Author Topic: Suggestions on waterproofing a banana jack?  (Read 1519 times)

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Offline AndrewMTopic starter

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Suggestions on waterproofing a banana jack?
« on: February 08, 2020, 07:32:11 pm »
I need a way to get a banana jack sticking through the side of a box, such that water cannot get into the box. If the banana jack connection itself gets wet (between the jack and the cable/plug), that's not a big deal - this is just an on/off switch signal at ~3V.

Ideas?

Suggestions on what to use, how to mount it through the box, and how to keep it watertight? Preferably a jack I can buy through Digikey, as I'm getting the rest of the parts through there.


At this point I'm thinking of any sort of sealed jack, and just sealing the hole on the inside of the box with a bunch of silicone. Unless someone has a better idea.


Edit: I'll add a clarification. This isn't guaranteed to get wet, but it will be outdoors, and might get rained or snowed on. I might add some sort of overhang or shroud to the box to try to keep as much water out as possible in such a situation.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2020, 07:34:23 pm by AndrewM »
 

Online MarkF

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« Last Edit: February 09, 2020, 02:39:31 am by MarkF »
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Suggestions on waterproofing a banana jack?
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2020, 02:35:57 am »
Look at catalogs carefully. I think a lot of banana jacks are actually sealed to the outside, assuming we aren’t talking about underwater use.

Many machined banana jacks would be waterproof by nature, provided a bit of sealant around the plastic. (Watch out: many have a small hole drilled in the side, presumably to prevent suction from making it hard to remove plugs. This applies to many of the otherwise suitable Stäubli jacks in the catalog below.) Bear in mind that pretty much any safety banana jack that surface-mounts using a bolt will likely be OK, since those rarely consist of a threaded tube.

Take a look also at the various threaded adapters that exist, like these: https://www.digikey.com/products/en/connectors-interconnects/terminals-adapters/405

It’d be fairly easy to gasket one of those.

Stäubli makes one jack that is IP67 rated when an optional cap is used, the XUB-G, on page 107 of https://www.staubli.com/en/file/23528.show

 

Offline tooki

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Re: Suggestions on waterproofing a banana jack?
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2020, 02:42:26 am »
Pomona 4995 says this: “Silicone rubber O-rings provide water resistant seal when mounted in panels from 0.062in to 0.125in (15.75mm to 3.18mm) thick.”

As I said, you need to look at some catalogs. Methinks you haven’t done enough legwork on your own yet, AndrewM. ;)
 


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