Moisture inside my Ultra wide - a precarious fix

[davidpretorius]

I do enjoy my Andrews 80 degree 30mm ultra wide for finding stuff.

Over the last few months, it got left outside and then packed away in its case. I then took it out next viewing and noticed the moisture inside the glass.

HMMMMMM, how do I fix this??

Last night after many attempts at leaving it in the sun to no avail. I put it in the fan forced oven at around 50 degrees for around 2.5 hours:eyepop:

Eventually the moisture inside the unit had disappeared and everything is hopefully back to normal.

Now, if it was a 31mm nagler???............I do not think I would do this, but then again, 31mm naglers would not allow moisture to get inside.

[taminga16]

David, a better idea may have been to place the EP in an air tight jar with a handful of Silica-Gel (desiccant) sachets and leave it for a few days.

Greg.

[davidpretorius]

good idea, thanks greg

[Dennis]

You are a brave, pioneering man Dave - I'm so glad that your foray into the great unknown proved successful.

Cheers

Dennis

[AndrewJ]

Gday David

I had a similar problem with a Meade 13.8swa
I put mine inside the case of my Class A amplifier for two days.
Worked a treat

Andrew

[leon]

Dave, your best bet, if your optics are very cold and you intend to store inside again, put them into a sealed plastic bag before bringing them inside and let them come to room temp.

I even do this with my 5D and other cameras.

leon

[davidpretorius]

thanks guys

[acropolite]

I had a Nokia mobile that went through the wash, full cycle, including detergent and fabric softener. My initial reaction was to drop it straight in the rubbish, but after a few seconds, I retrieved it and placed the beastie on the Air Conditioner outlet for a week. The phone is still working years later.

[Terry B]

I haven't tried it with a phone but my flash drive seemed to be no worse for wear after a wash whilst still in the pocket of my pants. I just rested it on top of a heater for a few hours.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I have exactly the same eyepiece, and had exactly the same problem with regards to having plenty of moisture inside it. :doh:

We took a break at Ron's place one night and went inside for a cuppa, while we were inside sipping and chatting there was a sudden and unexpected shower of rain. My 30mm ep was sitting face upwards in the dob's ep rack, by the time we went outside again it's "face" was a tiny lake of water.
:help:

I found the same problem trying to clear it - I couldn't seem to get it warm enough in the sun to force the moisture out, I also tried warming the oven a bit (fan forced glass bowl type) and putting the ep in while the oven cooled again. It needed 3-4 treatments but finally it seems I've manged to get it dried out.


While I'm sure a Nagler would be somewhat more resistant to moisture ingress than these wide view "cheapies" (no criticism intended, I'm a big fan of mine) as far as I know the only ep range that are definitely sealed (and nitrogen purged!) are the Pentax XW's.

Which just makes that $420 price tag sound better and better all the time ....
;)