Water-logged Uavionix Tail Beacon

[mshac]

Saw this during my pre-flight today. We've had some rain in the last week, but this thing looks like a fish tank!

Any suggestions?

I have no idea how long the warranty is on these things, buts that's pretty disappointing.

[mshac]

Well, its clear what caused it! The lower rudder cap was full of water! The drain hole had become clogged with dirt and debris. Both sides were clogged.

Uavionix sent me a canned email saying this will happen every time in certain aircraft designs because there is a hole in the back of the unit for baro.

They claim the unit is protected from water, but we shall see...

Lesson - CHECK YOUR LOWER RUDDER CAPS FOR BLOCKED DRAIN HOLES!

[Frank Benvin]

We had one of our 337's parked outside for a while on the wetcoast. Part of the preflight was to poke the drain holes and let the water out

[wslade2]

Yup. Every time I think they’re unblocked, they get blocked again. Don’t take them for granted or think just because you did them recently they’re ok.

[Joes]

Moisture:
The port in the unit where the wires come out is a pitot-static opening for the onboard Baro. This open port will always allow SOME moisture in the unit if you are operating in a humid area, and the electronics are covered with a conformal coating to protect against this. Obviously, the conformal coating on your tailBeacon failed to protect the circuitry. I did notice that there was visible water marks on the outside of the tailBeacon. This indicates that there is likely a large amount of water being directed at the portion of the tailBeacon that is inserted inside of the aircraft.

Some aircraft, merely by their design, channel water to the tailBeacon installation location and can cause more water onboarding than normal. To help combat this, we have seen some customers place a piece of fuel-tubing over the aluminum nipple where the wires exit the tailBeacon. Safety wire the fuel tubing to the nipple, and allow the tailBeacon wires to travel through the fuel tubing, but do NOT close off the air-supply through that open aluminum nipple. The fuel tubing can be looped or re-directed in a fashion that will help prevent water from traveling along the wires and into the tailBeacon.

You will never be able to eliminate humidity condensation, but your installation method can help prevent water channeling into the unit.

This is from Uavionix for installation of a replacement due to moisture in initial unit. Joe

[mshac]

uAvionix opened an RMA for me and had me return the unit to them. I'll update here what happens and what the costs are, if any.

Regarding the above post, they sent me the same email with the same photo and wording. Not sure if the tube would've helped or not, but I'll do that upon reinstallation. Certainly can't hurt!

And I'll start checking drain holes more frequently.