Keeping Electronics Connections Dry

[Choporoz]

Wet electronics connections are driving me nuts.  I'm looking for tips, tricks, hacks, suggestions.

I have a kayak wired up with a Garmin Echomap Plus 73sv.  If it has rained in the last day or two, I sometimes cannot use my graph for an hour or more...until I get things dried out.  The cable connectors don't have caps, like my old Lowrance units did.  I talked with Garmin and they intend for you to leave the bracket on the boat, and just pop off the head -- the bracket connections have caps.  So the cable ends are sitting exposed to the elements, as the yak is on my car, uncovered most of the year. 

   Even worse, the fuse housing, internal to the kayak, also gets moisture inside of it, and that is even tougher to dry out. 

I can probably put electrical tape some plastic wrap around the fuse.  But, I'm not at all sure how to protect the cable ends when not in use, short of baggies and rubber bands.  Any suggestions?

[flyfisher]

Dialectric grease would be my best suggestion.  

[Choporoz]

1 minute ago, flyfisher said:

Dialectric grease would be my best suggestion.  

Thank you. 

    Cursory googling led me to think that it is important.  But, I know less than nothing about electric stuff....I couldn't tell from the interwebs if dielectric grease was a solution, or more for just corrosion prevention.

[flyfisher]

Same thing really, right?  I mean it will prevent corrosion which will in turn keep the connections cleaner and more standard.

 

I would also bet that the problem isn't the connectors but that fuse.  I had connectors left out in the bottom of my commander for years and never had an issue with the plugs into the unit.  

Can you pop the fuse open after use or move the location above the deck?  You could also use a voltmeter and see art kind of voltage you are getting when it craps out both before and after the fuse to see if that is the culprit or if it is the plugs themselves

 

[12poundbass]

My non Plus Echomaps have rubber caps, interesting yours doesn’t. 

[Choporoz]

13 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

My non Plus Echomaps have rubber caps, interesting yours doesn’t. 

It has caps attached to the bracket-holder thing, but none on the cables.  I talked to Garmin C/S and they were great.  They explained that generally, the holder part would stay in the mount, and people just pop the head unit out, and then the cables would stay plugged in.  But I disconnect the cables, and put the head unit (still in the mounting bracket) inside my vehicle.  So the caps don't do me any good.  Garmin C/S sent me some caps, but they don't fit cable connectors....they are the same as the ones on the mount.

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, Choporoz said:

It has caps attached to the bracket-holder thing, but none on the cables.  I talked to Garmin C/S and they were great.  They explained that generally, the holder part would stay in the mount, and people just pop the head unit out, and then the cables would stay plugged in.  But I disconnect the cables, and put the head unit (still in the mounting bracket) inside my vehicle.  So the caps don't do me any good.  Garmin C/S sent me some caps, but they don't fit cable connectors....they are the same as the ones on the mount.

Ahh I see. My cables have the rubber caps, my cradle doesn’t, so I take my screen off and the caps on the cables go over the connectors. 

[Sprocket]

Why do you take the cradle off too?  Just  snap the unit off the cradle and put the rubber cap on the cradle connector.

 

Retired grass grower

[Choporoz]

1 hour ago, Sprocket said:

Why do you take the cradle off too?  Just  snap the unit off the cradle and put the rubber cap on the cradle connector.

 

Retired grass grower

I'm not comfortable car-topping the yak with the ball/arm/cradle attached 

[Herbert Lorenzo]

My Humminbird has caps . I can't imagine waiting an hour to use finder . Maybe something simple like maybe a plastic baggy might work . Good luck

[kayl.]

 

On 8/5/2020 at 10:33 PM, Herbert Lorenzo said:

My Humminbird has caps . I can't imagine waiting an hour to use finder . Maybe something simple like maybe a plastic baggy might work . Good luck

This. I put my cables in a sandwich ziplock zipped as tight as it can go and put a rubber band around them. I've never had any issues and I've gone highway speeds in a monsoon with my yak on top of my vehicle...