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Drying out a node

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w6bi
w6bi's picture
Drying out a node
One of our sites in town has an unused M900 in its cluster.  It went QRT a couple of months ago and when we went up to that site today one of our tasks was to pull down the M900.

When we got to the site we found the node had come free of the tower leg and was hanging upside down from the Ethernet cable.  When I went up the tower and turned it upright, a couple of cups of yellow water drained out of it.  (We have had a ton of rain in the last couple of months here).

When I got it home I filled it with distilled water,  shook it thoroughly and and drained it again (and rinse & repeated :-D  ).  I put it out in the sun for a few hours and will let it dry for a few days before trying to power it up.  But I'm not encouraged.  Opinions?

 
KG6JEI
The desiccant gel and PCB
The desiccant gel and PCB reflow oven (along with the gallons of isophrophyal alcohol) I would recommend using is going to cost you more than a new unit will cost.

Personaly I wouldn't bother. Odds are something has corroded significantly (and I'm hoping that yellow water was rain not other sources as that's even more corrosive)

These units are good, but they are not intended to be flooded. 

 
KD5PX
Factory Zip Tie ?
Maybe it came adrift because the factory zip tie had been used to install it ? I always install NanoStations with a stainless steel hose clamp it also stops them from moving when a crow sits on them ( had it happen in the past ).
zl4dk
zl4dk's picture
If it had power on it while
If it had power on it while it was wet then it will be history. The electrolysis rapidly eats away at the copper circuit board traces (the higher the voltage the faster this happens). It is likely that even a few hours would see many tracks faulty. On the other hand if there was no power on it then your plan of flushing with clean water and then drying out would possibly work quite well. We had several radios get flooded at the clubrooms a while ago and this trick recovered them all.

David
w6bi
w6bi's picture
Thanks for the comments
Appreciate all the comments.  It was powered up when flooded, so it's most likely history.

That being said, anyone interested in the other M900?  I'll throw in two used but usable omni antennas.  Don't know the model or gain; each is about 5 foot tall.



 

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