$1,000 Spray Makes Gadgets Waterproof 278
Rio writes "A new $1,000 spray claims to protect notebook computers, iPods, cell phones and other electronic gadgets from liquid, making them completely waterproof, a Local6.com report says. A creator of the technology said it could be used for emergency first-responders, bio-medical devices and historic preservation." This might be a bit of a flashback from last year.
Not to spoil a good joke, but why not? (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, that big air thingy sticking in my mouth is kind of a hinderance, but go technology!
You can take that out though and talk for a bit (as long as you are breathing out). You can even breathe in if you let the regulator flow directly under your mouth (a required skill to be certified to dive)...
You'd not be very intelligible, but you could speak.
In other news (Score:5, Interesting)
In other news...
Millions of gadgets have shutdown, or been damaged, due to overheating.
Good one (Score:5, Interesting)
I just don't see how this can work. It has to do one of two things. It either keeps water out, meaning that it covers and seals every opening that leads into the device, or it somehow coats every surface of the device, inside and out, including all circuit boards and components.
So, if it seals the device, how does it know what openings have to be there? Blackberrys (at least my pearl), iPods, etc have power and headphone jacks. So it is only waterproof until I have to plug something into it, rupturing the film? How long will this stuff last before it ruptures on its own due to normal use (like pushing keys on a keyboard). What about battery compartments and other doors on the device? My Blackberry has a door over the MicroSD slot that I open frequently.
The other option is to coat all surfaces inside the device. What about things that have to be left open to the atmosphere to allow humidity to exit, barometric pressure to equalize, etc? I own a Yaesu VX-7R handheld transceiver for amateur radio. This device is fully submersible. One problem they had with the first batch was the waterproofing sealed the inside of the device off from the atmosphere, which would cause a pressure differential against the speaker during barometric changes, which would reduce the amount the diaphragm could travel, resulting in reduced audio output. They fixed it by installing a valve that would equalize pressure. Now that problem occurred in a device designed to be waterproof. Just imagine the problems this would cause with typical gadgets.
Underwater telephony (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Awesome. (Score:2, Interesting)
Why, exactly, would we be wanting to spray...
Re:Awesome. (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're going that deep, you'll want to take at least 3 iPhones with you.
If you were a tech diver, you'd either find this hilarious or you'd nod your head thinking, "Yes, at least 3, or two iPhones and one of a different brand."
The question is, of course, what they mean by waterproof.
Do they mean it's IP68 rated, submersible at depth for long periods of time, or is is merely IP65, splashable and washable?
Is it just "water resistant"? Have they sent the products out to be tested? Is this just snake oil?
Some of us take "waterproof" very seriously, and want to know exactly what it means. [industrial...osures.com]
Interestingly enough, the two specs that they list, MIL-PRF-38534 [dla.mil] and MIL-PRF-38535 [dla.mil], don't appear to have a damned thing to do with waterproofing. They're about component reliability, and there are several grades under each category.
Re:Underwater telephony (Score:5, Interesting)
Most people don't realize, a Faraday cage [wikipedia.org] doesn't need to be made of metal, it only needs to be made of a conducting material. Water (especially salt water) is a pretty good conductor. The only RF which can pass transparently through water has wavelengths thousands of km long [wikipedia.org]. So instead most underwater communication is done via cables or acoustically.
Waterproof doesn't guarantee function (Score:3, Interesting)
If it indeed ist just a 1 mil thick water resistant conformal coat, then that far from guarantees electronics will still function.
A lot of electronics widgets at high operating frequencies (think cell phone RF stages) may not directly be damaged by the water, but the prescence of the water will disrupt their operation by bogging down high speed signals with the high dielectric constant of water (about 80), which is also usually VERY lossy. So expect digital things to go on the fritz till the water fully drains out, and RF stuff to be euqally fouled up with low or no output power until the water drains out fully.
Over temp and time conformal coats are are real double edged sword. SMT components (99% of the stuff in most of todays consumer electronics) can be damaged in thermal cycling as a result of confomral coating that wicks under their body and expands/contracts much faster than the cermaic bodies of the parts. I've suffered the wrath of multiple different conformal coatings in mil/aerospace and concluded that usually it creates about as much mahem as it prevents. YMMV.
Re:I am a little skeptical (Score:2, Interesting)
http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/tag/video/ [gcaptain.com]
DIY version (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think what they're selling comes in a can. (Score:1, Interesting)
It sounds like it's a PROCESS whereby they do something that sounds like conformal coating on all the parts of your device, this sounds like it would require disassembling and reassembling your device, and possibly some amount of engineering on a per-device-type basis to make sure it still works afterwards. If it works it sounds like something that you would legitimately charge someone $1K for. Does it work, and what exactly is meant by "work"? No idea :P
Almost certainly Parylene-C (Score:1, Interesting)
Dollars to donuts they're using Parylene-C to waterproof things. Fits the bill: it's thin (microns), vacuum-deposited, and coats surfaces regardless of aspect or exposure. I'm betting the bulk of the $1000 they are charging for this process is due not to the materials but prep work. You have to carefully seal off contacts usually, by hand, before coating.