Watertight Enclosures (Locking Series)

Meet our second generation 2″, 3″, 4″, 5″, 6″, and 8″ Series watertight enclosures for ROVs, AUVs, marine vehicles, and other harsh environments. They’re completely configurable with a variety of tube and end cap options offering a substantial upgrade over the first generation of watertight enclosures. Precision machined O-ring interfaces, a locking cord and anti-rotation feature to secure the flange, and smooth O-ring lead-in make these enclosures a perfect fit for a wide range of applications including MATE and Robosub ROVs, subsea batteries, cameras, electronics, data loggers, environmental monitoring, instrument housings, junction boxes, and more.

When used with the clear acrylic plastic tube option, it’s easy to see the components inside the enclosure, ideal for subsea development projects and research ROVs and AUVs. The aluminum tube option provides a greater depth rating, opaque appearance, and better thermal transfer for high power applications like power supply housings and battery housings.

Precision Machined O-ring Interface on the Tubes

The acrylic tubes are cast optically clear material, like the previous generation, but the inner ends are now precision machined so that despite wide tolerances on the raw plastic material, the O-ring interface is always manufactured to tight tolerances. The aluminum tube options are also precision machined for an excellent fit. A smooth surface finish ensures proper sealing between the O-ring flange and the tube and a smooth O-ring lead-in shape makes it easy to insert the flange without damaging the O-rings.

Because of the precision machined interface, the tubes are no longer available in custom lengths, however we have several different length options for each diameter, representing the most popular lengths of custom tubes that were ordered in the past.

Anti-Rotation Feature

The tubes have a slot machined at each end that provides access to insert and remove the locking cord. That slot doubles as the mating point for a key that is machined into the flange. The key inserts into the slot so that the flange can only be installed in one orientation, preventing the end cap or flange from being rotated and damaging internal components.

Locking Cord

The locking cord is a new feature in this generation of watertight enclosures. The locking cord allows you to secure the flange to the tube so that they cannot be separated unless the cord is removed. There’s a half-circle shape machined into the inside of the tube and a matching half-circle shape machined into the flange. Once assembled, a round plastic locking cord is inserted into the circular space, preventing the flange from being removed from the tube.

The locking cord is included with the enclosure and comes with a small anodized aluminum handle that can be attached to make the cord removal as easy as possible. Alternatively, if you want to make the enclosure tamper-resistant, you can cut off the cord and cover the insertion slot. This is suitable for finished products that are not intended to be opened by the user.

Combined Flange Cap Design

Exclusively for the 2″ Series enclosure is a shift to combining the sealing flange and end cap into one part: the flange cap. While the flange seal is still available to handle the clear, dome, and custom end caps, the flange caps offer a combined solution that does not require any screws or assembly. There are zero, two, and four hole versions of the flange cap with threaded M10 holes to suit our cable penetrators.

Configuring Your Enclosure

The watertight enclosures are available through this configuration page, which lets you select a tube, flanges, end caps, vent, and more. You can also purchase components separately if you prefer.

When you’re done configuring your enclosure, head over to RAILS to setup a custom electronics tray system for your components.

All required components for a complete watertight enclosure, excluding penetrator bulkheads, are included. For a detailed list of everything that is included with each component, please visit the individual product pages linked below.

• 1 x Watertight Enclosure Tube (based on selection)
• 2 x Flange Caps or End Caps + O-ring Flanges (based on selection)¹
• 1 x Vent and Plug or Pressure Relief Valve
• 1 x O-ring Pick

¹An O-ring flange must be selected in the configurator when selecting end caps. A flange is not required and will not be selected when selecting the flange cap option for the 2″ series enclosures.

• Watertight Enclosure (WTE) User Guide
• Watertight Enclosure RAILS User Guide
• Pressure Relief Valve Installation and Usage
• Using the Vacuum Plug and Hand Pump
• Fighting Galvanic Corrosion with Zinc and Tef-Gel