Robot lifespan
I’ve never noticed a Leica gun fog in the field. And like, @dmyhill I have worked through some wet days here in the Pacific Northwet. As others have mentioned, our normal rain does not come in big downpours. From the end of October until March it is a pretty constant drizzle so the water has time to work its way into everything. All instruments come in to the office/hotel every night and the box is opened. Back when I had employees it was a firing offence to leave a gun in the case wet.
Definitely I have mine drying out end of day. With the Leica I completely wipe it down between setups in the truck with defrost on full blast for a bit.
One guy on Reddit says he’s seen 10 TPS1200 robots fail due to water damage. Whether that is true, I don’t know.
A new instrument that cannot handle a downpour is a waste of money at any price.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.They certainly need to be completely dried out at the end of the day. So a warm dry place is a good idea.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.Again, how old are they? If they are 10 years old, the seals are getting hard, the sealant is getting at the end of its life cycle. You have to have people that know what they are doing go through these instruments and refurbish the seals and sealants.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.That makes sense to me, but from my bosses point of view, he doesn’t like to spend a lot of money when he thinks he’ll be upgrading it before long anyway. As much as I think it makes sense to send it away and get the maintenance done, the most they ever gets done is calibration and it’s currently dead on.
Right now we have my 11 year old Leica robot, a 10 year old Sokkia SRX robot, a 20-25? Leica tcr803? And a couple newer Leica ts07 conventional guns. Plus a newish Nikon that nobody likes at the other office.
The GPS are now mostly Trimble r10 but I have a 10 year old Sokkia grx2 base and rover for the rare times I need a GPS. I wouldn’t worry about it in the rain. No moving parts.
If it’s been wet and I’m bringing my stuff home (due to Covid) I like to bring the robot into my office in the basement. Much warmer and drier than the garage.
Nobody can say I didn’t make the effort to keep it from getting fried.
Like others have said, the more you can baby a device the longer it will last. I don??t like working in the rain but I will push through a light rain or drizzle if I am already setup and working. If the rain becomes moderate to heavy I??m done. The instrument gets wiped down in the truck then dries out either in the opened case in the office or setup in a safe location on a desk depending on how much rain it received.
If your instrument is getting fog on the inside just from a day of rain there are problems with the seals. It shouldn’t be that way. I would expect such fogging to negatively impact service life.
When we get our stuff wet we always bring it inside overnight to thoroughly dry. Heated & well ventilated room, out of the case, towel off the instrument. Leave it wet and moisture will eventually find a way in.
All this discussion of rain leaves out the main reason many SHOULD NOT work in the rain: Lightning.
If a storm rolls in in Oklahoma, from what I understand, lightning can follow. Here in Western WA, lightning is rare.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.We don’t get lightning often, but I’m kind of careless with it. I figure I won’t feel a thing and I’ll be gone. If I have a helper I’ll send him back to the truck though.
This is the current setup I pieced together to keep the Bluetooth adaptor from getting excessively wet, but it needs some improvement.
The hoodie was the best protection I could offer the one day while I froze my rear off looking for bars in the cold rain with no hoodie.
Since my 8″ antenna came in for the Parani it complicates the weather protection even more. I’m thinking of trying to figure a way to install it in the instrument, but it’s not mine to cut or drill holes in lol.
You should probably worry more about the static in the air frying the electronics or getting the thing blown over by a gust of wind. Then you will only wish you had been hit by a bolt of lightning.
@norman-oklahoma
I hadn’t thought of that actually. I think I’ll not take my chances with it anymore. The wind occasionally gets bad enough I can’t leave the instrument out for fear that something will fly into it. Or they send me a helper who can stand at the gun and guard it.
That instrument sure looks familiar. I think I have the same one but with a long range Bluetooth handle.
The handle didn’t seem to have any range beyond like 10-30m hence the Parani on it now. Nobody was using it until I resurrected it. It’s a TCRP1203+ from 2010.
@norman-oklahoma
Getting the instrument blown over is MUCH more likely than having it fail from rain, at least around here.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.
I remember a full on thunderstorm in portland back in 2008.
It really freaked people out.
I was enjoying it’s rareness. ????
Well I’ve never heard of that happening to anyone around here, but I have heard of rain damaged robots. Maybe we don’t have as severe wind here.
If it??s the Long Range Bluetooth Handle and not working beyond 30 meters then it??s not working at all.
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