A lesson about leaking strobes
My Ikelite DS-125 strobes come in two pieces, the expensive head bit with all the extremely expensive electronics and a relatively inexpensive (relatively is the key word) battery compartment. Now what I didn't know is that the expensive electronics are sealed from the batteries. It says this in the manual and if I had known this when my strobe showed signs of flooding I would have got straight out of the water and would have had a chance to rescue the electronics.
As it went though, I just assumed that the strobe was toast. switched it off and continued the dive. About 1 hour later the seal between the two parts started to fizz and I could see dirty water sloshing around the bit with the flash bulb. Now the strobe really was toast! If I would have aborted the dive as soon as I realized all was not well with the strobe and got it out of the water. I probably could have rescued the expensive bit by simply changing the o rings that seal it from the battery compartment. I think that leaving the battery compartment exposed to water and pressure compromised those o rings and caused the disastrous flood of the entire strobe.
Live and learn!