hello guys and gals!
ive been looking into waterproofing some drone electronics and so far only figured this might be harder than it seemed at first
so i was hoping that some one here might be able to help me, without ending up in too many rabbit holes
and maybe ill learn one or two things without being spoiled by half-true "facts"
the requirements include:
- long lasting waterproofing (more than just 1-2 months)
- 100% water protection up to low depths (in case it ends up in a pond or along the coast)
- vibration/crash resilient (considering speeds of up to 90-100km/h)
- low weight (which is why i havent considered general potting)
- maintainable, as in being able to resolder things without having to re-coat every thing
- allow heat exchange (since the motor speed controllers can get quite warm/hot)
- protect the camera housing without having to coat the electronics and endanger the CCD chip
- protect USB, JST, XT60 and board-to-board connectors including LiPo battery
the drones operate at 5-24V with up to 140A (might be more as LiPo's become better)
and primarily consist of the following:
- power distribution board incl. LiPo
- flight controller (which can include barometers)
- 1 speed controller per motor incl. motors (which should already be waterproof)
- CCD camera (with housing)
- a radio and separate video transmitter (with 2 pigtail and 1 cloverleaf antennas)
- also possible but not always present are an exposed microphone and buzzer
so far i came across the following:
- general purpose conformal PCB coating (didnt last very long as it started to crack)
- silicone conformal coating (heard from several guys that it also didnt last very long)
- nail varnish (skeptic)
- corrosion-x (suspect this will only prevent corrosion)
- nanoprotech (which made me think i might need to learn some more)
regarding the last product
https://youtu.be/EzEreJfRp8Y (to not link to the distributor directly, in case its phony)
i couldnt fully grasp, how it could protect from short circuits but still allow a current flow where it had to be
or is this maybe an exaggerated marketing gig?
can you help me out, or have a favorite solution/product you know and works in such or similar application?
thank you!