Using printer ink to find out how moisture is getting into my solar charge controllers.
By Julian
Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado
Good morning all…
Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado
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soo good to see that there are People who search Problems down to the root!
thank you:)
thumb up!
ps: sorry for my poor english!
Hi Julian i wanna know if is still possible to get one of this incredible solar charger made by you or if i can make my one? Greeting!!
doesn't hot snot shrink when it gets old?
Always silicone. Hot glue is garbage for water seal.
Hey Julian, I am waiting for a long time how you get the CE procedure? when are you going to make movie about that ??
I ponder silicone or epoxy potting.
Just plastidip the whole board, then it does not matter if some water/gunk gets inside the sleeve.
Hindsight's a wonderful thing!
Everything's a compromise, i.e a waterproof case would have put the price up!
Anyone worried can get little tubes of silicone from the pound shop and plaster it around where the water gets in as a sensable precaution
Could it be that temperature changes gently seperate the silicone from the heatshrink material and the cables running through? it coul dbe an explanation as heat from the sun or the components and then rapid cooldown means that the materials expand and retract possibly at a different pace which causes the gaps between them.
hi if you build some more try crushing the heat sink whilst still hot (gloves ) most I've been using will bond to it's self
why do you try applying waterproof conformal coating on the charge controller?
Yeah things that are watertight generally leak in the end! The main issue with sealing things in this way is if water does get in it's going to be very difficult for the heat from the unit to drive it out. In fact what is probably going on here is that when the unit heats up it expels some air from the inevitable cracks. When it then cools down later the lower pressure inside will suck more back in, probably loaded with moisture!
It's likely better to have a non sealed unit (maybe with a conformal coating on the board) and just not expose it to too much moisture! That way the heat from the mosfets etc will keep the moisture at bay.
I hope my unit doesn't succumb to this! It's out of the direct weather, in a shed, but not the driest shed in the world! lol