The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

The FishCam is offline. It seems like a logical step – before sealing the USB board and CCD sensor in the plastic housing we designed (which the silicone held together and perfectly watertight) we made the decision to use almost an entire tube of silicone to fill the cavity which would otherwise be occupied by dead air. I had done lots of research on the insulating properties of of silicone and the heat output of the components we were using, but I failed to notice one important point: silicone itself creates moisture as it cures. This becomes a problem when you have over 6 oz of it encapsulating a circuit board.

Lesson learned? When protecting something from the environment, make sure your not doing more harm than good.