Blinder M-06HP leaks water, and I think I know why they did

**man114** · 11-23-2010, 04:19 PM

If anyone else still has any working ones of these installed this might be of use. I bought several sets of these on the cheap to mess around with a while back I fully realize they'll only work against old guns and not modern stuff. Well I have one set installed in the rear of one car. I modified all these to plug in with cigarette lighters so anyway after going to the bank I get back in the car to and seem to smell something electrical. The cigarette lighter plug and lighted kill switch for that set of Blinders is warm to the touch. So I pull the plug checked everything else, and sure enough something is wrong in the rear. I get home inspect the system for shorts in the wiring I used and such. I then get a camera and check the Blinders. Sure enough that set of M-06hps had leaked water and water was behind the lens. I removed that set took them in the house and proceeded to take them apart. While both had leaked water apparently the one the inside glue that holds the LEDs in place had seperated allowing the water to leak underneath and create the short. I dried them both out and tested them with an external power supply and both work again with no apparent overdraw of current. Apparently the extra heat from running caused the water to leak underneath the glue used inside.

The thing is water would not leak in at all if you sealed the rear vent holes. I can't imagine that even running constantly that they'd generate enough heat for that tiny vent hole to be an issue.

If anyone actually still has running sets I'd seal the rear holes with some silicone. This set should be salvageable. Don't even know why I'm wasting my time, however it was interesting to know. This probably would have been a fairly easy problem to remedy from the get go and I wonder why Blinder did not investigate this more closely.

**Won Hunglo** · 11-23-2010, 05:35 PM

That was the downfall fall of M06 & M10's. You will also notice the foam holding the front lense & back of the housing degrades and comes loose, letting in water. This issue was grealty reduced in the M20's as the foam went away & head was fully sealed with epoxy. They can leak water over time but nothing like the older ones. I have only lost 2 M40 heads to water in almost 6 years of service. Not too shabby as that means 2 of my 4 heads are original & all 4 are still jamming fine.

**man114** · 11-23-2010, 07:34 PM

Well I have like 6 more of these not yet installed, so I'm going to do some experimenting. First I flushed the leaking set with rubbing alcohol. I'm going to try resealing this set with silicone and reinstalling it and seeing what happens. This is my secondary car and I have another set installed on this car along with an M20 in the front. Since it is powered up less I wonder if it has any effect when I do and it gets warm, couldn't really say. The front set was actually on first and hasn't leaked yet go figure. If the resealed set leaks I'm going to try presealing another set before installing it and seeing what happens.

I'd like to save at least one set because I'm going to try and make dummy heads for the M20 that respond when the first set detects but don't actually detect on their own. Otherwise I know of no use for these things. Don't even know why I'm wasting time with them. I guess I'm just curious about the durability of a head in the environment over time. I can't even say what they'll be effective against, probably a limited number of older guns still in use.

**man114** · 11-23-2010, 08:18 PM

Well I resealed what appears to be the good head with silicone. The other that leaked I'm going to let dry for a while yet and see how it looks tomorrow with my 12V power supply. It may have burned out an LED. In that case I'll keep the good head as a spare and toss the other head or rip it apart entirely and see what exactly is in there other than the LEDs, if anything.

I've been trying to find the pinout of the M20's control unit to see if I can make a dummy head, I may just try that too.

Next set I'll seal with silicone before I even put them on. Again, they're outdated I know but I have several sets left so I'm not just going to toss them. I still can't see a logical reason they are vented to the front, this is just inviting water to get in.

I'm just kind of happy it wasn't the M20 that burned up because at least that still has some capability. I don't mind losing M-06HP heads.