Humidity

    "Front panel died due to humidity condensation inside the chassis. Sending the Kemper to Germany and £500 repair (replacement) fixed it."


    This is a quote from another thread. Just wondering how common this is? I live in South Dakota and it does get rather humid over the summer months. In fact, the very first gig I played with my Kemper, it was so humid that all of the equipment was coated with a thin layer of moisture. So humid you could actually see it. In the future, I will simply cover with a plastic bag if I encounter that kind of humidity again. But, my question is , have any of you had humidity related issues? If it is crazy humid should I just play through one of my amps rather than the Kemper? I should add that I always bring my Kemper (in rack) home after a gig. I never leave it in the band trailer. I take it home and open the rack so that it can dry if it was humid or even if it came in from the cold.

    Somehow disturbing but this is the first time I've heard that this is a specific problem with KPA.


    I wouldn't expose an electronic device to considerable temperature fluctuations from warm to cold in high humidity and switch it on.

    Would rather be afraid for my notebook then for the Kemper.

    I wonder if placing some of the silica packs or any moisture absorbing packs of that kind, near or beside ,on top etc. Of the kemper would help prevent that. If not, I got another scheming idea lol^^

    The spec's skoczy posted say it all.


    It can be super-humid (95% is high!), but as long as water isn't sitting on the internal surfaces of the unit, you'll be fine.


    As Sharry suggested, avoid huge fluctuations in temperature at high humidity. Specifically, if a unit's colder than the ambient temperature, allow it to "thaw" properly and equalise with the surrounding environment before switching it on. That way there'll be no condensation.

    Yep, be especially carefull when your equipment sits in a cold car or van, when you bring it into a warmer space, the relative humidity will rise when it toucher the cold surface of your equipment and condensate (remember cold air will hold less absolute humidity than warm air, so when warm air is cooled, humidity will rise, and all humidity in excess of 100% will have to condensate).


    If this should happen: let your device warm up and the humidity evaporate. Only when that has happened: switch on power.


    And you don't need special humid climates for this to happen. Even in western europe, performing on a cold winter night, and unpacking your gear in a packed, warm, humid venue will cause havoc. Never leave your gear in a cold car! Guitars crack, Kempers fry themselves...

    In the UK the only humidity is rain...


    In all seriousness, I don;t think the Kemper is more susceptible than any other electronic equipment, so even using another amp will not solve the possibility of a failure ( although if its a cheaper amp its a lower risk).


    You just need to take some general steps to protect it as you would with anything else..

    Quote from V8guitar

    In all seriousness, I don;t think the Kemper is more susceptible than any other electronic equipment, so even using another amp will not solve the possibility of a failure ( although if its a cheaper amp its a lower risk).

    even a stupid logo projector: On a certain occasion were I DJ-ed at an event, I show up 25 minutes before my set starts, with a “logo projector”, icecold from sitting in the car, to project my logo against the wall. I start to play my set, turn on the projector, and boom, all power was gone... Crowd laughing its ass off....

    I thought Toronto was humid in the summer until I lived in Seoul. I thought Seoul was humid until I lived near Kyoto. :wacko: Conditions can vary a huge amount from place to place

    Quote from Southdakota

    "In the future, I will simply cover with a plastic bag if I encounter that kind of humidity again. But, my question is , have any of you had humidity related issues? "

    I would have thought that a towel would work better. Wouldn't a plastic bag trap all humidity in?


    I think humidity really effects tube amps a lot as well. My buddies and I would often go back to a killer sound we had yesterday and wonder where it had vanished to. ;(


    A lot of old school effects like Fuzz Faces are certainly effected by temperature.


    If the air conditioner comes on right in the vent right behind my guitar, my guitar with definitely go out of tune and when it goes off and the guitar warms up again, it will go out of tune again ... fortunately close to uniformly. ^^ Blessed are those LEDs which automatically show us our pitch on the Kemper.

    Mateo....I agree, a towel would work better. The plastic bag idea came from the night I mentioned.....that was far beyond humidity. You could actually see the mist in the air. That's when I would resort to a plastic cover of some sort. And yes, I have the same issues with guitar tuning. Humidity, large temp changes through the night. Even indoor gigs in the winter where there is a door near the stage with cold air pouring in. It's always something!!