Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Calvin Vaz]

Hi
I have a unique project that I am starting to do research for, and I can certainly use some more minds pooling in on this.

The challenge:
Audio Mixer install at a church that is situated right next to the sea, with high humidity and high ambient temperatures to boot.

Any analogue mixer has got longevity issues as salty air messes with the faders, pots and circuitry fairly quick.
I've guessed that installing a surface-less mixer like the QU-SB would solve a few problems, but the digital circuitry and chips are still a liability. (Tangential, but it would help me lock in settings that wouldn't get messed around with in my absence   )

I've imagining a contraption that I hope exists in some form: A humidity and temperature controlled cabinet to house the mixer in.

The challenge is to find a humidity controlled Cabinet that also has cooling so that the mixer doesn't overheat during operation.
Second challenge: this cabinet would need an appropriate sized hole drilled into it to allow all the Ethernet and XLR cables to be routed through. Once I'm done with that, I would pack it a bit by wrapping some cloth in, but obviously there will be some amount of air leaking.

Thoughts: Has anyone done an install like this before? I'm guessing seaside properties with no air conditioning will have faced this problem. (P.S.: getting this room air conditioned is not an option. And the sea coast is literally about 70 meters away.)

The closest thing I've found online are the cabinets meant for storing wine, and cabinets for medical experiments.
It's possible that I'm just not using the right search Key Phrase.

And oh yeah, this install is at Mumbai, India, so hopefully I can find a viable solution that gets delivered here.

Much thanks in advance!
Cal.

[Tim Weaver]

Factories often have humdity controlled rooms for certain things. They do it by keeping that room at least a few degrees above ambient temp at all times, so if it's 100 degrees outside it will be 110 inside this room.

That doesn't sound like fun for the operator. Honestly the mixer won't likely care until it gets to maybe 130-140 degrees.

This is a unique situation though since you can't enclose the mixer area because then you can't hear what's going on on stage.

Honestly the headless mixer with a touchscreen is the absolute best situation in this case. If you can't do a headless mixer then I would just get a dehumidifier or two and place them around the desk. Just try to make a local area of lower humidity.

[Dave Pluke]

(P.S.: getting this room air conditioned is not an option. And the sea coast is literally about 70 meters away.)

That is quite a challenge! I know how quickly salt air can damage metals and electronics.

Industrial Computer racks may be available to house the mixer. Have you researched 3D Printer enclosures? They're designed to keep particles inside, but it may be possible to use them to keep salt out.

Noise from active solutions will be an issue, if the operator is going to be near the mixer.

Please let us know if you find something that works.

Dave

[Jason Glass]

Second challenge: this cabinet would need an appropriate sized hole drilled into it to allow all the Ethernet and XLR cables to be routed through. Once I'm done with that, I would pack it a bit by wrapping some cloth in, but obviously there will be some amount of air leaking.

Hi Cal,

That's not going to be an effective solution.  Moisture will always migrate through and you will have condensation problems.  Likely also salt contamination.  Very bad for electronics.  And a cloth-stuffed hole will not be up to reasonable professional standards.

The right way is to use environmentally sealed bulkhead pass-through connectors, with gaskets, mounted on the enclosure in tight-tolerance holes.  They are attainable in most of the world's developed countries.  Here are some examples:

https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/ne8fdp-top
https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/na3mdf
https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/na3fdm

[Stephen Swaffer]

Electrical enclosures rate as NEMA 4/12 are gasketed so would be protected from moisture internally-the only potential issue being heat build up-but companies like Hoffman make heat exchanger solutions to transfer heat out of a cabinet without air exchange-they even make a thermoelectric solution that I think would be silent.  Probably not the least expensive solution-but using a surfaceless mixer installed in this type of enclosure with the proper gasketed cable entries should be a solid low maintenance solution.

[Scott Holtzman]

Electrical enclosures rate as NEMA 4/12 are gasketed so would be protected from moisture internally-the only potential issue being heat build up-but companies like Hoffman make heat exchanger solutions to transfer heat out of a cabinet without air exchange-they even make a thermoelectric solution that I think would be silent.  Probably not the least expensive solution-but using a surfaceless mixer installed in this type of enclosure with the proper gasketed cable entries should be a solid low maintenance solution.

APC, the same people that make UPS units have an enclosure that is air conditioned for servers and such.  Put your gear in there and use a remote controlled mixer.  A&H D'line would be perfect you could store the small d-live console in the cabinet when not in use.  Even if the console is lost you could still mix on the ipad app.

[Calvin Vaz]

Some great suggestions, thank you all for your replies.

I will definitely move away from closing the hole with cloth. That would be a fire hazard too.
I am looking at making an analogue snake so the pass-through is small. I will use a silicon based sealant to make it airtight.

Just to reaffirm:
Air conditioning or treating the room is not an option. It is a century old church and the mixer is housed in the corner of the Sacristy.
Budget is limited, so I will have to get creative.

The APC and computer rack are great leads, will investigate those options.

[ProSoundWeb Community]