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?

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.

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 luckElectrical 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.

I would contact one of the forum moderators to see if there is any other options for you. We have not seen other users post about this. Possible that this was a odd manufacturing defect which cause it to fail. I hightly doubht that NG is doing any deceptive advertising. Blanca_O

Orbi outdoor RBS50Y leaks..ruined by water

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mastephens2021
Aspirant
May 15, 2021
Yes. Same problem here. I am pretty upset and bummed. I had the device attached to my back deck so we would have reliable wifi service on the back patio. Then, I noticed that it wasn't working...It was disconnected from the network maps and just wouldn't connect. After trying everything I could think of in the app, I decided to take it down. To my surprise, the OUTDOOR satellite was filled with water! I couldn't figure out how water got in it. There are no visible cracks or spaces on the device. Also, I have had it sitting for months inside, hoping the water would somehow evapourate, so I could get it to work again. No such luck, the water is still in it. What's most disappointing to me was that when it first happened, I couldn't even figure out how to get a hold of a live person at Netgear support for help. I was really mad, so I just gave up. Just calmed down enough to try again. Up until now, I only bought netgear products. Very, very, very, disappointed. Talk about deceptive advertising.
- CrimpOn
  Guru - Experienced User
  May 16, 2021
  Since it is dead, you have nothing to lose by taking it apart to get the water out.
  The FCC filing gives me the impression that removing the screws on the back may allow the case to be pried open.
  From the picture, some look like Philips head and some like Torx.
  https://fccid.io/PY317200377/Test-Report/RF-Test-Report-BLE-3662484
  Page 5 seems to indicate that the top and bottom can come off.
  - McBarch
    Initiate
    May 16, 2021
    The top and bottom do come off with a little effort. We opened it up, let it dry out, and reinstalled the top and bottom covers with some added silicon sealer (from a store like Home Depot) so that it would flex with it. I have also been keeping it upside down for now so that if any water were to get in, it would sit in the open space at the top as opposed to submerging the electronics at the bottom. So far we have not gotten any new water in it in at least a year now. It has been working good so far!

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Orbi outdoor RBS50Y leaks..ruined by water