Humidity with laptops

I was just wondering if humidity messes with laptops in any way. Does anyone know about this kind of issue because it is very humid out here. Any time I walk out of my room, and I bring anything outside, that was inside for awhile, like my camera, it sweats. Does this effect internals of laptops if you do it often?

 

well, water is a conductor, so theoretically, a droplet could short your mobo. not sure how probable that is, though.

 

So if it did short my mobo, would it be under warranty? lol i know these are stupid questions, but that would suck if it did ever happen haha

 

good question. if AW wanted to act a fool, they'd claim you spilled water on it, and therefore it wasn't a warranty job, since it was your fault.

 

if your going from a very cool (air conditioned) place to a high humid location (outside) then the differences would cause such.
if you place your laptop inside a case, backpack, and the like for a few minutes before you leave the house or whatever, then acclimation should be your friend.
once the unit gets within the same temps then humidity should not be a factor such as with your camera.

 

AW do not list operating environment on their website (I haven't been home yet to open my M17, so someone who has the docs can comment if there is a documented humidity limit for usage), but regardless if they don't state the environmental limits in advance, and shipped it to you where you are using it, then you would have a strong argument that such condensation damage is a warranty issue (although you should try to avoid it as much as possible). You may have to convince them that you didn't drop it in a swimming pool, but that should not be a major problem.

As for water as a conductor, pure water (condensation tends to be fairly pure) is a weak conductor, it takes salts and other chemicals dissolved in it to improve the conductivity. Therefore try to keep the laptop clean (so less salt can dissolve in the condensation), and try to wipe the majority off when it happens.

Also, I assume you are talking about the issue of going from a cool & dry indoors location (thus cold surfaces on the laptop) to a much warmer and more humid outside. Certainly I have seen very similar condensation issues in India at times. This sounds to me like you need to do a serious bout of gaming (10-20mins) to really warm up the laptop before going outside, to reduce the condensation... Best excuse I've heard for a quick gaming session in a while

 

I'm not sure if you want to test their warranty on this. I have an insurance policy on mine from Safeware: http://www.safeware.com/

I've had it for my laptops for a couple of years. It costs me less than $200 a year for more than $3000 worth of coverage. It covers drops, spills, theft etc, etc. anywhere in the world on their business plan accept..........war zones. Yeah, I know. I too am in the "zones" most of the year but.......I guess my location is determined by the information I give them.

Sh** happens when you least expect it.

 

humidity doesn't effect or damage ur laptop. theoretically water from humidity is pure and pure water doesn't conduct electricity.

 

O.K.
who here will test this "theory" with their laptop so we can post the results?

 

As I said, pure water is a weak conductor (but it does still conduct). If there are any salts or other impurities the water can dissolve from the laptop (sweat from your skin when you touched the laptop, or any dust / other water soluble chemicals inside the machine), this can dramatically change the conductivity of the water.

I suspect you would be OK, even without taking serious precautions, but I would still try to wipe off the water as it forms, put the laptop in a bag before going outside. I would certainly not deliberately test this.

 

dude, there're all sorts of particles in the air that'll make the water droplets decidedly non-pure, and therefore conducive (sp?).

 

I fried a Toshiba laptop mb by taking it out of a nice air conditioned room while it was powered on and going outside when it was very hot and humid. Laptop was out of warranty and I had to pay for the repair, which was QUITE expensive. I'll never do that again.

Condensation is an enemy of electronic gear, especially when it's powered on.

Just my $.02.

 

That's why camera companies put warnings about humidity in their user manuals. The real world is not a controlled lab environment.

 

uhm....what? care to back your statement with facts?

 

Doesn't really matter if that's true in a controlled environment, it just isn't very smart to have a post like that at a Notebook forum. Someone could end up with a brick!

 

Guys IMO humidity is a big TEC enemy. especially laptops. Just notice the fact that whenever you buy a laptop bag you'll find a small anti-humidity package (sorry for my english)in it. It attracts humidity so that it cannot damage the laptop.
cheers

 

I'm an Engineer and working on ships is my trade. We are a self supporting floating community and have to provide all of our own municipal needs including drinking water. We make water through the use of a desalination plant. It uses heat and pressure so the water that goes in vaporizes. In the next stage it is condensed. The end product is more pure than any city or well water as all minerals and chemicals are non-existant in the final product. I can tell you from first hand knowledge, that it does conduct electricity. Additionally, desiccant bags are placed in every electrical cabinet aboard ship.

The ships I work on also deploy deep submersables who's electrical enclosures are fill with a non-conductive liquid to prevent implosion. This liquid isn't cheap. I'm sure they would use cheap "pure" water instead if it was possible.

 

salt i believe is an electrolyete which is a conductor

i know i mis spelled it

 

That's why we use desalination plants. They remove 100% of all impurities including salt. nacl2=1 part sodium and 2 parts chlorine

 

it's true. theoretically, water from condensation is absolutely pure. in practice, there's all sorts of junk in the air that'll mess up the purity.

 

so it is pure but once it touchs air POOF no more pureness

 

that is why i asked. water is a conductor - period. would anyone chose to partake in an experiment by standing in PURE water and letting me apply a charged line to it?

 

well, PURE water isn't the world's best conductor.

 

So in summary...............................I think it's fair to say we should try to avoid exposing our laptops to humidity (moisture). Hmmmm, who would have thought. lol

 

I recall someone shorted their m15x earlier but alienware replaced his mobo and gave it back to him in a week

 

Im so happy I read this, because although I did read the users manual to my nikon d90, I dont remember reading about humidity. The only reason I thought about all the humidity, is that every morning I wake up and when I walk outside, I put my sunglasses on...but they are foggy as hell because I just went from a cold room, to hot as hell. I will now watch out for it more often when I am taking my laptop and camera out from my room.

Thanks for all the knowledge guys. Very helpful

 

All ya have to do is keep it in your backpack for a while. The pack provides enough insulation to allow the temps of the laptop to rise slow enough that condensation (that fog) won't form. Same thing happens on your camera lens unless you let it acclimate in it's bag for a few minutes.

 

I am no chemist, but from what I remember from my college courses in general chemistry the water or H20 molecule is so constructed that the centers of positive and negative charges do not coincide, givng the molecule an electric dipole moment. So water in a liquid phase contains all of these electric dipole molecules that can move in the presence of an electric field-not as well as the free charge in electrical conductors such as silver or copper, but the charge in water is certainly not bound charge so that water is definitely not an insulator and can conduct some electricity even in it's pure state.

 

Most certain it can.

Temperature delta's are very dangerous for laptop hard drives.

Case and point, you put your laptop in your backpack, to go to class and it is 15 degrees outside. Spend like 30 minutes out in the cold or more. You walk into class where it is 68 with moderate humidity and turn the laptop on.

Depending on the humidity and a 50 degree drop in temp, even at 40% humidity in the class room would prove disastrous.

-Hack

 

in some countries like panama and equador and so the typical electronic devices doesn't even last half of the time they were design to due to humidity

 

The best way to avoid any moisture problems are to leave your computer on; it won't accumulate on the electronics that way.

In the desktop world it is very dangerous to leave a desktop against a wall that contacts the outside; it will attract moisture that way and potentially be disastrous. Avoid leaving your laptop off in places that could harbor moisture.

 

Both humidity and temperature are important consideration in laptop operation. Even if you discount pure waters low conducting ablity, realistically no place would provide that type of environment. Besides, regardless of it's operational capacity, oxygen and water are the two most abundant corresive elements on earth. Since water and electricity don't mix, I'd do everything I could to keep my computer as dry--and as cool--as possible.

That's not very green though?

The biggest danger of owning a laptop: people put them in precarious places.

 

Thats also what I was wondering, if it decreases the longevity of your hardware?
I would have thought they would have came out with some kind of adhesive or something that protects it from humidity. I suppose it would only protect it for so long.

 

one could try to coat everything in polyurethane....