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Forum Discussion
Orbi outdoor RBS50Y leaks..ruined by water
I noticed my backyard devices were not connected any longer to the internet today after our first rain in 9 months yesterday. Immagine my surprise when I took off my Orbi outdoor satellite RBS50Y specifically designed to be outdoors and waterproof and found it full of water and water fooded out when it was turned over. I have only had it a little over a year.
I called customer and technical support and was told it could not possibly be leaking and it was out of warranty. See for yourself and be warned. Anyone else have this problem and just lost over $300 to deceptive advertising?
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- We went outside recently and ours has water in it too. I can’t believe we’re the only two people!
I opened ours up and I’m letting it dry out now. Hopefully it will still work.Ahhhhh...sorry to hear about it but glad you let me know.
It is ridiculous that they advertise that it is weatherproof for outdoor use, charge extra for it,
then refuse to admit that it leaks.
I hope yours works eventually but mine was full of water and no matter how long I have let it dry out,
it will not even power up, let alone work and join the router.
Thanks again for your input.
I have one that is ful of water as well.
McBarch wrote:
We went outside recently and ours has water in it too. I can’t believe we’re the only two people!
I opened ours up and I’m letting it dry out now. Hopefully it will still work.
The EXACT same situation befell me!
I removed the guts from the plastic box hoping that a ood dry in the sun might restore function, but it was not to be. I also used the opportunity to check for a possible reset button (like a GFI backstop for when the promised IP66 fails) also not to be.
I did find that the pressure required of the housing to press against the delicate gasket surrounding each (illuminated) end piece BECOMES INSUFFICIENT IF THE UNIT IS ALSO EXPOSED TO THE SUN AND THE CASING BEGINS TO BOW OUTWARD ... AS IN MY CASE.
A clear design flaw exacerbated by a design failure (no backup GFI) . Now this $300US piece of NetGear is an oversized paperweight.
So sorry to hear but glad to keep hearing from those who have been let down by Netgear, who refuses to accept that there could be a design flaw.
Please complain to them, even if they claim it is out of warranty. Let us know what results you get.
Exact same problem - fitted two of these outside about a year ago - when removing one to use elsewhere I discovered it had water inside the casing - still washing around and explains why signal was always so bad from this one - absolute disgrace in design for this to happen - other one is working fine and seems still to be dry
So having had this problem I spent last evening stripping down the unit - since it was pretty much dead from about an inch of water that had caused various damage to the circuit board - photo attached - I dried the inside of the unit and components - sprayed the circuit board with IPA (Isopropylalcohol) and left it to soak and clean off for about 4 hours - I was able to kick the unit back into life - I've reassembled and will reuse outdoor only where it has a cover over the top (ie under eaves of a roof like the other one I have which was not damaged) - stripping the unit down shows this is not water proof - the seal top and bottom look more 'weather proof' - where I had these units in Scotland they could not deal with the sustained rain downfall we tend to get up here-anyway its back working - word to the wise if you are in a reallly wet area put it under some sort of cover - just to stop direct downfalls of rain onto the slanted top part of unit!
It is poor design in certain environments. They don't make it a year in Florida, especially this time of year where it rains a lot and the heat is terrible. Then add sand, wind, birds, lizards, etc. We had an install where birds used it as a perch and chewed on te corners. A $300 device that guarantee waterproof, should have a longer warranty more like 3 years.
Exact same problem with mine. I had it on the side of the house in a a spot that gets some sun and the it was apparently enough heat to make the seals junk.
I opened it up and let it dry out for days and it still doesnt work. I checked the power supply, and the voltage on the circut board and it gets power but does nothing. Im certain one of the capacitors is bad and have no idea how to fix it. I was thinking about taking it to a computer shop or finding a place I can mail it in for repair ??
I purchased this soley because it was intended to be used OUTDOORS, very disapointed with the product design.
See my earlier post....I had exact same poroblem but soaked the circuit board in IPA (Iso proply Alcohol) left oit to dry for 4 hours and it miraculously came back to life after a reboot - if this works and you want to continue to use it outside wrap some electric tape around the seals to prevent reoccurence
hope it helps good luck
mgil1 wrote:See my earlier post....I had exact same poroblem but soaked the circuit board in IPA (Iso proply Alcohol) left oit to dry for 4 hours and it miraculously came back to life after a reboot - if this works and you want to continue to use it outside wrap some electric tape around the seals to prevent reoccurence
hope it helps good luck
Electrical tape will not hold up. Your best bet would be to use silicone caulk on all assembly joints. and for added protection, a customer painted theirs with Elastomeric paint, from top to bottom, as when it dries it is a solid sheet of rubber coating.
Glad you got yours working again.
Unfortunately the RBS50Y can't hold up to all weather elements forever. So basically if they leak after 1 year, Netgear will not warranty it.
Down here in Florida, they hardly make it a year. I have found placing them in covered shaded areas help them last longer. We stopped installing them and now use weatherproof boxes and regular Satellites. They range from $30 to well over $100, depending on size and brand. That's the only solution if the router is going to be in a sunny, very hotor cold, out in the open environment.
I really sad for this behavious of seller or manufacturer who ignore to replace it. Its responsibility of company why water proof thing contains water in it? What the hell it is? it is game of water ball? Secondly as you mentioned first time rain comes and it happened. We can consider it even too much rains and it is flooded with water due to that. Shameful act of those companies and seller.
One year of warranty use would expose them to some rain and temperature changes. All seals deteriorate with time, temperature and moisture, unfortunately, but not that soon.
I don't have this device. A well-sealed device with rubber gaskets should take a soaking and last many years, you'd think ...
When I buy an outdoor device (I have a couple of Ring battery operated cameras), I hose them down a few times with my garden hose to check their seals. Well within the warranty period, of course.
This last post appears to be spam.
Just found out why my barn cameras were not working. My outdoor Orbi satellite had water in it. I spent about $350 for the unit and it was advertised as wheaher proof. Not the case.
And put it in a weather-proof enclosure after drying and testing it?
If you use it as-it, it will get flooded again.
Less than a year old? Return it under warranty.
I can apprehend now not having a UPS with so little use. But it does make a energy slump #1 on my list of suspects. If there may be a nearby UPS, you may need to plug it in there, even if the NAS is not set up to display it. If the trouble is going away, you've got determined the culpret.
Some credit cards offer an extended warranty to purchases paid for with that card. I know at least some American Express cards offer this, and have taken advantage of the program and been reimbursed by the card issuer for a phone that died out-of-warranty.
If it has a one-year warranty, and died out-of-warranty, there's probably not much you can do, unfortunately. It lasted as long as they said it would last.
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