I Flooded UK HID Light Cannon light

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reefseal

reefseal

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Did something stupid.. Didn't fully tighten light before going in ocean. (usually unscrew when traveling or between long periods of no diving) Just after dove in, quickly noticed Salt water in light. Quickly aborted the dive, to rinsed with fresh H20and dried the innards (rechargeable battery, light components) As soon as got home, used my dust cannon (use to get dust out of my keyboard) to dry further. In AM, once all components were dry, I tried light. Would not light up. Once changed the bulb (which I had a spare for), and was relieved to see light work!

The bulb I guess is no good if gets wet. which is a shame as they are $$$ ($75)

Curious if others that have experienced have other recommendations.

Not my first light mishap. Now I know why dive shops rarely rent lights.
After 2nd time, I'm sure won't make same mistake again.
 
When a ballast and bulb are wet, never try to turn on the light...

Dry it for a while. I put more than 48~72 hours.....It comes back usually...
 
My UK Light Cannon got water in it recently, while snorkeling! I guess I didn't screw it together tight enough. Anyway, I didn't do anything special to dry it out, just opened it up overnight when I got home. On the next dive (to 60 ft) it looked like it had a little condensation in it, but it worked fine. Guess I'm just lucky. I open it up after every dive and keep the batteries in a box. I use silicone grease on the O-ring about every other dive.
 
I guess I'm not so lucky after all. Last time I tried to use my Light Cannon, it didn't work. Opened it up and it's all full of salt crystals! Bummer. I looked inside the head, and it all looks OK, except for one comonent inside some heat-shrink tubing, which looks all water-damaged and corroded. Not sure what's in there. I see UK will soon have spare parts for sale online. I wonder if they'll also have schematics and an explanation of what all those bits are. There are several strange little pellets in there. What are those things, catalysts? Sacrificial anodes? Anyone know anything about how to repair these lights?
 
It sounds like the light has been fullly flooded. If it is flooded in a salt water, it should be disassembled as much as you can and cleaned out. I don't think you can disassemble the ballast completely. There is a big difference between a fresh and salt water....
 
Yesterday I looked at my UK LC 100 at 25m and saw that it was filled with sea water. Too late to abort the dive in time in other words.
Back in the boat I opened it and it virtually exploded with brown muck from the 8 NiMH cells.
1) Bulb is gone (filament broken)
2) all batteries are gone (they were expensive NEXcell C 4500mAh ones, damn)
3) the lamp module looks very shifty. I took it all apart. That flat component on the 300V lead as someone mentioned above looks busted. What are those different components anyway? Where do the spare 3 coal bits go?
4) fuse is ok, but little relief as there was a spare anyway.

Now, does anybody have experience with repairing these? Apart from the new bulb, do I need to get an entire new lamp module as well? Or is it possible to get the individual components to solder them yourself?
I suspect both "whole new lamp module" and "UK-authorized repair" will cost as much or more as the lamp did when I bought it ($350 US).

/Andreas
 
There's a guy selling a used, but not very old at all, DiveRite 10 watt HID canister light for $400 right now in the B/S/T section :)


I borrowed an IkeLight once, and it flooded. I don't know how or why, I just looked at the glass for some reason during the surfaceinterval....water plus batteries=battery acid, which ate away at the silver reflection stuff.....I felt very bad about it. It still worked, but the reflector was damaged, and the batteries were brand new alkalines ($10 of batteries with 20 minutes of burn time!) but the guy I borrowed it from didn't seem too upset, thankfully.

So no experience with the UK LC, but I feel your pain!
 
If you look around you can find light cannons in the US for $150. Have no idea what it would cost to ship to austrailia.
 
OK, happier now

You can get a new UKLC100 for $US 250 in the US or € 220 in Europe,
so I think I'll tell my local dive shop to sod off and go and order a brand new one from overseas - here they're asking AUD$ 625 (US$570) for a new one which of course is ridiculous.

/A
 
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