How to store equip under dry weather?

[plinius]

Hi,

The place where I'm now has RH of only about 20-40%. And I keep all my stuffs in a dry box with dessicants/silica gels. I remember reading that low RH is bad for equipment too, as it will dry up the things inside ,esp rubbery stuffs.

Should I just keep them inside the dry box without any silica gels?

Thanks.

Cheers....

 

[theITguy]

Typically, we will try to keep them at 45-55% humidity for equipment.

 

[plinius]

ermm...thanks for the reply, but seems that it din quite answer my qns....unless i have a dry cabinet to keep it at 45-55%..........

hmmm...how to increase 20-40 to 45-55?

thanks.......

Typically, we will try to keep them at 45-55% humidity for equipment.

 

[theITguy]

How about putting a really small piece of cloth (credit card size) and wet it a bit with water in the dry box? That should increase the humidity a bit, make sure you have a digital/analog humidity reader to monitor the %.

 

[szekiat]

typically, u can do what most goldsmiths shops do and put a small dish of water (really tiny dish will do). Just be careful not to knock it over. It will help to moderate the humidity of your box to about 60% or more and the dry box mechanism can then lower it to an acceptable 45%

 

[LittleWolf]

The place where I'm now has RH of only about 20-40%. And I keep all my stuffs in a dry box with dessicants/silica gels. I remember reading that low RH is bad for equipment too, as it will dry up the things inside ,esp rubbery stuffs.

In moderate climate zones, most people keep their cameras and lenses under ambient conditions and they last for decades without any problem. Cameras and lenses are shipped and sold by the manufacturer on silica gel to/in such countries.

The main risk of low humidity is that you might zap electronics. Corrosion of metallic parts is virtually nonexistent in the absence of water (mothballed airplanes are stored in the desert for that reason). Rubber/plastics degrading sounds like a myth to me - the real problem for plastics is heat and light/UV exposure. And unless lubricants are supposed to contain water (how likely is that?), they don't care about low RH.

What might suffer from extremely dry storage is film and prints, as the emulsions are gelatin based. Even then, it is probably safer to err on the dry side.

 

[plinius]

Thanks for the enligthening reply!

agree that I always kenna statics all the time here. I literally see sparks when I touch my car on really dry days

Cheers....

In moderate climate zones, most people keep their cameras and lenses under ambient conditions and they last for decades without any problem. Cameras and lenses are shipped and sold by the manufacturer on silica gel to/in such countries.

The main risk of low humidity is that you might zap electronics. Corrosion of metallic parts is virtually nonexistent in the absence of water (mothballed airplanes are stored in the desert for that reason). Rubber/plastics degrading sounds like a myth to me - the real problem for plastics is heat and light/UV exposure. And unless lubricants are supposed to contain water (how likely is that?), they don't care about low RH.

What might suffer from extremely dry storage is film and prints, as the emulsions are gelatin based. Even then, it is probably safer to err on the dry side.

 

[Winston]

If the ultra low humdity is a problem for u. (not only to equipments, it also cause dry or chapped lips and dry skins)

A HUMDIFIER shld be able to increase the humdity in a controlled manner.

Or u could do the "old fashion" way.
Get a saucer or dish with a large surface area, fill it with water and let the water evaporate in the room.
Re-fill when needed.
It shld increase the humdity in the room, but unlike a Humdifer it is difficult to control the amt of increase by u do a trial and error using diff sized saucer..