Icicles in my NEMA 4 enclosurer
Oh boy, talk about loosing 2 units. I have a number of NEMA enclosurer which I used to house wireless mesh node electronics. I used NEMA as it will prevent rain, ice, snow etc, from getting to the electronics. But forming icicles within the enclosurer is a first. So this is what had happened. I try to over clock the radio, may be that is not the right term, I tried to put get more power from the radio cards by setting up the software to more than the dbi maximum. Normally most cards can’t handle this and instantly burn up or stop functioning. The card I had was pcmcia from Demartech and when I ask I to put out more power, well it does. Bonus, right? Nope it runs much hotter. Now the hardware configuration in the mesh node contains a standard ati power supply (you know the type found in a pc). Well it had a fan and I thought well everything is sealed up tight no worries right? Nope, what had happen was the unit became very hot and it did not dispense the heat from the radio card as well as the CPU. The temperature became below 0 c and condensation form with in the NEMA 4 enclosurer. It then started to drip onto the motherboard and the unit stop working. When I tried to recycle (reboot) the computer I started to get the beeps from the start up of the motherboard that indicated moisture. Oops. So when I went and open the container what I found was awesome. An icicle formed from the condensation (test the NEMA in the water to see if there were any leaks, no leaks were detected.) Wow, this was a first. I thought that the enclosurer was big enough to dissipate the heat generated. I was wrong again. It took me six years to learn this one. I now find the old Wrap boards and Demartech metal enclosurer to be the best. I also observed a lot of oxidation on the radio cards. My fear is that the radio cards are becoming like a rust bucket. I may need to treat some of the components in the future for oxidation.

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