4 ms·

Any issues with the alkaline dust causing issues with the electronics?

conesus 12y ago
Oddly no. There's a photo in the post where I show a well dusted board, but no shorts were caused by the dust. There was definitely weatherproofing we could have performed on the boards to handle that issue, but I was waiting until it actually became a problem. It did rain one day, but only during the day when the installation was off. And thank goodness because if the installation was on, not only would we have a pickle of an issue with all of our exposed wiring, but we would have to get to the middle of the playa in the middle of a rainstorm. It's nearly impossible to move when it rains since the dust cakes onto your shoes and eats everything alive.
- ErikRogneby 12y ago
  I've been there when a dust storm and rain storm were happening at the same time. It gets pretty alien and unreal. Ambitious installation. well done!
- ChrisGammell 12y ago
  Yup, was going to mention conformal coating (keyword is important for the electronics side of things). You can get it in a spray can and it goes on like a lacquer, pretty simple (might need to tape certain parts if they need to be exposed). A good conformal coating can withstand the acrid nature of coal plants, I bet it can also handle the playa (though it seems like things fared pretty well as is). Great project and thanks for the writeup! Hope to see you at future hw meetups in SF! :-)
Taniwha 12y ago
I've never had problems with playa dust (other than the usual corrosion - just wash everything when you get back) As far as soldering QFN parts is concerned - hot plates suck because you can't control the reflow envelope - if you're doing it by hand I think better to use a hot air rework station, drop some paste on the pads, pop the die on top, fire up the air until you see it float on the liquid solder and let it cool - if it doesn't work rework is easy (heat it up again then lift it with tweezers. Alternately real reflow ovens are cheap from China

Oddly no. There's a photo in the post where I show a well dusted board, but no shorts were caused by the dust. There was definitely weatherproofing we could have performed on the boards to handle that issue, but I was waiting until it actually became a problem. It did rain one day, but only during the day when the installation was off. And thank goodness because if the installation was on, not only would we have a pickle of an issue with all of our exposed wiring, but we would have to get to the middle of the playa in the middle of a rainstorm. It's nearly impossible to move when it rains since the dust cakes onto your shoes and eats everything alive.

ErikRogneby 12y ago
I've been there when a dust storm and rain storm were happening at the same time. It gets pretty alien and unreal. Ambitious installation. well done!
ChrisGammell 12y ago
Yup, was going to mention conformal coating (keyword is important for the electronics side of things). You can get it in a spray can and it goes on like a lacquer, pretty simple (might need to tape certain parts if they need to be exposed). A good conformal coating can withstand the acrid nature of coal plants, I bet it can also handle the playa (though it seems like things fared pretty well as is). Great project and thanks for the writeup! Hope to see you at future hw meetups in SF! :-)

Taniwha 12y ago

I've never had problems with playa dust (other than the usual corrosion - just wash everything when you get back) As far as soldering QFN parts is concerned - hot plates suck because you can't control the reflow envelope - if you're doing it by hand I think better to use a hot air rework station, drop some paste on the pads, pop the die on top, fire up the air until you see it float on the liquid solder and let it cool - if it doesn't work rework is easy (heat it up again then lift it with tweezers. Alternately real reflow ovens are cheap from China