Seymour Fisch
Contributor
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!
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!