Go Pro Hero 10 cannot turn on underwater

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Aerobics111

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Location
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Hi all. New to scuba diving and last weekend was my first time using a GoPro Hero 10. I have a waterproof housing (official housing from GoPro) and tested the camera before going into the water. Battery was at 50~60%.

After descent, I couldn't turn it on. Water temperature was 55F. I thought maybe there was a leak that damaged the camera. The depth was only 30 ft. But after I finished diving and got back to the beach, I opened the housing and it was completely dry inside and the camera could then turn on and record with no problem. There was also nothing wrong with the buttons on the housing.

Has anyone experienced this? The only explanation I could think of is the water was cold (but is 55F too cold for electronics?) plus the battery was not fully charged (but still more than half charged).

Thank you!!!
 
What sort of exposure protection were you using in that 55 degree water?

I'm working a theory. Something similar happened to me but it was my BCD inflate button which wouldn't work at depth but worked fine before and after the dive on the surface.

After a lot of troubleshooting I discovered the issue.

Turns out my fingers were numb from the cold and weren't working right.
 
What sort of exposure protection were you using in that 55 degree water?

I'm working a theory. Something similar happened to me but it was my BCD inflate button which wouldn't work at depth but worked fine before and after the dive on the surface.

After a lot of troubleshooting I discovered the issue.

Turns out my fingers were numb from the cold and weren't working right.
Thanks. I was wearing 5mm gloves, 7mm wetsuit and 7mm boots.

Since I immediately tried turning on the camera after descending, and it was quite shallow, my fingers seemed to work alright. Even though the gloves were thick, I could feel the button was depressed.
 
I use the same housing and tried a gopro 10 in 7C last week. Didn’t have an issue to turn on/off and I ran the battery to much less than 50%.
 
Cold temperatures can impact lithium batteries, but 50f is about where it starts to become a problem.

source: Sci-Hub | Low Temperature Discharge Cycle Tests for a Lithium Ion Cell. 2014 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC) | 10.1109/VPPC.2014.7007097

I don't dive in water that cold, but I'm in the habit of starting my gopro before splashing. Makes things a lot easier, and sometimes the splash is a good way to start a dive video. Also, if there's a problem it's a heck of a lot easier to fix on the boat.
 
Cold temperatures can impact lithium batteries, but 50f is about where it starts to become a problem.

source: Sci-Hub | Low Temperature Discharge Cycle Tests for a Lithium Ion Cell. 2014 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC) | 10.1109/VPPC.2014.7007097

I don't dive in water that cold, but I'm in the habit of starting my gopro before splashing. Makes things a lot easier, and sometimes the splash is a good way to start a dive video. Also, if there's a problem it's a heck of a lot easier to fix on the boat.
Thank you. Definitely planning to start recording before entering water next time. Hopefully it doesn't shut down during the dive.
 
If you want, you could buy one of the new enduro batteries but I don’t think temperature was the issue.

 
I had a problem with a Canon housing where the pressure at 20m pressed on the shutter button half-way, which put the camera in focus and hold mode, which prevented it from fully recognizing a single press and release, to shoot a photo. (It went from focus and hold to fully pressed, then focus and hold, never fully released.)

Maybe the power button isn't recognizing a single press to turn it on a depth?
 
Sometimes pressure differential is an issue. I have had this same problem with the 7,8,9 and 10. You can reset (or unfreeze it) by holding the button down for 10 seconds. (It used to be the side and top button at the same time). Not sure which GoPro document I read that showed me the hack but it takes it out of some kind of hold mode and reactivates.
 
If you want, you could buy one of the new enduro batteries but I don’t think temperature was the issue.


Of course they release that AFTER I buy a full set of 5 batteries.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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