Water detector

I looked some time for a water leak detector to my Ikelite's housing.

There are few those where recommended here in the past but my main problem with them was that they do not have a sound alarm.

A friend of my pointed me to a nice French person that build water detectors, his site (with translation to English) is: Détecteur d'eau.

I bought from him few detectors (for few friends and me), they all work fine although I do not have a 'live' experience (and hope to stay in that status).

This person is very helpful and its was pleasure to work with him.

Aquatica makes a universal leak detector - sound and a blinking LED upon water contact. I imagine most Aquatica dealers carry them. I have one, works as expected - fortunately never set off underwater.

Just lick your finger and touch the contacts. That's how I check my leak detector before closing the case. The Aquatica water detector will reset itself in a few moments, but I don't remember hearing any sounds from when checking it.

Aquatica makes a universal leak detector - sound and a blinking LED upon water contact.  I imagine most Aquatica dealers carry them.  I have one, works as expected - fortunately never set off underwater. 

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There where threads here that said that Aquatica's detectors where with sound alarms but no more.

Question :

How are these attached to the polycarbonate housings ? ( think the Ike backplate is perspex and noy polycarbonate ).

Glue or double sided tape ?

Paul C

Question :

 

How are these attached to the polycarbonate housings ? ( think the Ike backplate is perspex and noy polycarbonate ).

 

Glue or double sided tape ?

 

Paul C

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The electricity and buzzer have sticker on the back, for the detector I used a little silicone to attach it to the bottom of the housing.

Actually I'm thinking about replacing the probe to something bigger so it's will cover more area, so hopefully its will alert faster if needed.

Just out of interest - is there any point having a leak detector on a see-through Ikelite housing?

Arnon, i have to point out that i still haven't installed the alarm in my housing. In the iTTL version of the D-70 housing there's a very limited place... i'll have to extend some wires and move the LED (i was too lazy/busy... i hope to do it this week).

I believe in leak detectors for Ike housings. I can assure you from hard won experience if you get a leak in a clear housing it is very hard to see water coming in. Also by the time you realize water is coming in a lot of water has come in.

My rule is anytime you open the back (or front) of the housing you test it in the water tank. If there is a leak the leak sensor will go off almost immediately. This is the best way to test the water tight integrity of the housing. I have never had a rinse tank leak that wasn't caught by a leak detector and none of them have resulted in any damage to the camera or lens. My second check is just after I submerge. Then the last check is when I get to depth/ maximum depth. The leak detector will probably save you in all three scenarios. I do monitor it through the dive but the times above are when most leaks occur.

Note that none of these floods were the fault of the housing or design. As advertised the Ike housings are great in that you can view the O-ring all the way around. If however you have made a mistake the leak detector will save you most likely.

Finally never, I mean never, set up your camera while watching a Michigan vs. Ohio State FB game.

That has been at the root of all my serious floods.

To add to Dave,

As he wrote it’s quit hard to see the water in the beginning when there are only few drops inside the housing, this is the stage that I hopes the detector will alarm me.

The reason I bought this product instead of the better known ones is because of the audio alarm that again I hope will alarm me also when my eyes are not on the housing.

A nice feature it has is that you can activate the alarm by magnet from outside the housing, that way you can be familiar with how the noise alarm will be under water.

I use the "Leek Detector" from Marine Camera Distributors in my Ike housing.

Leek Detector

Fortunately it's never gone off. I just taped it inside with some rolled up scotch tape. It never needs new batteries as its very low power and only works when water enters. A licked finger will test it.

The one I have has two sensors attached so one goes near the port opening and the other at the lowers point.

Fortunately its never gone off. I do always test my housing in the pool before I get on the boat. Once its set up I leave it alone and shoot the same lens for both dives that day.

Happy Shooting!