Nitecore SRT7 - not waterproof

Hi,
the nitecore SRT7 is diving capable, up to 40 m deeph.. or should be
Mine is completely NOT waterproof, it´s a production error..
The thread of the head is probably not milled correct.. or you can screw in the tube to much..

If the tube is screwed to the head completely(necessary to get contact), the sealing ring (between head and tube) is not sealing any more. Unscrewing it a bit --> seals perfect.
Without battery cap and battery, you can under-pressure or over-pressure the lamp (tube) with your mouth.. you feel that air is going through.
Pictures show the exact location, where sealing is not working.. (making lamp wet from outside.. you can see bubbles coming out above this position)


http://imageshack.com/a/img538/8342/47thuy.jpg

The thread from the head has some notches. This is usual and seems to be necessary to get the electronic board inside..
The Problem seems to be, that, at this notch, the sealing ring seems to be pushed to hard against --> no sealing.

One solution could be, to screw in an exact metall ring/spacer.. so that the tube can´t be screwed in to far and electronic contact would still exist..

If you have a nitecore from this series, you could check it the same way. My other nitecore SRT6 has no problems.
If you check it, i would suggest to clean the aluminium tube from the aluminium-dust-lube a bit.. aluminium seems to cause alzheimer..

Yeah, i am glad that i found this out, before diving.. else it would destroy the battery, electronics..

I have warranty (amazon), and i will replace the lamp..
Just wanted to inform you.. this production error could occour more than only at my lamp.


--- edit ---


I measured with a pushed teach, to check if the silicon seal really touches the notch. --> NO, it doesn´t!
I double checked it with silicone grease:

http://imageshack.com/a/img745/7513/5yyoCt.jpg

The sealing ring goes only to this position.. this is the bottom line of the silicone grease.

The notch is not the problem.
In my opinion, the only thing that could now still be, is that the tube is not centered in the middle, when it is screwed to the head completely.

I tested: While not screwed completely (sealed), i pushed the tube relative to the head, to the side.
I was able to make it unseal, from any side (you hear that ear is coming out from other directions, depending in witch direction you push).
Just "kinking" is not enough at my lamp, you really have to push it "parallel" to the side.

The tube could be not centered, cause of:
- a bad billing of the head / tube (i should test it with the tube of the srt6, wich i don´t have, now)
- a not plane lying electronic board (i see noticeably more scratches from the tube on the platine, from the one side, where it´s not sealed)

I only see three threads, that's not much overlap.

TY for pointing that out. My SRT7 has those notches in two places. I've done a dunk test where the flashlight is covered in static water for about 30 minutes with no leaks but this certainly is not the same as taking it diving. I bought mine in April 2014. What did you mean you have an Amazon warranty? Are you returning it?

Yeah, at about 40 m deeph, you have 4 Bar over-pressure.

A harder test (without going deep) would be, to heat the lamp (10 min full light without fan) and than put it into cold water.
Through the heat, the air expands inside the lamp. If it is not sealed, some air can go out.
After putting it into cold water, the expanded air shrinks and causes under-pressure inside the lamp --> soaks in water.

That could happen, if you work with the lamp and it falls into water.

The maximum you could theoreticly reach is vacuum --> so there is only a difference of 1 Bar --> should be no problem to the lamp..

No, i just bought it at Amazon.. that should be no advertisement etc... it´s just that i could change the lamp to a new one without explaining etc.. --> i dont write this issue, to repair the lamp. I write it, because i am interested in this technical problem.

TITAN3000 said:

Hi,
the nitecore SRT7 is diving capable, up to 40 m deeph.. or should be
Mine is completely NOT waterproof, it´s a production error..
The thread of the head is probably not milled correct.. or you can screw in the tube to much..

Click to expand...

Their specification say waterproof to two metres.

I'm not sure where your seeing forty metres? It is definitely not meant for diving, I'd say you don't have reason for any sort of warranty claim.

aluminium seems to cause alzheimer..

Click to expand...

Do you intend on ingesting your flashlight.

Norm

Why don't you try measuring the inner diameter of the light where it's anodized in three locations around the circumference and then measure the rubber o-ring on the light body, again in three locations.

I don't own an SRT-7 light, but most of Nitecore's lights have the same machining on the threads for use as a ground for the circuit board and led alignment.

The other thing I notice is that there is little to no lubricant on the o-ring sealing surface. With my lights, you can feel when the o-ring engages the sealing surface.

Nitecore only warranties some of their lights to IPX-8 which is two meter submersion for 30 minutes.

For your next light, get some silicone o-ring lubricant and clean and lube the light before use or every 6 months per the owners manual.

SRT7 is officially rated to IPX-8 2m depth.

I dropped it into the river more than 2m depth. Managed to pick it up after a week and there was no water ingress. Pushed the button and light worked as it should be. Construction of the head is the same as on post 1.


With proper, maybe a bit oversize well greased o-ring installed I have no doubt that SRT7 can handle 40m...


Great light by the way

Cheers

I don't know who this is or if their SRT7 is a special version but they claim 40m depth.

that looks like a singaporean site since the contact and retailer pages are all for singapore region.

http://www.nitecore.com/ looks like the legit nitecore homepage

http://www.nitecorelights.com/ looks like either singapore distributor page or something else set up for a specific region.

"Edit add": if you download the PDF user manual from http://www.nitecorelights.com for SRT 7, the pdf states IPX-8 2m, which leads me to believe the "40 m" claim is not by nitecore but only by this distributor/dealer.

IPX8 means, that it should resist to minimum 2m.
There is no higher IPX, only IPX9k, for hot steam with high pressure.. therefore also diving flashlights should usually get no higher IPX than IPX8.
Mine is completely not waterproof, even not 30 cm..
It had lube.. after it ran hot a bit, i cooled with water.. half hour later didn´t need a diffusor any more..
i just cleaned it from lube, to see everything better.. later i put lube on it, again.. didnt help.. (my srt6 seals also without lube).

I got the 40m deeph also from http://www.nitecorelights.com/
maybe it´s really a reseller, i don´t know. But they claim 18 mounth exchange warranty and 10 years "usual" warranty.. so there should be not so much returns of this lamp.. sea water inside should destroy it very fast.

My lamp doesn´t get IPX8, maybe IPX1 or so..
Maybe http://www.nitecorelights.com/ has a special modified version (or just changed 1-2 o-rings).. but i think they would have written it on theyr page.. to let people buy only at theyr shop.

Therefore i think, that a usual SRT6 or SRT7 should be (usually) dive capable to ca. 40m.
O-rings should bi lubed etc.. of course.

If you read the owners manual on the Nitecorelights.com website for the SRT7 light there is no mention of this light being certified to 40 meters depth.

There are a few dive websites making claims though but not Nitecore.

If you want to find out if your light is going to leak, place the light in HOT WATER. Observe for bubbles. The temperature increase will up the internal pressure and provided you remove it in a few minutes won't allow water inside.

inner head: 2,54 cm (haha, exact 1 inch)
outer o-ring: 2,57 cm

so we have a difference of 0,3 mm
or 0,15 mm each side.

Not much..

So if tube is not centered to the head within 0,15 mm, it doesn´t seal.
I looked exactly at the gap between head and tube and rotated the lamp slowly
--> Yeah, you can see it good, that it is not centered any more! (if tube is screwed completely)
The gap is largest, where it´s not sealing..

If not screwed in completely, it seals (cause centrered from the o-ring). Even pushing and pulling strong or kinking --> sealing OK.
It only occours, if tube is screwed completely --> The bottom of the milling seems to be not exact 90° to the milling --> tube is phushed/thrusted away from the center.
The milling itself seems to be OK, cause else the problem would also occour, if i would pull and push strong, while not completely screwed in.

Maybe that´s it: The milling is just not perfectly with 90° to the head. Together with the tight o-ring, it is not sealing.

It would probably seal with a stronger o-ring. But i want a Lamp that´s centered.. cause it´s always a potential weak spot.. even with a stronger o-ring.
I also will change it, cause it had condensed water inside the reflector. And i imagine, that it took damage, is not perfect any more, through the little drops (haha, but that could also be just imagination..)

I will change the lamp probably next week and put in a stronger o-ring into the new one (and lube it much )

good test!

i think boiled water would be to hot?.. but 50-60°C should be ok.

i will try to calculate the pressure inside the lamp (from 10° C to 50°C)..

Norm said:

TITAN3000 said:

aluminium seems to cause alzheimer..

Click to expand...

Do you intend on ingesting your flashlight.

Norm

Click to expand...

I forgot what i wanted to say

I was skeptical about the 40m but then again they have videos of divers using it. I saw another video but I can't find it now where they put the SRT7 in a pressure tank and simulated more than 40m.

The NightCoreLights site lists a warranty but when it comes time to use it who knows if they'll honor it. I was thinking that they are a distributor but whether they are official or not who knows. I don't dive so it wasn't a big deal for me. I did want to take it into the pool and though that if it can withstand 40m then it should be able to withstand a few meters.

I did the static test I mentioned in my previous post and it came through fine but I didn't get a chance to try the pool test. So it sounds like the tolerances are tight and if off by a few mm then leaking occurs. Now I'm hesitant to try it in the pool and while the heated water test sounds interesting I'm not going to do that since I don't have any confidence that the warranty will cover water damage.

Nitecore (official) also have a diving-video on theyr SRT7 site, linked to youtube.. but it doesnt work

If the lamp has IPX8, then it is a warranty problem, if it is not water proof.

You could also try with my testing method. It´s very fast, secure to the lamp, and u feel it very good, if it is sealed, or not.
-0.5 bar should be no problem, so it´s like 5m deeph.

If I remember correctly, one poster in another thread took it down at depths exceeding 30m.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-it-worth-it&p=4462458&viewfull=1#post4462458
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-it-worth-it&p=4462561&viewfull=1#post4462561

So far the only light I saw tested using boiling water in a video was the Inova T series. In russian. Don't know how authentic it is though.

Hot water immersion of sealed aerospace components is a common practice when looking for a possible leak path.

You don't need boiling water, 150-180F is enough to increase internal pressure so that air will escape without water intrusion.

NoNotAgain said:

Hot water immersion of sealed aerospace components is a common practice when looking for a possible leak path.

You don't need boiling water, 150-180F is enough to increase internal pressure so that air will escape without water intrusion.

Click to expand...

Oh i see. Thx for info!