R1200R iCluster moisture damage

[AntonLargiader]

Bike came in with a moisture-damaged iCluster. The gasket seems to have done its job but the cluster housing is vented and I assume it breathed enough to get condensation inside (the internals were damp when I opened it up). This is a bike that sits outside for extended durations.

Common issue? I didn't find any thread mentioning it having happened before.

[deilenberger]

Anton,

On an R1200R specific forum I've been a member of since I got mine in '07, I have never heard of this being a problem. This wasn't a flood bike?

[AntonLargiader]

Not a flood bike, just living a hard life. The whole bike looks terrible.

The damage to the circuit board is limited to a small area, roughly in back of the space to the left of 'rpm'. There's a vent nearby, so there could have been condensation on that spot. No water level marks inside the cluster.

overview.jpg

[Omega Man]

As you mention a "hard life", I have seen this type of thing when water or condensation is allowed to "pool", freeze, re-freeze and the ice expansion pushes it's way into the component. I don't know if the bike that is from has ever spent time in freezing temperatures. The damaged surface mount components are very hard to cleanly repair. Nice pics of the problem. OM

[AntonLargiader]

That was an iPhone snap in the dark, but here's a detail shot of the damaged area*. What I find interesting from the first pic, though, is that it looks like the board is close enough to the back of the housing that it may be picking up condensation from that. If so, that's just a bad design. The housing will change temperature much faster than the board itself.

BTW a new cluster, retail, is nearly $1000. That's crazy. It does far less than a $500 phone, probably less than a $100 phone. And I'm not buying the 'but it's built to withstand the elements' thing...

EDIT: replaced in subsequent post

[Omega Man]

Nice...they say the IPhone is now the most popular camera in the world. I've done some repair work to circuit boards and that SMT (surface mount technology) are tough to repair. It's not like the "old days" when a micro-chip had an identifying number and you could replace the part. Most of the parts in that board, my guess, are proprietary. Being that they are relatively short production run items, the costs are usually a lot higher.

[AntonLargiader]

The detail shot wasn't from the iPhone - was a Canon 100mm Macro - but in good light the iPhone is darned good. In poor light it just gets slow. Here's a better one.

I get the low production thing, but I remember ZFEs being $250 or so when these bikes first came out. Now most of the modules are approaching $1000. Last fall, $1500 got me a new 27" iMac (back when they still had a DVD in them!). $1000 for this piece of junk that doesn't even have a Gore-Tex shield over the vents? Wow.

ADDED: At any rate, it looks like something got under the soldering and pushed on of the SMDs right off the board. I don't know exactly what that red stuff is: corrosion, poor surface treatment before soldering, ?. No idea.

closeup.jpg

[dbrick]

Thanks for the pics and discussion, Anton.
Let us know how this job progresses.

[Omega Man]

The Gore-Tex shield is a great point and an especially good idea in this application. The GT is used in some of the IPX7 waterproofing ratings although it does change the audio from the speaker and the microphone. It really doesn't take much to "lift" a trace off the board. I'm a bit behind in the new "float-through" soldering processes but board prep, whatever they are using for a flux type substance, the solder and final "sealing" all are critical to long term survival of the component. Yeah the price is expensive but as no one has chimed in with there being a rash of this type of failure, it might be isolated.
I had another thought on this- some people like to pressure wash the crap out of their bikes- I'm not a fan of this. If this was hit with a pressure washer, especially with an aggressive/wrong cleaner, it could have easily caused this.

[dbrick]

Anton,

What was the result here?

[AntonLargiader]

Out the door with no resolution. Owner took the cluster back to work (defense electronics sort of company) to see if someone wanted to fix it. They thought it was too damaged, so he's on the lookout for something used.

I think he could find another damaged cluster and swap some of the SMDs around and fix what he has. We'll see. Bike runs fine without it.