WattsUp was in the rain!

[manfred59]

Hey guys!
After beeing some time in wet weather the screen did not show the full display, only the right half of it. After drying, my wattsup meter shows only grey rectangles in the first row when powering up.
No v2.1 text appears at startup.
Is it dead? Is it possible to reset something?

 

[Ypedal]

May have to open it up and really dry it out good.. hair dryer or heat gun(carfully). I've drowned a few CA's like that and they were fine once dried out completely.

 

[monster]

i had the same problem recently and my watts up has been hacked open for modding. I left it parked in the rain and it was ok. i think its worse if you are using it in the rain. the amps don't like water. in the past a few days to dry off on the radiator or a hairdryer was all it needed. i still have a line missing on mine though.

 

[julesa]

Most electronics will survive getting wet just fine if they aren't powered up until they have been thoroughly dried out. If they're powered up while still wet, or if the water had salt or other contaminants in it, all bets are off.

 

[swbluto]

Most electronics will survive getting wet just fine if they aren't powered up until they have been thoroughly dried out. If they're powered up while still wet, or if the water had salt or other contaminants in it, all bets are off.

Exactly what I was going to say. If it's turned on while wet, components can short, see reverse voltage, etc. and essentially kill them and there's not much you can do about it. (Unless you're lucky enough to only have a few failed components and you have the skill and knowledge to replace it.)

 

[Ypedal]

Good point !

The CA has the shunt seperate and waterproofed, so the high current line is not in the head unit.. pros for the CA i guess !! :lol:

 

[jimw1960]

A few minutes in the microwave on high setting should dry it out nicely and also be good for entertainment value.

 

[rkosiorek]

A few minutes in the microwave on high setting should dry it out nicely and also be good for entertainment value.

this would be a nice DIY test to see if the darn thing is EMP hardened... could produce nice Arky - Sparky stuff especially with conductors in the 3 to 5" long range. elevated height above the oven bottom could enhance some of the sparks.

the induced voltages can definitely damage delicate semiconductors. depending on the type of encapsulation used for the semiconductors you could also end up with an pretty effective stink bomb. results will vary with the layout of the target device and how much energy is actually absorbed.

rick

 

[philf]

That's the deceptive thing about the Watts-Up. It isn't waterproof. The "lens" you see is actually the front of the LCD module itself - there's no plastic window to make the case waterproof.

Most LCDs are attached to the circult boards with some sort of clip or frame - the contacts on the back of the LCD are held with light pressure against a strip of silicone with carbon contacts. When water gets in there, the display doesn't work properly - though the electronics driving it are likely fine if you're seeing anything at all.

If you're really careful, you can clean this mess up (I've had to do this before with devices whose displays were intermittent as a result of a drop or sharp shock. Likely something was knocked out of register).