E/O Wet Connectors

[betti154]

Hi,

I'm considering the use of some form of wet connector in a sealed head+battery video light project and was hoping someone could help me out with a source for them. Dive-Xtras.com sell them but they're pretty expensive, especially when you include the 90 degree bulkhead, blind plug and cable. I'll be diving in salt water mostly.

Also, I've read on this site that the power source must be turned off before connecting underwater. Does this apply even with the blind plug connected? e.g. say I have a battery in a housing wired directly to the 90 degree bulkhead connector (so they are always live), and on the surface cover it with the blind plug. Will this be ok?

Primarily I want to just charge via these connectors, but in theory they would also allow for a parallel power source to be used for extended burn time which is quite nice.

Any other comments on the E/O connectors is welcome as I've no experience with these and have heard mixed comments on reliability. Namely that fresh water is ok, but salt is a major problem if connecting underwater (not a use case for me here though).

 

[350xfire]

Those are expensive everywhere!

 

[betti154]

Yeah, the more I look it seems dive-xtras are relatively cheap. The annoying thing is the e/o bulkhead plug, blank and cable cost as much as the LEDs, driver and other parts for the light.

That said, if they'll do what I want I may well still use them as I like the idea of an optional external power source.

 

[DIWdiver]

They should be fine if you keep the blind plug installed. The issues is that as soon as you expose live connector pins to salt water, electrolysis eats them VERY fast. I wouldn't be surprised if you could eat off the gold plating in seconds.

As soon as there is something to keep the pins insulated from each other (must force the water out of the insulation barrier), you can turn the power back on.

I had an Ikelite Mini-C flood during a 40 minute dive, and by the time I got to the surface and opened it up, electrolysis had completely eaten throught the brass switch bar.

 

[betti154]

They should be fine if you keep the blind plug installed. The issues is that as soon as you expose live connector pins to salt water, electrolysis eats them VERY fast. I wouldn't be surprised if you could eat off the gold plating in seconds.

As soon as there is something to keep the pins insulated from each other (must force the water out of the insulation barrier), you can turn the power back on.

I had an Ikelite Mini-C flood during a 40 minute dive, and by the time I got to the surface and opened it up, electrolysis had completely eaten throught the brass switch bar.

Thanks very much. All this makes sense and confirms what my test showed with some banana plugs in a glass of salt water. A friend told me that larger volumes of water would negate this effect but not so by the sounds of it.

In the end I'm not sure I can use these anyway due to the size of the combined 90 degree bulkhead plug and blind plug. I was hoping to install them at the rear of a light head+canister combo which is 60mm OD.

Do you happen to know the length of the blind plug? Looks notably bigger than the ~50mm I could allocate it anyway, as I'd want to recess it flush in the back of the light.

 

[lucca brassi]

All you need to do is to stop electrolysis path ... I do that with simple euro connector (110V-230V ) and washer .