Self Destruct by Condonsation

[camcam]

Is it possible to repair a Dahua W-IPD3200C that has been exposed to water? These are advertised as outdoor cameras but they self destruct under certain circumstances. I have had two cameras develop condensation inside the dome. Enough was created to drip down and kill the camera. I thought that maybe if I let it dry out, push the reset button it would work again but after a year of drying out the little red light lights up but other than that it is dead and another one died today. They are well out of warranty. I am assuming it would be an easy fix for the manufacture or maybe it's not worth fixing at all. Any ideas?

 

[cor35vet]

Reset button won't help.
Disassemble, dry everything thoroughly, let it sit in rice or silica gel.
Confirm it works after drying.
When you reassemble it again place a silica bag in there and maybe seal with silicone?

Also try cleaning the PCB with rubbing alcohol to remove salts which might be on there.
If you have a serial interface you could try checking if the camera boots at all and throws errors.

 

[nayr]

Ive got one of those mini-domes, inside.. does it have any damage to the gasket seal going arround it? or did you get paint or some shit on it?

 

[bug99]

Condensation is a pain. it creeps in the smallest of holes onto non-heated surfaces and shorts things out as well as corrodes the small metallic features of a PCB and chip-set. Outdoor rated electronic products should have a conformal coating, but suspect that most do not, instead relying on a simple seal and a dab of descant in a pac. If it just occurred, i would open it up and dry it out then inspect the guts with a magnifying glass. if all looks OK, plug it in while it is still open.

Many ways to dry things out. my favorite is to preheat your oven to 200F and then turn it off and wait until it drops down to 150F, then place the item inside for an hour with the door closed. Never turn the oven on with it inside. do not place the dome inside (plastic does not like heat above 130F). proceed at your own risk!

I agree with @nayr on the gasket. put a thin film of gasket sealer (or simple Vasaline) on the gasket before reassembling it and confirm its integrity and put a new pac of silica gel back inside if it is still alive. Clearly there is a hole.