Did I kill my dive light?

[TheHuth]

I bought a brand new Underwater Kinetics SL4. I put batteries in it, and tossed it in my BCD in case I wanted to use it on my dives today. I never got around to using it. When I went to pull it out of the BCD I found that it was flooded. So much so I think the batteries blew up. I tossed the batteries, and I could see the LED was covered in water.

Is it done, or should I just let it dry out?

 

[3D diver]

Rinse it out in fresh water and vinegar, then dry it out and give it a try.

 

[undrwater]

Rinse with just water after the vinegar/water bath.

 

[Neilwood]

Not necessarily dead - I managed to kill my car keys after a dive (TLDR version - put them in the gear of a person I was told wasn't diving and he ended up diving with my keys in the pocket).

Immediately took the battery out, cleaned the contacts etc and dried it out for 3 days (case opened and in a heated room) and it worked fine when I put the new battery in.

Definitely worth trying as lights aren't cheap enough to just throw away imho

 

[widget]

Yes, as above rinse and dry out, theres usually no need to toss a light, the case cant get damaged with a bit of water and you can usually replace any internals that may need replacing, mostly the reflector and LED.

The secret when one has any flood be it a light or a computer or a camera is to get the batteries out as quickly, if its a full flood take them out right there under water if possible (dont leave them there though) then at the surface rinse thoroughly with fresh water, if its a camera immerse in distilled water, you need to get the salt out or it will dry on the internal parts (like salt dries on your face) and ruin it. Then dry it as much as possible, if you can put it in a pillow case for instance and allow warm (not hot) air from a hairdryer to blow over it for as long as possible or until your wife needs the dryer. Then buy some rice and pack the product in the rice, cover it completely (molecular sieve is better if you can get it but rice will do in an emergency) leave it for a day or two, or three, maybe four............!

Take it out and test, a light will easily be saved like this, even camera's and computers, cell phones etc can often be saved like this.

 

[fmerkel]

You can try.....trouble is salt water is conductive. That plus fresh batteries makes for a lot of electrolysis of components during the flood, which tends to eat things up. Often the lens reflective coating gets pretty destroyed too. It can be a mess if it was a significant flood and was that way for awhile.

UWK is very good with warranties.

 

[TheHuth]

Well I'll give everything a try. Certainly couldnt hurt things worse than I've already done. I bought it for $40 as an open box item. It looks like a replacement LED is $85 from Underwater Kinetics. So if it doesnt work after I try those things, I'll probably just look for another open box one

 

[Dive Right In Scuba.]

I recently had to junk a pretty expensive dive light because of battery problems. I tried everything to get it to work. I say " pretty expensive" meaning it was originally a couple hundred dollars. Today I could get a better light for about $60, so it wasn't worth it. If it had been a $1,000 light, I would have found a way to make it work.

The quality of lights in that price range has improved dramatically in the last few years. You can get a pretty darn good light for that kind of money, so take your time and make the best choice.

Recreational Dive Lights - Whether you want a wrist-mounted light or a - Dive Right in Scuba, Price $0.00 - $99.99

 

[Hatul]

If you got a salt water flood chances are the light is a loss. You may want to contact UK and see if they can replace it.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I have had terrible service from UK after light problems. I went all the way up the ladder at the company. I would never buy another UK product because they DO NO honor their warranties.