What sudden rain can do

[avandonk]

I have been busy trying to work out what damage was done to my setup after a sudden rainstorm. I was inside having a short kip!

Fortunately I have one of those earth leakage detecting mains distribution boards that powers everything.. it shut all mains power off at the first sign of leakage from active to earth.

Both laptops refused to boot. Again a good mate established dead keyboards.

So if your laptop stops working it is most probably the keyboard being faulty due to moisture.

Apart from secondary mains distribution boards full of water everything else worked again after drying out.

The other trick is to make sure whatever you want to test is totally dry!

Bert

[iceman]

Ouch Bert! That's terrible. I'm glad there was no serious damage.

I've had my 12" and laptop out overnight when it rained unexpectedly. Luckily the laptop lid was closed and nothing leaked into the power boards.

[skwinty]

Well, another little voice on your left shoulder whispering" Build an observatory, build an observatory!!"
I havent as yet had the misfortune of rain on my gear and already the whisper has turned to a shout.
Now if only I could get approval from the exchequer.
Glad to hear damage was minimal.

[avandonk]

The irony is that both laptops are worth more than a SkyShedPod. I am going to build a roll off roof and ignore the ugliness of the overhanging rails.

The Canon 5DH was saturated but no moisture got inside it at all. It is only meant to be semi sealed. Lucky angle?

The worst bit is I can never have another kip!

Bert

[Kokatha man]

Bert, with all those alternate realities of "an interesting concept" creating your local pub on every corner so to speak; was there any chance that you were a pickled kipper when the rain came in? Or if that's heresy to a Dutchman; perhaps a pickled herring instead!

Earth leakage in the backyard is good to have - mayhaps if you'd performed a manual simulation out the back earlier you'd have seen the clouds rolling in!

Regards, Darryl.

[avandonk]

Maybe I should have simply said "if your astroimaging stuff gets rained on, the first thing to fail is the keyboards on your laptops!'

I have had keyboards on a laptop fail due to repeated condensation. The symptom is your laptop will not boot.

Without any other comment. Maybe then there will be no other inferences.

Bert

[sheeny]

Sorry to hear about the damage, Bert.

But, you can still have a kip! Build a bed in the obs, and put the lappys under a little roof! Looks like you've done the rain test on everything else... should be OK until the rain wakes you up and you can close the roof!:P:whistle:

Al.

[acropolite]

Unfortunate Bert, I also got caught by the rain the other night. The single most important thing to do with wet equipment is to get the battery/power off and out of the environment and make sure the equipment is 100% dry before reconnecting. At work we get phones bought in that have had drinks spilled on them, no apparent damage until you dismantle, usually to find tracks that have been etched away by small currents flowing between components due to the moisture, often only a few hours with moisture inside is enough to ruin equipment. Rainwater from leaking roofs is particularly bad as there are usually lots of impurities.

[Garyh]

Glad you didn`t get anymore damage Bert and hopefully the lappies are fixable..:thumbsup:
What Al has mentioned is the way to go. Build your self a roll of roof Ob. Don`t roll the roof of all the way but let it overhang the pc or laptop and have a kip on a bunk..sometimes I have a doze on the floor on a few cusions and a blanket and if it started raining I would have the roof closed in a few seconds..
Hope you are up and running soon!
cheers Gary

[h0ughy]

thats a bummer Bert!!! i got caught once at home here before christmas, used a hair dryer for a few hours afterwards and burnt it out drying the gear off. best 17 dollars i ever spent, got everything dry and no damage