Thanks all. Will report back after I get them swapped out.
Incidentally, I think the tail end double O-rings on my 6ps all have misteriously shrunk. The lights sit around the house, out of the sun, and are used only occasionally, so minimal cell change. They’ve stopped passing the 1.5ft deep for 30 mins immersion test. They used to. Their lubed with Super Lube.
Tailcap O-rings for 6ps are just a bit too thick and too stiff, but found a couple that provide a very snug fit.
1-foot submersion for 1 hour, bone dry.
I think Convoy should consider adding a retaining ring that clamps down on the switch boot and thicker O-rings on both ends of the body tube to increase the performance and value of this host.
I don’t think it is an underwater light.
I think most non-dive lights are designed to be water resistant. For instance they should be resistant to rain, dropping them in a puddle, quick immersion in water, etc. All of my lights meet that and that’s all I really expect them to do.
30 minutes in 1 foot of water puts those lights into a different category and price point in my opinion.
The switch retainer already puts pressure on the switch boot as does the pill on the lens o-ring. If the switch retainer seats without enough pressure you could either use a thicker switch disc or shim the stock one with something as simple as tape to be able to increase the pressure on the boot. The depth of the milling where the switch sits can vary slightly, sometimes causing the rubber actuator in the boot to preload the switch giving it a too sensitive feather trigger or other times not sealing well. Similar problems in the heads of some other lights can prevent the retainer from fully snugging the driver leading to unreliable grounding. I figure it’s all part of “budget” flashlights as I don’t want to pay more to get something glued together.
Convoy doesn’t rate the light as waterproof?
Put some extra O-rings and some grease on it and it should be good for light water use.
Again, didn’t expect it to be. All my IPX-8 rated lights pass the 1 foot 1 hour immersion with no problems; they’re not underwater lights either. Didn’t expect the S2+ to be IPX-8, as it is not advertised as being so.
All my IPX-8 lights can stay submerged in 1 foot of water for more than 1 hour.
As I posted above, the S2+ is able to do it as well.
All it took was replacing the stock O-rings with a couple of slightly thicker O-rings.
I don’t see how that would place the S2+ in a different category and price point.
Thanks for the insights.
If the addition of a separate retaining ring for the boot requires substantial more work and commands a higher price, then I agree that
it’s not needed. The current design, per my test, seems adequate. Knowing that the boot seal doesn’t have to rely on the switch retaining ring being tight, it being reverse threaded notwithstanding, brings peace of mind.
By my test, a couple of thicker O-rings to replace the stock one is all it takes to make it likely IPX-8.
The retaining ring in the tail serves two purposes, to clamp the ground ring of the switch pcb and also to sandwich the boot against its tail cap seat but the two seats are separated but the switch and the spacer. I’ve noticed a bit of variation both in the stand off height of the switch and in the thickness of the aluminum spacer discs located between the switch and the boot which led me to suggest an adjustment there could improve the seal and/or fine tune a temperamental switch.
Sometimes it seems a topic like this can get beat to death but it takes awhile for word to get around. Possibly any reiterating that it’s not a dive light haven’t read every post, I know I tend to skip to the end sometimes.
The fully-built S2+ can stand being 1ft underwater without noticing any problems. I don’t have any experience with the host.
Thanks, bugsy. Wonder if mine is an anomaly or built units and hosts use different O-rings.
Certainly budget price lights can be waterproof given either a bit of work or decent design and construction. However to expect that out of the box for $15 or so is not realistic, at least in my opinion.
I have nothing to base this on so it’s just speculation on my part but I doubt manufacturers of budget lights do much testing to insure that their lights are waterproof. I’m happy to be corrected of anyone knows otherwise.
I’ve used my S2’s stuck in the sand where waves were washing over it every other second. After about two hours, no water ever made it in.
Thanks for the photo. If the top of that water column is where I think it is, the depth looks more like 1 meter or just a bit more, unless the guy is over 2 meters tall. Assuming that’s a Convoy employee, hey, they do test them. I do wonder what happened to mine.
Thanks for the feedback.
I think that is a picture of the light as it is still falling into the water… it hasn’t reached bottom/testing depth yet. 2m is about 6.6ft, and I’d bet that guy in the pic is probably about 5ft to 5’2”.
As it relates to this thread, I took my fully built S2+ into a hot tub with me, submerged it 1-2ft easily… worked 100%, even changing modes. No water intrusion at all. Water temp was 104 degrees F.
Thanks, JasonJ. I must have gotten a bad one.
Would ask RMM to check his current stock, that’s where I bought mine, but he’s busy enough.