Flooded an Inon?

I was out on Sy.Siren with Frank and my new Inon 240-Z strobes and Frank told me a friend of Eric's flooded one of his. How did it happen? Is there something I should know? Eric?

I guess that must have been an unfounded rumour then!

Hey John,

I don't know about the incident you are referring to, but there have been a few Inon flood reports here on Wetpixel - but not many. I certainly don't think there is any reason for concern.

Alex

p.s. How did you get on with the Inons?

all the reports of flooded inons i have read have been due to the yellow o'ring getting out of its groove when you close the strobe. you have to be careful not to twist it too fast and put just a little bit of grease on the outside so that it turns easily.

hth /paul

Thanks for the advice Paul. Alex, like getting an old dog to learn a new trick, I hated having to take the batteries out to charge them but the 2 Inons fitted in my hand luggage OK.

I used the old Sea & Sea twin cord link as I do with my Subtronics but I realise I should use only one synch lead and a fibre-optic connection thereby reducing the leak points.

I used the lightweight diffuser options and f.8 as usual!!! Ahh, but I cheated and upped the ISO to 200.

Visibility in Thailand was variable so it was not a definitive test but I came back with plenty of pictures so you can't argue with that! Off to PNG in three weeks.

I flooded an Inon Z240 on my last trip, and it was exactly as Paul had described, with the yellow o-ring getting pushed out of its slot when closing the compartment. I think I had let the o-ring get just a little too dry, and since it bulged out on the side away from me, I didn't notice it.

Inon was able to repair my strobe for about $90. I've been using Inon Z240s or Z220s for five years now and have never had any issues other than this. They have been the most reliable strobes I've ever used, and I don't think you need to be too concerned. Just pay attention when you close the battery compartment!

Linda

Years ago on a liveaboard trip, I flooded my D180 the same way. And to make matters worse, I didn't find out until the next morning when I went to insert freshly charged batteries only to have a flood of brown goo pour out of the battery compartment along with a couple of exploded rechargeable AAs.

It's a testament to how well Inon seals the battery compartment from the rest of the strobe in that I was able to wipe out the brown goo, rinse the battery compartment with fresh water, wipe all the electrical connections with rubbing alcohol, dry with a hairdryer, put in fresh batteries, and have the strobe work fine for the rest of the trip. It suffered nothing more than discolored battery contacts. In fact, that was five years ago, and that strobe is still going strong (I use a fiber optic connection to slave it off my Z240).

Just a bit of thread subject

. it seems that a few people are using sync cables to fire their first inon strobe then slaving their 2nd strobe via fibre optic cable from the first strobe.

is this the prefered method ?

Regards

Matt

Just a bit of thread subject

. it seems that a few people are using sync cables to fire their first inon strobe then slaving their 2nd strobe via fibre optic cable from the first strobe.

 

is this the prefered method ?

 

Regards

Matt

As John notes in his post, using the fiber optic cable removes possible leak points (i.e., the bulkheads where the electrical sync cord plug into your housing and into the strobe). However, I use this method because the D180 doesn't have an electrical connection, only an optical one.

all the reports of flooded inons i have read have been due to the yellow o'ring getting out of its groove when you close the strobe. you have to be careful not to twist it too fast and put just a little bit of grease on the outside so that it turns easily.

hth /paul

I haven't flooded one, but did notice that the yellow O-ring will stretch over time, no doubt from rubbing against the cap. If you keep grease on it and replace it every couple hundred dives, I think the risk of flood should be very small.

I've flooded one of my Z-220s twice because the O-ring got pinched and water got in. Both times the rechargeable batteries instantly corroded but I was able to get them out. I dried the strobe out, cleaned all of the surfaces with an eraser and it worked perfectly. There are gold contacts on the internal connection and brass (?) for the one you screw on. I replaced one of those to be safe though I didn't need to.

The battery compartment seems to be sealed off from the rest of the strobe very well. A very nice design.

The yellow O ring on the Inon is one O ring that definitely needs a regular lub. When it is dry, it rubs against the cover when you skrew it in. This can dislodge it or wear it down. I lube mine each day when I load the batteries. (my other orings I keep the lube to a min).