Getting Air Bubble Out of Compass

[ScottyK]

Any suggestions on this? It's a spare compass that's seven years old. I keep it in with my "save a dive" stuff, and noticed it has a large amount of air in it. Just for kicks, I brought it along on a dive yesterday, to see if it fouled up the readings, and it does. The bezel kept hanging up.

I'm figuring there must be a way to open it and replace the fluid. Anyone ever try this? Any idea what the liquid consists of? I'm thinking distilled water.

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

It's an Oceanic module, if that makes a difference.....

Scott

[Charlie99]

I had same problem with a Genesis module. It took me a while to realize that a huge airbubble under the card was making it stick and give me strange results (I get strange navigational results often enough with a working compass).

I simply pried off the bezel, drilled a hole in the bottom of the unit. It had a greasy (silicone?) oil of some sort. I just topped it filled it with tapwater using a hypodermic needle, then sealed it with silicone.

I bought a replacement module, so I haven't taken the "fixed" one diving. But it does work nicely as a handbearing compass on my sailboat. :)

[roturner]

ScottyK once bubbled...
Any suggestions on this? It's a spare compass that's seven years old. I keep it in with my "save a dive" stuff, and noticed it has a large amount of air in it. Just for kicks, I brought it along on a dive yesterday, to see if it fouled up the readings, and it does. The bezel kept hanging up.

I'm figuring there must be a way to open it and replace the fluid. Anyone ever try this? Any idea what the liquid consists of? I'm thinking distilled water.

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

It's an Oceanic module, if that makes a difference.....

Scott

I don't know how they seal those things but I'd venture that the damage is permanent.

R..

[ScottyK]

Charlie99 once bubbled...
(I get strange navigational results often enough with a working compass).

:D

Thanks Charlie! I'll give it a go!

Roturner- I'll post my results, just for posterity.


Scott

[seanrollins]

My compass ended up with a cracked lens one day, and all the oil leaked out. It was hung up and I figured it was garbage. I soaked it overnight anyways, and sure enough it filled right up with water. I've covered the lens with a very good adhesive film. It seems to be working great? No problems yet...

[ScottyK]

Charlie- Thanks, the repair worked great. I drilled, filled then finished it off with a dab of Gorilla Glue.

It seems to be holding up fine so far.


Scott