Nauticam Vacuum Check Weirdness

[Scuba John]

I've had a Nauticam housing for my Lumix LX-10 for six years now and a couple of days ago something strange happened with the vacuum system. I was going to wait and just get it serviced but I'm on a trip to Indonesia right now and would like to sort this out. And weirdly, a passenger on my same liveaboard had the exact same issue today so I decided to post here. Been a while, ScubaBoard!

Underwater my camera started giving a continuous sound and the red light came on. I surfaced and there was no flooding or leak and no undue amount of moisture inside. The camera was fine. I thought, OK, I'll change the little battery and that should be that. Changed it once, changed it again and I still get a continuous screeching noise when I turn on the housing switch And the red light is continuous.

As I said, another passenger had the same problem with her housing today and hers is brand new. So she came to me and we Googled mightily with no results.

What is the issue? TIA.

 

[VsubT]

Have not seen this before, but maybe check / clean the sensor contacts inside the housing? Maybe something is making the contacts act like there is water in the housing? Picturing some kind of conductive contaminant, like silicone lube, salt crystals, etc.

Interested to hear how you resolve this.

Lance

 

[WS007]

I had the same problem with two Nauticam housings (EM5II and EM1II, both acquired second hand, so plenty of use until the problem occured): The red light plus moisture alarm turned on, during the dive or even already when assembling. This occurred preferentially when humidity was high. This sensor was just too sensitive...
I solved this problem by clipping one of the yellow wires leading to the moisture sensor. This "sensor" is just two open contacts, so I made the sensor just less sensitive by introducing another, additional, open contact...


Wolfgang

P.S.: Now I have a Nauticam housing for Sony A7R5, bought new in 2022 and did not have this problem, so far. In case the problem appears, I will not hesitate to solve the problem the same way again...

 

[rmorgan]

I've had this happen when there was apparently no moisture intrusion. I pulled the battery and left the housing open in front of a fan for a day and it resolved. I've also learned over time that the battery warning is alternating flashing blue and red.

 

[Kendall Raine]

Dove with a guy (in Indonesia) last March who had a similar problem. Had slight water intrusion (with warning lights) but, after cleaning it up and resealing the housing kept getting warning lights despite no further water intrusion. I think he finally resolved the issue by letting the housing sit open in air conditioning for a few days. Seems this problem may not be so rare.

 

[davehicks]

I've had a Nauticam housing for my Lumix LX-10 for six years now and a couple of days ago something strange happened with the vacuum system. I was going to wait and just get it serviced but I'm on a trip to Indonesia right now and would like to sort this out. And weirdly, a passenger on my same liveaboard had the exact same issue today so I decided to post here. Been a while, ScubaBoard!

Underwater my camera started giving a continuous sound and the red light came on. I surfaced and there was no flooding or leak and no undue amount of moisture inside. The camera was fine. I thought, OK, I'll change the little battery and that should be that. Changed it once, changed it again and I still get a continuous screeching noise when I turn on the housing switch And the red light is continuous.

As I said, another passenger had the same problem with her housing today and hers is brand new. So she came to me and we Googled mightily with no results.

What is the issue? TIA.

What does "undue amount" mean? It's a moisture detector, and it's going to do its job.

Indonesia is going to be humid. If at all possible, seal up your camera in an air-conditioned room which will have lower humidity than outdoors. If you seal up a camera in a very high humidity space then bring it into colder water, the humid air in the housing is going to condense out into water.

As another person mentioned, put the open housing with the circuit under a running fan for a few hours to help dry it out better, than be careful about the conditions when you seal it up. If you can't seal it in a dry place, you might need some desiccant packs.

 

[David Haas]

Two pins to an insulated wire at the very bottom might be the culprit. Even the least amount of salt water if migrated up the insulation might give false readings depending on humidity, where you sealed the housing up, where your housing is sitting on the way to the dive site, etc.

As others suggested put it in front an AC unit and see if it dries it out completely.

I've also solved similar problems with trip guests using the Sealife Sport DIver iPhone housing who constantly would get false readings using a hard dryer on low warm......

Some housings have a copper "strip" on the bottom which I think is a bit easier to wipe and dry if any errant drop or two gets on it.

Just some ideas and hope the dives are going well in Indo!

David Haas

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Scuba John

Did you contact Nauticam? You can email them though their website. Did you also contact the dealer from who you bought the housing and vacuum system?

These are from the manual and show the light and alarm sequences:

I have had a Nauticam housing and vacuum system for 9 years. The only time I have had a steady red light, without audio alarm, has been when the battery needs replacement.

On a few instances, I have gotten a little salt water into the housing by opening vacuum with water in the access hole on top of the knob or by opening up the housing carelessly when it was wet. This has caused moisture detection with flashing red light and audio alarm. I cleaned off the sensor electrodes with fresh water on a cotton swab and then made sure everything is dry by using a hair dryer, as suggested by @David Haas

Best of luck. I have never seen the continuous red light with audio alarm. Let us know how this works out.

 

[Scuba John]

I had the same problem with two Nauticam housings (EM5II and EM1II, both acquired second hand, so plenty of use until the problem occured): The red light plus moisture alarm turned on, during the dive or even already when assembling. This occurred preferentially when humidity was high. This sensor was just too sensitive...
I solved this problem by clipping one of the yellow wires leading to the moisture sensor. This "sensor" is just two open contacts, so I made the sensor just less sensitive by introducing another, additional, open contact...


Wolfgang

P.S.: Now I have a Nauticam housing for Sony A7R5, bought new in 2022 and did not have this problem, so far. In case the problem appears, I will not hesitate to solve the problem the same way again...

Thanks, Wolfgang. I live in Thailand, have only used the housing in "high humidity" and in fact, right now in Komodo it's pretty dry, at least compared to Raja last March when it rained continually and in Thailand where it's wet wet wet even when it's hot. I have never had this problem before.

I hesitate to clip anything, I'm not brave enough for that. I think I'll wait until I can get it serviced in a few weeks and just skip taking video this trip. I will try and clean the sensors again but I kept the back open in the sun on and off for two days so it should be as dry as it's ever been.

 

[scubadada]

Try the hair dryer, it can't hurt.