Chris Ross
Contributor
Firstly, it's hard to trouble shoot long distance, so bear with multiple questions. If it's holding vacuum, it seems like you are getting a few drops of water in somewhere. You didn't confirm you were replacing cap over the red button. There's two components to the vacuum check:
First you pull a vacuum and leave it for at least twenty minutes - preferably longer - you are waiting to see if the pressure increases from air leaking in. Air will leak in faster than water and will cause the pressure to increase to the point the electronics can detect it then the light starts blinking red but no alarm. In your case I'd leave it an hour and fiddle with the controls periodically to see it's holding vacuum still. Procedure is to pump till the light goes from blinking blue to solid green then give 1-2 more pumps.
But if you start to leak UW , a few drops of water is not much volume so the pressure doesn't change dramatically and the vacuum alarm does not go off, but once the water contacts the moisture sensor it alarms.
To get the moisture sensor going again - it is just two wires - see if you can loosen them from their clip and wash them in a small container of fresh water and dry then rinse them with alcohol. Also wipe out the inside of the housing with a cloth moistened with fresh water then dry it - is there a hair dryer available to assist? Make sure when you clip the wires back they are separated and not actually touching the housing.
On the o-rings if you have to ask how to check an o-ring - I would not be confident in saying it's not the port. To check o-rings - pull them using the supplied o-ring pick or the corner of a credit card. First inspect the o-ring groove and the seating surface of the housing for grit, fibres or hair, make sure you have good light. Once you are happy with that run the o-rings through your fingers feeling for grit- examine them closely in good light making sure there is no fibre/hair or grit attached. Feel for nicks/cuts etc it should be smooth to feel all the way round. Your fingers are very sensitive to any grit or cuts etc.
Once it's clean don't put it down anywhere, squeeze out a small amount of grease and apply evenly to the o-ring to distribute evenly it should be shiny but not showing gobs of grease. Immediately install it being careful to to twist or stretch it too much. Run your eyes over it one last time checking for hairs etc. Close the housing to keep dust/grit away. Only open it to install the camera.
That's the general procedures I'd run through all of that then leave it sit under vacuum several hours coming back to it periodically to fiddle with controls. Next see if you can arrange to drop down the mooring line with some spare air at the end of a dive with the housing lined with paper and a weight to spend 5 minutes with it at depth. The problem is you can check the port and housing o-rings and they are a common cause of leaks but checking the control buttons is more difficult. If you are still getting drops of water in then I think you'll probably need to get it overhauled.
First you pull a vacuum and leave it for at least twenty minutes - preferably longer - you are waiting to see if the pressure increases from air leaking in. Air will leak in faster than water and will cause the pressure to increase to the point the electronics can detect it then the light starts blinking red but no alarm. In your case I'd leave it an hour and fiddle with the controls periodically to see it's holding vacuum still. Procedure is to pump till the light goes from blinking blue to solid green then give 1-2 more pumps.
But if you start to leak UW , a few drops of water is not much volume so the pressure doesn't change dramatically and the vacuum alarm does not go off, but once the water contacts the moisture sensor it alarms.
To get the moisture sensor going again - it is just two wires - see if you can loosen them from their clip and wash them in a small container of fresh water and dry then rinse them with alcohol. Also wipe out the inside of the housing with a cloth moistened with fresh water then dry it - is there a hair dryer available to assist? Make sure when you clip the wires back they are separated and not actually touching the housing.
On the o-rings if you have to ask how to check an o-ring - I would not be confident in saying it's not the port. To check o-rings - pull them using the supplied o-ring pick or the corner of a credit card. First inspect the o-ring groove and the seating surface of the housing for grit, fibres or hair, make sure you have good light. Once you are happy with that run the o-rings through your fingers feeling for grit- examine them closely in good light making sure there is no fibre/hair or grit attached. Feel for nicks/cuts etc it should be smooth to feel all the way round. Your fingers are very sensitive to any grit or cuts etc.
Once it's clean don't put it down anywhere, squeeze out a small amount of grease and apply evenly to the o-ring to distribute evenly it should be shiny but not showing gobs of grease. Immediately install it being careful to to twist or stretch it too much. Run your eyes over it one last time checking for hairs etc. Close the housing to keep dust/grit away. Only open it to install the camera.
That's the general procedures I'd run through all of that then leave it sit under vacuum several hours coming back to it periodically to fiddle with controls. Next see if you can arrange to drop down the mooring line with some spare air at the end of a dive with the housing lined with paper and a weight to spend 5 minutes with it at depth. The problem is you can check the port and housing o-rings and they are a common cause of leaks but checking the control buttons is more difficult. If you are still getting drops of water in then I think you'll probably need to get it overhauled.
