Here a short experience report of a photon, which was installed for about 6 months under my canopy (additionally protected in a margarine can) and the outside temperature recorded: to this day the Photon has done its service and has only gone offline, because the rubberband to the fastening is blown. A corossion of flying rust is not visible - looks like new!
Which experience / project examples do you have with outdoor working photons?
I had a Electron outside connected to a solar panel inside a Pelican case that would allow condensation inside when it got humid outside and the Electron still looks like new with no rust on the Electron even with the water droplets inside the case for a few days at a time.
The Ublox sticker faded some but that’s it.
I had it outside during the cold winter months for about 3-4 months.
I’ve placed my first on-premise Photon in a relatively wet/humid environment this tuesday… it’s living in a plastic project box that’s basically sealed but not hermetically sealed by any means. Your stories attest to the overall reliability of the Particle platforms. On second consideration I should have placed some desiccant packs inside the box, but I’m less concerned now reading this.
Guys, I have made equipment for outdoor use for over 15 years. I can tell you with 100% certainty that any circuit board that is used outside, and does not have some form of conformal coating will fail.
It’s cheap and easy to do, if you can spray paint you can conformal coat.
Pick the one that suits you best and just simply spray your board to protect it.
http://www.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=fine-l-Kote