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.