removing moisture in my Starlight PTZ

MarcW

MarcW

Young grasshopper
Feb 17, 2017
31
10
Tarpon Springs, Florida
Crap,

I am in the Tampa Bay area and my less than 3 month old Dahua Starlight SD49225T survived the storm, but now has a ton of moisture in it. When the sun hits it in the afternoon, the entire window on the front of the globe is covered in water vapor and its so much that it then develops droplets that run down it.

Is there an easy way to remove this without hauling down the camera and completely dissassembling it?

thanks in advance for any advice,

m
 
MarcW said:
Crap,

I am in the Tampa Bay area and my less than 3 month old Dahua Starlight SD49225T survived the storm, but now has a ton of moisture in it. When the sun hits it in the afternoon, the entire window on the front of the globe is covered in water vapor and its so much that it then develops droplets that run down it.

Is there an easy way to remove this without hauling down the camera and completely dissassembling it?

thanks in advance for any advice,

m
Click to expand...

I'd think not. If you haven't powered it up yet, I wouldn't do so until you get the moisture resolved.
Probably want to replace the descant packs while your at it.
Also investigate where the water got in.
 
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I turned it on after we got power back yesterday (almost 6 days after the storm) and it appears to be working ok. I didn't notice the moisture until the afternoon sun hit it and the visibility quickly went south with a thick fog over the entire lens.

Then as the fun hit the lens directly, it would turn to droplets and roll down.

what is the best way to open this camera up? Is there a hatch somewhere or does it need to be completely disassembled?
 
MarcW said:
I turned it on after we got power back yesterday (almost 6 days after the storm) and it appears to be working ok. I didn't notice the moisture until the afternoon sun hit it and the visibility quickly went south with a thick fog over the entire lens.

Then as the fun hit the lens directly, it would turn to droplets and roll down.

what is the best way to open this camera up? Is there a hatch somewhere or does it need to be completely disassembled?
Click to expand...

Not familiar with this exact model, But I'd say there is a hatch on the back with 4 screws in it that will come off. Possibly point a small fan at this opening for a couple of days as well. Just enough to circulate the air inside the cam. I'd think you would want to take it apart to clean the inside of the glass in front of the lens, now that it has fogged up. Do all this in a location that is indoors with normal 40-50% humidity levels or lower.
 
Last edited:
you were right, there were 4 screws holding the hatch in place. I simply climbed a ladder and after loosening up the screws had a small cup worth of water douse my shirt. Even though we are in Tampa, its a somewhat hot and dryish day so I am going to let the sun do its work with the back cover off and see what happens.

i hate not having the time right now to do it properly in a AC room, but i have a lot of hurricane damage to cleanup and for now that will have to do it.
 
MarcW said:
you were right, there were 4 screws holding the hatch in place. I simply climbed a ladder and after loosening up the screws had a small cup worth of water douse my shirt. Even though we are in Tampa, its a somewhat hot and dryish day so I am going to let the sun do its work with the back cover off and see what happens.

i hate not having the time right now to do it properly in a AC room, but i have a lot of hurricane damage to cleanup and for now that will have to do it.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's not good. I know wind can drive water where it normally can't get, but wow.
 
Very interesting....The POE on my unit went out this weekend. Works with 12v wall plug, but not with POE, almost as if the POE module had shorted out....I'm in the southern United States and we did have blowing rain about a week ago from the remnants of that hurricane. Nothing like Florida had obviously, but still rainy and windy...

These are supposed to be IP66 rated, meaning they're waterproof against a high pressure stream of water from all directions. If a blowing rain got into yours, then obviously these aren't IP66 compliant....Kind of wondering if moisture may have gotten into mine as well. I've not noticed any fog or droplets on the lens, although I imagine the POE module is likely near the top of the unit where the cables enter the unit. Perhaps moisture got into mine from a different area and took it a week before a droplet fell on a critical place?
 
@wxman,

I've had water get into the RJ45 connections, and shorted out the 48V lines. I had blackened RJ45 contacts, on the male and female side. I never tried to see if providing 12V would get the camera running.
Data is on pins 1,2,3,6
POE pwr is on 4,5,7,8
So if water took out the power carrying contacts, the data contacts could still be capable of carrying data. You bypass (possibly damaged) contacts 4,5,7,8 when you provided 12V to the power jack....

My point is: There are other possible culprits. The IP66 rating of the camera may be accurate. The weather-proofing of electrical connection outside the camera may be where the real problem is. For me, it was the cause of a camera going off line due to water.....

MarcW, it sounds like your cam isn't performing to IP66 specs, however. Does your SD49225T have the dahua logo printed on it? Maybe it's a chinese equivalent? Is the case metal? (some cheaper chinese versions use plastic enclosures, from what I've heard)

Good luck to both of you!
Fastb
 
When mounting cameras outside always use dielectric grease in the connection to prevent water/moisture from getting in it thus eliminating corrosion. You can spray some electrical contact cleaner on the connections to clean off the corrosion (if that is the problem and nothing is fried).
 
Fastb said:
@wxman,

I've had water get into the RJ45 connections, and shorted out the 48V lines. I had blackened RJ45 contacts, on the male and female side. I never tried to see if providing 12V would get the camera running.
Data is on pins 1,2,3,6
POE pwr is on 4,5,7,8
So if water took out the power carrying contacts, the data contacts could still be capable of carrying data. You bypass (possibly damaged) contacts 4,5,7,8 when you provided 12V to the power jack....

My point is: There are other possible culprits. The IP66 rating of the camera may be accurate. The weather-proofing of electrical connection outside the camera may be where the real problem is. For me, it was the cause of a camera going off line due to water.....

MarcW, it sounds like your cam isn't performing to IP66 specs, however. Does your SD49225T have the dahua logo printed on it? Maybe it's a chinese equivalent? Is the case metal? (some cheaper chinese versions use plastic enclosures, from what I've heard)

Good luck to both of you!
Fastb
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the external plug couldn't be the culprit for mine. The external connections on mine were not exposed to weather and no sign of any corrosion on the ethernet pins. From the way mine is installed, if it's water damage, it would definitely have to be from water breaking through the housing seals like MarcW's did and damaging the internals. Perhaps mine isn't water related at all and just coincidence, but definitely no way water could have reached the external ethernet plug considering the way I had it installed. Will probably know more if I take it apart, but was waiting to hear what Andy's instructions were before doing surgery on the unit.
 
@MarcW , I have worked in the electronics industry for 35 years. When you have moisture on electronics and PWB's you need to disassemble and bake out moisture in oven. Try to find out the maximum non-operating temp the camera can withstand and set oven temp at least 5 - 10 degrees below. Bake for at least 12 - 24 hours. If you keep moisture in camera, metal parts will oxidize and things will get worse. Need to act ASAP, the longer you wait, the worse things will get. I have numerous Starlights here and one PTZ under eves, luckily no moisture inside. Plenty of crap on outside lens though. Good luck!
 
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