Submerged Amp

[TerryNova]

Took the boat out last weekend and it was a little too rough for my 16'. Anyways we took on some water and the amp (Marine Memphis Belle) was about 1/2 submerged. I immediately cut power to it when I realized it but it was under water for a good 15 minutes with power.
I pulled it out and opened it up, nothing looks 'damaged' but I'm not an electrical engineer. It does seems to have a decent amount of silicone over most components.
Is there any hope for the amp? or should I just start looking into new ones?

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: Submerged Amp

try it.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Submerged Amp

Electronics are surpisingly forgiving, let it dry out good before you try it, put it in the oven at 150 for an hour, I did that with my camera that was dropped in the tub (don't ask) and the camera still works to this day!

 

[RicMic]

Re: Submerged Amp

My buddy used his portable radio for a rod holder on the dock, after he fished it back up from the bottom, he took the back off, sprayed it with WD-40 and let it dry in the hot sun and it worked fine ever since. "WD" stands for "water displacement".

 

[seabob4]

Re: Submerged Amp

I was going to suggests eliminators method, putting it in a low temp oven...

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Submerged Amp

150 degrees is near the recommended storage & use temperature of many electronic parts.

Best just to let the amp sit open in a warm dry place for a week.

 

[PS94]

Re: Submerged Amp

I've been told dry white rice can act as a dessicant, and draw moisture out of electronics....

 

[hoytvectrix]

Re: Submerged Amp

dried rice works good for cell phones, but i would probably use the oven technique

 

[seabob4]

Re: Submerged Amp

What you might be worried about with the use of the oven is breaking down the conformal coating on the circuit boards. All conformal coats have an effective working temp of 250 degrees F, with the better ones at 400 degrees F.

150 will make do just fine...

 

[RicMic]

Re: Submerged Amp

I wouldn't be all that comfortable with the oven thing myself. Oven controls, especially at the lowest setting tend to not be all that accurate and fluctuating, so even if set at 150, it could go well above that and assuming no one comes along and decides to cook a pizza with your electronics, hot sunny day would be safer.

 

[mnmike3]

Re: Submerged Amp

that amp should be fine, the Memphis marine equipment should have all the important parts coated so should it get wet it doesn't get wrecked. thats why you spent the extra money to get the marine belle not the regular belle amp.

Some marine audio stuff is made so should it get submerged it will be fine, I know clarion has a marine radio that the face is completely sealed, at CES they had the radio mounted in the side of an aquarium full of water (so the face was in the water) playing the entire time the show was going on. I also Know of a shop that had a demo boat sink on them and when they pulled the boat out of the lake the next day the stereo was still playing, I think it had all alpine marine stuff in it.

Let it dry and it should be fine might have to check the fuses (on the bottom of the amp if you didn't already know) but I would guess it is fine. I would not recommend the oven thing pretty sure that will void any warranty you may have on the amp, I would think if it is dead it should be covered under warranty being it is made to get wet and if its still under warranty, I would just say it got wet though not submerged

 

[funk6294]

Re: Submerged Amp

People in flooded areas used to routinely clean tube TVs with a garden hose after they had been flooded and would then let them dry out with little issue. So I am thinking just dry that amp out and is should be fine, as long as it wasnt salt water.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Submerged Amp

150 degrees is near the recommended storage.

Most storage temps are at 150 Celsius...not Farenheit.

It should be fine.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Submerged Amp

Most storage temps are at 150 Celsius...not Farenheit.

It should be fine.

Ditto, good catch on the storage vs. operating temp issue.

TerryMSU

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Submerged Amp

I have to call you guys on this one. You're saying that components can be stored at over 300?F?!?!? Bake for 30 minutes to a golden brown.

Everything I've seen for storage is around 85?C, which is 185?F. My 150 degree claim split the difference between operating and storage. Operating is typically 135?F.

In any case, there's no need for an oven to dry out the amp. It will do that just fine in ambient air.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Submerged Amp

I design automotive electronics for the passenger compartment for a living. We are typically required to operate from -40 to +85C. Generally or electronic components are rated for storage up to 150C. The circuit board may begin to delaminate as early as about 135C. (This is assuming lead based solder, as designs for lead free solder require a higher temperature circuit board.). I just checked a el cheapo volatge regulator rated for -20 to +85C and it is rated for storage from -65 to +150C. http://www.diodes.com/datasheets/AP78LXX.pdf.

The biggest issue is not the electronics, but rather the plastics in the housing, etc. These will probably warp at about 100C (maybe 110C if you are lucky).

That said, I would be VERY cautious about putting it in the oven. I would put in the hot sun, maybe in the back window of a car parked in the sun. If you are afraid of it failing, put it the back window of a junker in a bad neighborhood .

TerryMSU

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Submerged Amp

If it makes you feel any better, I dumped my cell phone at the boat launch on Friday night. I grabbed it in a hurry and it seemed to be OK, so I thought I dodged a bullet. Just in case, I left in in a bowl of (uncooked) rice all night Friday night. Today (Sunday) I find that it is shuting off on a somewhat random basis. I tried to take my wifes hairdryer to it tonight and I will see what happens. Tomorrow I expect to leave it in a hot car all day and see whether that helps. Hope so. I will keep you up to date. If I could figure how it comes apart, I am certain that I could fix it, but that ia not at all obvious.

TerryMSU

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Submerged Amp

I have to call you guys on this one. You're saying that components can be stored at over 300?F?!?!? Bake for 30 minutes to a golden brown. .

Yep! Scroll to page 2 of this document:
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/data_sheets/ds162.pdf

Storage temperature (ambient) ?65 to 150 ?C

The reason storage temps are so high is because at operating temps of 85C the junction temp of the transistors can get as high as 130C

 

[Daley]

Re: Submerged Amp

I used to work for a digital electronics manufacturer that made custom keyboards. We'd get keyboards from the lottery machines in gas stations that had all sorts of stuff spilled in 'em, and we'd just run 'em through the dishwasher (with no soap, of course). Let 'em dry out for 48 hours and re-test. Keep in mind that it's not the water that causes the damage, it's whatever's *in* the water. That said, if the amp was dunked in salt-water, its life expectancy is much shorter than if it was fresh water. If it was fresh water, just let it sit for a while. I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Submerged Amp

Thanks. I ain't no EE, and I don't design component-level electronic devices. I'm a systems integrator.

Over the last 35 years I've seen things, man. Bad things, man.

Like clogged amplifier cooling fans and ambient internal rack temperatures of over 130?F that cause the amps to fail. (Obviously the internal amp components get quite a bit hotter than ambient when the cooling is clogged.)

Point is, the component spec may list max temp at 85?C but I'll wager that a device will fail at that temp. Something will give. And that was my whole point about not putting it in the oven.

Daley, I've done that with keyboards in the dishwasher. It works fine as long as the DW isn't set to heat the water, and the 'board is allowed to air dry for a few days.

Apologies to TerryNova for hijacking this thread. Does your amp work?