Why no uS case seals?

[SQLGUY]

Hi folks,

I was just wondering the other day, when I opened up my MicroSquirt to do some work on the VR1 input circuit, why, when the unit has a waterproof AMPSEAL connector, there are no seals on the case ends themselves. Is this just something on mine, since it was an early MicroSquirt, or are they all metal-to-metal at the covers?

Thanks,
Paul

[Bruce Bowling]

Hi folks,

I was just wondering the other day, when I opened up my MicroSquirt to do some work on the VR1 input circuit, why, when the unit has a waterproof AMPSEAL connector, there are no seals on the case ends themselves. Is this just something on mine, since it was an early MicroSquirt, or are they all metal-to-metal at the covers?

Thanks,
Paul

We looked into this but instead chose to conformal coat the board instead. The available seals were not that great, and there needs to bee a positive pressure on the inside of the case (filled with argon or similar) to prevent ingress of vapor, etc. and if the end user was to open the case it would disrupt this.

- Bruce

[geoffct]

If you're concerned about weather in your mounting location, you can RTV the case, but coat the ends of the extrusion first, then install everything. After it sets up back out the screws one at a time and gob the holes full so it squeezes RTV under the screw heads, otherwise water will leak in at the bolts. I sealed up the box with two back caps and had no water leak in with the case held underwater , which proved it for me. Also remember that if you back out any pins on the microsquirt's AMPseal you'll need to replace them with a plug, the part number is on the AMPseal spec page around here somewhere. Not that anything would make it inside the microsquirt but it could short out the pins.

Geoff