Occasionally a customer may experience a problem with condensing humidity causing dew or frost inside the instrument. Dew will form inside an instrument when it experiences a large decrease in temperature, such as moving from indoors to outdoors.
Presume that your instrument is in your office which has a temperature of 72 °F and a relative humidity of 40% and you take the instrument outdoors where the temperature is 40 °F. When the instrument "cools down" to 45 °F, dew will form inside the instrument and possibly cause the instrument to malfunction. In the same indoor temperature as above with an outdoor temperature of 20 °F, the dew will turn to frost when the instrument "cool down" temp is 32 °F.
You can avoid this problem by storing the instrument in a dry box. Reducing the humidity to 25% will drop the dew point below freezing. Conversely, when the instrument is moved from outdoors to indoors, the same problem may arise when the instrument "warms up" after both the instrument and outdoor temperature are below freezing. When the instrument warms to 32 °F, frost will form on the circuit board. If this happens, turn the instrument off, remove the cover, and place the instrument in an oven at 170 °F or in front of a fan to return to service. If you are experiencing any of these problems and need additional help, please contact us. The following table shows the dew point in various combinations.
| Temperature | Relative Humidity | Dew Point |
|---|---|---|
| 80 °F | 30% | 45 °F |
| 78 °F | 40% | 51 °F |
| 72 °F | 40% | 45 °F |
| 68 °F | 30% | 35 °F |
| 65 °F | 30% | 31 °F |
| 55 °F | 30% | 24 °F |