Stopping corrosion on microphone (desktop pc)

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SpartanVXL

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#283966 22-Mar-2021 17:14

Put this under desktop computing as it’s been hooked up to one for all it’s life, although it’s more of a issue with metal.

I’ve got a Audio Technica ATR2100 usb model which is plugged in both XLR to 3.5mm and usb to two machines. Had it for 2 years or so and noticed corrosion creeping up near the bottom of the mic and xlr plug.

From the picture the mic body is getting spots on it while the cable plug is also speckled with grey/green corrosion. The screw is also rusting, the other end of the same cable is behind to show the difference.

So the cause I know is likely just from using it and the moisture in the room. Is there a way to stop it from mottling the mic body?

Thanks

Edit: Now that I think about it, is it because the screws on the xlr cable are ferrous and the rest is aluminium that its causing galvanic corrosion?

SpartanVXL

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#2868194 14-Feb-2022 13:35

A little update on this since at current time of posting there was quite a bit of humidity this past week.

The pitting has gotten a little worse with a few new spots in the same area.

I’ve found that there are three of what I assume are steel screws which hold the microphone internals inside the aluminium chassis. These have unfortunately produced a little rust and are likely the culprit of the corrosion (see galvanic corrosion of aluminium and ferrous metal).

The centre screw visible under the “audio technica” text is (was) black coated and hasn’t suffered as much. The two other screws aren’t painted and make contact direct with aluminium at the bottom near the i/o ports.

I replaced them with two other painted screws I had spare and hopefully this’ll slow the pitting a bit more.

A bit disappointed this wasn’t taken into account in the design. Hopefully this helps anyone else who finds this via search engine.

insane

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#2868209 14-Feb-2022 13:47

That's real interesting! I've seen something similar on my house where some metal pipe saddles are rusting but not others because of the same thing.

Can't say I've never noticed this with Shure SM58 mics though - they are pretty much bulletproof

Senecio

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#2868285 14-Feb-2022 17:01

Do you live close to the ocean? My parents used to live in a coastal environment and the components in all of their electronics rusted badly (TVs, PCs, Receivers etc....).