Fenix LD20 dropped in lake

I was using my Fenix LD20 as a dive light at my friend's cottage. We were trying to find a neighbors wallet which had been dropped by a boathouse. The light worked well and we were able to find a bunch of crap - Hot Wheels, outdoor furniture, wall ornaments, etc. but no wallet. I set the light down on the dock to take a break and my friend's little brother accidentally kicked off the dock.

Where it fell is about 15 ft. deep. I tried a few times to look for it but the floor is very soft and easy to disturb, making visibility difficult. It is a mixture of silt and leaves. the fact that the light is black does not help. I don't have any scuba gear other than goggles so my time down there is limited to my lung capacity. My friend's dad suggested we take a rake down there and somehow rake up everything to the shore.

The flashlight has been there for about 48 hours now, so is it a goner? I made sure that it was screwed together tight prior to the incident. Any suggestions on how to find it?

If not, what would be a good replacement light?

Those small fenix lights are alot more water tight than you think, my ld12 have seen alot of salt water without any problems. Main problem here is finding it again, it can be like 2-4 cm down under the mud now due to the nature of its shape and overall geometry.. Also it might be coverd by all the crap that was floating randomly around when you disturbed the water (mud and large particles)

Good luck and let us know how the search goes and sry for my terrible attemt to write in english

Sorry about your light.

Silt is going to be the problem, so I'm thinking that it's pretty much gone for life. 15' for 48 hours? You might not want to find it.

I've got both the Klarus P2A and the JetBeam BA-20, which are both similar. $35 for the Klarus, $40 for the JB, delivered from authorized dealers on Eghey.

Chris

Ouch! Good luck, hoping you can find it and it's salvageable.

Tie a strong magnet to a piece of twine. If you have a fairly good idea of where the light went in, lower the magnet into the water and keep your fingers crossed With batteries installed, the light should stick to the magnet if you get it close enough.

If you want to get really serious about finding it, how about using an ROV.

If you have a Harbor Freight nearby go get a retrieval magnet and some rope then go "fishing" for your light.

kbark said:

If you have a Harbor Freight nearby go get a retrieval magnet and some rope then go "fishing" for your light.

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sounds totally feasible and fun.

15ft are ~4.5m. pro swimmer's Swedish-made standard goggles would damage your eyeballs by too much water pressure
it would be your friend's, your friend's fam or your friend's little brother responsibility to take care of the replacement.
god luck

Phil Ament said:

If you want to get really serious about finding it, how about using an ROV.

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Great idea! Maybe Robert Ballard or James Cameron could help!

In all seriousness, I'd be pretty upset to have it so close and not be able to get it. My OCD would kick in big time. Hope you find a solution.

Maybe you could say that you thought that you had seen a dead body in that specific area, and when the police divers come in you could ask them very nicely to be on the lookout for your LD20!

Dr. Strangelove said:

Great idea! Maybe Robert Ballard or James Cameron could help!

In all seriousness, I'd be pretty upset to have it so close and not be able to get it. My OCD would kick in big time. Hope you find a solution.

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Yeah... I actually almost caught it but it slipped out of my hands
I know within a square meter where It dropped.
I think I'll try the magnet idea.

It'll survive being underwater ok, but finding it in the silt and mud will be a problem. This is from someone who dropped a running chainsaw from a tree (breakaway lanyard worked well), into a drainage channel. I got a boat out and poked around with a stick for a couple of hours but couldn't find it. A week or so later I borrowed a metal detector and dredged it out. All washed out, still runs fine.

I may well be wrong, but I'm not sure there's enough steel in the batteries to attract the magnet. I have a battery tester with magnetic contacts that won't stick to the negative ends of some batteries even directly, let alone through an aluminium body.

All the best, let us know what happens.

Oh, and over time...that square meter can wander a little

While I'm not a fan of lanyards for EDC use, if I'm around water I make darn sure anything of value is leashed to either my body or something that floats!

Ask around after a magnetic nail sweeper, it'll help you cover the area faster and more thoroughly than just a single magnet on a line.

It would be neat if flashlights could be rigged with water-seepage sensors that turn on the strobe mode when enough water seeps in to complete an electrical circuit.

Uh, the LD20 is made out of aluminum. A magnet's not gonna help.

Also, flashlights rated as "waterproof" are only tested and guaranteed up to 2 metres underwater. If it'll survive twice that is anybody's guess and probably depends on how well lubed and worn the oring and boot were.

Swede74 said:

Tie a strong magnet to a piece of twine. If you have a fairly good idea of where the light went in, lower the magnet into the water and keep your fingers crossed With batteries installed, the light should stick to the magnet if you get it close enough.

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Yep. Growing up on a houseboat, this was how we retrieved our dropped keys. The magnet from an old broken speaker or hard drive might already do the trick.

rotototo said:

Uh, the LD20 is made out of aluminum. A magnet's not gonna help.

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Not necessarily true. Just tried this with one single neodymium magnet salvaged from an old hard drive (they usually contain several), and I was able to lift my Quark X AA2 off the ground (even above water) just fine, because the batteries inside the flashlight are not made out of aluminum (rebranded Eneloops in my case).
Clustering (stacking) some of these magnets could make this entirely feasible.

If you do manage to pull your light to the surface and detect any signs of water damage, I'd recommend taking it apart as much as possible and dunking all parts in dry rice or silica for several days before trying to turn it on.

Re-place it with a TK70 it will be easier to find I was going to say a FATMAX but I don't think there water proof, or a real dive lite haha the best think is that a TK70 would have enough run time for you to leave it on med on the dock so it would be easier to find encase it fell.

Post up if you find it that would be awesome if you did.

TK70 is SO HEAVY, it will sink very fast but surely won't be eaten by any fish.

The small fenix would have been some fishy's dinner already.

Rake the bottom with a largemouth pool cleaning skim net