Sealing Garmin Cradle to prevent moisture infiltration

[XS-Skeet]

Well... received new cradle from Garmin for the 73SV.

I'm thinking about running a bead of Silicone II around the assembly on the Power/Transducer side to seal up the crack that runs completely around the plug in part of the assembly. There are 4 tabs on the other side as well where water can get in, so those would get a little dab also.

Anyone else sealed any of these cradles to prevent moisture infiltration?

I can see how moisture could penetrate it especially running in the rain.

[ifishinxs]

Dielectric grease along with the supplied o rings and I’ve never had a problem.

[Phoenix919]

Having to seal a cradle for a product designed for being used around water is design flaw Garmin should fix ASAP.

[Larry3215]

Well... received new cradle from Garmin for the 73SV.

I'm thinking about running a bead of Silicone II around the assembly on the Power/Transducer side to seal up the crack that runs completely around the plug in part of the assembly. There are 4 tabs on the other side as well where water can get in, so those would get a little dab also.

Anyone else sealed any of these cradles to prevent moisture infiltration?

I can see how moisture could penetrate it especially running in the rain.

Dont take this the wrong way, but are you sure you installed everything correctly? All the O-rings, cable end caps, etc? Are sure you are snapping the mfd all the way in?

Im asking because this specific complaint - leaking around the cradle connections - is very rare, and it usually ends up being a user issue. That leads me to suspect user error over design fault. Of course, its entirely possible you may have received a defective cradle or been missing parts, or something.

I boat in salt water quite often, so Im extra paranoid about corrosion. I make it a habit to use dielectric grease or CorrosionX on ALL my marine connectors as a matter of habit. It helps prevent corrosion of the contacts when things are not plugged in and adds an additional layer of protection when they are.

[pitbully71]

I've got a 73sv on the bow and 93sv on console - no issues yet and I was in a nasty rainstorm yesterday.

[XS-Skeet]

Dont take this the wrong way, but are you sure you installed everything correctly? All the O-rings, cable end caps, etc? Are sure you are snapping the mfd all the way in?

Im asking because this specific complaint - leaking around the cradle connections - is very rare, and it usually ends up being a user issue. That leads me to suspect user error over design fault. Of course, its entirely possible you may have received a defective cradle or been missing parts, or something.

Not taking it wrong at all. You have brought up some very good points.

All O-rings are in place, connections have dielectric grease, and yep... it's snapped tight into the cradle.

We could reproduce the fault by tapping on the top of the cradle with the unit installed. Garmin did state they had some "issues" with the cradles. There are some other threads posted here on BBC with the same issues. I took the old one apart, and you could see corrosion on the PC board! Water had made it in... The connector block is held in place with 4 screws to the large cradle piece, I suspect the moisture is penetrating around this block as their is no seal or anything. Just two pieces of plastic sitting together.

I have ran a small bead of Silicone II around that connector block where the sits into the main cradle and put a little dab on each snap point on the inside to completely seal the block from any moisture.

We shall see...

[jawjatek]

It won't hurt anything to do it, and it might help in the long run. This is the regular guy in me talking.

That circuit board has at least 3 components I can see, looks like 2 resistors and a cap (some kind of line termination, maybe an impedance match for a signal line, pull-down, something like that - I haven't looked at mine). It should have been "conformal coated" after assembly, or a seal used between parts. That's the engineer in me talking.

Wouldn't be the first time I improved a product I purchased, when I felt the mfr didn't do something quite right. A lot of items you buy need tweaks... just sayin'.

[Larry3215]

Ok, now its sounding more like a design fault - or penny pinching in the wrong places by Garmin.

If sealing the exterior doesnt work, you can buy conformal coating epoxy in small batches or try spraying the heck out of it with CorosionX. If there is a steady leak, then you will need to repeat the CorosionX every year or so.

[crm]

I had to replace two of the cradles the first year due to rain. I have a plastic bag over it now. Not what I wanted but better than going out on the lake.

[BassTracker175]

More likely penny pinching, or “designed to fail”!

Ok, now its sounding more like a design fault - or penny pinching in the wrong places by Garmin.

If sealing the exterior doesnt work, you can buy conformal coating epoxy in small batches or try spraying the heck out of it with CorosionX. If there is a steady leak, then you will need to repeat the CorosionX every year or so.

[ddement]

I have sent back two out of three that were only 3 months old. All o-rings were in place and grease on the pins won't help when it is the board that is corroded.