Stuck Lock lever on Bat pack - Ikelite DS 125

Help!

The lever on the battery pack of my one and only Ikelite ds 125 got stuck half way and now I cannot remove the battery pack from the strobe, neither can I lock it in. Since I am in Sri Lanka we do not have an authorised Ike dealer. Can anybody tell me how to solve the problem. I am in the middle of the dive season and this is a complete disaster!

Thanks a lot

Ajith

Ajith,

I've found that the battery packs need cleaning as salt, sand, and such can tend to accumulate under the moving part of the lock (even when the strobe is rinsed after every dive. You can get access by gently pulling the black "lever" away from the battery pack. If you are confident you can carefully flush or wipe it out.

HTH

Lndr

Give the strobe a good bath with a bit of vinegar in the water, and as suggested turn all of the dials and switches while it's under water. The vinegar helps to disolves the salt.

Help!

 

The lever on the battery pack of my one and only Ikelite ds 125 got stuck half way and now I cannot remove the battery pack from the strobe, neither can I lock it in. Since I am in Sri Lanka we do not have an authorised Ike dealer. Can anybody tell me how to solve the problem. I am in the middle of the dive season and this is a complete disaster!

 

Thanks a lot

 

Ajith

By stuck halfway, do you mean 45 degrees instead of 90 degrees when you lifted the lever? Some wiggling should help.

If you mean halfway when you rotated the lever, gently pull the lever away from the back of the battery pack (it's on a sliding shaft) and wiggle it back and forth until it moves. Once you get the battery off the strobe, clean the locking mechansim before using it again.

A little sand or salt build-up can jam the mechanism, but I've always been able to free it with one of the tricks above.

Let us know what you did.

One thing that can happen with the DS-125 battery packs is if you twist the lock lever too hard, it can actually jump it's "slot" and rotate further than the 90 degrees it's supposed to and gets stuck. This happened to me in Turks&Caicos and I just used a screwdriver blade under the lock lever to pull it up and rotate it back into place. I was afraid I was going to break it, but the pack was depleted of power and I had to get it off one way or another. It came off fine, didn't break and now I am more careful not to rotate the lever too far.

good luck,

JP