Can an LNB survive being submerged in flood?

[Katrinasucks]

Here's the $20 question of the day. We have a ton of -shall we say- "retired" dishes in New Orleans.

I started to snag a D* dish the other day, not for the dish, only for the LNBs. Then I noticed the scum line was above the LNB. So it sat underwater for a week or more. They are meant to be "weatherproof" but I'm not sure that's what the design engineers had in mind.

If they are sealed they *might* be ok. If they aren't sealed, it's not even worth thinking about.

There's plenty of other dishes out there, but it got me wondering. Anybody care to hazard a guess?

Thanks

Paul

BTW- In case you were wondering the dish was mounted on an eve mount about 10 feet off the ground. They had a bit of water.

 

[PSB]

If the LNBF was not powered on when it got wet it "might" be ok if completely dried out for a few days in a WARM dry location
Coming from the west of Scotland (WET) I have used this method quite a few times to bring LNB's 'Back to Life'

 

[Texanmutt]

I used an lnb that i droped on a pool one time. Give it a try.

 

[Tron]

A fellow New Orleanian!

Well, I'm from Metairie, but anyway... I am finding mixed success in reviving electronic equipment that was claimed by Katrina. The problem with many of the inner city neighborhoods is that they were underwater for nearly three weeks. Given that amount of time submerged, the electronics were almost surely compromised. Dish and DTV dishes are so common that I would probably not waste time on one if it went under. But my QPH Invacom... that's another story Fortunately, I took it down before the storm and it was in the house... well above the 18 inches of water that came inside.

 

[Katrinasucks]

18" huh?

So I take it you are not voting for Aaron Broussard huh? (local joke)

SO where are you at? I'm just off Clearview near the Krispy Kremes. With 18 inches, I'll guess you are about 2 miles north of me. ;-)

P

BTW I have Direct dish that I left up and I microwave antenna (internet) that I left up and both made it thru Katrina. (they made it thru Ivan too)

 

[Tron]

I'm just off West Esplanade near the parish line (Orleans/Jeff)...

Just got home from a trip around Metairie. I'd seen a large (probably 1.5m) VSAT dish in a dumpster, but its gone now. It had been cracked, but the roof mount was in good shape. Most likely its headed to a dump now

 

[Tron]

Eureka! (that means "I found it!")....

What did I find? Someone throwing out a perfectly good 36" steel dish with .6 LNB. The LNB does not appear to have been submerged. Looks like they are just remodeling the building and throwing everything on it out. This is considerably larger than the 30" Winegard (I'm seeing a 36" up close for the first time). It has a square LNB arm and a very well-built LNB holder made of black plastic. Like most offset dishes, its egg-shaped so its about 39" high. Can't wait to set it up with my Invacom QPH!

 

[Mr Tony]

sweet find Tron

 

[Tron]

Thanks Iceberg! It seems to be in perfect condition, too. It sits perfectly flat on my patio, so its not warped. Hope to get it working in a couple of days!

 

[Mr Tony]

even with a .6 LNB, its still better than a 30"

I assume you can change the LNB easily

 

[Tron]

Yep, the LNB holder opens easily and can be removed entirely if desired. I'll be mounting either the Invacom QPH or my Fortec FSKUv .4 (a nice, cheap little LNBF) on it... and keep the .6 as (another) spare

 

[havenx]

Are you all ready for this… Havenx’s opinion on submerged LNB.

Electronics can get wet and still work. It is clear that the LNB got water in it as there is no LNB in our markets that are air/water tight, at least I can’t fine one, nor a purpose for one in correlation with FTA equipment. There are two main factors to consider, is the water completely out of the unit and did the water that was in the unit cause any type of correction within the circuits? If there is still water in the unit you will, naturally, have some type of short, HOWEVER, the unit still may work with only a few bugs depending on the grounds that are still working within the unit and where the short is… electricity can share grounds… As for corrosion, sometimes corrosion of certain circuits can cause the circuit to fail as the circuit will corrode apart… In other cases there are enough electrons within the corrosive/corroded matter that electricity will actually flow across to the other circuit-this is bad, this is a short.

And I was bored.

 

[Tron]

I am finding random equipment that can be dried out and seems to work fine. Wall transformers (wall-warts) are a case in point. Most of them seem to work fine. However, according to several friends of mine, they often catch fire if the water is not out of them. Moral of the story: Test them on a LONG extension cord OUTSIDE

Again, I would not bother with a submerged D* or E* LNB, since they're so common and cheap. However, a more expensive or exotic LNB would be worth fiddling with.

On a trip around Metairie today I found another Channel Master 1.2 meter fiberglass dish. From a distance, it looked to be intact, but when I checked it out I noticed that the feed supports had broken away from the dish and cracked it. They'd thrown it out on the side of the road for the trash (it was from a business, probably used for VSAT). The only salvagable items from it were one feed support arm, the AZ/EL mount, and parts from the large non-pen roof mount. The base of the mount had rusted away long before Katrina, and if the storm hadn't done the dish in, the mount soon would have.

 

[sharris]

well happy finding to you. as someone really smart said to me once....another mans junk is another mans treasure. On the shorting and submerged stuff, I remember watching a junk yard wars on TLC and they used a battery for a submerged submarine. The battery wasn't sealed or anything and it worked. It was basically on the prinicple that there is not enough voltage to use the water as a conductor, therefore the battery worked as it would on land. In another sat forum, I recall someone asking if his flooded receivers would work, and the answers were YES. Just make sure the unit is dried thouroughly and plug it back in. I think someone stated that it was because the boards are made of silicon and the connections are usually aluminum coated with silver or something like that or basically not to easily corode. This guy had his basement flooded and all he did was crank out the hairdryer and dried his equip, and wammo, they all worked.

 

[Katrinasucks]

grrrr

Tron I can't belive you beat me to that 36 inch steel dish. I've been driving for weeks looking for that dish and you beat me to it. I did snag a 1.2 fiberglass dish from right in front the Superdome though. ;-) (We're talking on Dome property)

It's got a slight crack in it but not too bad. I figure I'm going to use it for the winter than sell/give it away. BTW have you noticed in your part of town all the basketball poles on the curb? I'm thinking about snagging one for a dish. Fill the bottom with sand and shim to get level.

Well if you find anything you don't want and pass on, lemme know, my standards are probably lower than yours. lol

 

[Tron]

Sorry, I've been offline for a few days...

Well, the 36" was in my neighborhood, and I would have missed it if we hadn't had to go do some shopping on Veterans

But, yeah, there are plenty of dishes going to waste out there. It's really sad. Many (most) of them are damaged beyond repair, but I REALLY could have used that 1.2 Channel Master I found last week that was cracked down the middle

I'll keep everyone updated as to what more comes up. Today I ran about 75' of RG-6 from the dish farm on the back shed up the side of the house to the FEMA trailer out in the front driveway

 

[anik]

If by any odd chance you see any old PrimeStar dishes, even if they are cracked or shattered, look at the LNB - if it's the type with the single coax feed (as opposed to separate H and V connectors) you might want to snag that puppy - those make great LNB's for Ku band. The H/V types are good too, but you can't change polarity on those without an external switch. Also if it has the LNB cover and that's not cracked, grab that - there's a lot of us that have old PrimeStar dishes with a missing LNB cover (which is probably not a big deal, since the LNB's still seem to work fine with three inches of snow sitting on them!).

It's a good thing I don't live anywhere near N.O., I'd be driving around looking for salvageable items. The PrimeStar dish I'm using right now was rescued from a dumpster (it's a real shame to think how many probably wound up in landfills).

 

[Katrinasucks]

thanks anik.

All good to know. If I do get an extra cover, I'll mail it to ya.

 

[Tron]

Haven't seen a Primestar in the trash yet (although I do know where there are a couple that were still standing after Katrina). A 6-pack would probably talk the owner out of them since most people think they are now useless

I am really in search of the round (egg-shaped) dishes as opposed to the elliptical ones, since they catch more signal. Still in search of a Channel Master 1.2.... and now watching G-10R in the FEMA trailer! RTN's a lifesaver...