Cleaning lav's capsule

[Nir]

Hi guys,

During a shooting day the talented talent fell down to a lake (sweet water, but very dirty) and my Dpa 4061 capsule was full covered with water.

The production got me a new capsule (and a new transmitter), but I wonder do you clean your capsules? or if it sounds good and nothing happened you don't? if you do clean, how you clean it? some people suggest me to dip the head of the capsule in distilled water for few seconds and hang it in the air for a while, some tell me to to dip it for hours in tap water, etc.

I would like to hear your opinions and methods, Nir

 

 

 

[Olle Sjostrom]

I've had my lavs dunked in water a few times. I took the cap off and blew air at it to take all the water of, then let it dry. In all these cases the lavs were good to go within seconds.

Skickat från min E5823 via Tapatalk

[Constantin]

And if that ^ doesn't work, I send them to the next DPA service rep

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

You can only use distilled water on the capsule. DPA's lavs are okay if they get wet but can corrode if not cleaned. Distilled water is the only way to properly clean it. I have dipped in distilled water and gently shaken out my lav capsules after they have gotten seriously dirty and allowed them to fully dry for 24 hours and have used them countless times since with no issues. Too many particulates in tap water. You can also use a Q tip with distilled water to gently scrub the capsules housing and the removable grill. Do not put pressure on the housing, just a very gentle rub with the Q tip. Dry with the capsule facing down so that the water drains out and not down the cable and potentially into electronics.

To clean the cable DPA recommends olive oil. I can confirm that this works very well to remove any tape gunk or sweat grime. They recommend against rubbing alcohol very strongly on the cable. Again, let the cable dry after the oil rubbing and you will have a clean and flexible lav that looks and feels like new. 

Be careful not to get any liquid inside the connector. You will never get it out and risk it getting inside your tx.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Matthew Sonnenfeld
Added a cleaning tip.

[Nir]

Thank you all for the answers.

Matthew, thanks for the olive oil tip!

[soundmanjohn]

The DPA info page is here: http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/Mic-University/FAQ.aspx

 

John

Edited November 2, 2015 by soundmanjohn