Leaking house for Canon ixus v3

I just managed to flood my Canon ixus housing, WP-dc600, and just send the camera of to Bangkok for a assement. I did think it was my fault, but now I have done a check-dive with just the housing and no camera inside it. I was able to make it leak by using some force on the opener (which has a lock on it to prevent it from opening accedently). The lock will not open, but there is a bubbling sound and the housing takes in water. I think its the o-rings that gets compressed, which causes the leak. This was at about 30 meters (30ft). It this normal? I could understand that your not supposed to force it open, but I did not use a massive amonunt of force, and if the camera would be in my bcd-pocket I could easy see it snag and get the same kind of abusement. Im not sure if I should go to Canon, or the retailer I bought the housing from. The problem gets even more complicated since I am in Thailand at the moment (and planing to stay untill April), and the stuff is all bought in Sweden.

Anyway, the question remains, how tight and solid does your Canon WP-housing feels like, and could there be something wrong with my housing?

/Bjorn

“I think its the o-rings that gets compressed, which causes the leak.”

I’m not familiar with your particular housing so it’s hard to determine exactly why, and were the water is entering. Your statement that your worried about the o-ring compressing is normal. The deeper you go the titer the seal will get, in theory you should get a better seal up to your cameras maximum depth rating.

You should first check that all the landings that the seals are against are clean. Check for imperfections on the o-rings little cuts, deep scratches, sand, or fibers could be on the o-ring or under it.

You mentioned that the opener might be at fault. Check and see if their is even pressure on the o-ring all the way around the housing. If your housing is clear and It’s easy to see the o-ring when it’s compressed, it should look evenly compressed all the way around the landing. If not their might be a alignment problem. Also check to see if the landings are square and flat. Place a straight edge along the flat portion that the o-ring sits on, and the side it compress’s to. If it’s not flat it will cause a leak..

I hope this helps a little and gets you started in the right direction.

Marc

Ok, will look into this. As I said, it does leak when pressing the lever, sortof trying to open the casing without pressing the locking latch. I suspect its rather shifting the back of the casing away from the front, rather then compressing the o-ring, but I'll check into that.

Anyway, thanks for the help. If anyone else has any sugestions, I'm all ear.

Something is wrong with the housing, got to be. At a depth of 30m it should be impossible to move the back door in any way. With that kind of water pressure you could unlock the back door catch and it would still stay firmly shut!