Wet power supplies

Kemper Watson

Kemper Watson

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Jan 11, 2011
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Atlanta, Georgia, United States
www.theplaceholders.com
I got slammed at load in and the rack housing my power supplies got wet. I have them apart and mostly dry. Is it OK to stick a fan on them? I can keep the fan from turning. Show at noon tomorrow.

Edit: I think I've got them dry. Just a little water inside. Not as bad as I first thought.Mostly the casing was wet..
Insides were nasty.. Clean now..
 
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Re: Wet power supplies

Ideally you'd clean the circuit board(s) with alcohol, to drive away the water. Distilled water at a minimum. If there's any tiny chips you need to check for corrosion shorting between pins and such.

A fan blowing air on it is a good way to dry things out. Unless you're really blasting it with compressed air you don't need to worry about keeping the PSU fan from turning. Putting a light bulb nearby (ideally a small par can from a few feet away) will raise the temperature a little and help dry things out.
 
Re: Wet power supplies

Thanks Scott. I've had them under a large box fan for over two hours now. Pretty sure they're dry. I was unsure about the powersupply fan, but the box fan didn't move it at all.


When I got this console (Crest X8 HS) there were three power supplies provided. Two 4x and a 5x. Anyone know the difference? Can I use the 5x?

If I can use the 5x tomorrow, these can dry longer
 
Re: Wet power supplies

Kemper Watson said:
Can I use the 5x?

If I can use the 5x tomorrow, these can dry longer
Click to expand...

One would assume that the pinout is the same, and you can check that since it is printed on the unit, and also the amperage.
Isn't the main difference between the supplies that some allow extra redundancy by allowing "serial" connection?

BTW, to dry out something that has gone wet, I use Isopropanol alcohol that you can usually get in petrol stations cheaply. Simply rinse or submerge with Isopropanol, and let dry. The alcohol dries out quickly, so turn around is a lot shorter than using distilled water etc.
 
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Re: Wet power supplies

Per Søvik said:
One would assume that the pinout is the same, and you can check that since it is printed on the unit, and also the amperage.
Isn't the main difference between the supplies that some allow extra redundancy by allowing "serial" connection?

BTW, to dry out something that has gone wet, I use Isopropanol alcohol that you can usually get in petrol stations cheaply. Simply rinse or submerge with Isopropanol, and let dry. The alcohol dries out quickly, so turn around is a lot shorter than using distilled water etc.
Click to expand...

Both supplies, the 4 and 5 have redundant ins/outs. I looked in the manual I found online and it says a 5a should be used. I've been using the 4x for two years.. And I guess I did OK drying them with a fan. Show went on without a hiccup

And thanks for the help!!!
 
Re: Wet power supplies

Decades ago, high-end test equipment manufactures had commercial dish washers at their repair shops. They would wash some types of modules before trying to repair them. Contact and connector corrosion will be your biggest problems.
 
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