Inon Flashes - Flood Warning

[Ardy]

I have just flooded and lost my Inon Z-240 and I am depressed. It was a truly great flash and it was my own fault.

To stop you doing the same as me I am posting this but maybe you are not as ignorant as I was.

1. There is a clear WARNING on the front of the battery compartment regarding greasing the O'ring. I looked at this, but I have had u/w flashes for years and made an assumption (which is the standpoint of fools).

2. Before I left on my trip to Bali I greased the large battery o'ring on both my flashes (1x inon + 1 x SnS).

3. After 9 dives I assumed that my Inon would still be greased.

4. When I tightened it down there was slight difference in the 'feel' of it. Not enough for me to worry but on reflection it did feel different.

5. After the flood the o'ring was pinched and cut and it became obvious that I should have greased it.

I would suggest that after every dive you check and grease the o'ring. These flashes are too good to lose them in this stupid way.

I am going to buy a SnS D1 as I know their water proofing on the battery compartment is superior and the inon was my only move away from SnS in 20 years.

P.S. Warning re: SnS There is an extra 'click' when you close the battery compartment. I found this out the hard way 10 years ago and I have noticed several owners are not aware of this, but SnS are far more forgiving of a battery flood.

 

[SEMO Scuba]

I have Inon D-2000 strobes and you do have to watch when you put the battery compartment cap on to make sure that the o-rings don't get squeezed out of it's recess and pinched by the edge of the lid. The Inon manual says to use a very light coat of o-ring lube on the inside of the cap where it contacts the o-ring. When I put my caps on I usually dampen my finger and rub it on the inside of the cap. That helps the cap to slide on the o-ring and not push it out of it's recess.

 

[Ardy]

I have Inon D-2000 strobes and you do have to watch when you put the battery compartment cap on to make sure that the o-rings don't get squeezed out of it's recess and pinched by the edge of the lid. The Inon manual says to use a very light coat of o-ring lube on the inside of the cap where it contacts the o-ring. When I put my caps on I usually dampen my finger and rub it on the inside of the cap. That helps the cap to slide on the o-ring and not push it out of it's recess.

Semo you are smarter than I was with this flash......

 

[dirtfarmer]

Here's another tip: even if you don't need to recharge your battery's open it up at the end of the day. the Nimh's off gas and that can react with moisture from condensation. The strobe gives off heat and even in warm water it can condense and react with the gas. I also remove the cap when flying.

 

[Ran Mozaik]

I'm sorry for you that you had to learn it the hard way, but indeed proper maintenance is the key here.
Thanks for sharing your tips, hopefully it would save another Inon's life in the future

As for the YS-D1's, I agree and had a chance to test it out myself. I flooded my YS-D1 after a shark dive (after! yay!), probably due to fast preparation and closing the lid without verifying it's sealed.
I carefully dried it up for a couple of days, scraped off a bit of leftover rust, and it was good as new! Used it on the same trip and it kept working long after... That really makes you appreciate the battery compartment separation!

 

[Ardy]

Guys this and other tips on how to protect our underwater lighting should be made a sticky. Cameras come and go, as do housings but the lights live on. I am so pissed with myself for losing this flash and a quick look at a thread like this might have helped me.

 

[KeithG]

You may want to re-consider your grease it every dive rule. This perceived need may be strobe dependent? Based upon poor design?

After many years of diving I have come to the conclusion that the people who fiddle the most with their camera gear, suffer the most failures. I could be wrong. But my premise gets confirmed EVERY dive trip. Last liveaboard there were 3 "complex" rigs. Both of the other photogs constantly screwed with their gear. Both of them experienced failures. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Greasing requires that you remove and re-install the o-ring. This is a major opportunity for operator error. Most (all?) floods are operator error? Based upon my experience, I claim there is no need for constant greasing of S&S strobe orings. Or camera housing orings.

The design of the standard S&S battery door & o-ring is very forgiving. I am not sure you can "pinch" the o-ring. Unless it had started to fail by swelling? I religiously grease my strobe o-rings every 50 dives or so, even if they do not need it. I do swap batteries every dive as I tend to shoot the strobe off too much. I visually check the o-ring each battery swap and only disturb it if I see evidence of sand. (and then I mentally beat myself just a bit for being a dumba** and abusing my gear). If sand is present I flip the oring off and clean the sand off with my wet fingers and DO NOT apply any additional grease. Grease attracts dirt (and cat hair!). Dirt is bad. Cat hair is worse.

I treat my camera housing orings the same. Never had a flood.

And no, I do not think I am lucky. I am careful.

 

[Ardy]

Giffenk: I agree 100% most gear failures are due to over zealous people fiddling with things that are OK.

That's why I was so shocked to lose my Inon strobe. I figured a grease before I went away and it would be OK. Now you have informed me that if I had sent it back to Inon I might have got a major discount on a new one! I can't win a trick this month...Roll on March!

 

[Nemrod]

I clean and grease, very lightly, the O-ring on the battery compartment on my Inon D2000 strobes after each battery charge/change. The cap is clear and you can visually see the O-ring seat. If there is any twist this is because there was not enough grease. It does not take but a little bit. I also, after greasing the O ring run my finger around the inner surface of the cap. The supplied yellow O-rings are very soft and would be easy to damage or twist if not greased properly.

N

 

[KeithG]

Maybe the "to grease or not to grease" rule is equipment dependent? Related to the (poor?) design of the sealing surface. Many camera equipment manufacturers do not seem to understand basic sealing principles.

My scuba experience is limited to Amphibico, Sea & Sea (and now Meikon) housings (and a handful of dive lights). All of my camera equipment has been awesome. 2 dive light models were less than awesome (they flooded, poorly designed). None of my camera equipment has ever flooded. All good designs.

In a prior (very young) life I was part of a business that tried to install computers with external sensors on trucks. Our biggest nemesis was the power wash monkeys. They used "high pressure" water guns to wash the gunk off the trucks. They regularly filled our supposedly waterproof (but not really) NEMA electronics enclosures with water. We also developed onboard instrumentation for fuel trucks. The fuel truck stuff was either "explosion proof" or "intrinsically safe" (google those if you are really bored..)

Through all of this I did a lot of learnin' about how to seal boxes full of electronics against nasty stuff. Not yet an expert. Parker Hannifin has a great tutorial about oring sealing concepts - both static and dynamic. I can't find the link right now... Many scuba gear company engineers should read it...

My take is that if you HAVE to grease all the time, then you are dealing with a poor design.

An example of "no grease EVER needed" is my first user replaceable battery dive computer - the oring was seated in a groove in the body and the cover screwed down on top of it. Once seated, the oring did not move as the cover was tightened onto it (hence no need for any lube). Awesome design. Seems like the INON design is the opposite of this? oops...