A good friend and dive buddy purchased one of these new along with an OM camera, lenses, UWL-09Pro and a macro lens. He used it in the fall in Roatan and the vac system never reliably gave a green light and would flash red. He dived the rig anyways and enjoyed it but for the lack of vacuum system function. He returned and sent it back to----- who then charged him several hundred dollars to repair the faulty system on a brand new out of the box unit. Now, the past two weeks, back in Roatan, same thing. Out of 40 dives he got a steady green light maybe three times. And the flash trigger went dead several dives!

Is this a known issue? Is there a fix or special technique or is this brand new, now repaired once already ($$) and still not working housing just in need of some more repairs?

I just got back from Roatan for my octo housing set's maiden voyage and it worked flawlessly for over 40 dives.

9 hours ago, ACHiPo said:

I just got back from Roatan for my octo housing set's maiden voyage and it worked flawlessly for over 40 dives.

We just got back also. Where did you stay? Hope you had a great trip!

Good news your rig worked perfect. I am beginning to wonder if there is an operator issue though I see nothing he was doing that did not seem right. It is as if the electronics sensitivity is too much and a small fluctuation sets the red light to flashing though there is no leak.

Edited April 27Apr 27 by Nemrod

Perhaps he needs to pump it a few more strokes so that changes temperature don't cause the red light. I usually give my (Nauticam) vacuum system a couple of pumps past when the light turns green.

Does it go constant yellow? If it is flashing yellow no joy, if it is flashing yellow/red no joy. Not an issue I have seen.

Bill

3 hours ago, bvanant said:

Does it go constant yellow? If it is flashing yellow no joy, if it is flashing yellow/red no joy. Not an issue I have seen.

Bill

No, it is blinking red. Which means test failed. Yet it retains vacuum and went on many dives with no leakage.

12 hours ago, Nemrod said:

We just got back also. Where did you stay? Hope you had a great trip!

Good news your rig worked perfect. I am beginning to wonder if there is an operator issue though I see nothing he was doing that did not seem right. It is as if the electronics sensitivity is too much and a small fluctuation sets the red light to flashing though there is no leak.

I was at CoCoView for 15 days of diving. Loved it! It was just what I was looking for--decent accommodations, good (not great) food, and all the diving I wanted. Coupled with some world-class photography instruction by Mickey Charteris, and I couldn't be happier.

The only time I saw a red light was when my finger tip was a bit damp and I inadvertently touched the moisture sensor when I was prepping the housing. A quick dry with a towel and microfiber, power cycling the housing, and all was good. The moisture sensor is very sensitive to moisture. Could you be introducing a water droplet during opening the case or getting the camera ready?

Edited April 28Apr 28 by ACHiPo

On my first trip using the AOI/Octo housing for my OM_EM 10 Mark IV, I had it malfunction twice. The first time the vacuum light turn red after 30 minutes into a dive. I got out of the water asap and when I opened the housing, it was totally dry inside. I wiped the sensor with an alcool swab and reset the vacuum and all worked fine for a couple of days. And then, even though I had set the vacuum with a green light, dunked the camera, when I jumped in and got to about 30 ft, the red light came on so I immediately brought the camera back to the boat . Once I got to the resort and opened the housing, there was enough water in the housing to damage the camera and the lens. They are both dead. I am not impressed with this system. What's the point of setting a vacuum if it will fail like this. The housing is back at Backscatter and I am waiting for an evaluation. Let's just say I am in no hurry to put another camera in there. BTW, I am an experienced photographer and have used various other housings in the past. In my 15+ years of diving with a camera, I have never flooded a camera before and am always very cautious when preparing my camera. Has anyone else ever experienced leakage with the "octo" housing? Is the AOI housing for the OM1 more reliable than this one?

Sorry to hear this. All I can say is that after more than 1K dives my AOI/OM1 is still dry. I think that I have had 2 cases where it went red during a dive but never let water in. I attribute this to an overly sensitive temperature compensation on the vacuum hardware.

Bill

I know someone who lost two cameras to two separate Octo housings.

I won't touch a plastic housing anymore.

AOI Em10 IV housing owner here.

I've found this housing to be quite "demanding". It flooded partially once after getting a green light. The o-ring was indeed dirty.

Aftere that, this is how i proceed before every dive:

-Remove o-ring

-Clean the groove with cotton swab

-Go through all the o-ring with my fingers to ensure there is no sand (I often use saliva to do that 🤫)

-put the o-ring back on and close the housing

-pump it like one or one and a half more times when the yellow leds shows

If I'm in a very humid place (like almost everywhere if you dive warm waters), do all of this inside your room with the AC on.

Doing this, I've had no more issues.

On 10/13/2026 at 7:05 AM, Ann D said:

Is the AOI housing for the OM1 more reliable than this one?

Yes, it is. The OM1 version has 2 o-rings.

3 hours ago, RxSub said:

AOI Em10 IV housing owner here.

I've found this housing to be quite "demanding". It flooded partially once after getting a green light. The o-ring was indeed dirty.

Aftere that, this is how i proceed before every dive:

-Remove o-ring

-Clean the groove with cotton swab

-Go through all the o-ring with my fingers to ensure there is no sand (I often use saliva to do that 🤫)

-put the o-ring back on and close the housing

-pump it like one or one and a half more times when the yellow leds shows

If I'm in a very humid place (like almost everywhere if you dive warm waters), do all of this inside your room with the AC on.

Doing this, I've had no more issues.

I think that a flood from a dirty o-ring is NOT a plastic housing problem, but rather a universal problem that would most likely be a problem for any kind of housing. I think that over reliance on a "green" light might eventually lead to as many problems as the vacuum system has prevented.

Bill

On 4/26/2026 at 6:45 AM, Nemrod said:

A good friend and dive buddy purchased one of these new along with an OM camera, lenses, UWL-09Pro and a macro lens. He used it in the fall in Roatan and the vac system never reliably gave a green light and would flash red. He dived the rig anyways and enjoyed it but for the lack of vacuum system function. He returned and sent it back to----- who then charged him several hundred dollars to repair the faulty system on a brand new out of the box unit. Now, the past two weeks, back in Roatan, same thing. Out of 40 dives he got a steady green light maybe three times. And the flash trigger went dead several dives!

Is this a known issue? Is there a fix or special technique or is this brand new, now repaired once already ($$) and still not working housing just in need of some more repairs?

Seems suspicious that a brand new housing would get charged for fixing a problem that should be under warranty. I thought that the warranty was 1 year.

Bill

9 hours ago, RxSub said:

AOI Em10 IV housing owner here.

I've found this housing to be quite "demanding". It flooded partially once after getting a green light. The o-ring was indeed dirty.

Aftere that, this is how i proceed before every dive:

-Remove o-ring

-Clean the groove with cotton swab

-Go through all the o-ring with my fingers to ensure there is no sand (I often use saliva to do that 🤫)

-put the o-ring back on and close the housing

-pump it like one or one and a half more times when the yellow leds shows

If I'm in a very humid place (like almost everywhere if you dive warm waters), do all of this inside your room with the AC on.

Doing this, I've had no more issues.

O-rings are critical as is cleanliness. I have about 100 dives on my octo housing with no issues. Maybe I’m lucky, but I bought an AOI housing for my new OM-1. I find it a good design and prefer the weight for travel.

Two issues issue I see and have observed with my buddy's camera, AOI Octo, the constantly flashing red vac light is being seen in the strobe windows and confusing his YS strobes. The other is that the trigger is very weak and is insufficient to reliably trigger a YSD3 strobe. Probably due to the trigger battery being always dead and under drain from the flashing red vacuum warning light. He might get a green light once out of ten. Ridiculous. His YSD3 strobes function perfectly with his backup TG. One or the other or neither work with the AOI reliably and have even locked up.

8 hours ago, bvanant said:

Seems suspicious that a brand new housing would get charged for fixing a problem that should be under warranty. I thought that the warranty was 1 year.

Bill

BS charged him $250 dollars. And the issue continues now. It has malfunctioned from the beginning. Being my regular dive buddy, I have witnessed it virtually never having a green light. Despite the $250 repair and despite replacing the valve and the electronics. What part is the lemon, I am tending to believe now the whole caboodle.

Edited October 15Oct 15 by Nemrod

43 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

BS charged him $250 dollars. And the issue continues now.

Don't know how long ago it was purchased, but seems like a lemon, I would be putting the hard word on them for a replacement.