Strobe Travel & Maintenance Tips

[DevilDiver]

Found this on this INON webpage:

Strobe Travel & Maintenance Tips
When traveling, here are some basic recommended steps you can take to help avoid damaging your strobe and to keep your strobe working properly.

• Remove Battery Box Outer Cap or Battery Box O-ring when flying. INON strobes are designed to withstand external pressure but not internal pressure (when ambient air pressure decreases).
• Remove the batteries. It is good practice to always remove the batteries when the strobe is not in use for a period of time. If batteries are left in, the battery contacts may become pressed down - out of optimum contact position. The batteries may also leak and cause damage to the strobe.
• Properly pack your strobe. It is important to protect your strobe from any impact shock or heavy vibrations. Simply wrap the strobe in a towel or place it in a padded protective case.
• Camera rinse tanks are for rinsing ONLY! Do not leave your camera system in a boat's rinse tank while moving. More camera/strobe floods are caused by camera systems banging into each other while in these rinse tanks. Rinse your system then wrap in a towel until you can properly rinse your system in a controlled environment.
• Do not expose your strobe to extreme heat, such as inside of a sun-heated car or in direct hot sunlight such as a beach or boat deck. Doing so may cause deformation, damage and subsequent flooding.
• Clean the battery contacts. Through time, AA batteries can discharge a film, which in turn coats the strobe’s battery contacts causing the strobe not to work. Simply take a clean pencil eraser and gently clean the contacts.
• Recharge the strobe’s capacitor. If your strobe sits for a period of time not being used, the main capacitor can lose its charge. A sign of this is when the strobe is turned on; the Ready Light does not light. Simply clean the battery contacts, install a new or freshly charged set of batteries then turn the strobe ON and let it sit for approximately 5 minutes. The Ready Light should now be lit.
• Rinse your strobe thoroughly. Let the strobe soak in warm fresh water while you slowly manipulate the controls. This will help dissolve remaining salt and loosen trapped sand.
• DO NOT USE cleaning solvents/solution. Do not clean with alcohol, benzene, thinner or organic solvent based solutions. These solvents can damage the strobes polycarbonate body.
• Prevent water from entering the battery compartment. Make sure your strobe is completely dry before opening the battery compartment. Even if a small amount of water makes contact with the battery terminals, corrosion can form on the contact points making the strobe malfunction or become inoperable.

Hope this helps someone!