Question for those who use racks for touring- Condensation

  • After practise, our rack containing KPA's, poweramps etc is sealed up and left in a garage which gets cold but not wet. I noticed last time i left KPAs in there the screens were distressingly wet with condensation, i assume because there was heat trapped in there.


    Since, i haven't left kpa's in there. But when on tour, stuffs going to be left in the van overnight and i'm a little worried about this. Can anyone offer any advice?

  • Usually condensation takes place when relatively cold material is brought to a relatively warm place (with more humidity). For instance, might happen with gear that is left on the bus over a cold night.


    Regarding electronic devices in general: one shouldn't power them on after bringing them inside until the devices are in balance with the surroundings (same temperature etc).


    Maybe there is something explicit about this in the user manual? Often the manufacturer specifies the altitude, relative humidity and other conditions separately for 1) storaging the device and 2) operating it.

  • Perhaps you could place Silica Gel packets inside each rack. Find a distributor via Google, etc., and have enough to replenish, while on the road. They should be quite efficient at absorbing moisture, and can be reused by heating to 250 degrees F, for two hours.

  • Perhaps you could place Silica Gel packets inside each rack. Find a distributor via Google, etc., and have enough to replenish, while on the road. They should be quite efficient at absorbing moisture, and can be reused by heating to 250 degrees F, for two hours.


    I wanted to suggest this as well, as most devices that shouldn't be exposed to humidity come with some of these silica pads : e.g. guitars, anplifiers etc.

  • A much cheaper alternative for silica gel is cat litter.
    Not as handy when you´re gigging/touring but poured into an open plastic bowl in your rehearsal room or sewed into an old pillow case (needless if it´s got a zipper...) it attracts A LOT more humidity as those (usually) small silica gel bags.
    And you don´t have to order anything online, just buy it at your local supermarket or pet shop ...

  • I've always used brown rice in a sock.


    Just seemed logical to me as I virtually live on the stuff (no flour products or potatoes, which I love and miss!), and a sock can be tied at the open end or folded and a rubber band applied. I like to tie it 'though, 'cause rubber bands degrade in the presence of moisture pretty quickly.


    Not certain the absorption will be sufficiently quick for your purposes, but I've done this since purchasing my first mic decades ago and it's always worked for this purpose very well IMHO.

  • Ha ha ha! What a classic. Good one, chamelious.


    Booyah, all I can say is, "Booyah!"


    Another great thing about the rice option, apart from the fact that it can, if you want, last many years (one sock is in its 15th year and still going, I kid you not), is that when all's said and done, it's cheap and you can eat it too. I wouldn't recommend eating kitty litter, even if it was well-aged. Mind you, just as some folks eat soap or chalk, others do eat the stuff. Being a diet and health guru, I can assure you that, contrary to modern medical consensus that these "habits" are psychologically-based, they're in fact physiological responses to pica (mineral deficiency). It's no different from a dog that always licks people's hands (minerals from sweat, mainly potassium) or a horse that licks the barn-door bolt (mainly iron). Interestingly, calves being raised for veal require shielding from said bolts or non-iron-containing ones lest their meat turn red. Minerals. Simple. That's what salt licks are for - every farmer knows that.


    Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah... Booyah bro'!


    PS: The viable (able to germinate) period for most seed types, based on my experience, is 3 to 5 years without refrigeration, and perhaps 7 to 10 years with it. Bearing this in mind, I'd recommend you change the rice within 5-year blocks. The fact my TLM-103's sock's still got the original rice in it from 15 years ago only proves two things:


    1) That I'm in fact not a monkey, but a goose.
    2) That my method is idiot-proof.