I didn't see any mention here about the updates that Aquatica has provided for the original A20 Housing, so I thought I would go ahead and post my experience.

Back in July, I sent feedback to Aquatica about my A20 experience on my dive trip to Grand Cayman. Two of these problems have now been corrected in the current release of the A20 Housing and are also available as free updates to the original A20 Housing.

Problem 1: LCD Illumination button is hard to operate. In the picture below, the illumination button (far left), is no higher than the rise in the housing.



In the picture below you can see the replacement button is longer than the original.



The picture below is with the new longer button installed.



Problem 2: The lever used to operate the '*' button did not have a return spring. I found it difficult to use my thumb to both press and release the '*' button. Also, if the button is not released, the camera would continue to focus until released. The picture below is the original release.



Here is the upgrade kit along side of the original parts.



I installed the new lever arm and spring, but I wasn't really happy with the results. The spring didn't sit well and didn't have much tension. I adjusted the spring and retried the lever. Better, but the travel was too long and I had to really bear down on the lever to get the button to press. I made more changes in the spring bringing the hook closer in. I also went to the hardware store and purchased a package of vinyl bumpers. I used a knife to trim the bumper for a better fit. I then used epoxy to secure the bumper in place. I put the felt strip from the kit on top of the bumper and the final result looks good and works great.

Hi Rick,

That's good news, thanks for posting!

Luiz

I agree, thanks for posting Rick. Did you install the updates yourself, of did Aquatica do them for you? If so, would you recommend others do it themselves?

Cheers
James

james,
I did the install myself. As far as recommending others to attempt the update, I believe that some people could get it done perfectly, some satisfactorily, and some will send the parts and housing back in fustration. Here are the steps that I took.

Updating the Illumination button is very straight forward. If you can remove the tiny circlip without losing it or damaging it, you are more than half way there. When the old button is removed, you must check the opening for calcium deposits or other debris. I used a cotton tip swap with vinegar to clean opening. I then used a small amount of grease on the o-ring when installing the new button.

Updating the '*' lever is more tricky. Two hex wrenches are needed to remove the lever and the activator pin. Remove the lever rod by first removing the outside lever and then push the lever rod into the body. Clean the opening as before and disassemble the old lever rod.
Grease the new lever rod and insert from the outside of the housing. This is one of the more difficult steps. I had to use quite a bit of pressure to get the lever rod to go in. I also used my finger nails to push in on the rubber seals while trying to get the rod into position. It took a bit of work time and patience to get the rod in. Also, when the last seal is finally slips into the correct position, the rod will just keep going and may push all the way through. Control is needed.
Once the rod is in, insert the inside circlip and attach the lever to hold in place.
In general, attaching the spring and activation pin should be very easy. Slide the spring on, insert pin, tighten the hex screw, position the spring around the pin, stick on the pad and you are done.
I found that the spring was too loose, so I bent the spring arm back a little. Adjusting a spring is a little tricky in that you do not want to change the shape of the spring. I used needle-nosed pliers to hold the spring and to prevent the windings from getting out of shape. I also shorted the sping arm by about 12mm.
Here is a picture of my first attempt. The spring is sitting crooked and the u-bend is further down on the pin. I had extended the pin to get the hook away from the end, but this did not work well.
Click to view attachment
At this point, the spring was working. But the activating pin was not doing its job very smoothly. I used some chalk on the end of the activating pin to see if it was missing the '*' button. It was off a little but not much. I realigned the pin and it did not help. I could feel the button being pressed, but I had to push a little harder on the lever to get th button to activate. The activating pin pressed the '*' button in about 95% of the way toward activating very easily.
I added chalk to the hook part of the spring and found that it was hitting the camera body just above the '*' button when pressed. It appears, the hook is meant to go around the bare pin and not the black vinyl protector. Pushing the lever harder at the end compressed the spring into the vinyl and activated the button. I could have cut the vinyl protector to be shorter, but it would have been very short and may be proned to coming off. Instead, I reshaped the hook to be closer to the spring windings. (The hook original contacted the pin after the bend, it is now just at the bend.) I then opened the hook just a little to allow more room to go around the vinyl protector.
The lever now operated the '*' button easily. But with the spring installed, the lever travelled further than I liked.
I added the vinyl bumper and pad, and now the lever travels about 7-8mm.

Thanks for the info and detailed write-up, Rick. Did you happen to ask (or have you heard) if we can just send the housing in to Aquatica and have them do the upgrades? (And would they charge to do them?)

After posting this write-up, I sent email to Blake at Aquatica. He did reply back that the upgrade is free and that anyone interested in the upgrade could contact him directly at info@aquatica.ca I don't know the procedure if you want to send your housing.
One thing that Blake did say about my write-up - "We had the end of the spring stop on the small boss that the set screw is screwed into,this is about 180 degrees from your current location,I think it gives a bit more tension. " I'm not really sure on how this is accomplished. (Maybe the looped end is wound closer to the shaft to prevent it from slipping off the boss.) If you do get yours updated by Aquatica, I would be interested in seeing a picture of the finished product.

Thanks,