MIL-STD-810 Test Method 506.5 – Rain
Quick look:
- Tests for driving, blowing and dripping rain
- Mostly intended for structures and shelters
- Problems with electrical shorts are the first thing to identify
About MIL-STD-810 Method 506
Method 506 deals with rain in the form of driving, blowing and dripping rain. A lot of it is intended for structures, shelters and other similar things not necessarily associated with computer equipment—but it depends on what you’re trying to test.
At Crystal Group, most of the testing we do is related to dripping rain. For that type of application, you’re looking at around 1.7 mm per minute or roughly 4 inches per hour of rain. With electronics, we’re always looking for problems with electrical shorts. When we build an enclosure and we claim that it is IPC 67, that means it can be submerged for up to 30 minutes at one meter.
There are three procedures in MIL-STD-810 Method 506:
- Driving and blowing rain
- Extreme rain conditions
- Dripping rain
This particular method has a blueprint for building a lot of the tooling associated with doing the test. They tell you the hole sizes, the drip rate, the drip the unit needs to be exposed to, etc.
The essential factors to look for in this test are:
- Do the seals stand up to the test?
- Do you have leakage?
- Is there any corrosion shortly after the testing?
- What kind of gaskets do you have?
- How are the gaskets performing?