Oxycheq Raider III
Well I’ve had no response to my Raider III O-Ring Maintenance post from the Scubaboard Oxycheq rep for over a month. A couple of weeks after I posted the question I emailed Patrick (I assume he is the rep) and asked if could please reply to my question. So far no answer from him or any reply from Oxycheq. I then sent an email directly to Oxycheq containing the same questions, again no reply. And now I see that they deleted a post on the Oxycheq thread - hopefully they’ll offer an explanation and maybe answer my question.
Our Raider III adventure:
We purchased 4 Oxycheq Raider III lights (for this story I’m labelling them “A”- mine, “B”- my wife’s, “C”- son-in-law’s and “D”- diving buddy’s) from a local Oxycheq retailer in November 2008. They were the new and improved models with the extra lens to ensure a clear and narrow beam.
All the lights worked and the batteries accepted charges. According to the dive shop rep and Oxycheq instructions, I lubricated the battery cover (“A” & “B”
three o-rings with a light coat of silicone grease. At this point I didn’t know that the front lens and front housing were removable.
All lights worked great, but none had been underwater. Once while I was using “A” I rotated the switch “off”, then tried to go back to the “on” position - I could not rotate the switch – it was frozen!!! I really had to put pressure on it and eventually it released and rotated. The light worked, but weird that it froze! It never froze again; neither did any of the other lights stick like that.
In February we went to Bonaire for 3 weeks of diving and were anxious to use the lights. On one day we decided to take the lights (“A” & “B”
in order to try them out and look into coral cavities. The dive lasted about 55 minutes and maximum depth was about 50 fsw.
At about 15 minutes into the dive I turned “A” on and it worked properly for about 2 minutes. During that time it was turned on/off about 4 times. On the next use, “A” flickered on and off and continued to do that for a few minutes. I noticed that the light beam was wavering due to some water in the lens cover. It wasn’t too long after that that we ended the dive and “A” was working OK - at the surface. I unscrewed the front outer lens cover and saw a small amount of water. I tried to dry it with a tissue and noticed that the front housing also unscrewed. I unscrewed the front housing cover (there is another o-ring here) and cleaned / dried the area. There was no water or condensation in the battery compartment. I charged the battery and let the disassembled light dry out for a few days.
During that dive, my wife did not use “B” but I noticed that the light was on at the end of the dive. The light could not be turned off - the switch rotated just fine, but the light stayed on. On shore I unscrewed the battery compartment cover and saw that the light had flooded – it had also flooded in the front lens chamber. The battery cover’s o-rings looked OK and were lightly lubricated. The battery was corroded and the light could not be used again. Later at the hotel, I unscrewed the outer lens cover and saw that the o-ring was only ¾ intact. The missing ¼ was not in the housing, cover or anywhere - it just wasn’t there!
Two days later I lubricated all “A” o-rings (inner lens cover, outer lens cover and the battery compartment cover) and reassembled the light. Seemed to work OK and I then put it in the fresh water rinse tub – turned it to all settings. The light worked properly. No water got into the lens or battery compartments.
My son-in-law and I went on a night dive (50 minutes, 55 fsw) and took “A” and “C”. “C” was working properly and he had only lubricated the battery compartment o-rings. “A” worked on the surface, but as soon as I put it 2 feet underwater it cut out, brought it back to the surface – it worked – back down - it cut out. The switch rotated but somehow the pressure was turning the light off. I tightened the battery cover as much as I could, didn’t see any water in the lens and this time it worked when I put it a couple of feet under. During the dive, “A” worked, but it wasn’t as focused and strong as I thought it should be. “C” worked really well – no cutting out and the beam was like a laser – amazing! “A” did cut out a couple of times, but after a shake it would work again. The beam travelled for about 60 feet, they were cool!!!!
We used “A” and “C” on more night dives with the same results. “A” would cut out ( 2 or 3 times) and “C” performed like a champ. “A” worked most of the time and I really liked the narrow beam and the penetration it has.
I used “A” on four dives and it didn’t flood or leak. The day after we did our last night dive, I turned “A” on – NO LIGHT! I thought the battery was dead (shouldn’t be as I charged it just before the dive) and removed it from the housing. It was dry inside, but the battery had split open lengthwise and was useless! There was no corrosion or misuse. At this point I was not too happy with these expensive (to us) lights. Not a great track record.
So when I got back home I called the rep and told him about the problems. I thought he would say that I’d have to send the lights to Oxycheq, but he said he’d replace them. So I drove out to the shop and exchanged them for two new ones. They work well and I hope will work underwater. The rep said that owners shouldn’t remove the front lens and front housing covers – they’re lubricated from the manufacturer. He also said that I could void my warranty if I opened the front. I said that that didn’t make sense as “B”s o-ring was not even intact and asked “How do those o-rings get lubricated after dives?” I didn’t get an answer for that.
I haven’t removed the outer and inner covers of the replacement lights yet – to check and lubricate the o-rings – I wanted to see what Oxycheq would say in a reply. But I won’t use the lights on a dive until I’m confident that the o-rings are pristine, in place and lubricated. In the package there are 3 spare o-rings that are for the battery compartment. There are no spare o-rings for the two front covers as I don’t think they are the same size.
So far there has been no problem with “C” and the last light “D” has not been used underwater.
But how were the lights when they worked?
I love the narrow beam – there is enough light reflected to make out things around you, but it doesn’t scatter or light-up the whole place. I thought the square light pattern would be weird, but it was not an issue underwater. I used the three intensity settings for different situations. I thought the strobe setting would be great to get the attention of your buddy. But even after we discussed that the strobe was for getting attention, it didn’t work that well. The best way was to circle the beam on the coral in front of your buddy. At times the higher setting was too bright, so it was easy to back it down to a lower setting. I think they’ll be great in low visibility waters up here in the St. Lawrence. The SOS setting may be useful in an emergency - hope I never have to use it. It would be nice to have some marking (visual and physical) on the rotating switch that would indicate if the light was in the OFF setting.
The socks are really nice - I find easy to use and nice to have my fingers free. The way I used the light sock was: put the light in the sock, thread my middle finger through the light lanyard, put my hand through the sock lanyard, put my fingers through the sock opening, tighten the Velcro straps - done - and very secure. I put it on my right hand. The sock holds the Raider III nice and tight - in and out of the water.
If any Raider III users have any instructions regarding the lubrication and maintenance of all the o-rings, please let me know (besides the instructions on the Qxycheq web site).
