Update on Small Desiccant Packages

[CUDA_Rick]

Thanks to all of you who have provided information on this board regarding small desiccant packages for your underwater camera housings.

I have a Canon A85 for which I have been trying to determine a source for inexpensive desiccant that is small enough to fit in my underwater housing (Canon WP-DC30).

After much searching through the web and making a couple of phone calls I found a great supplier that offers small lots of desiccant packages in any size you want - 1/4 gram and up. Didn't know what size would work best so I ordered a ten pack of several different sizes from 1/4 to 1 gram. The 1 gram pack fits great and you can actually fit several of this size into the WP-DC30 housing. I suspect that the 3 gram pack will also barely fit based on some previous posts on this site, but I would rather use several smaller packs than risk any interference potentially caused by the larger pack.

The web site I found for this desiccant is http://www.mcmaster.com/

Once in the site enter "desiccant" into the "find" window and you are there. The desiccant pack sizes are listed in ounces so I had to do some conversion to get to grams.

0.009 oz = 1/4 gram
0.018 oz = 1/2 gram
0.026 oz = 3/4 gram
0.035 oz = 1 gram
0.106 oz = 3 gram

This desiccant is available in several different materials including indicating silica gel. The website also provides useful information regarding the amount of desiccant needed based on the volume of your application.

Personally, I plan to use the 1 gram indicating silica gel packets but may also try some of the low-humidity molecular sieve desiccant as it is advertised to absorb moisture better at warmer temperatures.

Would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this subject.

 

[theskull]

Do not eat any of the dessicant.

theskull

 

[KrisB]

and don't pour it down the drain, either.

 

[KrisB]

BTW: good post -- there isn't much to be added to this. I'll be looking into acquiring some of those packets now!

Cheers,

 

[caverkevin]

I have been pulling those little packs out of light fixture boxes for years. Got any friends that are electricians? Since my employer and I have gotten into underwater video this last year, we have been collecting them. Then putting them into the oven to dry them out.

Nother friend of mine uses some small packs that he found a gun show. Military surplus stuff. He has been using them for years. He just bake them in a small toaster oven to get the moisture out of them for reuse.

Kevin

 

[meekal]

all you OVEN experts; is there a guideline for properly drying them out? how can you tell if you actually NEED to dry them out. i just never know if the dang things need to be OVEN'd (is that a verb?) or not. i got a bunch o' these guys and use them 1 or 2 times and then i've been throwing them in a ZIP LOC bag for future OVENing (there's that sillee verb again!)

 

[CUDA_Rick]

Meekal,

Here's a link to an earlier post that has information regarding drying desiccant packs.

http://www.scubaboard.com/t78201-.html

You can type "desiccant" into the search window at the top of this board and get all kinds of hits. Looks like there are also some links to similar threads at the bottom of this page.