Batboard

All,

I have an interesting issue. I Have a contractor that located a an XPR8400 repeater at a beach location about 1 year ago. It is mounted inside a DDB outdoor rack enclosure with two interior fans and a filter on the front door. Customer lost connection (un related IT issue) however the fans must be pulling in sand and salty air into the cabinet, which has rusted any chinesium chrome and a corroded somewhat the Ethernet connection on the patch cable plugged into the XPR.

My question, is it a no no to use a squeeze of die electric grease on the rj45. I shut off the two large cabinet fans, hopefully that will cut down the sand in the cabinet. I am going to vac out, wipe with windex and try to add another layer of filter to the door.

Grr. Rob

You need to install a heat-exchange HVAC unit like the ones used on COWs. We bought one to use in the Nevada desert in conditions from freezing (or below) to 110F+ with driving winds up to 100+ mph. The only maintenance was cleaning the external filters. The cabinet was airtight.

Been using Dielectric grease on RJ11/45 connections in high humidity locations with no problems.

Turn the fan so it blows instead of sucks and put a automotive flat panel air filter on the inlet vent. That is how I have the cabinets for my solar power station and remote radios set up.

I've used dielectric in similar situations. That's how you keep POE cameras working at a cement plant.

com501 wrote:...install a heat-exchange HVAC ... The cabinet was airtight.

+1 Only solution for coastal installs.

Yeah but most people won't spend $10K for the correct solution. It would be cheaper to throw away the XPR every couple of years and buy a new one. I like installs I never have to worry about.

Sheesh, in Arizona even traffic light controllers get A/C.

You never mentioned for what application this very poorly installed radio was being used for. i use the term was as it won't last long under these conditions. You might solve the IP or telephone connection problems with some grease, but that won't do a thing for the radio connections and the heat baking it to death.

Tell me the cabinet isn't a dark color on top of all the other issues you mentioned.

How high off the ground is this death trap for the radio mounted?

How many times a year do you have to go and shovel the sand out of the cabinet? Surprised the sand hasn't rusted a hole in the bottom of the cabinet yet.

If A/C is not an option then passive measures like sun shields might work. These are usually stainless steel sheets spaced an inch and a half away from the outside surfaces of the cabinet. These reflect the sun and promote convection drafts. Here's an example:

https://www.delvallebox.com/en/outdoor- ... esert-ip66

So its a 12RU (or so) DDB cabinet with a sun shield on top, light cream color aluminum construction mounted about 6' off the ground. The sand was coming in through the door filter because of the fans. Maybe collectively if you could collect all the sand particles it would equal a teaspoons worth. The question is going to be temperature control. Its one XPR8400 and a mobile duplexer, not the most extravagant install or equipment, but it does its job. I would have to guess that an enviro cabinet wasn't going to pass the budget when they did it.

We use the DDB half rack cabinets too. Like you said, not extravagant, but they get the job done. Salt air is your enemy on the ethernet connectors. Replace the jumper cables, but give their RJ's a quick dash of WD40. Then insert multiple times. The scrubbing will help clean the contacts.

Would weatherproof boots on the RJ45s help?

Salt air gets to everything. Cramolin is your friend, and in a pinch, WD40 brushed on keeps things running.