I have my boat torn down and am in the process of adding
some external position sensors for my control surfaces.
Specifically, I am looking for a small rotary potentiometer
(or equivalent) that is rated for 400 fsw. I found a sensor
NRH280 from Penny+Giles
http://www.pennyandgiles.com/Dual-Output-'No-Contact'-Rotary-Position-Sensor-pd-483,3,29,.php that
looks promising. The spec on this meets the IP69K standard
which is designed to withstand high pressure wash-downs at
high temperature. IP69K testing involves subjecting the
sensor to steam generated from 100 bar water pressure. These
sensors cost $157 and has a six week lead time. Does anyone
have any experience with this sensor or with the IP69K spec?
What I am trying to determine is will this sensor handle 200
psig external water pressure? While the IP69K spec does not
directly address external pressure, it is a fairly demanding
test standard so any device that passes this standard should
be able to handle some external pressure but the question is
how much? The vendor has no data that they are willing to
share on maximum external pressure their sensor can
withstand. If all else fails, I can buy one of the sensors
and do a bench test to failure but this will take 13 weeks to
get the parts assuming it takes six weeks to get the test unit
, one week to test and six more weeks to get the remaining
sensors assuming the unit passes the test.
Alternately , does anyone know of any off the shelf small
rotary potentiometers that are designed for this service? My
goal is to mount one of these sensors on my yaw, roll and
pitch control surfaces and then bring the electrical leads
into the boat through an electrical penetrator. Any thoughts.
Cliff