Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nanocoating Waterproofs Any Gadget

Posted by samzenpus on from the ever-dry-socks dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Water has always been the bane of electronics, however American company Liquipel just announced that they have developed a way to completely waterproof any device against the elements. Using a revolutionary process, Liquipel applies a hydrophobic nanocoating to phones, computers, and other devices that completely waterproofs them and protects them against accidental exposure to liquids."

10 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. I call slashvertizing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The link is from a questionably "objective" source that has no real info on how (or if) it works. But by all means mail them your gadgets! They were nominated for an award you've never heard of!

  2. What I want to know is... by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    why is my $15 Walgreens watch waterproof to a depth of 20 meters, but if I sneeze on my $400 Android / iPhone it's ruined and I voided the warranty?

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:What I want to know is... by QuasiSteve · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you'd have to do a little more than sneeze on it - but I am well aware of stories in the past where e.g. sporters who sweated a little (much) got told by the service center that the humidity indicators in their iPod (or similar) indicated the device got wet and thus the warranty was void.

      But just to address your specific example - your $15 Walgreens watch probably has little to no openings and whatever interface controls are there are very easy to make waterproof. Compare to the many slots and compartments on a typical smartphone which often are required to be easily user-accessible. You wouldn't want to have to unscrew the back of your smartphone every time you'd just want to recharge it (if it ran for 2 years on a few button cells like your watch, then that wouldn't be much of an issue).

      But, more importantly, your $15 Walgreens watch is $15. If they actually got a claim from somebody with valid proof that they only dove to 19.95m and not over 20.00m, sending out a new $15 Walgreens watch is a heck of a lot cheaper than going over that paperwork and trying to tell you that you must be mistaken.
      For $400+ devices, on the other hand, it's a lot cheaper to open it up, point at the humidity tags, and say "sucks to be you".

    2. Re:What I want to know is... by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      why is my $15 Walgreens watch waterproof to a depth of 20 meters, but if I sneeze on my $400 Android / iPhone it's ruined and I voided the warranty?

      A couple of thoughts, here.

      1) How do the microphone, micro SD slot, speakers, and charging/data port on your watch work after you've taken it down to 20 meters?

      2) Has it ever occured to you that the makers and retailers of your $15 watch are simply banking (literally) on the fact that essentially nobody will every submit that cheap watch to 20 meters of water? And if someone does do so, and the watch inevitably fails, what percentage of that already tiny percentage are going to actually bother to pursue warranty service/replacement on something that costs less than a decent pizza? They could simply replace that costs-them-$3 watch every time all three people in that group take a shower, and they'll still make more money than they would have by not saying "Waterproof to 20 meters!" on the packaging and not having to service such claims.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    3. Re:What I want to know is... by thePig · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In that case, the best and cheapest option is to nano-coat the humidity tag.
      No problems with replacement then ...

      --
      rajmohan_h@yahoo.com
  3. Re:shower tv by artor3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    At least for the kindle, waterproof gadgets have already been invented.

    It's called a zip-loc bag, and it is great for unwinding in the tub.

  4. Re:speak for yourselves.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And yet, somehow they don't happen to everybody.

  5. Re:speak for yourselves.... by EvanED · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've killed two separate MS Natural 4000s, one about 30 minutes after getting it. It's very rare that I'll spill, but man, it seems like just a little splash has a high probability of rendering it useless.

    Personally though, the extra comfort of a comfortable-to-use keyboard is worth an occasional fairly-expensive (at least for a grad student) replacement. I never understand people who spend like $1500 for an awesome gaming rig or something and then get a cheapass keyboard, which is one of the couple components you actually use. But I might just be overly sensitive or something; I do pay a lot of attention to arm ergonomics as fallout from wrist problems many years back.

  6. Re:I'm not an electrician, but... by Solandri · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not only conductivity, but how does the coating hold up under the friction of plugging in the charger every day? If you peek at the metal contacts of a USB cable with a flashlight, I'll bet they have spots worn into them from being plugged in. I doubt any coating could survive that, and the parts which suffer the most wear are also the parts that need waterproofing the most.

  7. Re:Announcing Waterproof 3D HDTVs! by zazzel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder how people can actually do this kind of thing. I always feel relieved when I'm in the quiet sanctity of my bathroom, and the only thing I hear is water flowing and bubbles bursting. I still prefer actual books, too. They just work, and when I drop them, all I lose is a cheap paperback.

    There's way too much noise (aka "entertainment") in the world anyways.