Arc LS waterproof?

Is the Arc LS waterproof? I just received my LS second and I put it in some water. Now my lens has condensation.

Thought it was suppose to be water proof to 10 feet.

The firsts are supposed to reach 10 feet but the seconds probally won't in most cases.

Peter Gransee

MINE DID THE VERY SAME THING! In fact i was
just going to post a new topic about this
when i saw this.Peter, how can i dry out my arc ls? there is condensation behind the optics, i think.Can i take the head apart, and how can i do this?And if i can't get the
water out, can i send it to you to have it fixed,and howmuch would that cost? I can't believe i was such an idiot for putting it in water!

I read on your website that it was waterproof to 50 feet. That is obvously not correct,you need to update your website.

I've found that pagers/watches/etc that get moisture behind a lens/glass react well to either:

Set in hot sun all day.
Set on cookie sheet in oven at 150 deg F for 1 hour.

Never had anything melt and always got rid of the water.

Quickbeam, you should be an arc tech support
guy!That is exactly what peter said when i called him.I put it in the oven and baked it
@160 degrees for about an hour and the water
was gone, but there is a crecent-shaped spot
in the optics where most of the water was, i
think it may have melted it a little bit.
But it doesn't affect the beam much. Or maybie there is still some water in there, it looks kind of yellow
,not the color that the water was befor i started though.

How is it possible to make it water proof than?
Is it possible to try to smear some grease through the lens?

For those who have followed the LS through developement, you'll remember that one of the reasons the design was delayed and the costs went up was because of the difficulty in waterproofing the lens.

After over a month of development and testing on the lens assembly to address this very issue of waterproofing, we finally got a design to be waterproof. In one test we left a unit at the bottom of a 9 foot pool for one hour. We also performed other tests. Looks like we should have done more testing because a good precentage of the units are still not resisting water- even with the design changes.

The "first" will have the same problem. Rather than delay further production, we will remove the water proofing claim from our website for now and fix it in later versions. For those who ordered this light based on it's water resistance, we will refund your money.

They seem to leak around the lens or the bezel thread. We really went overboard trying to fix this and it is going to require a major redesign. Most of you may not remember how much time and effort we put into the waterproofing system. We designed a whole lens management assembly with 4 types of expoy to seal the lens. We will eventuall get it solved for good, its not going down without a big fight though.

For now, keep the unit from immersion. Splashes are ok. If the lens does get fogged up, bake it in an oven set to 120 degrees fareinheit for about an hour. Not too hot or you might melt the lens. Some fogging may leave deposits on the lens so it is best to just keep it out of the pool, lake, toilet, etc.

The new design will take awhile, we have been working on it for some time already. It is a costly and involved design and does other things beside improve the water proofing system.

Peter Gransee
President
Arc Flashlight

Peter,
One of the reasons that I buy anything you sell is that you really care about your products ( I think I've spent $400 on arc flashlights in the last 6 months ). I love both my LS's, I will keep their little bottoms dry.

Update on my last post:I cooked my arc ls
at 160 deg. and it wouldn't turn on afterwards.(see my thread ARC LS CRAPS OUT!)
for more info.Peter said he would send me a replacement when i send my arcls in,but i wouldn't try the oven thing if i were you, Peter can't send everyone out new lights!But
anyway, Peter handled the situation very well
, and i would like to complement him on his
EXCELLENT customer service!

Peter,

It takes great courage for any manufacturer to face up to a problem with their product like you have. But I'm sure I speak for the rest when I say we're still with ya, and for ya (and Arc)! The Arc LS is history in the making and there's bound to be some casualties before eventual glory and immortality.

Still love my LS, warts and all

So I guess theres no way to make it water tight than

One idea is to save all those "Silica Gel" envelopes in your electronic equipment.

Dry 'em out in the oven after removing the paper/tyvek

Put the crystals in a sealed tupperware container. (I put a ultra small fan in to circulate the air, too)

Put the moisture filled pager/flashlight inside.

Wait.

Gets rid of it all. Don't get cute thinking you can dump the gel inside the "thing" to dry it faster.

PS: The little fan really helps.

Epoxy is great stuff, but in boat building, 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive Sealant is the most trusted product to bond and seal parts. It is the prefered product for hull to deck joints, through hull fittings, and setting Lexan into port openings. I wonder if it could be use in the LS head assembly. (5200 is a one part polyurethane; it remains flexible. See it at 3M.com.)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>but there is a crecent-shaped spot
in the optics where most of the water was<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Probably minerals in the water that came out when the water evaporated... Strange that it stopped working - I hope Peter dissects it and lets us know what happened.

PETER - did you try using a bead of clear silicone caulk instead of epoxy? I use this all the time to water seal things and you can peel off any that gets onto areas where you don't want it.

Just I understand, you folks are speaking strictly of the LS's peformance in the wet, yes? Not the AAA. The AAA IS water-proof?

I wouldn't go diving with the ARC AAA, but if you drop it in a puddle or small pond, etc. it should be just fine.

Thanks. Glad to hear that. I have no intentions of showering with it or anything like that, but it's good to know it will survive a heavy rain storm and the such.

Another way I would think instead of heating it up is to put it in a container of some sort and pull a high vacuum on it. That's how the moisture is taken out of an air conditioning system.

Since this thread was just dragged back up to the top (and there isn't much other excitement here in Arcland recently) I might as well poke some fun at Roger...

Roger - Say what? Did you mean to type AAA for real? The AAA HAS gone diving to some insane depths, and is, in fact totally waterproof to any depth a human is likely to go. I'm sure you meant LS, right?