GoPRo/Blurfix leaking on first test, any ideas?

[irishtn]

Just did my first test on the gopro/blurfix and I got some water into the Blurfix part. Not sure what I did wrong. I thought I followed AquaPro's instrctions and his video. The only part I felt I might not be doing correctly was the silicone, it seemed the amount of silicone to use was not clear from the instructions. But I thought I did it right. I used the correct O ring, twisted the filter on as tight as I could it seemed. Any thoughts? I sent a message to aquapro, but I thought someone here might have had a similar problem and a some ideas while Im waiting for him to get back to me. Thanks.

 

[EVOIXMR]

Is there water in the camera part or in between the lens and filter ?
When I first got mine I had a small leak in between the lens and filter.
It turned out to be a faulty seal on the filter and srp sent me a new filter and it has worked like a charm ever since.
I would contact SRP directly , they are great guys and will make it right.

If it's in the camera lens part where you put the silicone, you might need to redo it and put silicone on the screws themselves and around the edge.
GL

 

[Marty Cerven]

If your getting a leak try and close up the housing without a camera in it and dunk it in the bath tub. Hold it down for a minute or 2 and watch for where the bubbles are coming from, this will give you an idea of where it leaking and will help to find out what your problem is.

You can get in contact with either aquapro or srp they are both great with their customer service and will do their best to help you out.

 

[irishtn]

Great idea marty. I had already removed what I did though. I cleaned all the parts and will retry to assemble it today. Customer service had emailed me already last night so I will give them a call too today, I should have called them before I did anything late last night. Nothing got in the camera though, just where the filter is and the dessicant balls. Sounds similar to EVOIXMR's leak. I actually have the 2 filters they sell so I should have swapped out the filters to see if that was it. Oh well...I'm sure I made some stupid mistake and they will fix it for me.

 

[dimac]

My first 2 attempts leaked, mainly because i didn't know how liberal i could be with the sealant. A video on youtube helped a lot and I got down to 100 so far without any problem

 

[EVOIXMR]

From what i was told by srp, they machine down the filters they use so they will fit in the blurfix with the oring they provide.
They said a few filters aren't machined exactly and the leaks happen.
Once you see the thin black ring line show thru the filter you know it's sealed good.
So just to be safe, I had them send me 1 size bigger orings and a new filter. no problems after that.

For the housing leak test - i put tissue in the gopro housing itself and did the dunk test and opened up to see if the tissue was wet.
It was dry, so no water got into camera, just the filter part.
Contact SRP and just get a new filter and ask for 1 size bigger orings and you should be good.

 

[blurryfix]

Here's a bit of trouble shooting info if you should ever have a problem with the BlurFix housing flooding. Rest assured, if the BlurFix floods, your camera will stay nice and dry since the integrity of the housing is kept in tact by maintaining the stock seal and lens.


We will work with you to make sure this issue is resolved ASAP. Here are a few things to try:

1. Check that the o-ring is free of dirt and debris before installing it.
2. Next, install the o-ring and UV filter and examine the black line that is visible on the glass of the filter which is indicative of a a good seal between the glass and o-ring (see attached picture.) The black line should be clearly visible all the way around the circumference of the filter. If you have a URPro filter, remove the UV filter then install the URPro filter. How does the seal line compare now? Is it still all the way around the circumference? If the seal is very thin or not present all the way around then there is an issue. If you use silicone grease (not provided with the kit) or wet the o-ring before installation you may find you can tighten the filter down further. Press the filter against a rubber surface (such as the sole of your shoe) to assist in unscrewing a tight filter.
3. You can also try this. Remove the o-ring. Next, reinstall the filter. Screw the filter all the way down. Note where the lettering on the side of the filter aligns with some point on the camera housing (i.e. one of the buttons or the snakeriverprototyping.com print.) Now, remove the filter, reinstall the o-ring, and screw the filter down again. Where does the lettering line up now? If the filter easily screws down to the same point as before then the filter may be out of tolerance and is bottoming out on the BlurFix and not the o-ring.
4. If you installed the BlurFix yourself it is possible that not enough sealant was used. As the instructions mention, the silicone sealant is not used to seal the fish-eye lens to the GoPro housing (the OEM rubber seal does this), rather the sealant is used to prevent water from entering the airspace between the filter and BlurFix via the screw holes or around the fish-eye lens. Open the back of the case and inspect the silicone seal that was created when you mounted the BlurFix. Make sure there are not visible air gaps or bubbles in the silicone. When installing the BlurFix you should have had silicone snaking out of the screw holes as you tightened down the BlurFix. If you didn't, you probably didn't use enough silicone. I recommend filling the screw hole ledge (see the cross-hatched area in Step 6 in the instructions) up with silicone, and the pressing the BlurFix down onto the housing. Remove the snaking silicone from the screw holes with a toothpick. Next, install two screws (opposite one another) and tighten them snugly. Remove any more snaking silicone from the screw holes. Repeat with two more screws. Finally install the last two screws and tighten all screws as you would the lug nuts when changing a tire on a car (see instructions for tightening pattern).

Please let us know what you find when performing the above diagnostics and we'll work with you further to resolve the problem.


Sincerely,


SRP

 

[irishtn]

Awesome help from everyone. I reinstalled it today and I will recheck it at lunch tomorrow. I will do everything you suggested. I didnt quite understand the black line thing til now. Although I don't see the picture you said was attached, it should just be an "imprint" of the Oring where it presses up against the filter correct? I think thats it.
So tomorrow I will definitely look at that. I also think I didn't use enough silicone the first time. Today it was oozing up the screwholes. Although I did not remove the excess...I can do that after it cures correct? And yesterday I used the UV filter only so tomorrow I am going to start with the URPro filter and see what happens, then go to the UV filter. Again, thanks everyone for the help. I will update the progress tomorrow.

 

[blurryfix]

Yes, the black shinny line is the line that appears on the glass as it's pressed against the o ring. Feel free to contact us at info@snakeriverprototyping.com if you have any other questions or continue to have leaking, we would also like to know when you get it all fixed up, and what caused the problem, so we can use the information to better assist our customers.

 

[dimac]

One last tip tho, dunking the gopro+blurfix in a bathtub will only show the bigger gaps in the seal. It's different when you take it on a dive and the higher pressure kicks in. I did the dunk test first and it was good, then took it to the ocean. It flooded around 27m. *all tests done without the camera inside

Test it at depth first without the camera. My sealing failed 2 times before I got it right.