Suggest some generally good, cheap enclosure options outdoor hobby projects?

[evb149]

Hi,

I'm not looking for a specific design for one single thing, just to find some "jellybean" go-to options to consider that are inexpensive (for one off or very low volume personal / hobby stuff) and good to use & work with for a variety of miscellaneous outdoor equipment which should be protected from the weather and environment.  Basically I'd like to identify good options for many things ranging in size from less than the size of a deck of playing cards (e.g. 75x25x50mm or so)  ranging up in many steps up to the size of a loaf of bread or so.

I'm sure there are some popular options from manufacturers or surplus or resellers etc. like ebay, aliexpress, mpja, digikey, whatever.

The plain old solid rectangular prism plastic or metal box with a gasket or tight fitting lid is easy enough but then there's
also the use cases where one may want things like cable glands, transparent lids for small displays / lighting / indicators / sensors, etc.,
better heat sinking / dissipation to the environment by passive cooling, not RF blocking materials, mounting tabs / flanges / etc., etc.

So basically what do hobbyists these days like to use for their personal controller / UI / IoT / sensor / network / instrument / lighting / solar
etc. types of projects that are supposed to survive out around the house / deck / patio / yard etc.?

Some sorts of examples which aren't particularly novel but easy / fun personal projects:
temperature / humidity / pressure sensor, near-freeze detector, anemometer, wind direction / speed sensor, rain / snow / water fall or rate or depth detection,
UV index / daylight meter, lighting controller, vehicle sensor for gate / driveway lighting / intercom etc. interface, small scale illumination / indicators,
weather sensor / display with some small eInk or other display, etc. etc. etc.

So basically plastic with options for glass or transparent PMMA / acrylic faces if not the whole thing made of such would be handy for various such projects,
while others could be suited for a more generic opaque plastic option.

Ideas / suggestions / examples for enclosure / materials products & ME / ID design ideas will be appreciated & welcome, thanks in advance!

For those who have done this sort of thing recently for hobby projects, what has been your experience with things like humidity,
condensation, mold etc. impacting the contained projects over time?  Did you use any kind of encapsulation / conformal coating etc.?

[bob91343]

For the most part, little hobby gadgets that need to be outside just need a protected place.  For instance, under a roof overhang.  Sure they might leak in a storm but since they are so accessible one needn't agonize over too much protection.  Just open the box occasionally, clean out the moisture and bugs, and reassemble.

[ledtester]

A local surplus store had a bunch of ABS instrument cases which allowed the height to be adjusted. Going through the PacTel catalog it looks a lot like their "C series" products:

https://www.pactecenclosures.com/product-detail.php?productid=38&seriesid=42&classid=26

I have seen them for sale at one of the online surplus sites, but I can't recall which one.

Another enclosure I think would be generally useful for prototyping are the translucent enclosures with card guides, like this Hammond model:

https://www.hammfg.com/electronics/small-case/plastic/1591t

Example use:

Simple STM32 ARM Programming -- 0033mer
https://youtu.be/0d2ASWBD0bg

I'm sure there are some popular options from manufacturers or surplus or resellers etc. like ebay, aliexpress, mpja, digikey, whatever.

A few more to add (in the US): Surplus Sales of Nebraska, Electronic Goldmine, All Electronics. Sadly, bgmicro is no more.

Edit: Just noticed you were asking specifically for outdoor use.

[mayor]

Hi,
I recently built https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/automating-pool-monitoring-and-chemical-dosing/. It has a number of glands and it spent the summer outdoors, rain or shine. The enclosure I used is from Bud Industries. It's not exactly cheap, but fine for one-offs, and they have many options to choose from.

No issue with condensation, using an IP67 vent plug, no conformal coating, no mold. Board temp did go up when in direct sunlight:

[NiHaoMike]

Somewhere I saw the idea of reusing glass jars for outdoor devices, drill holes in the lid for cables and mount upside down to make weatherproof. Add a desiccant bag for further protection against moisture.

[rdl]

Empty peanut butter jars, butter tubs, lunch meat containers come to mind. All free. If you don't mind spending some money look at Advantus Stacker boxes. You can get them on Amazon and other places.