Fogged Housing

I was diving a spring in florida monday and had my housing fog on the third dive of the day. I was wondering what might have caused it?

This is the first time I have had a housing fog, I know to put the system together in open air. (uncooled space)

Water temp was 68

First dive was 10 am, set the camera up and had no problems, it was cool and breezy outside

Camera sat on car seat after dive

Second dive was about 1:30 pm, changed to wide angle and had no problems, it was sunny and warm outside

Camera sat on the car seat after dive

Third dive was at 3 pm, no changes, just hopped in the water and the camera housing completely fogged, dome port, housing, complete white out.

The car never got hot, I wasnt out of the water all that long, any idea what caused it.

I was thinking that the housing have warmed up during the course of the day, changing the interior temp of the housing, particularly since I never opened the housing before the third dive.

If that is the case, should it not do that when I dive the the tropics? Temps have been 95+ with water temps at 80. The spring water is consistently 68 and the air temp may have been 85. Around a 15 degree variance either way.

Does this just have to do with diving colder water? If so what kinds of housing protocols am I going to have to look at diving in the winter, which I plan on doing?

Any help will be greatly appreciated,

Of course the water clarity and lighting was the best when the housing fogged.

I think it certainly was the air temperature change inside the housing. I always try to close my housing at a place with airconditioning (dry air) like the hotel room. If you closed your camera in the afternoon in Florida you got a lot of humid air inside, and the water temperature was certainly cooler than the air temperature inside the housing, that's what caused the fogging.

Ive been told not to close the housing, inside with air conditioning, so now I'm a bit confused.

It didnt fog on the second dive and the air temp was about the same as the third. The housing was never opened between the second and third dive. And i'm only looking at 45 min between dives, the camera was under a towel in my truck with the windows partially down for about 15 minutes while I picked up a new tank, the temp in the truck never seemed to increase while I was gone and when I returned the doors were opened as I got ready to dive again

Hi,

That is incorrect - you should always try NOT to trap warm moist air in your housing. When you do that, then take the housing into water that is colder, you reach the dewpoint of the air in the housing, and you get condensation. The dew point is exactly that - the temperature at which air of a certain humidity will "drop" dew - aka condensation.

It sounds like this is exactly what happened.

Cheers

James

I guess the advice I had been given bofore was designed to keep the housing from fogging up once I bring the camera outside and has nothing to do with putting the camera in the water.

I plan on diving the florida springs extensively over the next year and a half.

During warm or hot days should I set the ac to approxomate the exterior condidtions and then set up the camera inside the truck?

What of diving in the winter, should I avoid setting up the camera in heated airspace and set up outside instead?

I guess I could stick my old housing in the water first to see what happens

Thank you guys for the help!

When you close your housing, you want to do it in air that is as dry as possible. Temp doesn't matter. Total moisture trapped in the housing is all that matters. The more moisture that is in your housing, the higher the temp it will fog at.

usually, the dryest environment available is an air conditioned one, since an air conditioner pulls moisture out of the air.

Use dessicant.