Need Help In Making Garden-bot Work Outside In The Weather.

jdebay

USA

Asked Jul 2013 — Edited Sep 2013

This is garden-bot my latest robot project.

I need help in making garden-bot work outside in the weather. For now just hot summer days.

Any suggestions welcomed.

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CardboardHacker

Canada

#1 Jul 2013

if things don't get very hot you could saran wrap your bot loosely for a quick fix.

Mainly if your electronics aren't going to be almost level with something that could short them out I would build a plastic cover that could mount on it and cover the main electronics. it could be made out of acrylic. Then some sort of cover to protect the ping sensor.

If there are servos that could get wet one cool thing one guy did was he took plasta-dip(liquid plastic in a can) and dipped his servo in it to waterproof it.

Hope this helps.

Wyley

Canada

#2 Jul 2013

You could buy one of those cordless electric mowers and some how build it into your creation depending on your yardage. Those mowers are pretty small.

Rich

United Kingdom

#3 Jul 2013

Here's an idea, although not perfect but it's not often wrong...

Sign up and use a Weather Underground account.
Use the API to scrape the current weather information for your state/town/zip code.
Have a script which will move the robot under cover should rain be the current or near future forecast.

You can use the $weather = HTTPGet(http://api.wunderground.com/api/**API DETAILS**) command to grab the current condition from Weather Underground and store as a variable. You can then use IFs to check the condition and act accodingly.

API documentation and information is at http://www.wunderground.com/weather/api/

I use the API for Jarvis so when I say I am going out he responds dynamically (not through ARC yet but that is coming soon).

With that you could add an umbrella and moisture sensors, so if it's forecast to rain the sensors are activated, on detection an umbrella pops up

I guess you wouldn't need the weather forecast for that if you didn't want it, but it's fun to use

jdebay

USA

#4 Jul 2013

thanks everyone for the ideas.
Rich maybe a dog house, but I call it garden-bot house.
Middle of the night idea, ziploc containers... which I will start with, for now. lol
the never ending robot build...

Again thanks, John

Rich

United Kingdom

#5 Jul 2013

"Never ending robot build" - I know the feeling there! Evolving constantly.

Fibreglass shell for the robot. They are pretty simple to make (loads of info on goggle) and can be whatever shape, size etc you like. Best of all, it'll make it water resistant. You know the RC car body type deals - in fact, an RC car body type deal may do the job too.

Whatever you decide to do just make sure there is enough ventilation for cooling of the regulators on the EZ-B (if they get hot - mine don't get hot at all).

jdebay

USA

#6 Jul 2013

Again up in the early a.m. 5:30...
took garden-bot apart.
back to chassis and new build for environment.
using Bertucci's Restaurant take out containers, to keep electronics happy.

RobertL184

USA

#7 Jul 2013

If you are using the ziplock containers, I would put some Silica Gel Desiccant Pouches in them. For military hardware we used to "conformal" coat the electronic circuit boards in plastic to protect against corrosion do to high humdity. The Silica Gel Desiccant would reduce humidity in the boxes and eliminate condensation. In the long term corrosion issues are likely to be a problem for outdoor robots. Sealing electronics in a box works for general weather (rain, etc) is a good idea but temperature changes case condensation and condensation on electronic circuit boards cases all kinds of chemical migration.

jdebay

USA

#8 Jul 2013

thanks RobertL184 for letting me know about condensation problem.

I will be working on vents for a little air flow too.

J

jstarne1

PRO

USA

#9 Jul 2013

@Robert your on the right track. I will probably do this myself but water proofing a board is not a bad idea
There's lots of products out there that are super hydrophobic meaning water just beads up and slides right off the board and gives a micro thin barrier against corrosion. Though your first line of defense is protection against direct water contact , humidity is hard to avoid. You can also waterproof your servos and camera as well.

jdebay

USA

#10 Jul 2013

I just read this interesting post and want to share it on weather proofing electronics.

http://www.robotroom.com/Weatherproof-Project-Box.html

jdebay

USA

#11 Jul 2013

I am building see above, as I am building, the next music to play is "cable check" from movie sound track "The Italian Job", lol

All connections working in rebuild so far.

j