Temperature Inside Dry Cabinet

[Ben Loke]

Do we know that besides setting the humidity level, does temperature inside the cabinet affects our lenses and cameras, if kept for prolong period?

The ambient temperature in our home is +25 to 27 deg C, the temperature inside the cabinet can be between +29 to +31 deg C due to the drier device located inside the cabinet which causes heat built-up as well as out tropical climate.

When the day temp is +32 deg C or higher, after coming home from work in the evening, the temp inside the cabinet can reach as high as +31 deg C.

Sometimes, have to switch-on the room aircon, leaving the cabinet door open to bring down the inside temp of the cabinet.

 

[daredevil123]

31 deg C is nothing la. You have to start worrying when temperature hits 40 deg C for long sustained periods of time.

BTW, RH can be affected by temperature. Note that it is just the RH % reading. Amount of water vapor in the air remains equal.

You can read more here.
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/186/

 

[Ben Loke]

31 deg C is nothing la. You have to start worrying when temperature hits 40 deg C for long sustained periods of time.

BTW, RH can be affected by temperature. Note that it is just the RH % reading. Amount of water vapor in the air remains equal.

You can read more here.
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/186/

Thanks for sharing.
The article is too scientific for layman like me to understand the equations & formulas
The dry cabinet has both digital RH meter and thermometer. RH meter reads 45% and the thermometer reads +30 deg C.
If prolong exposure to +40 deg C will only affect the gear inside, then I can rest my worries.

 

[hotwork77]

Do we know that besides setting the humidity level, does temperature inside the cabinet affects our lenses and cameras, if kept for prolong period?

The ambient temperature in our home is +25 to 27 deg C, the temperature inside the cabinet can be between +29 to +31 deg C due to the drier device located inside the cabinet which causes heat built-up as well as out tropical climate.

When the day temp is +32 deg C or higher, after coming home from work in the evening, the temp inside the cabinet can reach as high as +31 deg C.

Sometimes, have to switch-on the room aircon, leaving the cabinet door open to bring down the inside temp of the cabinet.

31 deg C is nothing la. You have to start worrying when temperature hits 40 deg C for long sustained periods of time.

BTW, RH can be affected by temperature. Note that it is just the RH % reading. Amount of water vapor in the air remains equal.

You can read more here.
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/186/

Never open your dry cabinet for fun just to equalise the temp. You will introduce dust and increase moisture saturation and your dry cabinet will work very hard again. The system works in a cycle, lowering temperature for the vapour to condense and drain off and then increase again to evaporate moisture within your gears. When moisture escape from your gears into the surrounding air, the system will cool down again to condense the vapour and this cycle goes on and on. Opening the door to cool the dry cabinet only serves to disrupt the cycle.

 

[snapsnapwong]

a rough guide for the cabinet placement?.....eg. 1m away from window, avoid direct sunlight etc...

what number to set to?

much appreciated
thanks

 

[Alan Chan]

a rough guide for the cabinet placement?.....eg. 1m away from window, avoid direct sunlight etc...

what number to set to?

much appreciated
thanks

i think away from direct sunlight and any heat source would be enough.

 

[Octarine]

The ambient temperature in our home is +25 to 27 deg C, the temperature inside the cabinet can be between +29 to +31 deg C due to the drier device located inside the cabinet which causes heat built-up as well as out tropical climate.
When the day temp is +32 deg C or higher, after coming home from work in the evening, the temp inside the cabinet can reach as high as +31 deg C.

Doesn't this sound contradicting? According your assumption the temperature inside the cabinet should be higher than ambient, right? But your observation is different, proving the theory wrong already
Reason: you assumption about the drier element introducing heat is simply wrong. The Peltier element working based on Thermoelectric effect is cold so that moisture can condensate and be removed from the inside. As a side effect, the inside temperature is also slightly lower. In my case it's always 1-2 deg C. It's even noticeable when opening the cabinet.
Apart from that: your camera is not made of sugar cotton and the manual states the temperature range within which the camera can be operated. Secondly: the temperature reading is rather an additional information, required when using Relative Humidity. RH needs the temperature as reference point, otherwise it's a meaningless number.

 

[Octarine]

Never open your dry cabinet for fun just to equalise the temp. You will introduce dust and increase moisture saturation and your dry cabinet will work very hard again. The system works in a cycle, lowering temperature for the vapour to condense and drain off and then increase again to evaporate moisture within your gears. When moisture escape from your gears into the surrounding air, the system will cool down again to condense the vapour and this cycle goes on and on. Opening the door to cool the dry cabinet only serves to disrupt the cycle.

To increase the temperature it would require some kind of heating, right? Never seen any dry cabinet for cameras that comes with heating. You may refer to professional equipment where temperature and humidity need to be kept at constant levels. But the ordinary dry cabinets (Digi, Akarui) just simply dry the air, that's all. The temperature is not managed at all. Let's not forget: dry cabinets are for storing equipment. Storage conditions can be more relaxed than working conditions.

 

[hotwork77]

To increase the temperature it would require some kind of heating, right? Never seen any dry cabinet for cameras that comes with heating. You may refer to professional equipment where temperature and humidity need to be kept at constant levels. But the ordinary dry cabinets (Digi, Akarui) just simply dry the air, that's all. The temperature is not managed at all. Let's not forget: dry cabinets are for storing equipment. Storage conditions can be more relaxed than working conditions.

Bro...you have correctly stated that it's a Peltier element. Peltier works on the principal of one side cold and the other side hot. The cold side is in the cabinet to condense moisture. This moisture condensate will be absorb via a absorbent gauze and using the capillary action to transfer this moisture to the outside of the cabinet where the hot side of Peltier will evaporate the moisture in the same absorbent gauze that is exposed outside.

You never see any dry cabinet that comes with heating cos the hot portion is outside. You will notice the cooling fins outside. Why have cooling fins? To cool the hot side of the Peltier after it has evaporated the moisture. The ambient temperature inside the dry cabinet is slightly cooler than outside so that moisture can condense.

I hope I have explained the working principal of dry cabinet without being too long winded. Storage of equipment in constant temperature and moisture is in a different class which I will not dwell here.

 

[jojo]

Can I place at aircon room?

 

[hori]

Bro...you have correctly stated that it's a Peltier element. Peltier works on the principal of one side cold and the other side hot. The cold side is in the cabinet to condense moisture. This moisture condensate will be absorb via a absorbent gauze and using the capillary action to transfer this moisture to the outside of the cabinet where the hot side of Peltier will evaporate the moisture in the same absorbent gauze that is exposed outside.

You never see any dry cabinet that comes with heating cos the hot portion is outside. You will notice the cooling fins outside. Why have cooling fins? To cool the hot side of the Peltier after it has evaporated the moisture. The ambient temperature inside the dry cabinet is slightly cooler than outside so that moisture can condense.

I hope I have explained the working principal of dry cabinet without being too long winded. Storage of equipment in constant temperature and moisture is in a different class which I will not dwell here.

Thanks for the info. Your previous simplified explanation is good enough for me as long as it's accurate. I'm a layman in all this jargon. So the simple explanation is good which I think is your intent so as not to get too technical.

 

[tecnica]

though the cab temp is same as my room temp, when i put my hand into the cab, it actually feels much cooler then my surrounding.. maybe its due to the lower humidity level...

 

[Octarine]

though the cab temp is same as my room temp, when i put my hand into the cab, it actually feels much cooler then my surrounding.. maybe its due to the lower humidity level...

It comes from the Peltier element as described above.