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[bkenobi]

I have 3 MS16A's that are deployed outside my house.  1 is covered from the weather and works fine.  The other 2 are on the south side of the house that is exposed to most of the weather that we get.  Although X10 claims that these are "fully weather-proof", I have seen fog inside the lenses many times.  I just pulled the 2 exposed to weather and opened them up.  1 had standing water in the battery compartment and the batteries had rust on the contact points.  The other had a film of condensed water on the batteries.  The worse unit had water saturation visible on the edge of the circuit board and some corrosion on the buttons.

Is this normal for these modules?  If so, is there a way to improve their not-so-fully weather-proofedness to actually workable?  My first thought would be silicone, but that would trap moisture inside without any escape if I miss a spot.  I've seen a couple sensors that include some sort of rain cover or hat which seems like a good plan.  I may have to move them to see if that will help, but I located them in the optimal location for detection.  If I move them, they may last longer, but they won't necessarily function as desired.

An alternative is to use some other system and link it to X10 somehow.  I've glanced at the Chamberlain CWA2000 which looks pretty good.  But, I don't see that it has a direct way to link it to a PowerFlash like their older system did.

[dave w]

 Suggestions:
1. make sure silicone gaskets are properly seated around the battery door and between the front and back pieces of the case.
2. Make sure mounting holes in back cover are sealed.
3. If necessary, put a bead of silicone rubber around lens.

[bkenobi]

For 3), do you mean on the outside of the case?  I've pulled these units apart and I see no way to remove the circuit board from the front case without potentially damaging the analog time adjustment potentiometer.If I could remove that, I'd probably seal the heck out of this thing to make dang sure no water could get in.

When I put them back together (after testing for functionality of course), I'm thinking I'll put a glob of silicon over the 4 screws on the back (or at least put a glob in the hole prior to assembly).  The rubber gasket on the battery door is another issue since it's never stayed in place on any of my units.  I think the unit that had the rust inside was probably seated incorrectly as it appears there may be some kind of nick in the gasket.  It looks like it should work if I can get it seated correctly, but it's disappointing that these things aren't built better regarding water.

[dave w]

For 3), do you mean on the outside of the case?  I've pulled these units apart and I see no way to remove the circuit board from the front case without potentially damaging the analog time adjustment potentiometer.

I don't understand that. The pot should slide out of the slot it is tucked in.

[bkenobi]

I tried to pull the pot off the dial, but it didn't seem like it wanted to come off.  I'll try grabbing a screw driver to get a bit of leverage on the pot so I don't put stress on the solder joints.  I've seen pictures of these disassembled, so I figured they must be easily removable.