Leaking Recsea Housing for Canon S95

[miguel83]

Today I went diving.
I didn t take the tray with me. I did the whole dive with out any incident. At 6m
I did the experiment: I pressed on the door like if I had the tray mounted and the housing got flooded.
In my second dive I did not touch the housing at all except pressing all the buttons. The housing was dry when I opened it.

This confirms:

that it is important to use flat trays only
that the door needs to be better protected against slanting and lateral mecanical stress.

try a thicker o-ring could help too.

I will send this to my contact at RecSea and see what the say.

 

[surf4life]

That's interesting that it is that easy to cause the housing to flood. Wonder if the Fix housing that is similar to Recsea, but uses a different locking mechanism has any of these issues. Maybe someone with one can respond?

 

[mantababe]

surely it shouldnt be that easy for it to leak, i have the recsea one and had originally got the try with the lip [as advised by CUW] but after reading some threads on here realised it was the wrong one, lucky it hadnt been used so i got it changed but i do agree with the poster above that the manufacturers should tell us not to get trays with lips on but flat ones. they are expensive housings so you expect them to with stand quite a bit so im surprised that this prob has turned up, and it is worrying that the poster managed to flood his housing just by pushing on the door.

i do hope they look into this because at a cost of over £600 i expect the housing to withstand more than this

 

[ozziworld]

There are several members that regularly contribute to this board using the recsea or fix version of the housing. I read this and I of course wonder about the number of dives other recsea or fix housings are doing without incident.

I have a FIX S90 and have been diving it regularly the past year or so (close to a hundred dives I would guess). I have two trays, one with a lip and I never considered installing the housing with the lip up. Was not given any advise one way or the other. Just lucky in that sense I guess.

Interesting observation Miguel on pressing on the tray. I was wondering how much effort was applied and for how long. Was it a lot of water that entered? I did observe on my FIX S90 some play between the door and the main body when the o-ring is not installed. I also noted the same or similar play with my Canon OEM housing for another camera. I tend to agree with Nemrod that the principle applied with the o-ring/door/housing arrangement is pretty much the same. Could there be another variable that may have been overlooked? As delivered, the o-ring size/spec may have changed for commercial or technical reasons.

Anyway, I must say my confidence in the soundness of my FIX Housing is generally quite good. Exceptions of course when I am pondering the observations raised in this thread.

I always follow these threads as the issues discussed may affect how I use my housing and how I may be able to help others with the same/similar housing.

 

[miguel83]

There are several members that regularly contribute to this board using the recsea or fix version of the housing. I read this and I of course wonder about the number of dives other recsea or fix housings are doing without incident.

I have a FIX S90 and have been diving it regularly the past year or so (close to a hundred dives I would guess). I have two trays, one with a lip and I never considered installing the housing with the lip up. Was not given any advise one way or the other. Just lucky in that sense I guess.

Interesting observation Miguel on pressing on the tray. I was wondering how much effort was applied and for how long. Was it a lot of water that entered? I did observe on my FIX S90 some play between the door and the main body when the o-ring is not installed. I also noted the same or similar play with my Canon OEM housing for another camera. I tend to agree with Nemrod that the principle applied with the o-ring/door/housing arrangement is pretty much the same. Could there be another variable that may have been overlooked? As delivered, the o-ring size/spec may have changed for commercial or technical reasons.

Anyway, I must say my confidence in the soundness of my FIX Housing is generally quite good. Exceptions of course when I am pondering the observations raised in this thread.

I always follow these threads as the issues discussed may affect how I use my housing and how I may be able to help others with the same/similar housing.

Since I was not using the tray I had to apply a lot of force with my fingers. Normally you will never do this. But if you use the tray, the torque of the screw will produce enough force to slant the door and keep it slanted.

I only applied the force for a second or so and I saw immediately an air bubble popping off the housing.
There was enough water to cause damage. If I had used the tray, the door would have been slanted all the time and with increasing water pressure I would be holding a mini fish tank in my hands.




My short term solution is :

use stainless steel washers instead of nylon on the hinge.
use thicker o-ring, maybe 2.1 mm instead of 2mm is enough.
USE ONLY FLAT TRAYS

If RecSea is willing to transmit the dimension of the o-ring used, I will post it here.

Otherwise, the RecSea housing is very nice. As with any other product there may be flaws.

What makes me angry is that the dealer knows about the problem and does not tell that only flat trays must be used. RecSea also knows about the problem but does not or did not transmit this to authorised dealers. One simple comment in the product description would have saved me 800 Euros worth of cameras. I hope I can negociate a compensation for ommiting important information.

stay tuned...

 

[Nemrod]

Since I was not using the tray I had to apply a lot of force with my fingers. Normally you will never do this. But if you use the tray, the torque of the screw will produce enough force to slant the door and keep it slanted.

I only applied the force for a second or so and I saw immediately an air bubble popping off the housing.
There was enough water to cause damage. If I had used the tray, the door would have been slanted all the time and with increasing water pressure I would be holding a mini fish tank in my hands.




My short term solution is :

use stainless steel washers instead of nylon on the hinge.
use thicker o-ring, maybe 2.1 mm instead of 2mm is enough.
USE ONLY FLAT TRAYS

If RecSea is willing to transmit the dimension of the o-ring used, I will post it here.

Otherwise, the RecSea housing is very nice. As with any other product there may be flaws.

What makes me angry is that the dealer knows about the problem and does not tell that only flat trays must be used. RecSea also knows about the problem but does not or did not transmit this to authorised dealers. One simple comment in the product description would have saved me 800 Euros worth of cameras. I hope I can negociate a compensation for ommiting important information.

stay tuned...

I am not sure why you are wanting to add washers in the door hinges but I can tell you right now if you are attempting to alter the fit of the door to body you will cause a flood for the very same reason that tightening your housing down onto a lip on your non-compatible tray. The door and body must be able to float in relation to one another, this is not supposed to be rigid. Your idea of increasing the O ring diameter is probably not a good thing. I would not do that either, it will result in displacement or pinching or rolling of the O ring and yet another flood. It is possible that the durometer of the O ring should be increased, I would have to consider on that.

The housing door O ring is a static seal. The parts are not supposed to be rigidly fixed but float on the O ring. The sealing of an O ring as used in camera housing is more effective once there is a pressure differential. This is why many housings flood when a diver jumps in with them. There is very little pressure differential and the seal is easily broken by the impact shock causing a flood. This happens often enough that most divers prefer to have their cameras handed to them and it is known that camera housings should be handled gingerly in this transition from surface to submerged as they do not suffer knocking about kindly and will flood, especially at very shallow depths.

I would remove and discard your O ring and replace it with a new one. It is possible it is defective or damaged. However, pushing on the door of any housing with force, especially at shallow depths is likely going to result in a flood.

This is not a "problem" with the Recsea or any other housing, it is common to all housings of all types. You are not supposed to push on the door with force or yank or twist on it nor tighten it down on some other piece (like a tray) that was not designed for the camera. I guess the manufacture of your tray should have included information stating that it was not suitable for use with a Recsea housing but I don't see why Recsea should test all possible third party components that are not even designed for the housing or approved by them for use.

When installing an O ring, first it should be lubricated lightly, just enough to make it shiny. Then it should be rolled into the groove so as not to twist it. Then using a plastic pick run the pick under the O ring fully around the circumference to make sure there are no twists in the O ring. Observe that it is in the groove, there is no lint, hair, fuzz, sand etc on any of the mating parts including the O ring and then gently close the door while observing that the O ring does not extrude. Extrusion is caused by an O ring that has swelled due to using an incompatible lubricant, an O ring being to large or too stiff or too much lubricant.

Frankly, I prefer housing doors without a hinge but instead multiple spring clamps as being able to get a more reliable and consistent pinch on the seal without twisting it or extruding it inadvertently.

N

 

[NautilusCairns]

I have been following this thread since day one as just before it started I had decided to buy a Recsea housing and a S95 camera to replace my A640 and Ikelite housing. It became evident very quickly from the comments in the thread that to avoid floods any tray had to be clear of the door and the holding down screws were not to be overtightened. Comments about O ring fitting, inspection etc. apply to all O ring installations. I initially chose the Ultralight TR-DM tray as it nicely cleared the door and was quite rigid. When I decided to go to two strobes I used the TR-DM tray and Nemrod's photos of his to design my own as I wanted to have the handles nice and close to the housing and none of the trays available on the market met my needs.

The tray was made for $30 and so far suits me fine and I can do all the camera adjustments with both hands on the handles and it is very compact. I agree with Nemrod's comments regarding spring clamps. I liked the ones on my Ikelite housing, very positive closure, but you still need to take a little care in closing and opening them. I wonder how many Fix S90/Recsea S95 housing owners have turned the locking dial the wrong way when closing or opening the door? I have!!

 

[miguel83]

@NEMROD
I m not a mecanical engineer nor am I a professional with 30 years experience like you, so I apologize for my obvious ignorance.


It is is your right to defend RecSea, which btw I m not attacking.

But it is my right as a customer and UW fotography beginner to be given enough information about the
product I m buying to avoid such mishapps.

The tray is a seatool tray which is now RecSea, so it is not third party product.

If the door is so sensitive why not add more protection?
RecSea and the Dealer are aware of the problem and they do not mention that ANYWHERE.

I do use RecSea lubricant as instructed and check the o-ring with a magnifying lens. and yes I do use that plastic thing that came with the lubricant to settle the o-ring.

So I m not entierly stupid.

I just hope that my post was able to save someones camera...

I need to work for my money and the loss of 2 cameras hurts. This could have been easly avoided. I' m disgusted
and right now just want to shredd the whole thing and forget about UW fotography altogether specially after reading
your motivating posts. Beeing arrogant and blaming people for their lack of knowledge and experience
is certainly not going to help.

 

[surf4life]

Miguel, Can imagine it really sucks loosing two cameras. I've been slowly building my similar system and understand how much you've invested. Even doing everything right, the threat of a flood is always there. Your point about the tray problem not being stated by the mfg. seems justified. If that is indeed the cause of the flood I'd hope something could be resolved in your favor. In any case, appreciate you filling us in and am hoping you're able to rebuild your system and get some resolution that's satisfactory. Sure everyone here can relate to your frustration and wishes the best.

 

[Nemrod]

I am going to stay with what I said and how I said it and if anybody wants to take offense, so be it. As a technical person I attempt to give straight responses. The problem you had was the result of installing the housing with the door being pulled/forced out of alignment by the tightening of the attach screws jamming the tray lip into the housing door. This should have been obvious and unfortunately it was not to you until flood number two. I do not really agree with your proposed solutions to a non existent problem nor do I agree there is a problem. Operator error is not a design flaw. I hope you get resolution but at the same time fear your creation of a problem could have others flooding their cameras by installing larger O-rings or washers in the door hinges. The instructions do not say to do those things either but I warned you not to unless you want to flood a third camera. This advice you gave could lead others astray. Sorry to upset you.

Oh, I might add, I never said anything arrogant, I never called you stupid or any other name nor I have I ever claimed to be a pro at anything. You fabricated all of this on your own.

N