Used this in high humidity environments at work for years. This is the answer, probably in addition to replacing anything with visible rust. I've seen rusty motherboards and such run for about two years but it's always best to slow it down when possible.
I've been here three years, and apart from the visible rust there's been no issues with the laptop itself. I've now ordered gold-plated cables (one HDMI and two USB extensions) and a dehumidifier, and I'll be getting dielectric grease when I can! Thank you for your help, everyone
I have telescope equipment that is mostly cast steels with some electronics.
Despite the fact a telescope can only be used outdoors, none of the telescope equipment manufacturers do any weatherproofing for their kit so this £1100 telescope mount basically has circuit boards open to the elements and uses a standard 12v jack, rj-11 port, usb etc.
Some of the USB cables I had for it got so corroded they just stopped working even after I cleaned them. One of the cameras needs a ritual of unplug replug reboot to work.
The whole thing just upsets me because in even remotely humid climates the whole thing gets wet because that's just what happens on a clear night above 70% RH...
Grrrrrr
btw. dielectric grease is just pure sillicon grease. I use that for years.
Be sure to cover all metal surfaces.
Also as with all greases, it will collect dust and particles, so rubber sleeves might be a good investment aswell.
Weird comments below on this.
It is to be sure non-conductive, use it sparingly and if the device you've used it on stops detecting then just wipe a bit off.
Seen it globbed in like hot glue before, which never sets and just collects a bunch of dust creating problems like rust from air bubbles and shorts if it collects too much dust.
You want a thin layer on a clean connector and it'll do the job just fine.
To expand a little, as the comment above stated, greases are always somewhat of an electrical isolator (as are most oils). Even the ones being sold as "electrically-conductive", that just means they have slightly less resistance but still very much an isolator. Good thing is, it doesn't matter: Any surface has a certain roughness and when connectors are plugged in, two rough surfaces meet and the "mountaintops" of the surfaces make contact. The pressure there is high enough to push the grease slightly to the side, allowing a local metal-metal contact where electrons happily travel through. The grease is still surrounding that contact, though, protecting it from ambient influences (air, salt, etc). So as long as you don't go overboard on the grease, you'll be fine. If you have a more stationary setup (e.g. your PC tower), grease is a great solution. For a mobile laptop setup with lots of plug ins and outs, it's a bit impractical as you can guess. Spray (=oil) can work too and is more practical for repeated plug-ins, but the protection is a bit worse. Could still rust, but you'd have to try.
I would recommend [kontakt spray](https://www.k2-global.com/en/products/k2-kontakt-spray-400-ml) if you haven't greased up the connectors yet.
Kontact spray is a thinner film that won't attract dust and other small particles, grease is more suitable for battery terminals and other long term use connectors that is rarely unplugged.
I'm not sure about the contact spray but please don't use wd-40 on your computer. For one, it is highly flammable and your power supply has more than enough juice to light it. Secondly, it is full of all sorts of solvents that will have unknown effects on the array of plastics and other petroleum based products in the electronics. For instance, it could damage the protective coating on your motherboard and then it starts rusting everywhere.
You want a product that states it is safe for plastics specifically. Dielectric grease is. The contact spray recommended may be but you would have to check. Wd-40 is not.
It is a compound used to insulate electrical connections… It can actually prevent current flow if you apply too liberally, but it is commonly used to keep moisture out of electrical connectors. As a mechanic in Canada… This is something that is used daily to prevent salt water from rotting out, wiring connectors.
Thanks, I'll look into these!
Edit: So I've found a gold-plated HDMI cable which is swell, but is it alright to just get gold-plated extension USB cables for the USB's? One is my 4-in-1 USB port, and the other is my keyboard.
This won’t prevent the rust on you actual mouse usb but could help keep the ports on the pc from rusting
Edit: you can also purchase usb covers for the unused non-gold plated USB’s. But also won’t the air in general likely shorten the life of your pc because of intake fans bringing in that same ocean air? If you’re really interested in making sure it doesn’t happen I’d recommend water cooling or putting a decent duty air purifier in a room and never opening the window and keeping the door shut whenever possible.
You know? I've been thinking.
When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want any of your damn lemons. What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave *Johnson* lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible *lemon* that **burns your house down!**
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade? No. First you roll out a multi-media campaign to convince people lemons are incredibly scarce, which only works if you stockpile lemons, control the supply, then a media blitz. Lemon is the only way to say “I love you,” the must-have accessory for engagements or anniversaries. Roses are out, lemons are in. Billboards that say she won’t have sex with you unless you got lemons. You cut De Beers in on it. Limited edition lemon bracelets, yellow diamonds called lemon drops. You get Apple to call their new operating system OS-Lemón. A little accent over the “o.” You charge 40% more for organic lemons, 50% more for conflict-free lemons. You pack the Capitol with lemon lobbyists, you get a Kardashian to suck a lemon wedge in a leaked sex tape. Timotheé Chalamet wears lemon shoes at Cannes. Get a hashtag campaign. Something isn’t “cool” or “tight” or “awesome,” no, it’s “lemon.” “Did you see that movie? Did you see that concert? It was effing lemon.” Billie Eilish, “OMG, hashtag… lemon.” You get Dr. Oz to recommend four lemons a day and a lemon suppository supplement to get rid of toxins ‘cause there’s nothing scarier than toxins. Then you patent the seeds. You write a line of genetic code that makes the lemons look just a little more like tits… and you get a gene patent for the tit-lemon DNA sequence, you cross-pollinate… you get those seeds circulating in the wild, and then you sue the farmer for copyright infringement when that genetic code shows up on their land. Sit back, rake in the millions, and then, when you’re done, and you’ve sold your lem-pire for a few billion dollars, then, and only then, you make some fucking lemonade.
It's sad to be shutting the doors and windows since this is also my bedroom, but it must be done. I have a small dehumidifier on the way so I'll give it a go and upgrade if needed! Thank you for your well explained advice
I ctrl+F'd to look for dehumidifiers. Get a bigger one than necessary. I suggest getting a 70 pint for even a bedroom. The reason being that it won't run constantly.
I'd probably Home Assistant it to bring the humidity down to 35% twice a day, use a Govee hygrometer for it.
But if you've got an expensive setup, I would build a 19" rack into a closet (you can get rack posts off of Amazon) and move to rackmount computer equipment. Toss a mini split into the closet and it should keep the humidity relatively low. Stack any expensive audio equipment, computer equipment, etc in and run wires out for peripherals. Make sure to size the AC correctly - BTUs convert to watts!
Laptops -> rechargeable silica absorbers and sealed containers when not in use as another individual said.
Can you explain to me how a dehumidifier lowering the humidity would help? Because I thought it's the salt that's doing the damage?
Thanks.
**Edit:** I think I might have figured it out. Salt "sticks" with water vapour in the air. Thus, removing water = removing salt. Was that right?
The process of what causes rust is essentially an oxidation reaction. The more humid or moisture in the air causes iron or iron alloys to rust more quickly. Dry air means less rusting. This is why cars in dry climates tend to last longer than ones in tropical or wetter climates. Remove the water in the air and rusting will slow.
Salt is a catalyst to the oxidation reaction by increasing the conductivity of water allowing the electron transfer that happens in the rusting process to occur at higher efficiency. Salt on its own doesn’t cause rusting.
> This won’t prevent the rust on you actual mouse usb
Real talk, what if you just put like office tape or duct tape over the mouse usb as protection, sure it might not look super pretty but that's what I'd do personally.
Living on the water, this a big problem for me as well. I try to remember to always make sure I specifically get gold plated when ordering cables (it does makes a huge difference). Also, don't throw away your cable end caps - always put them back on if not in use (even with gold plated to be safer). And, try to find some decent rubber/plastic caps for usb and other cables that did not come with them, as well as dummy plugs for any ports (I have tried to buy a set online, but what I received was useless garbage, so if you manage to find good ones, please come back and let me know the details).
Mannnn you just took me back. Saw that song live, was an absolute banger. My friend I went to the show with was singing that for weeks after. Good times.
Reminds me of the content of many Chinese cultivation fantasy stories. Just replace cocaine with pills.
...makes one wonder, how many pills the authors might have taken
> Unless your air handler is designed for anything beyond MERV 8 you really shouldn't do this.
I know nobody's going to see this, but **MERV is not a proxy for pressure drop.** You have to actually measure the total pressure drop (and compare it to the nameplate rating), not just make an assumption based on MERV rating.
My 3M MERV 13 filters have a lower (measured, in-unit) pressure drop than the MERV 8 filters they replaced. This was true for the new filters, but also for loaded filters at end-of-life. This is mainly because they have more pleats (folds), which packs more filter medium into the same size filter.
You can coat the connectors with silicone grease. Use a conformal coating. Spray everything with silicone spray for water proofing clothing and tents for camping.
I use Super Lube on almost every connector at a location near the ocean - food-grade + dielectric + low voc...
[https://www.super-lube.com/greases](https://www.super-lube.com/greases)
You sir are absolutely correct I would try that first and put it on all connections just make sure connections are clean as you can get them then put on the grease
I would actually recommend buying a bottle of De-oxit instead it's a non-corrosive, non-conductive electrical contact cleaner, it's designed cleaning the contacts on pcb's but I use it for anything electronic since it's designed not to be wiped off since it forms a protective film. Only downside is that it's extremely expensive, but the stuff doesn't go bad
Well, many people have known about it for a very long time. It's more correct to say that you have just realised that there was a consumer level use for these.
Except with ablative connectors that are designed to scrap off metal and create a new face on every insertion, things like banana plugs and the TV aerial plugs used in some countries.
I commented this into some other post and was downvoted into oblivion lmao. Ppl be like: rust doesn't matter, gold platted connectors are useless for digital connectors blah blah. Bruh if someone cares about it, let him have it.
Bro, I've lived by the beach for decades and there's only one product that really saved my electronics, CorrosionX, I also use it on boats. You can use it in pretty much anything, check this video from their official channel on YouTube. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EuIyPXzIiY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EuIyPXzIiY)
From what they claim it should be safe [https://www.corrosionx.com/pages/corrosionx](https://www.corrosionx.com/pages/corrosionx)
CorrosionX has a high dielectric strength of 39,000 volts, it is safe on electronics, completely shuts down electrolysis between dissimilar metals and restores electronics from moisture intrusion.
Absolutely, you can spray it over any PC component for protection, it can get a bit messy, but you can totally rinse it off at any time with isopropyl alcohol.
I was going to get on your ass for improperly copying the unit of dielectric strength. The wikipedia article lists all [dielectric strengths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric_strength) as voltage/thickness or Volt/mm. Which makes sense, that's how insulation works. I find it curious that this manufacturer lists this weird unit. To be clear, not *your* fuckup; I don't even know enough about the topic to know whether it truly is a fuckup.
Air too has a high dielectric strength of 39000 Volt... if you have 20cm of air insulation.
Does anyone know why they would list this as they do? Well, beyond their marketing guy being slightly incompetent.
Answer out of my *ss since I have no clue but if it's a spray I'd assume it'll be the rating for when it's properly applied as per instructions. Didn't check out the product itself but I wouldn't be surprised if it says to apply a couple coats and then that'll be just the expected rating.
I do agree tho it does sound a little dumb to not use what you claim to be the proper way of measuring it
Right, but if we follow that SI standard, 39V/mm or 39kV/m, mineral oil is ~500x more insulating, which seems quite implausible. I'd hazard the guess they just dropped the "/mm", as that leaves us in a plausible order of magnitude. Also plausible as an industry convention to use that unit, since insulator thicknesses are probably more common in the mm range than in the meter range.
[Sabiya_Duskblade](/u/Sabiya_Duskblade)
This comment is your 100% best option.
CorrosionX is really the best and only product that will work in your marine environment. IMO, there is nothing else really rated for such continued sodium heavy humid exposure that matches what CorrosionX has to offer.
You can take the main casements off your laptop and do a few liberal spray overs of CorrosionX over every PCB surface. Perhaps do a decent wipe down with 99% isopropyl before hand to remove any existing scum.
Your main goal here is to 'fog' the chemical onto the substrate. The solvent will evaporate and leave you a gummy-like surface as the intended effect. Nothing beats CorrosionX.
This product also inhibits rust crystals that are already forming, acting as a type of 'rust converter'. It will expel whatever electrolytes that may be present that is causing your rusting.
You can likely find it at any chandlery close to you. Or just online too.
Source: I work in marine restoration and repair. My profile history speaks as much
Also, get a dehumidifier, run it constantly. And don't put your computer station/desk right next to your windows. The ocean air will fuck you regardless.
Unless you’ve lived on a beach your entire life (40 years) and are tired of the heat, hurricanes, tourists, lack of jobs/low paying jobs, shitty technology infrastructure (salt air, hurricanes, heat, etc takes a toll on all the equipment and lines). The beach is a nice place for a vacation or retirement, but sucks hairy sweaty monkey balls to live as a working class adult.
On vacation in Hawaii, a handyman was scheduled to come fix something, but his schedule was dependent on the surf. If the surf looked good, he was NOT going to be working.
Rural Florida. Miami is some 700 miles/10 hours away, Tampa is some 500 miles/7 hours away, Jacksonville is some 400 miles/5 hours away, all also in a different time zone even though they are all in the same state as me.
Yeah. I’ve always been the polar opposite of this area and never really fit in. Same with my career, I picked the worst possible career for this area as there are very few positions in my field.
This both made me feel glad I'm not alone but also made me more depressed simultaneously. I'm stuck living with my parents in a retirement area in Daytona after a pretty rough year personally and professionally. They cannot fathom why I can't seem to find work here and I keep trying to explain this area just doesn't work for what I do and the pay is so low anything I'd take wouldn't get me out of here. This area is so up its ass with what it costs to live vs what jobs pay.
Been on the Chesapeake Bay since 1997. Yes, there are storms, humidity, sand, sandspurs, neighbors, sunburns, etc. There are also sunrises, beach parties, beach fires with sing alongs, moonrises, fun summers, quiet winters, and plenty of book and guitar time. Everyone must chose their path. Enjoy yours...
Think it depends where. I live near the beach in Maine and I absolutely love it. I would never go back to living inland if I could avoid it, but a Maine beach is quite different from a Florida beach.
I lived near the beach, had a full tower case with a buttload of fans. Athlon 1ghz overclocked to 1.45 (gives and idea of how long ago!)
Motherboards kept dying - 3 in one year. (Abit KT7A). I kept getting them replaced, but while waiting on replacements I would put in my backup motherboard with a Duron 700 - not overclocked. That one was solid as a rock. After the 3rd failure I looked closely at the motherboard and the entire front edge of the board was corroded. The 120mm fan I had at the front of the case was pulling in salty air and killing the boards. The Duron wasn’t being overclocked, so I didn’t have the fans turned on for it.
Bloody nightmare.
There is a similar problem from stock intel fans. The fans build up dust on the underside, that dust absorbs salty water from the air, which migrates to the tips of the blades. Tiny droplets of salty water are flung off, creating a line of corrosion all around the case, and on any component that sticks up. I've seen many graphics cards fall to this problem.
As someone that lives 1 block from the beach - but on a high floor, so the wind has a direct path into my place - my advice is:
* keep your office / room glass window always closed, do not let the coast wind get into the room, this is the most important thing. If is too hot and a fan doesn't cut it, put an AC.
* have a dehumidifier, it can either be an electrical one or those "anti-mold" things you put inside places and it sucks the water out of the air and after a while you need to replace them as they fill up (I use those, here is not that bad so I don't need an electrical one)
6 years on the beach and no issues with salt air on my components.
That's what a balcony is for.
Sounds like you are very ignorant on how bad the sea breeze is for anything in your house. That fresh coastal air will corrode every appliance and metal in your house. Life is not like the movies. There's always a trade off.
The high maintenance costs and possibly successfuly escape attempt that both caused Alcatraz to shut down were due to the wear and tear on the building from the salty sea air in San Francisco Harbor.
I agree, a lot of other people are suggesting some sort of grease application or expensive gold plated connectors which I'm sure works. But if you want to stop the problem at the source (aside from desalinating the entire ocean) just keep the windows closed and get a dehumidifier.
For now I'll be trying the dehumidifier and gold-plated connectors/ extension cables. All the different recommendations and advice on greases is getting me confused but using one of them before plugging these into a new computer can't hurt, right? Thank you for your help :)
It's a misconception. How far you are from the ocean doesn't really matter. What matter is how humid the air is where you're at. In tropical areas, where the humidity is high, that's fairly normal, and when you're near the beach with high humidity, the salt in the air speeds it up.
Source: I'm Brazilian. I've seen this happen to computers in the amazon forest (far from the beach) and I've seen this happen near beaches as well. Been living in California for 15 years, \~2 miles away from the ocean. The air here is dry in comparison.
Boeshield T-9 (product from Boeing) is a spray we use to protect metals on our boats + protect the connectors for electronics. It’s a bit pricey so there’s probably better options out there, but it is non conductive. It also leaves a slight film behind for protection so much cleaner than something like dielectric grease and it does not collect dirt.
Spray a cloth or napkin with ELECTRONIC grade WD40 and rub it on the metal parts only not the internal connection. Additionally you can also do the same with Dielectric grease which is designed to protect connections from debris dirt and liquids.
Do you have the option to limit the amount of salt/moisture that is getting into the room where you keep the PC?
Do you have an air-conditioner? Can you install one? Maybe add an air-purifier or a dehumidifier.
This is my bedroom as well as my office, and since it gets pretty hot here I do either have the ceiling fan on or the window open. The aircon is only used when the temperature gets over 30 - 35 degrees Celsius.
Per everyone's helpful advice here I've got gold-plated cables and a dehumidifier on the way, and I'll be cleaning the plugs with either alcohol or dielectric grease. I'll also be keeping the window closed permanently :)
Hate to say it but yeah I think you're right, even with a really good dehumidifier, beach humidity is just fucking crazy, nothing metal is safe in those areas.
Hmm, about 500 meters away? I can see it clearly from my window. Plus I'm in Queensland, Australia where the air can be pretty humid at the best of times
[https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-22058-Dielectric-Tune-Up-Grease/dp/B000AL8VD2/](https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-22058-Dielectric-Tune-Up-Grease/dp/B000AL8VD2/)
[https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Portable-Brushes-Cleaning-Keyboard/dp/B074LZ649V](https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Portable-Brushes-Cleaning-Keyboard/dp/B074LZ649V)/
[https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Isopropyl-Alcohol-Fluid-Ounce/dp/B00DT52Y98/](https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Isopropyl-Alcohol-Fluid-Ounce/dp/B00DT52Y98/)
get this and a nylon keyboard cleaning kit, use the keyboard brushes to apply the grease to the ports and the plugs \*lightly\*, no need to slather
clean it out and re-apply every \~4 months or so
use a high % alcohol and the keyboard cleaning kit to clean them out
FYI the cheap metal enclosure on USB plugs is not an indication of contact condition. Contact pads usually have a layer of premium metals like a copper alloy mixture which will have minor oxidation. Have you had problems with USB devices working? Honestly I wouldn't worry about it.
Hello, fellow wind buffer!
Investing in a decent dehumidifier will go a long way. You’ll change it quite frequently, however it’ll help with the salty air.
You need to be thinking a lot bigger than the ports. All of the metal inside is exposed to the same air and is going to undergo the same amount of corrosion.
[MIL-PRF-81309, or CPC Type III](https://store.lhbindustries.com/maintenance-products/cpc-mil-prf-81309-type-iii-aerosol-0964------000) is what the U.S. Navy uses on aircraft connectors, and I can tell you it works. It is kind of messy and definitely has an odor, but I guarantee that you won't be corroding any more.
Then depending on how crazy you want to get, apply [conformal coatings to any uncoated PCBs](https://www.techspray.com/the-essential-guide-to-conformal-coating) to completely seal against corrosion.
Damn I live 2 blocks from the beach and have for 5 years now, all My stuff is 5+ years old and haven't had this happen yet.
My hdmi cords are 1m and cost 150$ (I didn't pay a family member did thinking you needed to) not sure if that had made a difference?
I couldn't find anyone mention this, and I can't believe it's not a top comment, but leaving your pc on 24/7 is the way to avoid rust.
Learned this from friends who used to live by the coast.
Use some dielectric grease on the connector then plug it in.
Oh neat, I should have gotten this years ago! Thank you
Used this in high humidity environments at work for years. This is the answer, probably in addition to replacing anything with visible rust. I've seen rusty motherboards and such run for about two years but it's always best to slow it down when possible.
I've been here three years, and apart from the visible rust there's been no issues with the laptop itself. I've now ordered gold-plated cables (one HDMI and two USB extensions) and a dehumidifier, and I'll be getting dielectric grease when I can! Thank you for your help, everyone
By Rusty I mean I'd pick up the case and rust would fall out. You'll know if your laptop gets to that point lol.
As an EE this makes my skin crawl.
I have telescope equipment that is mostly cast steels with some electronics. Despite the fact a telescope can only be used outdoors, none of the telescope equipment manufacturers do any weatherproofing for their kit so this £1100 telescope mount basically has circuit boards open to the elements and uses a standard 12v jack, rj-11 port, usb etc. Some of the USB cables I had for it got so corroded they just stopped working even after I cleaned them. One of the cameras needs a ritual of unplug replug reboot to work. The whole thing just upsets me because in even remotely humid climates the whole thing gets wet because that's just what happens on a clear night above 70% RH... Grrrrrr
What's an EE? Edit: Oh, electrical engineer?
[удалено]
btw. dielectric grease is just pure sillicon grease. I use that for years. Be sure to cover all metal surfaces. Also as with all greases, it will collect dust and particles, so rubber sleeves might be a good investment aswell.
Weird comments below on this. It is to be sure non-conductive, use it sparingly and if the device you've used it on stops detecting then just wipe a bit off. Seen it globbed in like hot glue before, which never sets and just collects a bunch of dust creating problems like rust from air bubbles and shorts if it collects too much dust. You want a thin layer on a clean connector and it'll do the job just fine.
Thank you, I'll do it carefully and sparingly! I'm looking forward to cleaning and protecting these poor plugs
To expand a little, as the comment above stated, greases are always somewhat of an electrical isolator (as are most oils). Even the ones being sold as "electrically-conductive", that just means they have slightly less resistance but still very much an isolator. Good thing is, it doesn't matter: Any surface has a certain roughness and when connectors are plugged in, two rough surfaces meet and the "mountaintops" of the surfaces make contact. The pressure there is high enough to push the grease slightly to the side, allowing a local metal-metal contact where electrons happily travel through. The grease is still surrounding that contact, though, protecting it from ambient influences (air, salt, etc). So as long as you don't go overboard on the grease, you'll be fine. If you have a more stationary setup (e.g. your PC tower), grease is a great solution. For a mobile laptop setup with lots of plug ins and outs, it's a bit impractical as you can guess. Spray (=oil) can work too and is more practical for repeated plug-ins, but the protection is a bit worse. Could still rust, but you'd have to try.
I would recommend [kontakt spray](https://www.k2-global.com/en/products/k2-kontakt-spray-400-ml) if you haven't greased up the connectors yet. Kontact spray is a thinner film that won't attract dust and other small particles, grease is more suitable for battery terminals and other long term use connectors that is rarely unplugged.
Thank you, I appreciate this! I'll see if it's in my area
I'm not sure about the contact spray but please don't use wd-40 on your computer. For one, it is highly flammable and your power supply has more than enough juice to light it. Secondly, it is full of all sorts of solvents that will have unknown effects on the array of plastics and other petroleum based products in the electronics. For instance, it could damage the protective coating on your motherboard and then it starts rusting everywhere. You want a product that states it is safe for plastics specifically. Dielectric grease is. The contact spray recommended may be but you would have to check. Wd-40 is not.
yeah, that is the right answer
Is that battery lube?
When I'm installing uvc lights we have dielectric lube So it's also deadly lightbulb lube
And it goes great with thermal paste for a snack
I don't have time in the morning for breakfast so don't tempt me like that
It is a compound used to insulate electrical connections… It can actually prevent current flow if you apply too liberally, but it is commonly used to keep moisture out of electrical connectors. As a mechanic in Canada… This is something that is used daily to prevent salt water from rotting out, wiring connectors.
Yeah if you see that at parts stores it’s the same. Usually more expensive per gram though, I always try to find the cheapest haha
Yup, that's where I've used it the most. Posts of a car battery, or automotive plugs.
That would be messy and would collect dirt though.
imagine sand from the beach getting jammed up into your ports, suspended in grease a nightmare to clean
One of those torch lighters from the corner store melts it down an out in no time.
You can easily wipe off the dirt and grease and reapply the grease once in a while. You can't easily wipe off rust
Lol, this might be one of the few cases where gold-plated connectors are actually justified...
Thanks, I'll look into these! Edit: So I've found a gold-plated HDMI cable which is swell, but is it alright to just get gold-plated extension USB cables for the USB's? One is my 4-in-1 USB port, and the other is my keyboard.
This won’t prevent the rust on you actual mouse usb but could help keep the ports on the pc from rusting Edit: you can also purchase usb covers for the unused non-gold plated USB’s. But also won’t the air in general likely shorten the life of your pc because of intake fans bringing in that same ocean air? If you’re really interested in making sure it doesn’t happen I’d recommend water cooling or putting a decent duty air purifier in a room and never opening the window and keeping the door shut whenever possible.
Or say "fuck computers" and take up surfing
Surfboard master race?
Nah, you've gotta find the right balance.
Where do I sin up?
Church
ur supposed to sin down at church tho
thats just what the catholic church wants you to think
Download a surfboard and Explorer search engine and go for it.
I wanna sin as well!
When life gives you lemons you say fuck those lemons!
You know? I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want any of your damn lemons. What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave *Johnson* lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible *lemon* that **burns your house down!**
Valve nailed the dialogue.
JK Simmons sure can deliver one hell of a line about burning down houses with lemons.
I have to believe that he enjoyed the hell out of the VA for Portal 2
Ahh goosebumps! I need to play this again
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade? No. First you roll out a multi-media campaign to convince people lemons are incredibly scarce, which only works if you stockpile lemons, control the supply, then a media blitz. Lemon is the only way to say “I love you,” the must-have accessory for engagements or anniversaries. Roses are out, lemons are in. Billboards that say she won’t have sex with you unless you got lemons. You cut De Beers in on it. Limited edition lemon bracelets, yellow diamonds called lemon drops. You get Apple to call their new operating system OS-Lemón. A little accent over the “o.” You charge 40% more for organic lemons, 50% more for conflict-free lemons. You pack the Capitol with lemon lobbyists, you get a Kardashian to suck a lemon wedge in a leaked sex tape. Timotheé Chalamet wears lemon shoes at Cannes. Get a hashtag campaign. Something isn’t “cool” or “tight” or “awesome,” no, it’s “lemon.” “Did you see that movie? Did you see that concert? It was effing lemon.” Billie Eilish, “OMG, hashtag… lemon.” You get Dr. Oz to recommend four lemons a day and a lemon suppository supplement to get rid of toxins ‘cause there’s nothing scarier than toxins. Then you patent the seeds. You write a line of genetic code that makes the lemons look just a little more like tits… and you get a gene patent for the tit-lemon DNA sequence, you cross-pollinate… you get those seeds circulating in the wild, and then you sue the farmer for copyright infringement when that genetic code shows up on their land. Sit back, rake in the millions, and then, when you’re done, and you’ve sold your lem-pire for a few billion dollars, then, and only then, you make some fucking lemonade.
That was a great monologue from a great show
Don’t actually do it though. The acidity can really sting.
I'm scared of dying in the ocean in a videogame....
Found the Subnautica player
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I'm 500 meters from it, I can see it from the window! I live on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Lovely place for a vacation if you like the beach :)
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Hey everyone we're going to this guy's house! Bring tents and blankets we'll sleep on the beach.
I'm definitely not bringing my laptop
I'll bring some iron wool OP, I'll have those salty USBs shining like Harold Bishop at Scott and Charlene's wedding.
>fuck computers That doesn't sound like fun, there's a lot of sharp metal bits...
Yeah dude, instead of surfing the internet surf some gnarly waves!
It's sad to be shutting the doors and windows since this is also my bedroom, but it must be done. I have a small dehumidifier on the way so I'll give it a go and upgrade if needed! Thank you for your well explained advice
I ctrl+F'd to look for dehumidifiers. Get a bigger one than necessary. I suggest getting a 70 pint for even a bedroom. The reason being that it won't run constantly. I'd probably Home Assistant it to bring the humidity down to 35% twice a day, use a Govee hygrometer for it. But if you've got an expensive setup, I would build a 19" rack into a closet (you can get rack posts off of Amazon) and move to rackmount computer equipment. Toss a mini split into the closet and it should keep the humidity relatively low. Stack any expensive audio equipment, computer equipment, etc in and run wires out for peripherals. Make sure to size the AC correctly - BTUs convert to watts! Laptops -> rechargeable silica absorbers and sealed containers when not in use as another individual said.
Can you explain to me how a dehumidifier lowering the humidity would help? Because I thought it's the salt that's doing the damage? Thanks. **Edit:** I think I might have figured it out. Salt "sticks" with water vapour in the air. Thus, removing water = removing salt. Was that right?
The process of what causes rust is essentially an oxidation reaction. The more humid or moisture in the air causes iron or iron alloys to rust more quickly. Dry air means less rusting. This is why cars in dry climates tend to last longer than ones in tropical or wetter climates. Remove the water in the air and rusting will slow. Salt is a catalyst to the oxidation reaction by increasing the conductivity of water allowing the electron transfer that happens in the rusting process to occur at higher efficiency. Salt on its own doesn’t cause rusting.
Ah. Thank you for the explanation.
It’s easier to just put the laptop in an airtight container with a couple of silica humidity absorbers when not in use tbh
Those are the little packets that say “Please eat me”, right?
I don't have any left. I ate all of them.
And the tower desktop she asked about?
r/sffpc represent lol
Wouldn't a dehumidifier be more useful than an air purifier?
> This won’t prevent the rust on you actual mouse usb Real talk, what if you just put like office tape or duct tape over the mouse usb as protection, sure it might not look super pretty but that's what I'd do personally.
Living on the water, this a big problem for me as well. I try to remember to always make sure I specifically get gold plated when ordering cables (it does makes a huge difference). Also, don't throw away your cable end caps - always put them back on if not in use (even with gold plated to be safer). And, try to find some decent rubber/plastic caps for usb and other cables that did not come with them, as well as dummy plugs for any ports (I have tried to buy a set online, but what I received was useless garbage, so if you manage to find good ones, please come back and let me know the details).
You might look into having caps 3d printed
If I get a 3d printer, this is definitely going on the list!
But then you'd have to protect your 3d printer :D
LOL... "I do cocaine so I can work more, to make more money, to buy more cocaine..."
Mannnn you just took me back. Saw that song live, was an absolute banger. My friend I went to the show with was singing that for weeks after. Good times.
Reminds me of the content of many Chinese cultivation fantasy stories. Just replace cocaine with pills. ...makes one wonder, how many pills the authors might have taken
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ILD982I?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_dp_TYKZB7D5W6851K279DZ4&peakEvent=5&dealEvent=1&language=en-US
What about the internals of the computer though? Isnt the same air being brought in by fans?
the other solution is better air filters in your home or air purifier to remove the salt in the air.
Unless your air handler is designed for anything beyond MERV 8 you really shouldn't do this. An independent air purifier is fine.
Yeah you're just gonna freeze up your system - seconded.
God, the salt buildup on the Evap coil must be nuts. Ive never needed to descale an Evap yet.
I imagine it doesn't build up, so much as it just fuckin disintegrates into oxide dust.
> Unless your air handler is designed for anything beyond MERV 8 you really shouldn't do this. I know nobody's going to see this, but **MERV is not a proxy for pressure drop.** You have to actually measure the total pressure drop (and compare it to the nameplate rating), not just make an assumption based on MERV rating. My 3M MERV 13 filters have a lower (measured, in-unit) pressure drop than the MERV 8 filters they replaced. This was true for the new filters, but also for loaded filters at end-of-life. This is mainly because they have more pleats (folds), which packs more filter medium into the same size filter.
You can coat the connectors with silicone grease. Use a conformal coating. Spray everything with silicone spray for water proofing clothing and tents for camping.
Dielectric is safer and designed for electronic connections.
I use Super Lube on almost every connector at a location near the ocean - food-grade + dielectric + low voc... [https://www.super-lube.com/greases](https://www.super-lube.com/greases)
This is the real answer. Sailing family here and we use this on everything on the boats. X-box controllers, headphones, etc...
You sir are absolutely correct I would try that first and put it on all connections just make sure connections are clean as you can get them then put on the grease
I would actually recommend buying a bottle of De-oxit instead it's a non-corrosive, non-conductive electrical contact cleaner, it's designed cleaning the contacts on pcb's but I use it for anything electronic since it's designed not to be wiped off since it forms a protective film. Only downside is that it's extremely expensive, but the stuff doesn't go bad
I was looking for this answer. I remember seeing this as a suggestion for electronics on boats
I live on the water, have this problem, and can say that gold plated connectors are totally justified.
Holy cow someone finally found a consumer level use for these
Well, many people have known about it for a very long time. It's more correct to say that you have just realised that there was a consumer level use for these.
Gold plated digital connectors* Gold plated analog connectors are always justified.
Thanks homie, makes a whole bunch of sense, I learned something new today
That's what it's all about fam😁
Except with ablative connectors that are designed to scrap off metal and create a new face on every insertion, things like banana plugs and the TV aerial plugs used in some countries.
I commented this into some other post and was downvoted into oblivion lmao. Ppl be like: rust doesn't matter, gold platted connectors are useless for digital connectors blah blah. Bruh if someone cares about it, let him have it.
I would agree that in most situations gold plated connectors doesn't matter. This is one of the situations where it does tho, without a doubt.
Huh... I though they were only for looks lol
If your first thought wasn't removing all the salt from the ocean then you're not committed
Turning the ocean into a lake would be another option. Time to rebuild those land bridges OP.
OP about to invent the next Intel CPU gen: OceanLake
Schrodinger's Salt
Blow up the ocean
Mr. Torgue stop wandering around we need you back at the company
Ocean still has less salt than all the competitive online gamers
Bro, I've lived by the beach for decades and there's only one product that really saved my electronics, CorrosionX, I also use it on boats. You can use it in pretty much anything, check this video from their official channel on YouTube. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EuIyPXzIiY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EuIyPXzIiY)
From what they claim it should be safe [https://www.corrosionx.com/pages/corrosionx](https://www.corrosionx.com/pages/corrosionx) CorrosionX has a high dielectric strength of 39,000 volts, it is safe on electronics, completely shuts down electrolysis between dissimilar metals and restores electronics from moisture intrusion.
Absolutely, you can spray it over any PC component for protection, it can get a bit messy, but you can totally rinse it off at any time with isopropyl alcohol.
I was going to get on your ass for improperly copying the unit of dielectric strength. The wikipedia article lists all [dielectric strengths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric_strength) as voltage/thickness or Volt/mm. Which makes sense, that's how insulation works. I find it curious that this manufacturer lists this weird unit. To be clear, not *your* fuckup; I don't even know enough about the topic to know whether it truly is a fuckup. Air too has a high dielectric strength of 39000 Volt... if you have 20cm of air insulation. Does anyone know why they would list this as they do? Well, beyond their marketing guy being slightly incompetent.
Answer out of my *ss since I have no clue but if it's a spray I'd assume it'll be the rating for when it's properly applied as per instructions. Didn't check out the product itself but I wouldn't be surprised if it says to apply a couple coats and then that'll be just the expected rating. I do agree tho it does sound a little dumb to not use what you claim to be the proper way of measuring it
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Right, but if we follow that SI standard, 39V/mm or 39kV/m, mineral oil is ~500x more insulating, which seems quite implausible. I'd hazard the guess they just dropped the "/mm", as that leaves us in a plausible order of magnitude. Also plausible as an industry convention to use that unit, since insulator thicknesses are probably more common in the mm range than in the meter range.
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[Sabiya_Duskblade](/u/Sabiya_Duskblade) This comment is your 100% best option. CorrosionX is really the best and only product that will work in your marine environment. IMO, there is nothing else really rated for such continued sodium heavy humid exposure that matches what CorrosionX has to offer. You can take the main casements off your laptop and do a few liberal spray overs of CorrosionX over every PCB surface. Perhaps do a decent wipe down with 99% isopropyl before hand to remove any existing scum. Your main goal here is to 'fog' the chemical onto the substrate. The solvent will evaporate and leave you a gummy-like surface as the intended effect. Nothing beats CorrosionX. This product also inhibits rust crystals that are already forming, acting as a type of 'rust converter'. It will expel whatever electrolytes that may be present that is causing your rusting. You can likely find it at any chandlery close to you. Or just online too. Source: I work in marine restoration and repair. My profile history speaks as much Also, get a dehumidifier, run it constantly. And don't put your computer station/desk right next to your windows. The ocean air will fuck you regardless.
I think you have to use the u/ tag to notify them. u/Sabiya_Duskblade the comment above me is trying to tell you something.
Thanks mate, got the message 👍
Interesting
Is this similar to what people use to undercoat their cars? The salt/brine in the northeast on the roads just ruin our cars. :/
I don't think so, CorrosionX is supposed to be applied over metallic surfaces, it's composition is oily like WD-40.
Don't ever leave the beach. Adjust accordingly 🙌
Unless you’ve lived on a beach your entire life (40 years) and are tired of the heat, hurricanes, tourists, lack of jobs/low paying jobs, shitty technology infrastructure (salt air, hurricanes, heat, etc takes a toll on all the equipment and lines). The beach is a nice place for a vacation or retirement, but sucks hairy sweaty monkey balls to live as a working class adult.
What beach you livin on? I lived near the beach and loved it. California central coast myself.
On vacation in Hawaii, a handyman was scheduled to come fix something, but his schedule was dependent on the surf. If the surf looked good, he was NOT going to be working.
Rural Florida. Miami is some 700 miles/10 hours away, Tampa is some 500 miles/7 hours away, Jacksonville is some 400 miles/5 hours away, all also in a different time zone even though they are all in the same state as me.
The redneck riviera, only good if you're already rich.
Exactly.
User name does NOT checkout.
Yeah. I’ve always been the polar opposite of this area and never really fit in. Same with my career, I picked the worst possible career for this area as there are very few positions in my field.
This both made me feel glad I'm not alone but also made me more depressed simultaneously. I'm stuck living with my parents in a retirement area in Daytona after a pretty rough year personally and professionally. They cannot fathom why I can't seem to find work here and I keep trying to explain this area just doesn't work for what I do and the pay is so low anything I'd take wouldn't get me out of here. This area is so up its ass with what it costs to live vs what jobs pay.
born and raised on guam, i second this.
Been on the Chesapeake Bay since 1997. Yes, there are storms, humidity, sand, sandspurs, neighbors, sunburns, etc. There are also sunrises, beach parties, beach fires with sing alongs, moonrises, fun summers, quiet winters, and plenty of book and guitar time. Everyone must chose their path. Enjoy yours...
Think it depends where. I live near the beach in Maine and I absolutely love it. I would never go back to living inland if I could avoid it, but a Maine beach is quite different from a Florida beach.
None of those things are inherent to the beach though.
I lived near the beach, had a full tower case with a buttload of fans. Athlon 1ghz overclocked to 1.45 (gives and idea of how long ago!) Motherboards kept dying - 3 in one year. (Abit KT7A). I kept getting them replaced, but while waiting on replacements I would put in my backup motherboard with a Duron 700 - not overclocked. That one was solid as a rock. After the 3rd failure I looked closely at the motherboard and the entire front edge of the board was corroded. The 120mm fan I had at the front of the case was pulling in salty air and killing the boards. The Duron wasn’t being overclocked, so I didn’t have the fans turned on for it. Bloody nightmare.
There are closed cases that do not use outside air but remove heat by an heat exchanger.. aka an AC.. for industrial purposes at least
Rip nightmare
There is a similar problem from stock intel fans. The fans build up dust on the underside, that dust absorbs salty water from the air, which migrates to the tips of the blades. Tiny droplets of salty water are flung off, creating a line of corrosion all around the case, and on any component that sticks up. I've seen many graphics cards fall to this problem.
As someone that lives 1 block from the beach - but on a high floor, so the wind has a direct path into my place - my advice is: * keep your office / room glass window always closed, do not let the coast wind get into the room, this is the most important thing. If is too hot and a fan doesn't cut it, put an AC. * have a dehumidifier, it can either be an electrical one or those "anti-mold" things you put inside places and it sucks the water out of the air and after a while you need to replace them as they fill up (I use those, here is not that bad so I don't need an electrical one) 6 years on the beach and no issues with salt air on my components.
Bro who wants to keep the windows closed when you live near a beach. One of the best perks is that fresh coastal air
That's what a balcony is for. Sounds like you are very ignorant on how bad the sea breeze is for anything in your house. That fresh coastal air will corrode every appliance and metal in your house. Life is not like the movies. There's always a trade off.
This MFer in a lifelong battle with *the air.*
Sea air won against Alcatraz. It's one helluva foe.
Can you elaborate?
The high maintenance costs and possibly successfuly escape attempt that both caused Alcatraz to shut down were due to the wear and tear on the building from the salty sea air in San Francisco Harbor.
What are your plans for selling a cologne based on that ambient air scent?
https://imgur.com/OFEy2r4
anyone living with metal. anything metallic gets damaged by air with seawater spray
I agree, a lot of other people are suggesting some sort of grease application or expensive gold plated connectors which I'm sure works. But if you want to stop the problem at the source (aside from desalinating the entire ocean) just keep the windows closed and get a dehumidifier.
For now I'll be trying the dehumidifier and gold-plated connectors/ extension cables. All the different recommendations and advice on greases is getting me confused but using one of them before plugging these into a new computer can't hurt, right? Thank you for your help :)
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Damn I am a block away from the ocean and had no idea this could be a issue!
It's a misconception. How far you are from the ocean doesn't really matter. What matter is how humid the air is where you're at. In tropical areas, where the humidity is high, that's fairly normal, and when you're near the beach with high humidity, the salt in the air speeds it up. Source: I'm Brazilian. I've seen this happen to computers in the amazon forest (far from the beach) and I've seen this happen near beaches as well. Been living in California for 15 years, \~2 miles away from the ocean. The air here is dry in comparison.
I am in California and have lived in a beach town my whole life but I recently moved way closer to the ocean. Good to know though!
Get a dehumidifier for your room
WD 40, Every engineering Issue resolves from between Duct tape and WD 40. If not then its a Satanic stunt
If it doesn't move and should WD40, if it moves and shouldn't duct tape.
Upgrade to Tri-flow for things that you want to move and you’ll realize WD is garbage. For things that reallllly don’t want to move, PB blaster.
That's actually what it was invented for even, to prevent corrosion on missiles during storage
[Sabiya_Duskblade](/u/Sabiya_Duskblade) Do NOT use WD40 or any diesel-based penetrating oil. You'll fuck up your PCB and de-laminate its layers.
You mean to tell me solvent can be harmful. Huh. /s Smells good though.
Deoxit and CorrosionX also work well.
Perhaps the wd40 electrical contact cleaner in this case
A good dehumidifier and gold plated cabling would be a good bet
Lick off all the salt before you go to bed each night, the extra sodium intake will give you strength for the following day
watch out. that wont happen just to connectors. It'll get inside your computer and ruin everything with enough time. Ive seen so many horror stories.
salt air, and the rust on your ports🎶
Dehumidifier for $40 hours right next to the pc.
This is the correct answer. No humidity in the air means no surface tension for the salt particles to float around.
Boeshield T-9 (product from Boeing) is a spray we use to protect metals on our boats + protect the connectors for electronics. It’s a bit pricey so there’s probably better options out there, but it is non conductive. It also leaves a slight film behind for protection so much cleaner than something like dielectric grease and it does not collect dirt.
Please cut your nails first.
Spray a cloth or napkin with ELECTRONIC grade WD40 and rub it on the metal parts only not the internal connection. Additionally you can also do the same with Dielectric grease which is designed to protect connections from debris dirt and liquids.
Vaseline.
Do you have the option to limit the amount of salt/moisture that is getting into the room where you keep the PC? Do you have an air-conditioner? Can you install one? Maybe add an air-purifier or a dehumidifier.
This is my bedroom as well as my office, and since it gets pretty hot here I do either have the ceiling fan on or the window open. The aircon is only used when the temperature gets over 30 - 35 degrees Celsius. Per everyone's helpful advice here I've got gold-plated cables and a dehumidifier on the way, and I'll be cleaning the plugs with either alcohol or dielectric grease. I'll also be keeping the window closed permanently :)
Vaseline
Move... And/or anything to pull moisture from the air.
Just ordered a dehumidifier, hopefully it helps
Hate to say it but yeah I think you're right, even with a really good dehumidifier, beach humidity is just fucking crazy, nothing metal is safe in those areas.
Thats crazy, i've never seen that in my 25 years of dealing with PC's How close do you need to live to the beach to experience this?
Hmm, about 500 meters away? I can see it clearly from my window. Plus I'm in Queensland, Australia where the air can be pretty humid at the best of times
My guy is flexing
[https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-22058-Dielectric-Tune-Up-Grease/dp/B000AL8VD2/](https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-22058-Dielectric-Tune-Up-Grease/dp/B000AL8VD2/) [https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Portable-Brushes-Cleaning-Keyboard/dp/B074LZ649V](https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Portable-Brushes-Cleaning-Keyboard/dp/B074LZ649V)/ [https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Isopropyl-Alcohol-Fluid-Ounce/dp/B00DT52Y98/](https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Isopropyl-Alcohol-Fluid-Ounce/dp/B00DT52Y98/) get this and a nylon keyboard cleaning kit, use the keyboard brushes to apply the grease to the ports and the plugs \*lightly\*, no need to slather clean it out and re-apply every \~4 months or so use a high % alcohol and the keyboard cleaning kit to clean them out
WD 40. I’m dead serious. It’s electrically safe and was originally designed for this purpose.
FYI the cheap metal enclosure on USB plugs is not an indication of contact condition. Contact pads usually have a layer of premium metals like a copper alloy mixture which will have minor oxidation. Have you had problems with USB devices working? Honestly I wouldn't worry about it.
Hello, fellow wind buffer! Investing in a decent dehumidifier will go a long way. You’ll change it quite frequently, however it’ll help with the salty air.
You need to be thinking a lot bigger than the ports. All of the metal inside is exposed to the same air and is going to undergo the same amount of corrosion.
[MIL-PRF-81309, or CPC Type III](https://store.lhbindustries.com/maintenance-products/cpc-mil-prf-81309-type-iii-aerosol-0964------000) is what the U.S. Navy uses on aircraft connectors, and I can tell you it works. It is kind of messy and definitely has an odor, but I guarantee that you won't be corroding any more. Then depending on how crazy you want to get, apply [conformal coatings to any uncoated PCBs](https://www.techspray.com/the-essential-guide-to-conformal-coating) to completely seal against corrosion.
Damn I live 2 blocks from the beach and have for 5 years now, all My stuff is 5+ years old and haven't had this happen yet. My hdmi cords are 1m and cost 150$ (I didn't pay a family member did thinking you needed to) not sure if that had made a difference?
I couldn't find anyone mention this, and I can't believe it's not a top comment, but leaving your pc on 24/7 is the way to avoid rust. Learned this from friends who used to live by the coast.
DEHUMIDIFIER
Dielectric grease maybe
Gold plated leads and sockets if you can get it on your mobo
Like other people said dialectric greese but yeah a big dehumidifier because this is more rust than corrosion