dirtysouth31

besides balloons,what else has everyone found to help keeping water out of reciever?

Tug Guy

Place it above the water line is good for starters. How much water are you taking on?

Tug

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

A radio box that doesn't leak!

martno1fan

it all depends what boat your talking about? if its fast and likely to flip over then a water tight box is essential for rx and servos battery etc. if its a scale boat then the baloon and keeping it above the water line are good enough.

Believe It

indeed. I dont put anything around my reciever other then some foam to help from vibration. When ya got a radio box that seals up good you dont gotta worry about taking on water in it

jdoug

Along with a radio box (as stated above), I take out all circuit boards on the servos and RX, and give them a good coating of Corrosion X. My first attempt of a "sealed" radio box didn't go well. When I dunked my boat, the radio box had a hole I didn't seal, and it filled with water. With the corrosion X on everything, it was fine. I actually witnessed the RX and servos working just fine under water. Just a little more insurance beyond the sealed box.

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

I use Aeroplate, basically the same thing as Corrosion X and there is also The Stuph among other brands. After using it I still wrap the receiver in a disposable baby bottle liner, much cheaper than balloons and easier to put the RX in.

Quicksilver

I just seal my boat, I dont even use a radio box, never have.

ob nut

My Feedback: (1)

Servo's and rx's are taken apart and sprayed with CRC 2-26, allowed to dry over night and then reassembled. On the servos, use liquid electrical tape to seal all the cracks where the case pieces meet.

Any openings within the radio box, use something to absorb any moisture that will find it's way in. I use rolled up paper towel in mine and it works great.

I've never heard / nor seen a true water tight radio box in 20+ years of running/racing boats. Best thing to do is to limit the amout of mositure that can get into the radio box.

LtDoc

FWIW

There are two basic ways of keeping an electronic device dry, water proofing it, or putting it in a water proof environment. Which you should do depends on just how wet that device would normally get in the particular boat you are running. As a general rule fast(er) boats tend to be 'wetter' than slow(er) boats. Unless you are talking about submarines which is a totally different thing altogether - lol.
For the typical 'scale' type boat just placing the device fairly high in the hull is usually sufficient. That's fairly easy to do if the 'scale' boat is sort of large, more difficult if it's sort of small. In most cases just making sure the boat doesn't leak, and isn't run in really 'rough' water is enough. It certainly doesn't hurt to do the water proofing thingy, but usually isn't absolutely necessary.
For the 'faster' boats that are subject to spray, or might get water inside from an upset, protecting electronics from water is necessary (including subs). The 'biggy' about water proof containers is making the connections to the receiver through the container AND keeping the whole thing water proof. There's more than one way of doing that. One way is to thread the leads through a 'seal' of some type. Another is to add lead sockets to outside of the container and lead extentions to the receiver inside the box. The later is the most water proof method, also the 'chunkiest' because of the extra space required for the sockets and leads.
Then there's the water proofing of the 'device'. Using 'Corrosion X' (only spray I'm familiar with) is one way, a 'gel' type 'goop' on the device's PC board is another. The only 'problems' with this type of thingy is that the sockets/variable controls on the PC board can't/shouldn't be water proofed (bad connections). [There are more water proofing 'stuff' than just the two mentioned, I've no experience with them so can't say how good they are.]

What happens when a wet device quits working is that a contact point, either a socket or an electronic part, corrodes and doesn't make contact anymore, or a short destroys the circuit. Most modern electronics are constructed using 'SMD's (surface mount device), which are tiny sealed components, and are effectively water proof in themselves. (Well, not totally, but close enough.) Same old problem with variable devices (resistors, capacitors), they gotta move, so usually can't be water proofed without a lot of expense. That means that a short circuit is the problem. Depending on where that short is in the circuit, it can be recovered from, maybe. Dunking or spraying the receiver with alcohol, then drying it, is one way of sometimes recovering the drownded device. Servos, since they have a motor in them, need to be re-lubricated after their alcohol bath. And DRIED!
Also more than one way of doing the water removal, so if it works, that's all that matters.
- 'Doc

PS - Beer is not the kind of alcohol to use on electronics! The operator maybe, but not the electcical stuff.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

I wonder if Trojans would work?

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

Kmot, yes racers have used them! They've also used tampons in radio boxes to absorb any moisture that gets in there. Having either one in my toolbox would get a lot of questions from my wife though.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

lol!!!!!!!

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

If you think that that's funny, have you heard about quenching props that have come out of heat-treating with urine? That winner must have come from someone that had a few while heat-treating and needed to get both things done at once! It's supposed to work though. Nope, I haven't tried it.

djcool

It works, the salt in your system can better cool the small parts slower. just dont lubrocate the operator with the Beer tell after!!

Tachikaze

If you do not often alter your reciever configuration, that is take the servfo plugs out,
I will place modeling clay around the servo leads, packing it in to take up any spacing, I then paint the rest of the reciever with liquid tape. This does a pretty good job in keeping the servo dry. I have used this technique in my combat ships with out any problems. Of course, if you keep the water on the outside of your boat, not the inside, that works the best.

cowana

Does anyone know where you can get:
liquid tape,
corrosion X,
Aroeplate or equivilant

in the UK? I can only find USA sites. How do you guys in the UK do your recievers and servos?

Andrew

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

The only place that I know of over there is http://www.prestwich.ndirect.co.uk/ . Send Dave Marles an e-mail (there's a link at the bottom of the main page) to see if he carries anything that you can use. Most of these waterproofers use a mineral sprits base, I don't know how straight mineral spirits would work though.

Stick 40

I know this is a old thread, but I am getting into water flying and have started to water proof my elect equipment with CORROSION X.

I just did the ESC and three servos, every thing is working good. I even put one of the servos into a cup of water and ran it for some time. I re-diped it after that to make sure no water remained in it to cause a problem.

I am thinking of dipping the RX and elect motor also, it for the foam Polsair.

and thought on this?

sticks