Black Tip Travel Flood

[Boarderguy]

So my dive buddy tripped in full gear yesterday with his travel hoisted on his shoulder. The scooter landed on the prop shroud and then hit the nose pretty lightly on the sidewalk. No visible damage so we proceeded to clamor down the rocks and get wet. I swim off in the shallows while he finished getting ready (fighting a new hood). I turned around after a few minutes expecting him to be on my tail with the scooter and I see him stationary fiddling with the trigger. I've I got back to him I watched a few unsuccessful attempts at starting it and then I saw some gray haze (smoke?) coming from the tube. I grabbed it and rolled it over and found the bubble stream...

Back on shore we pulled the nose and batteries which were soaked. He dumped a pint of salt water out and I said a few choice words. We flushed everything with bottled water but not sure what the next steps should be. I work with electronics daily and wash them in water, but that is only with power sources removed. I've never had to deal with salt water soaked batteries. I told him to flush thoroughly and them bake at 160° F for a few hours the same as I do at work. He currently has everything in a heated room with the vents blowing on everything. What else can be done? Tube is shot and hoping to minimize repair cost further.

 

[Whitrzac]

Batteries are FUBAR, dispose of them.

Electronics may have survived, theyre conformal coated/potted depending on age of teh dpv.

 

[tbone1004]

So my dive buddy tripped in full gear yesterday with his travel hoisted on his shoulder. The scooter landed on the prop shroud and then hit the nose pretty lightly on the sidewalk. No visible damage so we proceeded to clamor down the rocks and get wet. I swim off in the shallows while he finished getting ready (fighting a new hood). I turned around after a few minutes expecting him to be on my tail with the scooter and I see him stationary fiddling with the trigger. I've I got back to him I watched a few unsuccessful attempts at starting it and then I saw some gray haze (smoke?) coming from the tube. I grabbed it and rolled it over and found the bubble stream...

Back on shore we pulled the nose and batteries which were soaked. He dumped a pint of salt water out and I said a few choice words. We flushed everything with bottled water but not sure what the next steps should be. I work with electronics daily and wash them in water, but that is only with power sources removed. I've never had to deal with salt water soaked batteries. I told him to flush thoroughly and them bake at 160° F for a few hours the same as I do at work. He currently has everything in a heated room with the vents blowing on everything. What else can be done? Tube is shot and hoping to minimize repair cost further.

You bake lithium ion batteries at 160f? that seems really strange, especially since most ovens have really poor temperature stability. Batteries hit with salt water are toast, recycle them. The electronic boards inside of them are not sealed and will have already rusted. It stinks, but even as durable as those DeWalt batteries are, I wouldn't risk trying to reuse them especially since you saw smoke coming out of the tube.

 

[Boarderguy]

You bake lithium ion batteries at 160f? that seems really strange, especially since most ovens have really poor temperature stability. Batteries hit with salt water are toast, recycle them. The electronic boards inside of them are not sealed and will have already rusted. It stinks, but even as durable as those DeWalt batteries are, I wouldn't risk trying to reuse them especially since you saw smoke coming out of the tube.

I'm an aviation electronics tech. I don't bake lithium batteries but I do bake electronics with no issues. An elevated temp of 120 shouldn't harm the batteries. 70°C (158°F) for 2-3 hours does the trick after an ultrasonic bath and rinse every time regardless of what's on it or could trap moisture. I offered to cook everything at my office but he is trying with just a warm room for now. It wasn't a full flood so hoping that the salt water didn't get into the batteries.

 

[tbone1004]

I'm an aviation electronics tech. I don't bake lithium batteries but I do bake electronics with no issues. An elevated temp of 120 shouldn't harm the batteries. 70°C (158°F) for 2-3 hours does the trick after an ultrasonic bath and rinse every time regardless of what's on it or could trap moisture. I offered to cook everything at my office but he is trying with just a warm room for now. It wasn't a full flood so hoping that the salt water didn't get into the batteries.

your ovens are likely much more controlled than anything at home though, we have ovens at work that are accurate to half a degree but even some of the highest end ovens are only good to like +20f. The ESC module in the scooter is cheap enough to replace on Amazon, ~$100 but I wouldn't try to bake the batteries, those boards are probably shot.

 

[attack33]

So my dive buddy tripped in full gear yesterday with his travel hoisted on his shoulder. The scooter landed on the prop shroud and then hit the nose pretty lightly on the sidewalk. No visible damage so we proceeded to clamor down the rocks and get wet. I swim off in the shallows while he finished getting ready (fighting a new hood). I turned around after a few minutes expecting him to be on my tail with the scooter and I see him stationary fiddling with the trigger. I've I got back to him I watched a few unsuccessful attempts at starting it and then I saw some gray haze (smoke?) coming from the tube. I grabbed it and rolled it over and found the bubble stream...

Back on shore we pulled the nose and batteries which were soaked. He dumped a pint of salt water out and I said a few choice words. We flushed everything with bottled water but not sure what the next steps should be. I work with electronics daily and wash them in water, but that is only with power sources removed. I've never had to deal with salt water soaked batteries. I told him to flush thoroughly and them bake at 160° F for a few hours the same as I do at work. He currently has everything in a heated room with the vents blowing on everything. What else can be done? Tube is shot and hoping to minimize repair cost further.

I once requested replacement batteries under warranty with Dewalt on their website and they replaced both of my 9aH’s no questions asked. Did not want the originals back. Worth a shot! (if they’re Dewalts and under warranty that is) Good luck!

 

[lermontov]

dewalt batteries are under warranty for a year from purchase - i left mine in the scooter and they ran each other down - dewalt replaced them -salt water maybe not so lucky

 

[Boarderguy]

Update: Dewalt is sending him 2 new batteries. I'm going to take the old ones to work and see what I can see.
DPV has been shipped to Dive Extras without the broken tube. No cost estimate other than knowing the tube is $550 new