spray liquid.
First Impressions
Opening the Flywoo X30 spray, you discover a compact, odorless spray bottle. The appliance course of is easy, requiring only a few sprays to coat a small flight controller. One standout characteristic of the X30 is that it doesn’t go away a sticky or greasy residue. As an alternative, it varieties a delicate white forged as soon as dried.
With conformal coating, it often leaves a shiny and sticky texture on the floor of your FC, which might collect mud and dust over time.
Beneath are some photographs evaluating the looks of flight controllers with Flywoo X30 and typical silicone conformal coating. Earlier than Making use of:
After Making use of: Left is Flywoo X30, and proper is silicone conformal coating.
Usually, when FPV drone elements get moist, water sticks to the PCB till it dries. This poses a danger of harm as a consequence of electrical brief circuits.
After making use of the Flywoo X30 spray, the water varieties a bead when it comes into contact with the board and rolls off the floor. And it’s utterly dry!
Efficiency Testing
Many customers have examined the X30 by spraying it on their tiny whoops and dipping them in a bucket of water. Personally, I don’t suppose that is the perfect technique as a result of even with none waterproof remedy, your whoops can nonetheless work when submerged in nonetheless water for a brief time frame (I attempted it).
What I actually needed to check was whether or not the X30 creates a barrier that stops the movement of electrical energy, stopping electrical brief circuits. In my testing, I coated the ends of some wires with X30 spray and others with silicone conformal coating, then checked the continuity with a multimeter.
As anticipated, the normal silicone conformal coating created an efficient barrier to stop brief circuits with only one coat.
Nonetheless, even with three coats of X30 spray, it didn’t absolutely forestall brief circuits—present may nonetheless movement when the wires touched flippantly. So, whereas X30 can repel water, it doesn’t cease brief circuits. Due to this fact, I wouldn’t name this product “waterproof.”
When flying in humid situations or gentle rain, this product may work, however don’t count on it to save lots of your drone in the event you crash and submerge it in water, particularly in salt water. It’s nonetheless very doubtless {that a} brief circuit can happen and harm the drone elements.
Software Course of
Making use of the X30 spray is extremely easy:
- Preparation: Guarantee your electronics are clear and dry earlier than software. Apply in a well-ventilated room or outdoors.
- Shake the Bottle: Shake the bottle a couple of instances earlier than spraying.
- Spraying: Maintain the bottle about 5-6 inches (12-15 cm) away from the floor and apply a lightweight, even coat. Spray at completely different angles to make sure it reaches all of the small gaps.
- Drying: The coating ought to start to dry virtually instantly, forming a skinny, barely white layer. Permit it to dry utterly for 10-20 minutes. For added safety, apply a second and even third layer.
It’s really helpful to use not less than three coats to attain the specified impact. In line with Flywoo, it takes about 2.5g of the spray to coat each side of a flight controller 3 times. So a bottle of 56.7g means that you can coat roughly 20 flight controller boards.
Sensible Ideas
- Soldering: You may solder over the sprayed space with out points. In contrast to thicker conformal coatings that may make soldering tough, the Flywoo X30 permits for straightforward soldering of connections.
- Reapplication: If wanted, reapplying the spray is easy. Merely clear the realm with a brush and spray once more.
- Spraying Connectors and USB Port: In my testing, spraying connectors and USB ports didn’t have any adverse results—they continued to operate after a number of coats with out protecting.
- Avoiding Barometer: Though Flywoo claims the X30 spray doesn’t clog the barometer gap, I like to recommend protecting it with a bit of tape simply in case.
Simply Detachable
The Flywoo X30 Superhydrophobic spray coating seems to be simply detachable. When rubbed with a Q-tip, the coating comes off with out a lot effort, and the skinny layers fall off like snowflakes. This may be each a bonus and an obstacle. For a extra everlasting resolution, conventional conformal coating continues to be the best way to go.
Making use of X30 on Digicam?
I feel the X30 may be helpful for FPV cameras—not simply the circuit board, however the lens too. It prevents water droplets from forming on the lens, which might disrupt imaginative and prescient. When you’ve ever flown in humid or foggy situations, you know the way annoying this may be. Though it creates a white layer on the lens, a single coat is sufficiently subtle to be acceptable—higher than having no imaginative and prescient in any respect.
Doesn’t Fill Small Gaps
The spray applicator makes it simple to coat your electronics with out having to disassemble the drone. It is a large plus for anybody seeking to rapidly add some water resistance to their gear.
Nonetheless, spraying this coating doesn’t fill all small gaps like conventional silicone conformal coatings. If you need full water-sealed safety, particularly in hard-to-reach areas, it is best to nonetheless use silicone conformal coating.
I raised the priority with Flywoo, they usually urged dipping the complete FC within the X30 liquid. This is smart, however it could require a big amount of the product (and it’s not low cost), and you’d nonetheless have to disassemble your quad to do that, so why not simply use conformal coating?
Well being and Security
Flywoo has confirmed that the spray complies with Chinese language security requirements, indicating that dangerous substances don’t exceed customary limits. Nonetheless, the associated paperwork are in Chinese language, and no English knowledge sheet is out there in the intervening time.
Whereas the spray has no odor, not like silicone conformal coating, it’s at all times clever to deal with such merchandise with further care. Apply it in a well-ventilated space, ideally sporting a masks and gloves.
Conclusion
The Flywoo X30 Superhydrophobic Spray affords a sensible and easy-to-use resolution for including a layer of water resistance to your electronics. Whereas it’s not an alternative choice to conventional conformal coatings by way of sturdiness and full waterproofing, it excels in situations the place ease of software and momentary safety are key.
Get the Flywoo X30 Spray from:
For extra info on silicone conformal coating, try my information: https://oscarliang.com/waterproofing-drone-electronics/