Flooded My DGX 600

[Seymour Fisch]

I managed to flood my DGX 600 today. I bought this light on the advice of Scubaboard, and I really liked it for the brief time that I've used it, so I'm looking for some advice for what to do or not to do:

I had the light soaking in a bucket post-dive, but when I went to dry it off, I noticed that the light head was corroded shut. With considerable force, I managed to open it, with a popping sound, to find the battery exploded, corrosion inside the battery housing, and water/electrolyte in the space between the front lens and the LED module. I searched Scubaboard and someone recently had the identical flood on a DRIS light, and some people said you can rescue lights if you get the battery out fast enough, but I'm pretty sure I'm too late (several hours). (DRIS also offered to replace that light, but I'm a pretty sure mine is user error, so I'm not expecting DGX to send me a new one, although I wouldn't say no if they did!)

So... what did I do wrong (below), or what should I do differently?

I've had this light for almost a year, but have only used it on 4 dives: two cenote dives in May (where the guide was really impressed with the light), and 2 ocean dives today.
1. I always stored the light without the battery inside.
2. I don't remember if I greased the o-rings before the cenote dives, but I definitely did last night.
3. I don't really know how to grease o-rings. I didn't want to stretch them out by removing them, and it looked very clean and already greased inside the light barrel, so I used a tissue to wipe out the barrel, threads, and o-rings, then smeared a very thin bit of the grease that DGX sent me with the light on the outside of the 3 o-rings. I didn't see any sand/lint/etc. when I screwed it back together, and it screwed together smoothly. I'm pretty sure this isn't the "proper" way to grease o-rings, but is it that bad?
4. The light worked beautifully through my two dives today. The water was 45-50F. I turned the light on at the beginning of each dive and off at the end.
5. I didn't rinse gear immediately after the dive, and it took several hours before I got home.
6. I left the light to soak in a bucket of warm tap water for a few hours. Is that too long? Is the temperature shock a problem?

Or do lights just fail sometimes, and I just need to buy another one?

Any advice much appreciated!

 

[mattia_v]

Sorry to hear about your lights!

On O-rings: remove them (get a pick if you need to) to grease them. Clean the groove they're in, apply a tiny amount (a small pea's worth is almost more than I need for the double O-rings on my camera housing) to the o-ring, I use my fingers, just so it's slightly lubricated. No gobs, blobs, or otherwise, if there's too much wipe off with a clean tissue, without stretching the O-rings. Then re-install into clean grooves. The point is to ensure the entire O-ring is well lubricated, not dry, but certainly not dripping in lubricant.

As far as rinsing, I usually briefly soak (a few minutes) my camera while working all the buttons, don't really leave it to soak in a bucket for hours (nothing to be gained there).

 

[Seymour Fisch]

Thanks, Mattia! (There isn't a "Thank" button anymore that I can find...)

I'm guessing it was a combination of marginal o-ring greasing, but mainly soaking too long with the temperature shock, since the light worked fine throughout both dives. I'll be more careful in the future...

 

[raftingtigger]

My DGX-600 has flooded twice. The first was discovered a long time afterwards with a very difficult to open backcap. The battery was destroyed but I rescued the guts. A few dives later (somewhere between 5 and 25) it flooded again. Much more water this time and I caught it within minutes of returning to my car.

Again the battery was destroyed. I figured the guts was gone, but have slowly worked on cleaning it out. Today I checked the LED and it works. I have not yet checked the driver board. I'm not sure I will ever trust it underwater again, but am considering sealing the electronics in plastic or silicone.

I'm very careful with lubricating my o-rings and keeping dust out. I think the leak was related to the twist type on/off switch.

If you take yours apart the head is glued on. Put a little acetone down the threads (head) before trying to unscrew it. Clean and brush everything with vinegar/water and a soft toothbrush, then put in rice to dry. You will have to disassemble the driver board out of the aluminum pill. You need a special spanner to unscrew the LED/driver module. If I have time I'll post pictures.

Since the first leak I'm soaking my lights (5 on each dive) briefly in my camera bucket then removing the batteries. I store them with a dessicant packet in the battery area.

I like the light output and the form factor of the DGX-600, but my dives are getting too long for the battery. I've replaced the light with one a little brighter, a magnetic switch, and larger capacity batteries. Unfortunately the form factor is larger than I'd like

In all fairness to the DGX-600, I've had it for a year or two.

 

[Centrals]

Murphy's Law!
I wonder how many divers had not experienced a flooded camera/computer/light?
O-ring!!!!!

 

[raftingtigger]

Murphy's Law!
I wonder how many divers had not experienced a flooded camera/computer/light?
O-ring!!!!!

I'm very careful with lubricating my o-rings and keeping dust out. I think the leak was related to the twist type on/off switch.

I agree, floods happen - even if you are very careful with o-ring condition and maintenance. Some designs are more prone to flooding than others. Screw in/out switches are one such area. Not only can you unscrew it too far, the constant back and forth over the o-rings probably wears them more. Not that magnetic switches don't have problems, they do.

 

[Seymour Fisch]

Thanks, raftingtigger! I may still attempt to salvage this light, although as you said, I don't think I'd trust this particular light underwater given the corrosion that's happened.

Regarding the o-rings, I guess some failures will just be an additional cost of diving. But the screw-in/out design, which originally struck me as so elegantly simple, does seem to be tempting fate: in normal operation, the o-rings have to slide, yet seal instantly. Even with triple o-rings, all 3 are subjected to the same forces at the same time. In contrast, something like the GoPro housing (and I'm guessing most camera housings), where the o-ring is purely compressed, and isn't subjected to any movement during use, seems less likely to leak.

 

[gopbroek]

I went to the DGX MAX because of similar problem's with a DGX 600. With the MAX it uses mag switch on a twist ring, not twisting the entire body which reduces the chance of flooding. One problem with the MAX is that you must keep the twist ring lubricated or it will lock up.

 

[Seymour Fisch]

I'll have to check out the MAX. I remember reading on the dgx website that it only had 2 o-rings, thinking that was a lot worse than the 3 on the 600, but now I understand that it's a different switch design altogether.