Hi Dan
I have heard of someone who had to dry out a couple of microphones and they=
put them in an oven at a very low temperature, which sounded very scary. B=
ut it did the job, your method would seem to have less 'fear' factor! :-)
I wish you luck and would be interested in the outcome as I have a couple o=
f AT3032's myself.
Other methods seem to include sticking the item into uncooked rice, a natur=
al desiccant.
http://lifehacker.com/269427/dry-out-your-soaked-gadgets-in-rice
Phil
From: Dan Dugan <>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, 4 January 2012, 6:42
Subject: [Nature Recordists] desiccating AT3032 mics
=C2=A0
My small fleet of AT3032s has become increasingly unreliable after several =
years of use. Typically one of a set of four will start popping when they'r=
e put out in the cold at night or in the early morning.
I've tested them by putting them into a freezer and listening for pops. In =
my recent test run six of nine capsules started popping within 20-30 minute=
s. Admittedly this test may be extreme, but I'm trying to accelerate the ef=
fect of internal condensation.
My attempt to save them is to try storing them with desiccant -- perhaps ov=
er the years moisture has diffused into the capsules, and perhaps a good lo=
ng drying-out will restore them.
I got a set of little ventilated plastic boxes containing color-indicating =
desiccant beads. I activated the desiccant modules in a food dryer for a fe=
w hours at around 160 degrees F. They turned blue.
I've packed each mic in a quart ziploc bag with a desiccant box. They've be=
en that way several days now, and I'm experimenting with measuring the humi=
dity in the bags by sealing in my Kestrel 3000 weather station and taking a=
reading a couple of hours later. The minimum humidity I observe is around =
15%. I was expecting it to go lower.
Has anybody else tried something like this?
-Dan
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