Ports- Store/transport on or off the housing?

I just got my first DSLR housing system and will be taking it to Hawaii for its first dive trip.

I have only one port for the system at the time, so nless there is a good reason to do so I was planning on leaving it attached to the housing after checking for leaks in a pool prior to my trip.

Is it ok to leave the port attached for extended periods and travel in carry on luggage?

Or should I unscrew it from the housing between uses?

The system is an Olympus PTE-6

It is better to remove the port when travelling, especially should you fly, the pressure can built up inside the housing to the point of either popping out a port lens or in some extremme situation actually crack a port window or un seat a dome port from its mount.

Once at your destination, it is quite proper to leave it on until your return, actually it is something I wish I could do, but having to swap from Macro to wide daily mean I have to keep a sharp eye on my garbage and foreign particle magnet usually called a O-ring

Indeed Jean. Most aircraft cabins are only pressurize to 1/2 atm or 7psi. That means you'll have 7psi additional pressure inside the housing! Over 10 square inches of area (dome or flat port glass) that's 70 lbs of force!

Cheers

James

I hadn't thought about the pressure problem, silly since it is something all scuba divers are aware of concerning flying and diving. I will certainly set up my pelican case to cradle the housing and port separately.

Any one have thoughts about long term storage? It seems to me that in the installed position the o ring would be less exposed to any environmental factors that cause degradation.

On the other hand, leaving it installed subjects it to constant compression. Over time would this be enough to reduce its effectiveness?

I hadn't thought about the pressure problem, silly since it is something all scuba divers are aware of concerning flying and diving. I will certainly set up my pelican case to cradle the housing and port separately.

 

Any one have thoughts about long term storage? It seems to me that in the installed position the o ring would be less exposed to any environmental factors that cause degradation.

 

On the other hand, leaving it installed subjects it to constant compression. Over time would this be enough to reduce its effectiveness?

Orings will benefit from removal in storage. If you have the oring in place and the housing latched eventually the oring will become compressed. This is particularly true where the oring grove is irregular such as the main seal of housings.

I tend to remove the oring of any subsea equipment when in storage, or replace the oring prior to use. Both strategies seem to work and in an over a decade of dropping equipment into the water I haven t flooded anything..yet (touch wood).

e

Any one have thoughts about long term storage?

You can use an old oring for storage. Some folks use cut up pieces of an old ring to keep the housing seperated. Just don't forget to change it out.

Steve

Thanks guys for responding and helping me sort out the best way to take care of my new rig.