Did I kill my dive light?

[TheHuth]

Okay, so I didnt kill my dive light. It was dead on arrival. The case is splitting at the seam. Hard to see, but its definitely there. It will never be water tight.

Sadly, it does light up just fine. Its just never going to work as a dive light. It looks like UK has a lifetime warranty, so I'll see if I can get it replaced.

 

[fmerkel]

I had an SL3 that 'weeped' maybe a couple drops/dive. Since it was a backup I seldom used it. When I did it flickered. Opened it up and found a little corrosion on the LED components. Did the vinegar + rinse + dry cleanup and it worked again. Double O-rings on this thing and they appeared fine. 6 months later, more weepage. Tried another cleanup but the corrosion had eaten up too much of the circuitry and messed up the reflector.
Sent it back to UK with a message and no expectation or demand for warranty. Figured it was a couple years old and I had messed with it. They sent back a new one with batteries.
But....after careful checking I saw the mating surface of the bezel where it contacts the 0-rings was full of chatter marks from machining. I figured it could well leak. Sent them back a letter with very good macro pics of the situation and asked whether I should dive it and risk a flood or just send it back.
They sent me another new light and batteries, didn't want this one back.

3 lights over 3 years for $50 investment seems pretty good customer service to me. YMMV.
I did have the charger on my old UK 400R die. They would not replace that. That annoyed me as it's a fairly cheap item, and never goes in the salt water. Replaced it with a 'generic' one from an electronic recycle place.

 

[TheHuth]

Good to know. I send their RMA department an email last night. Maybe I should take a 20 second video showing them the seam separating. That might convince them there really is a problem, and ameliorate me from having to waste money on shipping it back to them. But we'll see.

I bought it as New Overstock from an online source. I know their warranty covers the original owner. Even though I feel I do fit this category, they may feel otherwise. If they do, I wouldnt appeal that. We'll see what happens.

 

[TheHuth]

In case anyone was wondering, UK was totally cool about everything. They had me send the light in, and they fedex'ed me back a new one with a fresh set of batteries. Good to go.

 

[reo]

In case anyone was wondering, UK was totally cool about everything. They had me send the light in, and they fedex'ed me back a new one with a fresh set of batteries. Good to go.

Your experience is similar to my dealing with UK. I had a light that flooded. I figured it was a lost cause, so I tossed it in the dumpster at our complex. My instructor told me I should have tried to send it to UK, so I retrieved the light from the dumpster and contacted UK. They had me send the light in and a few days later they sent me a new light with batteries.

Ron

 

[CT-Rich]

Most warranties don't cover floods because it is almost impossible to prove whether it is a manufacturer error or a user error. Congratulations on getting a replacement. I guess, some value the customers enough to send out rebuilds and find out if they have design defects. The warranties would be an endless headache of idiots not reading the instructions and not seating the o-ring, killing it and then looking for a freebie.

 

[Neilwood]

Glad to see they did honour the warranty and supplied a replacement.