How long is Vacuum stable?

Hi!

Just recieved a new Nauticam (NA-EM10) Housing with vacuum check. I pumped a vacuum (just until green light switched on, no extra pump) and left the housing overnight. 8-9hours later the yellow light was flashing. Now i am worried that the housing well be leaking.

How long is a vacuum stable in your housing?

regards

Bene

I've had mine stable for 48 hours - Sony A6000 housing

I've got the Vivid vacuum system and once that is "secure" it certainly does not show a warning until the vacuum seal is released.

Can you remove any part of the housing when the yellow light flashes? If so the vacuum isn't working.

Hi!

 

I pumped a vacuum (just until green light switched on, no extra pump) and left the housing overnight. 8-9hours later the yellow light was flashing. Now i am worried that the housing well be leaking.

 

Bene

Yes, it's leaking.

Check your o-rings.

I vacuum my Hugyfot housing for 10 extra green blinks to avoid that if the housing is warming up will trigger the leak alarm.

I had initially some issues of false alarms vacuuming for only one or 2 extra blinks as during transport the rig to the harbour and on the boat triggered the low vacuum alarm.
After vacuuming some blinks more this problem disapeared and vacuum stays put for days if everthing is sealed right

This may be different at Nauticam housings?

Chris

Hi,

It definately looks like a leak.

If the seal is ok. Then it holds for days on my Nauticam Housing.

I just pump it down until it goes green.

/Erik

Hi Bene,

Make sure your strobe electrical connection is plugged and the valve is completely closed if you're using it. I chased a slow leak one night (showed up after 2 hours) till two AM because the plug/sync cord was not installed. If you're sealed up it will stay that way. I left my Nauticam housing sealed with the green light lit up for two weeks to test the battery and finally just gave up and shut it down from boredom. I guess it's theoretically possible to just barely cross over into the green pressure region and then have outside ambient pressure, temperature or phase of the moon nudge you back into yellow. But it's easy to test, just try it again with a couple extra pumps past the green light and see if it leaks. I'm betting you have a leak as the guys have said.

Good luck and let us know what you find,

Cheers,

Steve

Two Subal housings with Vivid systems have held green for 48 hours several times.

I usually give it 3 to 4 strokes after getting green light.

hi!

Thanks a lot for your answers! When I asked this question I already had another test running. Before I did that test I had a clean of all O-rings and the housing (all O-Ring positions). When I came back from work yesterday the vacuum was still stable after 9hours. I don't know exactly what it was but there are three possibilities:

- O-rings not clean

- Vacuum ventile not completly closed ( possibly I didn't close it to the end, because I am careful: I have strong hands and after closed there often comes: broken ;-)

- I just gave it a very light vacuum (finished directly after green light). It was warm in the evening when I closed it and ca. 5 degree Celsius colder in the morning. So maybe the pressure-difference was just a little to much (the light was orange NOT red, means a small loss of vacuum was detected, but not a complete loss)

I have no idea what it was, but it is good to know your experiences to avoid any leak of the housing!

As a result I will definitly go down with the housing, but without camera the first time

Just to make this thread complete and make it even more interesting for others:

How long before a dive do you normally prepare your housing? Nauticam says (for E-M10) at least 30mins. After what time do you "trust" your vacuum detection system?

Phew!

I like to take my time to get my system ready - but then, inevitably the dive guide says: last minute change of plan so macro not wide-angle. So it's a scramble. And that's why I really like the vacuum (Vivid). Pump it up and wait 20 mins. If it's still green, I'm happy......

I think I had a slight panic on my 3rd or 4th use when I don't think I had re-seated the vacuum release button on the Vivid quite correctly - and then got a red light after a few minutes of green. Worth watching that for sure.

Using Aquatica housing and Leak Sentinel, on a liveaboard, I'll set it up the night before and leave it sealed and pumped down all night. My camera battery lasts for at least 4 dives, so I only need to open the housing once a day unless I change ports, etc. But I agree, 20-30 minutes should be sufficient. I pump it down two cycles beyond the green light. Once I did have a small leak and it showed up within a few minutes, less than five.

Great addition to mental health diving with a camera.