Help with Amphibico

Hi,

In a way this is a continuation of a topic I started months ago about my displeasure with Amphibico. I Posted that I hated my Amphibico because it did not work, ok I used much stronger language. Folks here jumped all over me because they said I was not being fair in that I posted here before going to Amphibico directly.

First a little back ground, I bought an Amphibico for a Sony HC7 and could not get it to work , sent it back a few time for various problem, the main one being the button freeze at depths below 90 feet. So I did as every one said and sent it back to Amphibico for a 3rd time. They said they could find no problem but they would replace the handle.

So here I am in Cozumel and again did a dive on Colombia depth 95 feet and the buttons did not work camera froze in the on position so I am floating withwhat amounts to an anchor tethered to me. General over view of how I set this up. Traveling down here it is carried on with me so no abuse in transit. I install the camera every morning in my room so I am not rushed, carefull to toute the wires so everything is neat, batteries are charged every night so I have enough power.

What am I doing wrong, plese help I am ready to just E-Bay this unit and buy a Light and Motion or just go back to my D70s in Sea & Sea housing and just stick to photo. And no I do not want to send it back a fourth time if it doesn't work after 3 tries this unit may just be a lemon.

TIA

Randy

Could there be a push through button on the housing that is engaging at depth? i'm not familiar with the housing, but if you have some buttons like that it can be a source of freezing. If a push button on the camera is engaged, it may prevent the electronics from functioning.

There is no through the housing control on this model housing so that eliminates that possibility.

I have not heard of this type of control button actuating at depth , have heard of them not functioning but usually this can be remedied by flushing excess salt and grit from the control.

Trying to understand the fault - is only at depth or is it always ? Does it work topside OK , and then works at what depth ? before it fails at 95ft ?

My Amphibico phenom housing for the Z1 developed a similar problem. All functions work great at the surface but once beyond a certain depth some of the controls just freeze. I've found a workaround that might work for you as well. Pressing the record trigger together with one of the frozen controls seem to work. It is quite anoying but it could save a dive.

Scubaa,

I just read your orignal post and the responses given. 2 video moderators (myself included) asked for what problems you had in an attempt to help and you did not reply. Certainly no one "jumped all over" you. In fact I asked you to start a new thread regarding your issues so people could help you directly, but you did not til now.

Now to help troubleshoot your problem:

When you say freeze, do all controls not work or only some of them? If some, which ones work? When you say frozen, does that mean the controls are non-responsive even when you are recording? Or does this manifest only past 90ft when you want to record? Have you tried shallower depths? You don't say if it works or not when shallower.

It's always a good idea to have a trouble shooting session if the camera stops work only in certain circumstances (at certain depth, only certain buttons work etc).

ok here is what happens. The unit will work until I get to a certain depth, then it will stay on but will not record or change modes. after about 5 minutes it shuts down and I can power up and start all over again. It has now gotten to the point where it stopped working at 54 feet. As for rinsing it goes into the rinse tank as soon as I get on the boat , sits there between dives and on the ride back. I take it into the shower and rinse it off while I shower. I have tried pushing every combination of buttons I can think of but the only thing I can do is wait till it powers down and try again.

Thanks PCDiver but I just don't know which button is frozen, but at least I know I am not the only person who has this problem. If it means anything sometimes I see bubbles from underneath the button on the right hand grip.

TIA

Randy

Randy

So it works once the autopower off activates and it restarts? Even at depth?

When you rinse, it is a very good idea to actuate every button a few times so the salt water is pushed out, even if there is no penetrative controls in the grip.

Bubbles are a bad sign, you probably have a corroded circuit in there, probably needs servicing again. To be fair to Amphibico i used one of their housings for 2-3k dives and never had a problem.

I was recently testing a heated undersuit and the same happened in it's controls... bubbles coming out and stuck on full power for a dive. It hurt

Update, during my surface inteval I took the unit and laid it in the sink, pressing the buttons and let it soak for 1.5 hours. Took it on a dive to 35 feet and after 5 minutes on the monitor back the "standby" message disappeared and again it would not work until it cycled off. Then I could shoot a little bit and when it froze up again wait till it cycled off.

Scuba_SI this unit as I remember always seems to have had bubbles coming from the right hand grip. I am not questioning any one elses good fourtune with these units, but I just got this back a few months ago and this is the first time I have taken it anywhere , so it just seems this is not a match made in heaven.

I am truly perplexed, I think I am quit meticulous in taking care of my gear, I see other divers bring just the casse on board, I carry it in a padded cases. Leave it in the rinse tank. Hey maybe I need to abuse it a bit to show it who's boss.

Right now I am just about ready to E-bay this and go back to photo. To be honest I had been doing photo for anout 6 years and never encountered anything quite this bad.

Again thank for all your help. I leave tomorrow so I will put it back in the closet and forget about this for awhile. Probably just not meant to happen for me, to bad

I was recently testing a heated undersuit and the same happened in it's controls... bubbles coming out and stuck on full power for a dive. It hurt

Heated undersuit...In Lembeh!!!...You are sooooooo Poofty its unreal...

Dive safe

Dean (Royal Marine hard)B

Update, during my surface inteval I took the unit and laid it in the sink, pressing the buttons and let it soak for 1.5 hours. Took it on a dive to 35 feet and after 5 minutes on the monitor back the "standby" message disappeared and again it would not work until it cycled off. Then I could shoot a little bit and when it froze up again wait till it cycled off.

So it will actually stop recording on it's own?