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

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 (Greg)]

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 (Phil)]

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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 (Steve)]

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

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.


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 ....