Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
After the last drying period, your Raspberry Pi is ready to use again. Power it up to
make sure that the act of painting it with NeverWet didn't kill it before it ever hits the
water.
If you are planning to to immerse your Raspberry Pi in water, you should not hold it
with your bare hands (for what we hope are obvious safety reasons). You should be
able to gently insert it by holding the cable and lower it into a small container of water
(either powered on or off). If you insert it into the water before powering it on, you
might want to be a good distance away before sending power over to the Raspberry
Pi. Having the Pi plugged in via a USB power cable run to a power strip (that is switched
off) might be a good idea, since you can turn on the power strip from a distance.
Additionally, whenever there is a risk of water, you should consider having a Ground
Fault Circuit Interruptor (GFCI) in use. You can get this built into your power strip, or
as an adaptor for the plug.
This is not a magic spell. It might not work at all. If you didn't do a thorough paint job,
it might immediately go “zap” and die. Heck, it might do that even if you do the best
paint job known to mankind.
That said, even if you do manage to make a Raspberry Pi water-resistant using this
method, you shouldn't assume you can put it in a fish tank on your desk and use it
forever. The coating isn't permanent; it will fade with time and friction. Rustoleum
notes that NeverWet relies on a layer of air to form the super-hydrophobic coating on
the surface of the object. This means if you submerge a treated object over time, the
coating will dissipate.
If you are putting a Pi in a space where humidity is a real possibility, this might be a
good insurance against occasional humidity ending your project in heartbreak. How-
ever, we admit that in most cases, this is just a fun hack that allows you to say that
you've run Linux in a computer completely underwater with no case.
Find Geocaches from Your Car
HACK 41
Geocaching is a great way to be geeky
and
get outdoors. Why not convert
a Raspberry Pi into a Cacheberry Pi?
Geocaching taps into the thrill of finding something hidden, of going on a treasure
hunt. If you've never heard of geocaching before, the idea is simple. People hide a
storage container somewhere publicly accessible (although not necessarily
easily
accessible) and upload the GPS positioning coordinates for that container to the In-
ternet.
The size of the container varies from the very small (just large enough to hold a min-
iature pencil with a tiny sheet of paper rolled around it), to small (35 mm film canister
or Altoids tin), all the way up to large containers such as metal ammunition boxes.
