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[Graemespicer]

I'm a voice actor with a U87 in my home studio. I've developed the (bad?) habit of leaving my preamp on, and therefore my mic is being fed phantom power 24/7 ... is this harming my mic? Or my preamp, for that matter ... an RND Portico 5015.

[usattler]

No problem!

[Jim Williams]

Cover the mic with a plastic bag. Otherwise dust is attracted to the polarized diaphrams, not a good thing to collect.

[usattler]

Actually, make that a breatheable lint-free fabric bag to prevent moisture from being trapped ...

[klaus]

Good advice, but these lint-free bags are not easy to find.
Plastic bags will do, as long as you:

1. don't seal them

2. don't put them on until about an hour after last usage of the (vocal) mic, if it was used in extreme humid environments. If it was not used as vocal mic, or in extreme humidity, no issues putting the bag on right away

[Jim Williams]

If a mic is left out, I place a loose plastic bag over the top of the mic before I turn it off. The reason is electrostatic attraction of the powered down capsule to dust particles. Power down/power up is the most sensitive part as currents form and electrostatic charges develope.

If the bag is left open on the bottom, residual moisture can evaporate away safely. A moist, charged capsule is a dust magnet and once the dust is moist it will adhere to the capsule surface. If there is excess concern for evaporation, a small bag of silica gel can be placed inside to wick up any moisture remaining. Those bags are commonly shipped with new mics. If you suspect they arn't working well, place them into a 100 degree oven for 1/2 hour to dry them out.

[klaus]

Or, to put it bluntly: silica bags are 100% useless as moisture wick unless first primed, and access to ambient air severely restricted (by putting mic and primed silica bag in a sealed plastic bag).

Otherwise, humidity equilibrium between the crystals and the ambient humidity of the room sets in within an hour or less:

http://repforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,1146.0.html