Installing Salted Line RX100 Main O-Ring

[vinsanity]

I just got a new Salted Line RX100 enclosure and per the instructions I removed the main o-ring, cleaned it, regreased it, and am trying to install it. The problem is there is nothing to capture the o-ring. It just sits in the slot, which is longer than the o-ring, which requires the o-ring to stretch, which is fine, but nothing I do will hold the other side in the slot.

Using basically all my fingers, I can get it completely in place, but the moment I let go, the slippery stretched ring slides right out. I feel like the only thing holding it in before was maybe the vacuum created by the ring being pressed in there by an installation machine. I tried holding it in place and then racing it to put the cover on to press it in uniformly, but it slides out too fast.

Help.

 

[Barmaglot]

This is a face-sealing o-ring, there is no need to grease it. The grease facilitates the o-ring sliding in its groove; it does not contribute to sealing. When you close the housing, this o-ring gets squeezed between the front and back parts, but there is no sliding involved, so it does not need greasing. Wash it, dry it, press it into the groove and pretty much leave it alone.

There is a second o-ring on the back side of the housing - that one does slide, as it seals against the outer edges of the front side. Pull it out, give it a light coating of grease and put it back on - it stretches over the groove, so it isn't going anywhere.

Unless you're diving in very silty conditions, there is no need to mess around with o-rings between dives - just use something lint-free to wipe away water droplets when you open the housing. I generally clean and grease the o-rings once a trip and don't touch them otherwise unless the vacuum system alerts me something is wrong.

Speaking of vacuum systems, if you've bought the VPS-100 with your housing, SeaFrogs' instructions for its use are quite clear: "WARNING - THIS ACCESSORY IS NOT MEANT TO BE USED UNDERWATER AS PER MANUFACTURER INSTRUCTIONS! ANY ATTEMPT TO DO SO CAN CAUSE EQUIPMENT LOSS AND IS NOT COVERED BY THE WARRANTY!"

And indeed there is a reason for this warning - the protective cap that covers the top of VPS-100 is not 100% waterproof. Over the course of 250 or so dives on which I used my SeaFrogs housing with the VPS-100 attached, I have had two instances where this cap leaked, filling the valve with water (which destroyed the valve electronics) and admitting small amounts (several drops) of water into the housing - not enough to kill the camera, but not a good experience nonetheless.

On the other hand, following SeaFrogs' instructions to 'Remove the valve from the backplate and place the vacuum opening lid in its original place, make sure the O-ring is still there (Illustration 1). - safe to dive!' does not strike me as an optimal solution either - for one thing, there is nothing that tests the integrity of the vacuum port cap seal itself, which makes it a potential water ingress point; for another, having the housing under vacuum pre-loads the o-rings, reducing the chance of leakage on the surface or if the housing is bumped in the rinse tank, and releasing the vacuum removes this advantage.

However, as it turns out, there is an alternative - Vivid Housings makes a version of their Leak Sentinel V5 XB that is compatible with SeaFrogs housings. It is not listed for sale anywhere that I could find, but if you contact Miso Milivojevic directly at info@vividhousings.com, he will sell one directly for €230 including free worldwide shipping by registered mail, although this does not include a pump - manual pump is an extra €25 while an electric pump is another €50. I have just taken delivery of mine and can confirm that it fits and it works.

I'm not affiliated with either SeaFrogs or Vivid Housings in any way, but as an avid user, I can wholeheartedly recommend this solution.

 

[tursiops]

However, as it turns out, there is an alternative - Vivid Housings makes a version of their Leak Sentinel V5 XB that is compatible with SeaFrogs housings. It is not listed for sale anywhere that I could find, but if you contact Miso Milivojevic directly at info@vividhousings.com, he will sell one directly for €230 including free worldwide shipping by registered mail, although this does not include a pump - manual pump is an extra €25 while an electric pump is another €50. I have just taken delivery of mine and can confirm that it fits and it works.

THIS is terrific information!

 

[vinsanity]

This is a face-sealing o-ring, there is no need to grease it. The grease facilitates the o-ring sliding in its groove; it does not contribute to sealing. When you close the housing, this o-ring gets squeezed between the front and back parts, but there is not sliding involved, so it does not need greasing. Wash it, dry it, press it into the groove and pretty much leave it alone.

Doh! How did I miss that? I was mindlessly following the intro video, but you are completely right. Grease is not for sealing, it's for making sure the o-ring gets and stays in proper position to seal, which at best, in this case, a tiny, tiny bit on the front might be useful after it's installed.

Speaking of vacuum systems, if you've bought the VPS-100 with your housing, SeaFrogs' instructions for its use are quite clear: "WARNING - THIS ACCESSORY IS NOT MEANT TO BE USED UNDERWATER AS PER MANUFACTURER INSTRUCTIONS! ANY ATTEMPT TO DO SO CAN CAUSE EQUIPMENT LOSS AND IS NOT COVERED BY THE WARRANTY!"

However, as it turns out, there is an alternative - Vivid Housings makes a version of their Leak Sentinel V5 XB that is compatible with SeaFrogs housings. It is not listed for sale anywhere that I could find, but if you contact Miso Milivojevic directly at info@vividhousings.com, he will sell one directly for €230 including free worldwide shipping by registered mail, although this does not include a pump - manual pump is an extra €25 while an electric pump is another €50. I have just taken delivery of mine and can confirm that it fits and it works.

Well that's pretty disappointing, because I did buy the vacuum, and removing it to dive seems to miss the point. Haven't read the directions yet though. I wasn't really looking to spend almost $300 on just the vacuum circuit though. Thanks for the lead. I may take a look into it.

I'm not affiliated with either SeaFrogs or Vivid Housings in any way, but as an avid user, I can wholeheartedly recommend this solution.

Any chance you have successfully used the Android Imaging Edge app to add GPS tags to the RX100 via bluetooth? That's the one feature that I really liked about my TG4, but when I install the app on my Android phone it says it's only compatible with ICLE-7M4, despite the Sony web page saying it's compatible with the RX100.

 

[happy-diver]

a tiny, tiny bit on the front might be useful after it's installed.

Useful for what, collecting dirt to share the space between the sealing surface and the oring

 

[Barmaglot]

I wasn't really looking to spend almost $300 on just the vacuum circuit though.

Put it this way - over the years, I ended up spending nearly $400 on three VPS-100 units and shipping fees, and then I got a Leak Sentinel.

Any chance you have successfully used the Android Imaging Edge app to add GPS tags to the RX100 via bluetooth?

Sorry, no, I use an A6300, and I've never tried to do any smartphone integration with it. I catalog the images by area and dive site when I import them into my computer.