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Cracking on Lid of Inon Z330

Started by Pomacentridae ·

  • 9Posts
  • 9Replies

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Cracking on Lid of Inon Z330

9 posts
  1. Hi All,

     

    Was maintaining my Inon Z330 strobe and I noticed these hairline cracks on the lid. They are on the outside of the lid. The lid does not seem to be compromised as the hairline cracks don’t propagate thru the entire material.

     

    Any one else experience this issue? Any idea on how they might have formed? This surprises me as I am quite careful and never dropped my strobe and they always go into my soft cooler instead of hard surfaces. Second the plastic screw cap material is crazy find it hard to imagine it damaging like that quickly.

     

    Should this be something to worry about? Should I do anything about it?

     

    Thanks,

    P

     

    22bed1c9c01fc027fcd6c4cdb66a5f3c.jpg

     

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  2. Cracks in the edge of the battery screw-on cap! Yes, that is something to worry about, as that is where the O ring is compressed by the cap to seal the battery compartment. If one of the cracks spreads while underwater, the batteries and  contacts might be badly damaged by sea water. Or if it cracks while on a dive trip, you will be unable to use the strobe.  

    Before screwing on the Inon cap, it is a good idea to lubricate its inside edge very lightly with silicon, or even with a drop of saliva, so the cap rotates on the O ring without too much friction.

    As your cap is cracked, it may be wise to replace it before diving. If you write Inon with an attached photo, they might replace it for free. Keep us posted!

    http://www.inon.jp/customer/network.html

    Edited by Kraken de Mabini
  3. Yeah, as KdB says, it is indeed important - and maybe wise to replace it before using the strobe in water.

    How may it have happened? I'd guess it's come into to contact with something hard......

    It shouldn't be difficult to replace there are a number of shops listing the part online.

    Edited by TimG
  4. I had similar chracks after a trip to Raja Ampat, where the speedboat captain was very bold with the equipment that was handed over to him (also a focus light of my rig was damaged)...

    I ordered a replacement cap, it was about 20 $...

     

    Wolfgang

  5. They look like scratches to me, from scraping against something rough, my cap is covered in them but probably not so deep as these.   Easy to happen underwater.   A crack is different to this and caused by dropping or perhaps contact with chemicals - not saying this has happened here.  The fact you have many of them roughly parallel points to scratching to me.  Hard to be completely sure without examining it under magnification

    Still it's probably better safe than sorry and order new caps.  Has the strobe been UW with these scratches in place?  Presumably it was found after a dive?  If it has survived diving already it will likely continue to do so.  The caps are quite rugged really even if they scratch relatively easily.  Shore diving in Sydney my strobes cop a beating on exits sometimes and apart from not looking great stand up to the conditions quite well.

  6. [mention]ChrisRoss [/mention] I don’t think it is a scratch as the outer and inner surface of the cap are completely smooth. They seem to be internal in the material, from the outside edge to maybe the middle of the material. I only notice these cracks at certain angles when light hits them correctly.

     

    I believe I have used it on a dive a few times already. The strobe is almost 2yrs old already.

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  7. 50 minutes ago, Pomacentridae said:

    [mention]ChrisRoss [/mention] I don’t think it is a scratch as the outer and inner surface of the cap are completely smooth. They seem to be internal in the material, from the outside edge to maybe the middle of the material. I only notice these cracks at certain angles when light hits them correctly.

     

    I believe I have used it on a dive a few times already. The strobe is almost 2yrs old already.

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Perhaps, but they certainly look like scratches, whatever it is I think for piece of mind order new caps.  It is possibly OK to keep diving with them till the new caps arrive if they have survived several dives already - but  this up to you. 

  8. It looks like crazing to me:  
    “Crazing is also called hairline craze. They can be fine, thin, tiny type cracks that may extend in an unreinforced or reinforced network on or under the surface or through a layer of a plastic material. Different conditions and effects occur depending on the type plastic, load conditions, and environment. The formation of crazes are like cracks in that they are wedge shaped and formed perpendicular to the applied stress. They differ from cracks by containing plastic that is stretched in a highly oriented manner perpendicular to the plane of the craze. They are parallel to the applied stress direction. Another major distinguishing feature is that unlike cracks, crazes are able to support stress.

    With the application of static loading, the strain at which crazes start to form decreases as the applied stress decreases. In constant strain-rate testing crazes always start to form at a well-defined stress level. Crazes start sooner under high stress levels. When tensile stress is applied to an amorphous (Chapter 1) plastic such as acrylics, PVCs, PS, and PCs, crazing may occur before fracturing. Crazing occurs in crystalline plastics, but in those its onset is not readily visible. It also occurs in most fiber-reinforced plastics, at the time-dependent knee in the stress-strain curve”.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/crazing#:~:text=Crazing is also called hairline,%2C load conditions%2C and environment.

     

     

    "

     

  9. [mention]Kraken de Mabini [/mention] thank you for that. I think your answer is spot on! I learned something new today. I’ve actually seen this mode of failure elsewhere but only now learned of the name.


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