Last week I was having trouble with fuzzy images and inconsistent focusing with my STXL 16200. I have seen this behavior before when there was frosting on the sensor, so I recharged the desiccant capsule. After recharging the desiccant, the camera performance was much improved, but this was short lived. Last night, I started seeing the same behavior again. This occurred less than a week after recharging the desiccant capsule. I am going to try recharging the desiccant again. Is it unusual to have to recharge the desiccant capsule multiple times to get it completely regenerated ? Normally, I can get at about one year of good performance after recharging the desiccant. Mike
If the chamber actually gets significant moisture inside, it might take two purge cycles - one to clean out the chamber, and a second to recharge the now-wet desiccant. If it happens a third time then check the O-ring seal on the desiccant plug. Make sure you didn't (a) bake it, (b) forget to reinstall it, or (c) it's damaged. It's not absolutely impossible for another seal to fail, but it's extremely rare if the camera chamber was never opened.
Thanks Doug I recharged the desiccant a second time. Does it take a certain amount of running the camera after recharging the desiccant to dry the chamber out ? We have really high humidity here in Southeast Texas. The O-ring appears to be in good shape, but it would not be a bad idea to have a replacement just in case. Do you have the specs for the O-ring on a STXL16200 camera ? Mike
It typically takes about 24 hours for all the moisture to be absorbed. The O-ring is size -012. McMaster 9557K464 or similar.
