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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
My caliper is dead.
The O-rings I have on there now are a couple of out of spec ones that are supposed to be for the tail of the Surefire P and C series.
The specs are supposed to be 3/4” ID x 1/16” thick nominal, which corresponds or are close to either the –017 or –018 size designation.
The ones I’m using are out of spec because they are just a wee bit thinner, and as a result didn’t provide adequate sealing for my 6Ps, but for that same reason, work really well on the S2+.
I’m guessing the –017 specs would be a better fit.
Put some lube on the O-ring before screwing down the tailcap.