Electronics in Dusty Environments


I love to listen to music including in my workshop. I have a pair of outdoor speakers power by an older reveiver & listen to FM only. My problem is the receivers keep craping out...I believe due to excess dust. The last 2 receiver lost most of the left channel. My question is, Can these receivers be easily fixed by myself? It would seem the problem would be minor. How would you go about fixing them. My thoughts are to blow the the insides out with air & is there some kind of cleaner to spray? Where would you spray it? Please be specific as I never done this before. Thanks in advance. P.S I've moved the electronics out of thw workshop to avoid dust in the future.
128x128sagger
I'm sure the excess dust isn't helping. The dust problem can be remedied by placing the receiver in an enclosed rack. BUT the dust may not be the only destroyer of your electronics in your workshop. Are you using power tools and such in the work shop? Are the wall outlets on the same curcuit? Get my drift? Think about whats happening on the curcuit boards in your receiver with all that dust and your power saws and drills etc sucking the voltage out of the power line and sending havic thru your poor electronics. Maybe a dedicated line and an enclosed rack or closet will help. Good luck
You can get a can of air at Radioshack and clean up the interior of any dusty receivers and try them again. However, Mikec is probably right. While dust isn't helping, the power may be the biggest problem. Another option would be a Tripplite surge supressor and voltage regulator--it might cost more than the receiver, but could be cheaper than a dedicated line. In the long run, its got to be cheaper than replacing receivers regularly.
Just plugging into an outlet on a different circuit and keeping the dust out should keep the tunes playing. Talk to a qualified elect about adding a seperate outlet from a different curcuit. Should't cost too much. Hope this helps -------> Mike
depending on what i'm grinding off, my beltsander makes quite a bit of very fine dust which in heavy use eventually shorts out the switch contacts inside it. i suggest the dust is not killing the electronics so much as blocking the signal where it hits the selector and volume control conacts in your older receivers. sure, vacuum out the interior spaces. then get a can of tv tuner cleaner at radio shack and using the tiny straw, blast a few streams through the front panel down the shafts of the selector and volume pots. work the pots thru their rotations and see if your ailing channels spring back to life. and wear a mask while you're working, how many times i gotta tell you, haha. good luck!
oops, just occurred to me. if ya got a mono/stereo switch give that puppy a shot of the juice too :-)
Everybody has great advice on what to do. This is what NOT to. Never use compressed air.WAAAY to much water/moisture.
Tripplite products can be bought from a number of electronic outlets. Allied Electronics has it, I'm pretty sure Newark would have it as well. Allied does not stock it, but the Allied Stock Number (go figure) is 575-9991. The allied web site is: http://www.alliedelec.com/default.asp