If it ain’t labelled “waterproof”, it probably isn’t.
Ayep.
On the other hand, sometimes even when it says waterproof … It isn’t.
On the OTHER OTHER hand, I recently submerged a bunch of IP68-rated pixel nodes in a bucket of water and froze it – and it worked just great!
I should post photos…
Could it be that changing temperatures condensed moisture already inside the tubing?
I’m thinking that down the road – once I actually know what to do with FastLED – that I might convert all our Christmas lights to RGB strips.
We can go from 40C in the winter to +40C in the summer - so moisture sealed inside the tubes could be a concern (I would mount them semi-permanently for convenience and to light up other holidays – all green for St Patty’s anyone?). I’m thinking a wrap that protects it from rain and drips, but vents in a protected manner, might be best.
For example a short length of aquarium tube under the eaves with a downturn at the end, connected to the main strip tube should work.
Just spit ballin’ at this point though.
I’ve had limited success using a clear epoxy for permanent waterproofing. The stuff is a pain to work with and if you try to fill a tube too fast it will hold bubbles inside the clear surface. . The nice thing about using epoxy is that everything inside is well protected but the stuff outside the epoxy can still break (be gentle with wires).
@allanGEE There wasn’t that much moisture inside the tube before, there have been colder days here and there wasn’t any buildup at that point. This has dripped inside.
The smarter thing to do here would be to seal them with silicone on the top (which it looked like they were, but not completely). If pressure buildup is a problem, adding some dessicant to the tube and piercing a small hole with no gravity-fed access to the inside.
A small hole is a safe way to collect moisture from the air. I would assemble it on a very sunny, dry and hot day and seal it as perfect as possible. Silicone doesn´t last long, especially not in the sun. Epoxy / Polyester or cast resin is a better solution. By adjusting the ratio of the 2 components you can mix a pretty chewy consistence. That substance can be filled into a syringe in order to handle it similar to silicon without a big mess. As long as you don´t cook your installation I see no problem with the pressure buildup.
Thanks for the materials advice, @Stefan_Petrick – I’m definitely better at the programming side of this!