Waterproofing Otterbox

[rovdude]

Any ideas on how to waterproof an otterbox that has a hole for wires going through it? I have 15 24 gaugewires and a usb cable coming through the hole. What I did is on the inside of the box I put one of those PVC pipe caps in with a hole drilled through it, used marine epoxy to seal it the side of the box, and then filling the cap with potting epoxy, so much that it overfilled onto the outside of the box to be sure water does not get in. But somehow it does. Anyways to fix this? Thanks for the help on such an exhausting problem!

[jonnyhas]

Rovdude,

Just to check when you epoxied the cables did you remove the outer sheath from each cable? This can be a route for water ingress


In my first rov I used cable glands see attached pic, I removed the outer sheath then epoxied them into the gland I then epoxied the gland into the hole in the otter box.


Jonny

[rovdude]

Thanks Jonny! So no I didn't remove the outer sheath from the cables, but because I've heard of the problem I sealed the wire on the end that is in the water. But I am just testing my box without the ends of the wire in the water, so no water could get in the sheath even if I didn't completely seal the ends of the wires. But I'm not using cable glands, where did you get those, and what exactly do they do?

[Sunktwice]

You can get the glands from RS components, any electrical/hardware/DIY store worth it's salt, or good old Ebay.

quick example...
Glands.....

[rovdude]

Well I did some testing last night. I stuffed the box full of paper towels and put it in dyed water. I have my hole in the front of the box. The water is coming in from the hinged area in the back. Is this an issue with the box?

[rovdude]

As it happened the gasket was smashed or something in the otterbox. I popped it out with a knife and placed it back in, and my box is waterproof again.