Sealed dive light enclosure and twisted off handle? UK C8 eLED

[nigeltlee]

Hi Folks,

Has anyone else has had the unfortunate experience of finding that their dive light was sealed tight after a dive or flight?

After a trip to Cebu, I packed my Sunlight C8 eLED into my dive bag and flew home. Back at home I was going through my normal inspection of gear, when I tried to unscrew the enclosure to remove the batteries I found that it was sealed tight!

Now hearing about this in the past and experiencing it once before, i've done a few things to avoid it, such as tightening only lightly (well I thought I did) and even drawing directions on the light itself to reinforce which way to turn to unscrew.

after a few failed attempts, I put the light between my knees and used the handle as leverage to unscrew, all of a sudden the handle came right off! well I felt like a

I thought I would poll folks to see how many other people have done this!?

Also I sent UK an email asking of this would be covered by their 'apparently expedient and famous' warranty program. After about 2 weeks I heard back from their distributor in Hong Kong (where I live) who told me they can provide a free inspection to see if i can be repaired at no cost. Before I plan a trip to the distributor, can anyone tell me if I should bother?

I've already bought myself an upgrade (light cannon) but I figured this might be an interesting talking topic for some folks. surely someone can come up with a enclosure mechanism which avoids this from happening...

As a side note, I'm pretty good with all my gear, especially anything which has a 'possibility' of flooding. I always inspect and keep my o-rings clean and adequately greased.

 

[scubafanatic]

...well, the air pressure inside your light was lower than the outside air pressure, what might have worked would be to have raised the air pressure inside the light to equalize the air pressure internally with the outside air pressure...maybe using something like a hair-dryer to warm the light casing would have done the trick ?

 

[nigeltlee]

So I dropped into the local dive center in Causewaybay Hong Kong and showed them the light. after the entire shop had a chance to look and chuckle they called the distributor.

The distributor in Hong Kong said they couldn't fix it but could provide me with a replacement housing for $200.00 HKD. That's about $25 USD.

Pretty good deal i thought. I havent seen the replacement housing yet. I'm assuming its new. Will let you know if its not.

 

[super7]

...well, the air pressure inside your light was lower than the outside air pressure, what might have worked would be to have raised the air pressure inside the light to equalize the air pressure internally with the outside air pressure...maybe using something like a hair-dryer to warm the light casing would have done the trick ?

I was thinking in the same line, but my idea was to take this light and dip it in a hot tub . 40 degrees centigrade shouldn't be harmful to your light, and in case you've got some residue build-up sticking together the o-ring and the housing, warm water should wash them out as well.

I hope you'll have more luck with your next housing.

 

[ScubaErik]

I have taken four different lights to my local dive shop for repair. I pay the shipping to UK and back, and UK has sent me a new replacement each time. They even replaced one I was diving with that wasn't certified for diving. They gave me their web site to look at and said make sure your light is coming from the correct category. They just let me know they wouldn't replace it again if I used it for that purpose. Wonder what would happen if you sent it directly to UK with paid return postage?

 

[nigeltlee]

So i picked up my new housing. IT is new. - Just to be clear the UK distributor in Hong Kong gave me one option ONLY. Pay for a new housing.