Preventing Water Ingress On Electrical Assemblies - Miracle Electronics

What happens when water and electricity come together? Obviously, it’s a very dangerous combination! Water is an excellent conductor of electricity, so if you’re probably in touch with water, and electricity comes in contact, you’ll probably be electrocuted!

But, you may have also seen heavy equipment used in environments where water is present. How is it that such equipment is protected against water then? What about the electrical cables and harnesses present within? Is it not affected in the case of water ingress? Obviously, when water comes in touch with the cables and harnesses, the consequences can be deadly! There could be electrical shorts, malfunctioning of the equipment, shock hazards, fire, or even death, in case of a high voltage application!

No matter what the outcomes of water ingress into the harnesses, it is absolutely important that the water ingress is prevented. But, how is this possible? Let’s take a look.

Understanding the working environment

The first step to preventing water ingress is to understand the type of working environment the equipment is to be used in. Will the equipment be completely submerged into water while in operation, or will it be rained upon? This information will help you use appropriately rated components in the design. That’s because different environments require varied levels of protection. This is where IP codes come into play, which are two-digit numbers that indicate how resistant components are to intrusion by solid particles and liquids. It is important that appropriate IP-rated components are used that meet or exceed the requirements of the working environment.

Other tools and tips

Other tools and tips that can help prevent water ingress are stated below.

ü Overmoulding can help protect small electrical components like resistors, capacitors, diodes, and PCBs.

ü Gaskets can seal the junction where multiple surfaces meet, used typically to help make something that wasn’t designed to be watertight.

ü Sealed connectors and cord grips can protect electrical enclosures from water ingress.

ü Installing hinges outside the gasket of an enclosure can prevent compromising the gasket’s integrity.

ü Leaving a small gap between the conduit and connectors can help liquid/water to escape.

ü Using braided looms on wire harnesses can help liquids flow through, instead of getting trapped inside the conduit.

ü RTV silicone can be used as a seal for small volumes.

Preventing water ingress on wire harnesses is important to protect the equipment from failure, and humans against shock or other serious consequences. Getting in touch with professional wire harness manufacturers in India, like Miracle Electronics, can help take care of all of the above, thus bringing to you protected and safe wire harnesses for all your equipment and environments. Every wire harness manufactured here is certified for quality to ISO 9001, AS9100C; and the quality of the cable looms and harnesses are certified and approved by DGAQA and MSQAA for platform specific applications. Moreover, ever wire harness manufactured here is tested for dimension, weight, continuity, pull test, and many other verifying processes that ensure compliance to environmental requirements.