Tom Adams, post: 358526, member: 7285 wrote: Reminiscent of when I first started using a GPS receiver. (4000SST).
I was reading the 4000SST manual a few weeks ago and was surprised to learn that the unit not only floats but can actually be operated while floating.
I know at least one of our collectors has a setting for rain for the touch screen. It kind of makes them hard to work though as it turned the sensitivity waaay down. A thin smear of lithium grease on the seams and seals makes the instruments very resistant to rain. Our limiting factor is the frailty of the humans, which in our case, isn't an issue
John Putnam, post: 358527, member: 1188 wrote: I'm writing this while sitting in the truck waiting for track time (3+ hour wait so far). It has been a nice soaking rain for most of the day and as normal our gun and GPS units are sitting out there tacking in the Oregon sunshine. I've only had one incident of an instrument getting wet inside and that was a bad factory seal. Just dry them out at night and don't forget to dry the case.
As for the rain drops on a data collector, I just turn the touch screen off.
How do you enter data with the screen off?
Norm Larson, post: 358533, member: 7899 wrote: I know at least one of our collectors has a setting for rain for the touch screen. It kind of makes them hard to work though as it turned the sensitivity waaay down. A thin smear of lithium grease on the seams and seals makes the instruments very resistant to rain. Our limiting factor is the frailty of the humans, which in our case, isn't an issue
Interesting - Thanks, we'll take a look for that!
Norm Larson, post: 358533, member: 7899 wrote: }...A thin smear of lithium grease on the seams and seals makes the instruments very resistant to rain.
Hey, yeah, back to Jim in AZ's chicken grease. You can have lunch and the bonus sealing agent 😉
The reason that I use lithium is the same reason why I use it on an engine, high melting point. It is messy and gets on everything though, just take your time and get it in the cracks and any flappy rubber thing that is exposed. By thin, I mean your can't see it when i am done
Norm Larson, post: 358538, member: 7899 wrote: The reason that I use lithium is the same reason why I use it on an engine, high melting point. It is messy and gets on everything though, just take your time and get it in the cracks and any flappy rubber thing that is exposed. By thin, I mean your can't see it when i am done
"The reason that I use lithium is the same reason why I use it on an engine, high melting point."
Your GPS equipment runs that hot? I've had some radios fry out in the desert in the summer here in AZ, but nothing as hot as an engine!!B-)
No, I just want it too stay where I put it. Never had to re-seal or use lithium on GPS, just the instruments. I even had a Trimble Compact L1/L2 that went through a fire in 1997 and I used it as an office base where it was always exposed. It never gave a hiccup
I prefer using Krytoxå¨ grease made by E.I. du Pont de Vours... not cheap but a little goes a long way and it is inert.
Hey, I am using trimble r8 for static collection and I find that that shower caps are a perfect cover. It has rubber bands to hold in down and cover the entire unit and it is transparent and thin so you can check on it if it still logging or battery is weak.
In terms of rain, I find that as long as there are no thunder or lightning for the rain, my data is still good.
The unit are waterproof...until they aren't. :-X:pissed:
Jim in AZ, post: 358534, member: 249 wrote: How do you enter data with the screen off?
The screen is still on. It's the touch that you turn off. You then enter stuff with the keyboard. But I've used touch screen dc's in the rain many, many times with no particular problem. Other than problems seeing it through raindrops.
People from Washington are genetically different, they breathe through their skin. I guess if it rains 400 days per year you have to work in the rain.
Personally I find working in the rain to be a major PIA. I've done it but avoid it if at all possible.
What do you guys put on your bipod or tripod legs when there's any wind at all? I've been using plastic coated canopy leg weights from Dick's Sporting Goods. They're much easier to deal with than sand bags or similar.
astrodanco, post: 358802, member: 7558 wrote: What do you guys put on your bipod or tripod legs when there's any wind at all? I've been using plastic coated canopy leg weights from Dick's Sporting Goods. They're much easier to deal with than sand bags or similar.
The tubes are filled with lead shot. I like your leg weights idea though.
Thanks for all the replies. I got the sessions in this afternoon before the rain moved in. Thankfully it helped off until tomorrow morning. I ran a quick static session with two control points and two new control points that my guys set, and they processed nicely.
Wow, it never occurred to me to NOT work in the rain with a GPS unit. Now a lightning storm is a different story. In 1986 on my very first GPS project we were on Long Island and it started flashing and thundering. At the time we were using large bulky units that we kept in the vehicle. They had fins on the side to dissipate heat, so they were not waterproof by any means. I wasn't too sure about having the antenna outside on a tripod with an antenna cable leading into the truck...and it turned out someone was struck and killed by lightning at a ball field nearby that day.
Another incident comes to mind...I was processing static data for a client. One of the stations looked really crappy, so I asked him if there were a lot of trees around. He said no, it was wide open, but he would ask the operator what happened. Turns out the guy held an umbrella over the unit during the survey because of the rain. Apparently they had impressed upon him how expensive the unit was.
Another time we were doing conventional survey work at a dam dewatering project when a sudden squall came up. We took cover inside a building. When the storm passed by we came out and the backsight was gone. We thought the repair party had moved it, but the wind had picked it up, and slammed it into the opposite lock wall 110 feet away, and it fell to the bottom of the lock chamber (rocky). The tripod (Tri-Max) was fine, so was the prism, just the tribrach was damaged (cracked).
So, i don't worry at all about rain, just wind and lightning. I dropped a TSC2 into the river from about 40 feet up, and it took about 45 minutes to get a boat, lock through, and retrieve it. It was still working, but water had gotten inside due to hairline cracks in the case. I got the data off of it, but it cost quite a bit to repair. Still using it though, 10 years old.
Jim Frame, post: 358532, member: 10 wrote: I was reading the 4000SST manual a few weeks ago and was surprised to learn that the unit not only floats but can actually be operated while floating.
I remember when the SSE units came out they had them at the bottom of a fish tank filled with water at one of the trade shows (weighted down).
Norman Oklahoma, post: 358787, member: 9981 wrote: The screen is still on. It's the touch that you turn off. You then enter stuff with the keyboard. But I've used touch screen dc's in the rain many, many times with no particular problem. Other than problems seeing it through raindrops.
Gotcha - we don't have the keyboard - too big and bulky...
Norman Oklahoma, post: 358787, member: 9981 wrote: The screen is still on. It's the touch that you turn off. You then enter stuff with the keyboard. But I've used touch screen dc's in the rain many, many times with no particular problem. Other than problems seeing it through raindrops.
Yep, and if the touch screen is activated I always seem to take a shot or something when I wipe the water off.
P.s. Jim, when does it rain in AZ?
