SeaLife Underwater Photo-Video Light questions

[Bubblejunky]

I recently purchased the new photo-video light to go with my DC1000. On the first dive the light turned on then when i turned off for a while it would not turn back on. It seemed to be working fine before the dive. After the first dive, I tested on the surface several times and it did the same thing. It would only turn on once. I don't think I had any water enter the light. Has anyone else had this issue? Joe, any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[blkirk91]

I have had this issue as well. Was doing a night dive and using the video light as my primary while shooting. About half way thru the second dive I turned it off, it would not turn back on. Used my secondary lights to complete the dive. When I got home and checked there was no water inside. When I reinstalled the cap it worked fine. Dont know if this is a heat issue or what. Water temps were near 80deg. Never turned it off on the firat dive so dont know if i would have had same results. Seams to be working fine now. Here is the video I shot on the first dive.

Corsair Night 8-27-11.wmv - YouTube


This is the second video light I have had from them, the first spliting on the case and flooding. Man those things get hot when you cannot turn them off and your out of water. Melted the battery compartment. Sealife was great on the return.

Aloha

 

[ocdiver1]

Similar thing happened to me first time using mine. About halfway through the first dive just turned off and then wouldnt come back on again. On subseqent dives it never really responded when the button was pushed and I had to resort to just continually leaving it on until it eventually just went off by itself. I sent it in to Sealife and am to use the new one they sent me for the first time in the next couple of days. When I emailed them from where I was diving, they said it sounded like some switch went bad (despite being brand new) but they didn't really give me any feedback after I sent it in. My experience with Sealife products has not been good...i had numerous problems with my DC1000 (not yet with the DC1200), my strobes and now a brand new video light. Customer service is always great, and am happy with its performance when it works...but reliability is a huge problem.

 

[Bubblejunky]

thanks for the help i have an email to customer service. we will wait and see what they say.

 

[Bubblejunky]

I sent my video light and a pro flash back to sea life for repair. I just want to say that Dennis did a great job. both were fixed and returned in a short time period.

 

[webstep1]

The same thing just happened to me to a new SL980 while I was on Roatan last week. The light would turn on okay but after awhile it would turn off and not come back on, in some cases it would turn back on for awhile then off again - very intermittent operation. It was a bit of a surprise when it shut off in the middle of a night dive.

What I found was that a small amount of water had got into the switch and since sea water is conductive it was messing with the switch operation. The switch is not sealed and the only explanation I have is that a small amount or water was wicking into the housing via the backplate switch when it contacted the cartridge switch (this is only a guess since I never did see any bubbles). One dive I pretty much continuously pushed the button to force the condition and came up with just enough water to fry a NIMH battery (a couple drops).

To counteract the situation I used a blow dryer to evaporate the water from the switch, then made a fillet of silicon grease around the switch push-button itself and on the inside of the button and pressure relief valve inside the back plate. The light worked flawlessly for the next several days of diving (~10 dives).

I am sending it back to Sealife today for repair since its not correct but I did find a work around. IMO - the switch needs to be a seal type at the very least and the conductors on the top of the battery cartridge protected from water better.

 

[webstep1]

To post a quick update - I did send the light back and they turned around a new unit in 1 day. Excellent customer service.

 

[doogisar]

To post a quick update - I did send the light back and they turned around a new unit in 1 day. Excellent customer service.

Bubblejunky and webstep1, I am thinkning about buying this video light to make an addition to my 1200 elite setup. It has one strobe already and that works flawless. I am wondering how well the light worked, did you guys feel it was adequate for your needs or did you feel that you should have shopped around more and bought something brighter. I am at a toss up between buying the video light or another strobe, the strobe I think isn't enough light at depth of about 80ft during the day in good clarity. I am diving in Belize.

Currently I use use my underwater light attached to my strobe as a dive light.

Thanks guys

Ryan

 

[rob1967]

Yep, I've had the same problem. It was because a small amount of water was getting in. They replaced it, but the second one did the same thing on the first dive, then flooded completely on the second dive, frying my rechargeable batteries. They replaced it again, I'm on my third unit now, but I'm afraid to put it in the water...

 

[rob1967]

BTW, to answer doogisar, I was down to one strobe for a while while they were replacing one that went down, and used the video light instead. My experience was that I wasn't getting good stills with the video light on, it seemed to make the color and exposure wrong. I was getting better stills with the video light off, and now that I am back to double strobes, even better stills.