Waterproof Spray for Light Up Clothing?

[Ayla of Duluth]

2515

This is a fiber optic shirt I was looking at buying for part of my mermaid costume. It's basically like a soft synthetic fabric with the fibers woven in between them. A hidden battery pack with a switch enables you to turn the lights on and off as you see fit.

I was wondering if any of you knew if there was a way for me to make the battery pack waterproof, so I could submerge it in water and have it still work. Is there some sort of canned spray that I can coat the battery pack and the surrounding areas with to keep it from getting damaged in the water?

The website says you can hand wash the material, which means you can put it safely in water, but it also says "If possible, do not immerse the battery box, even if the batteries have been removed." I feel like that implies that if you absolutely have to, you can submerse the battery box.

I know it seems like a bad idea because things like this can be tricky and this shirt really isn't meant for mermaiding, but I just wanted to know if there was any possibility at all of making something like this even remotely water resistant. :)

[Spindrift]

I was playing around with the same idea as you for a while. You can't spray the battery box since whatever you spray will leak into the battery case, but my idea was to use a waterproof bag to seal it and then weld something around the opening to where the wires needed to connect to around the bag corner. Alternatively you can encase the whole thing in a silicone sleeve, but then you'd have to gut it and reseal each time to change the battery.

[Kanti]

It sounds pretty ghetto but you could always try to wrap the battery pack in a plastic bag xD
You can try weatherproof strips too but that may be riskier

[Ayla of Duluth]

I think sealing it with a bag would depend on how the battery box is positioned. I haven't seen it yet because these shirts are $160 dollars, but I think the battery box is right between the boobs where the fabric pinches together. I'm just trying to come up with ideas prior to my purchase.

Spindrift, what would happen if the inside of the battery box was sprayed with waterproof spray? Would it stop the electrical circuit and keep the shirt from lighting up? Or would it just break everything horribly?

[Spindrift]

Spraying inside would do nothing but interfere with the electronics - which should never touch any kind of liquid, so that sort of eliminates spraying anything by default. :/ Sealing or encasing the battery is probably the most effective and most time/money convenient solution, unless you redesign and replace the existing battery pack with one designed for the water.

[Ayla of Duluth]

That makes sense. Putting a plastic bag over it seems kind of futile and ineffective. But maybe if I tightly wrapped it in Saran wrap with some sort of stretchy tape over it? There seems to be many ways to cover something like this. I don't think I'd mind putting the effort into using a silicon sleeve, the shirt does cost almost 200 dollars, I think it would be worth the work. But then we have to take into consideration the light switch that turns the shirt on...I think I'll email a few companies to see what they suggest.

[Spindrift]

I think saran wrap would be just as futile/ineffective as a plastic bag. Like you said, you might as well go all out if the cost of the top is that big to you. I mean, no point in subsidizing costs and then ruining the shirt. The switch shouldn't really be that much an issue though, if you found something to enclose the battery and made it resealable. Please post your findings to the thread!

[Ayla of Duluth]

I'll shop around the Internet for silicone sleeves and whatnot and post my findings for you all :)

[Kanti]

Maybe if you shoot an email to the company that makes the shirt and tell them you're planning on
using it underwater they may be able to give you some advice as to how large the battery pack is
and how you'd be able to conceal it properly. Maybe they'd even be interested in making a waterproof
version if you make it sound convincing enough xD

And yea if the shirt is that much I'd take extra care to make sure it doesn't get ruined.

[Ayla of Duluth]

I don't know why these products are so expensive, I mean, its the same stuff as the fiber optic poofy wand things you can buy on the fourth of july, and those are only like $3. the only difference is these fiber optics are woven into fake fabric. why so expensive? hmm...

[Mermaid Sirena]

It's the process of the weaving and the fact that they can. I remember when the fiber optic things for events cost a lot more then $3 but then again almost no street vendors had them.

[Mermaid Dottie]

Duct tape is surprisingly waterproof in combination with plastic grocery bags, but I've never tried to encase something electronic within it. maybe try ductaping the battery pack on something smaller and cheaper and seeing if that works?

[malinghi]

In my experience making a watertight seal is hard. I don't think duct tape and plastic bags would work.

[Ayla of Duluth]

Well, depending on if the battery case covered the battery so it was like one where you had to unscrew one side and pull it off to get to the battery, do you think I could put some sort of silicone or latex caulk over the box, let it cure and then just slice it in half and peel it off to change the battery? If I could do that it seems like a might work idea. But do you think the caulk would just bond to the plastic box and not peel off?

[Mermaid Sirena]

If you covered it in Vaseline or something like that before covering it, it should peel off easy as pie. Don't know if that would do anything to the battery box though.

[Spindrift]

If you covered it in Vaseline or something like that before covering it, it should peel off easy as pie. Don't know if that would do anything to the battery box though.

I am dubious.