I have used iButtons to record water and air temperature for the last six years, both attached to animals and as temperature stations. I use three coats of a product called plasti-dip to waterproof them. It is relatively easy to remove with a sharp utility knife, by cutting along the edge of the iButton with a lip and popping the iButton out of the other side. It would take me about five hours to peel the coating off and download 100 units and then a day and a half to reseal the units; I let each coat of plasti-dip dry for four hours.
In my experience you can expect a 5% failure rate no matter how you waterproof the units. Because of this I put two units at extremely important sites or attached to animals. Cheers, Chris Edge Natura non facit saltum --------------------------------- Christopher B. Edge Ph.D. Candidate Canadian Rivers Institute University of New Brunswick christopher.e...@unb.ca -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Sarah Gilman Sent: June-18-10 6:26 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] iButtons no longer water proof The quality really has gone down in the past 5 years or so. I seal the seam between the two pieces of metal with aquarium silicone and then wrap the whole ibutton in parafilm before deploying them. The whole thing is embedded in marine epoxy and deployed in the intertidal, where its submerged daily. I still have some failures, but nowhere near the 66% mentioned by a previous poster. It's most likely the seam between the metal parts that is most sensitive to submersion. You might also be interested in these: Modification and miniaturization of Thermochron iButtons for surgical implantation into small animals http://www.springerlink.com/content/d806346722741317/ Robert and Thompson, 2003 K.A. Robert and M.B. Thompson, Reconstructing Thermochron iButtons to reduce size and weight as a new technique in the study of small animal thermal biology, Herpetol. Rev. 34 (2003) (3), pp. 130-132. Fernando P. Lima and David S. Wethey 2009. Robolimpets: measuring intertidal body temperatures using biomimetic loggers. Limnology & Oceanography: Methods 7:347-353 - Sarah On Jun 18, 2010, at 11:08 AM, Susan Herrick wrote: > This is a great idea except that a paint dipped button would not be > readable. I take my buttons out half way through the field season > to dump > the data and reset them. Then at close of season I dump them and > shut them > off. The paint would have to be stripped off and reapplied each > time. I > agree it is a loss of a very useful tool. > > Susan Herrick > > > > > On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 11:42 AM, malcolm McCallum < > malcolm.mccal...@herpconbio.org> wrote: > >> You might go to a local paint or hardware store, even the big box >> stores >> like lowes, and buy a can of sealant. I think they sell rubber >> paint coat >> tool handles (like pliers). If you dip the ibutton in this >> sealant, it >> will >> be very waterproof and still record your data. >> >> Hope that is helpful >> >> Malcolm L. McCallum >> >> On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 9:32 PM, John Gerlach <gerla...@pacbell.net> >> wrote: >> >>> I've been using iButtons for 4 years to measure water temperature >>> which >>> allows me to determine ponding depth through time. The batch that I >> bought 4 >>> years ago was essentially waterproof and their failure rate ran >>> about 5% >> per >>> year regardless if they were immersed or not. This seemed to >>> mirror the >>> experience of other users. I bought a new batch last December and >>> just >>> determined that 66% of the immersed the new iButtons failed. I >>> haven't >>> opened any of them up but I assume that the failures were caused by >> leakage. >>> To me this indicates that the manufacturing process has changed. The >>> supplier responded to my inquiry simply that they are not >>> warranted to be >>> water proof. All I can say is that the change means that we have >>> lost a >> very >>> useful tool. >>> >>> John Gerlach >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Malcolm L. McCallum >> Managing Editor, >> Herpetological Conservation and Biology >> >> 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert >> 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, >> and pollution. >> 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution >> reduction >> MAY help restore populations. >> 2022: Soylent Green is People! >> >> Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any >> attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may >> contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized >> review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are >> not >> the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and >> destroy all copies of the original message. >> ------------------------------------- Sarah Gilman, Ph.D. Joint Science Department Keck Science Center The Claremont Colleges 925 N. Mills Avenue Claremont, CA 91711 http://faculty.jsd.claremont.edu/sgilman sgil...@jsd.claremont.edu 909-607-0715
