Gear & Humidity

Gotta play some gigs in 77.3% relative humidity later this year, want to take a laptop and probably a couple of Elektron box, maybe some other bits.

Anyone had experience in this sorta hot wetness? Is it sheer madness? Should I leave everything at home and perform my music via body percussion and vocalisation? Do I need a magic bag to put everything in?

Yours lovingly,

Brian

77.3% humidity is actually pretty low? Or is relative humidity different?

Anyway, reckon you'll be fine in most situations apart from a gig in a sauna.

72%RH should be fine, it was 90% here a few weeks ago.

EDIT: according to the local weather it was, I have a cheap hygrometer (they're like $5, if you have an acoustic instrument you might as well have a hygrometer) at home and it said more like 70% indoors.

in general, you'll probably have more problems with a laptop than with elektorns, but i really doubt that such, realtively normal humidity would give you any troubles at all

100% stupidity humidity like bear, coke, wine and such will give you bigger problems... ;)

ups ... sometimes a=e

 = 

Arright thanks for the reassurance and bear pics.

Never gigged in a tropical climate before so was a bit freaked about the fancy Swedish bits.

Relative humidity is a funny thing.  I just checked, and in Stockholm at least you're on the humid side most of the year:

https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-perc,Stockholm,Sweden

In fact, most of the year it's a lot more humid there than where I am.

77.3% isn't going to be much different than what you're probably used to.

Submerge your gear in a bag of rice before the gig - that should suck in any excess humidity. In general it seems having a constant airflow like a fan or dehumidifier (if you're fancy) is good for stopping the bad effects. I think. :)

100% rh is where you have to worry.

overheating could be a concern (mainly with computers) but I really wouldn't bother thinking about humidity for just a show or two. Long term storage, where your gear could actually develop problems from continuous moisture exposure, is a different situation but spending a couple of days in a slightly more humid than average place is fine.

Unless you have an acoustic instrument, that's a whole other story (although low humidity is worse than high humidity for those)

Dorm mate once took his lappy in the bath room to listen to something while showering. It broke a couple of weeks after that, but not sure if the two events are connected.

  On 5/5/2018 at 4:44 PM, thawkins said:

Dorm mate once took his lappy in the bath room to listen to something while showering. It broke a couple of weeks after that, but not sure if the two events are connected.

I have been doing that with mine a few days a week since 2012 and it's still working fine, although it's probably not the best idea.  The humidity in a small bathroom is going to be way above 75%, if you're getting condensation on the mirror it's at 100%, and that's when moisture starts to collect on stuff.

On the other hand, as long as it's not powered on water isn't actually harmful to electronics, which is why some techs routinely clean old PCBs like this and small manufacturers do things like washing the flux of of their completed boards in consumer dishwashers.

The problems are long term exposure to water causing corrosion, water getting trapped inside of mechanical parts like potentiometers (it's OK if it gets in there as long as you get it out in a timely manner and relubricate them afterward), or getting something wet when it's powered up causing a short.  Also acidic stuff is no good.  I spilled a glass of seltzer onto a track ball in high school and a year later it broke, because the carbonic acid had started to eat away some of the traces.  Anything carbonated could potentially do that.

Point is, I wouldn't worry about it.  Long term, continuous exposure to moisture is bad, short term is usually no big deal.

This thread turned out quite interesting.

I'm always bringing the lappy into a tiny bathroom and turning vlc up to 11.

Everything gon be fine.

This is why no one from humid climes writes electronic music, we just all play spoons against our thighs and howl out old tunes while our ladies bring us more moonshine.

Don't the spoons get slippy with all that moisture about?

  On 5/8/2018 at 4:22 PM, Brian Dance said:

Don't the spoons get slippy with all that moisture about?

Yeah but that's what makes the sound unique. Warm analog sounds and all that.

  On 5/9/2018 at 4:36 AM, thawkins said:

 

  On 5/8/2018 at 4:22 PM, Brian Dance said:

Don't the spoons get slippy with all that moisture about?

 

Yeah but that's what makes the sound unique. Warm analog sounds and all that.

 

Slick production.