Is Condensation On Inside of Zebralights Lens Normal?

I have three ZL flashlights, H600w MKIII, SC600w MKIII HI and SC5w OP. All three develop spots of what appears to be condensation on the inside of glass, especially on highest level. Sometimes it will cover most of the glass. It tends to disappear when the light is turned off or turn down to a lower level. Seems heat related. Is this normal? I also have a Nitecore HC30w and it has never done this. I was wondering if there's moisture from the cured epoxy? I don't use the lights very much and all the lights have the batteries left in them.

If anything heat from running it on high should vaporize the moisture (when both the head and lens are hot), not cause it to condense. Maybe it's something else.

Put your lights in the fridge and see if there's any condensation. If none, you can rule out water moisture trapped in there.

Have you been to somewhere steamy? They are water tight but not likely steam tight. One of my decent watches got condensation in it on a hot day when I wore suits for an interview.

No, no place steamy. I do live in a wet area but my other lights don't do this.

Im not sure I understand the idea of putting it in the fridge.

Its odd odd that it is happening to all three ZL flashlights.

I have worked with with epoxy quite a bit in wood bonding and restoration. The cured epoxy does have an amine (surface has a wax-like residue) on the surface that can be rinsed off with water or wiped off with a wet rag. That was my initial thought. I believe ZL embeds parts in epoxy?

Scan through this thread!


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ensation-Fog-under-lens-again-quot&highlight=

Koam said:

No, no place steamy. I do live in a wet area but my other lights don't do this.

Im not sure I understand the idea of putting it in the fridge.

Its odd odd that it is happening to all three ZL flashlights.

I have worked with with epoxy quite a bit in wood bonding and restoration. The cured epoxy does have an amine (surface has a wax-like residue) on the surface that can be rinsed off with water or wiped off with a wet rag. That was my initial thought. I believe ZL embeds parts in epoxy?

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To check for condensation. If there's moisture trapped in the head, the cold will cause it to condense.

Capolini said:

Scan through this thread!


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ensation-Fog-under-lens-again-quot&highlight=

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Thanks for the link. Read through it and will try the silica pack to see if that helps. I do live in a rainforest. Maybe when I first got the lights I unscrewed the cap to lock out the light past the o-ring seal rather than just a quarter turn. This would have allowed the inside of light to have the same moisture level of my environment, which is quite high. I do wonder why it's just the Zebralights though.

I've been swimming with my H600w lately, down to about 4 feet and I was surprised to see no moisture.

No issues like that with any of my Zebralights and I have tested them out in a variety of situations. It's quite humid here in the summer but no issues. I've also ran them in the bathroom as a test to see how they would handle the steam (and during a recent power outage) with no issues either. It's especially strange that none of your other lights demonstrate this behavior but all 3 Zebralights do.

Koam said:

Thanks for the link. Read through it and will try the silica pack to see if that helps. I do live in a rainforest. Maybe when I first got the lights I unscrewed the cap to lock out the light past the o-ring seal rather than just a quarter turn. This would have allowed the inside of light to have the same moisture level of my environment, which is quite high. I do wonder why it's just the Zebralights though.

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The silica gel packs were the solution for that light and many other high powered modded/stock lights that I have had.Also,Sometimes moisture can get in when they are manufactured. Other times when modded and in a moist environment, the moisture can get sealed it. These packets ALWAYS remedied the situation. It does not mean that it can not happen again..so what I do w/ about 6 of my lights is keep a silica gel packet in the battery tube when the lights are not in use,,,,this works very well.

If you don't have a silica gel pack, an alternative is to open the battery tube then place the light in a sealed container of uncooked rice. The rice should suck any moisture out of the light.

A while back I was wondering about Zebra's IPX7 rating and asked them how come they only rate their lights as IPX7 when many major brands have IPX8. Here's the response:

We actually believe that the waterproofness of all of our lights are better than any other popular brands. The three possible ingress points (glass, switch cover, and tail cap) are all designed and verified thoroughly and manufactured to high standards.

So they are just plain conservative on ratings. I assume that you can take your Zebras to a casual swim without a problem so they should also handle rain forests fine.

Looks identical to issues I had with other lights that got water inside. I am going to say no, it's not normal. Either it was manufactured in very high humidity or water ingress occurred during use IMHO. In either case have them fix it. These are expensive gear items.

Woods Walker said:

Looks identical to issues I had with other lights that got water inside. I am going to say no, it's not normal. Either it was manufactured in very high humidity or water ingress occurred during use IMHO. In either case have them fix it. These are expensive gear items.

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Interesting. I know they have not gotten wet or any water on the inside. I don't remember them doing this when I first got them, all at different times. I do keep batteries in them but don't use them very much. I'll send ZL a message and see what they think.

I haven't found any silica packs yet so haven't tried that, as was previously mentioned.

Koam said:

Interesting. I know they have not gotten wet or any water on the inside. I don't remember them doing this when I first got them, all at different times. I do keep batteries in them but don't use them very much. I'll send ZL a message and see what they think.

I haven't found any silica packs yet so haven't tried that, as was previously mentioned.

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You can order them on Ebay like I did. Amazon has them to. the small 1g/2g/3g packets are cheap and what you want?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Silica-Gel-Packets-Moisture-Absorber-Dry-Dri-/170564539769


https://www.google.com/webhp?source...&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=silica+gel+packets+on+ebay

Koam said:

Interesting. I know they have not gotten wet or any water on the inside. I don't remember them doing this when I first got them, all at different times. I do keep batteries in them but don't use them very much. I'll send ZL a message and see what they think.

I haven't found any silica packs yet so haven't tried that, as was previously mentioned.

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I put one of my lights, old Fenix HL20 which finally got water ingress on the radiator over the night and it cleared up. The condensation inside the window vanished and didn't come back.

Its not water its the glare coat on the other side of the lens chemically reacting to the most concentrated part of the beam. Leave any high output light with a glare coated lens on its max output for awhile and you will get the same or a similar effect. It goes away once the lens cools off.

CelticCross74 said:

Its not water its the glare coat on the other side of the lens chemically reacting to the most concentrated part of the beam. Leave any high output light with a glare coated lens on its max output for awhile and you will get the same or a similar effect. It goes away once the lens cools off.

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Sorry,,,,,I disagree. water/moisture DOES get under the lens.

There is a difference between Glare and water under the lens! I have had tons of experience with this.My TK75 thread from a few years ago taught me a lot.

Sure, either one will disappear after the light is off. The water/condensation will NOT disappear completely unless you use silica gel or some other proven treatment.That has been a fact for me with about 7 high powered lights that I have owned.Several of my Vinh lights were that way also. The lights were opened up in a moist environment and it was trapped in. Applied my silica gel therapy and problem solved!

Nope, its not normal.... but its common place for nearly all of my lights that operated in rain or the shower when hot. My 47 Mini ML actually has the frosted effect on the outer edge, a sign that when the hot light hit cold water moisture was let in through the seal and redeposited on the window after being brought up to a vapor by the hot LED. Does not affect performance so I left it alone

Most lights are sealed for moderate water resistance, but not necessarily intrinsically sealed well enough to hold a vacuum. I feel moisture intrusion has something do with the temperature of the light in respect to the temperature it is being operated in. If the light is kept running till its stupid hot, often the vapor spot goes away. The minute the hot/warm light is drizzled under cold water it comes back again.

A couple references

Condensation inside Flashlight - Catapult v2
Condensation on TK40 inside lens
TK-75, "Condensation/Fog under lens,again"
Surefire U2 Condensation/Fogging inside the lens
Condensation inside Eagletac D25CL2 lens

I spoke with a tech at Zebralight who attributed the moisture from the close proximity to water during the assembly of the lights-while noticeable, he stated it would not affect performance.