Dive Computer Failure- What Happened?

[BillP]

If you flood your battery compartment bad enough to have electrolysis going on in there, I'd expect a 99% chance that will put your computer into GAMEOVER mode very fast. The story sounds much more like an alkaline batteries springing a leak. Still weird though, whatever the cause...

The key word I used is "partially" to refer to one of the ways you can flood a separate battery compartment dive computer. This can go on for days unnoticed because tap water is used to pressure test (only harm caused at this point is the discharge of the battery at a faster rate). However, when you take it to the sea and saltwater creeps into the battery dies pretty fast. Not to mention that the corrosion process attacks the + terminal. However, as you say, if you flood the battery compartment bad enough, is gameover very fast.

I imagine that we'll never know exactly what happened, but the discussion is interesting. As I mentioned, I didn't find any water in either battery compartment, just the brownish crud, that was moist, and the total absence of the positive terminals. I don't think that there was a sudden massive flood. Wouldn't I have found a puddle of water? I looked closely and didn't see any sign of moisture in the battery compartments when I got the computers back from the LDS for the battery change, but I suppose that there could have been a small amount from the pressure test that I didn't see.

Thanks

 

[DIVEWATCHDOCTOR]

BillP, can you provide the battery number that you had installed in your computers (or the dive computer brand and model)? Thanks,

 

[BillP]

They were 1/2AA, 3.6v, lithium batteries.

 

[KeithG]

... The story sounds much more like an alkaline batteries springing a leak. Still weird though, whatever the cause...

They were 1/2AA, 3.6v, lithium batteries.

Could we be blaming the wrong cause? Do lithium batteries "go bad" (other than just dead). What happens when they go bad? I have seen lots of normal everyday AAA and AA batteries "go mouldy" at the positive end.

Alternate theory: What happens if a little moisture is deposited onto the battery during installation time? (i.e. wet hands?).

I have swapped strobe batteries more than once with less than dry hands. Never had a noticeable issue. But maybe i am lucky? And my strobe batteries are eneloops: NiMH not Lihtium.

 

[DIVEWATCHDOCTOR]

BillP& giffenk, Given your dive computers use lithium batteries, that excludes the acid leakage explanation inside the battery compartment. Alkaline batteries such as AA and AAA are prone to leakage but lithiums do not leak. In spite you found no water when opened the compartment, to me a small amount of seawater seeping into the battery compartment is the only remaining logical explanation.