Thanks. As far as I understand it, the Revo recommendation is every six months or when one goes kerput. There’s five in the unit, three on the Petrel controller, two on the Nerd2 backup. MOD1 next week
When my yellow box became sick and injured (RIB diving is not the way to treat CCR) I moved to a G-box. I dived with the owner of one of the very early models (the 3rd made) and I wanted one. I got one. Mine is numbered 004. The creator of the g-box design reckons his creations preceded the JJ and they copied him. In any case, I'm not sure why you'd want to replicate the JJ as it is low on function and high on price.
My approach to o2 cell (un)reliability stems from experience, listening to John Lamb (Vandagraph, makes o2 sensors, writes books), and reading a paper by Paul Raymakers (designer of the Brunel approach to CCR). This is worth a read https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct..._sensors.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2WrdL55KGmFP1pVUJUT2V8
Get a 4th cell holder, and an OSTC cR, and that spare on death row can be an active spare and provide a high level of reassurance. The security of independent ppo2 monitoring cannot be overstated.
That was my experience in the painful AI to AP transition period, when there were no reliable cells. In recent years they've been pretty reliable from both AP (APD14) and Vandagraph (ADP16 or NANS01).
I do have 4 cells and AP are (reluctantly, there was a disclaimer involved) rebuilding my unit the way I dive it, rather than the way they supply it. I sent everything apart from cylinders and the steel g-box stand. In 5 years time I'll probably do the same (as I did 5 years ago).
Nice to see there's good ongoing support from AP. Bought some tins from AP and they were quick and efficient. Those G-boxes do look good, and strong too. Have read Paul Raymakers papers -- all part of my pre-course reading -- and found it very interesting. Part way through "Oxygen Measurement for Divers" for the rest of the theory. With your regular 3-4 month replacement cycle, how many cells have failed when you're diving? Have you ever had two cells fail on the same dive?
I have only ever had one cell fail underwater. It was on 3rd March 2013, on City of Brisbane diving from Shoreham. It was the last time I relied on the early APD14 cells. I switched to NASN01 cells after that experience and later reverted to APD14s when they became reliable once more. At the moment, subject to supply constraints, cells are reliable consumables with a limited lifespan.
Had an email from AP and then another from UPS. It looks like my rebreather is coming home in time for the weekend.
Went diving today. Nice 37m dive on a small wreck south of the Sovereign Lighthouse. Hopefully my last open circuit dive before embarking on the CCR treadmill. About 10 mins into the dive I noticed my car and house keys dangling from my RH chest D-ring. Cock; I’d hung them there after carrying the tins from the car and didn’t notice them when pre-dive checking the kit (think the umbilical torch and Paralenz obscured them). Wot no buddy check... as usual that’s because there’s no buddy when diving solo. Cursing that the electronic car and garage keys were now buggered and wondering how long the car alarm would go off for... Anyway, they’re bound to be broken, so just carry on with the dive. Did I mention it was a lovely dive? Lots of life, interesting boiler and engine, massive one clawed lobbie, terrific 5m+ vis. Just the sort of dive I like. Back on land, I approached the car with keys in hand and — quelle surprise — the key remote worked! For balance the garage key's shagged; opened, rinsed and waiting to try new batteries.
Not quite as bad, but the number of times I received text messages at 6m was much higher than it should have been! I used to put my phone in the upper arm pocket of my undersuit between dives and often forgot to remove it before dive 2.
Was furloughed for a few weeks. Not all bad, managed to get a my first couple of dives from the clubs RIB at Newhaven. First on the Inverclyde which had vis of about 4m, and attempted a couple of shallow drift dives the week after, vis was less than a metre and not not a lot to see. Went to stoney last weekend and its probably the best vis i've had diving there.
So far my keys and phone have survived, but I've not been so lucky with my wallet left in a dry suit pocket. Thankfully (!) I'm usually skint, so only the odd tenner in there which dried out ok. Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
When I started diving my solution to the car key issue was to have a minimal key made that only opened the door. The real keys remained in the car. So far I've only owned cars that support this and never want to own a 'smart' car that lacks simple keys. The 'dive key' is cable-tied to a p-clip and lives in the car door most of the time. When shore diving (as there's no handy boat available) it lives in the drysuit pocket. In warmer days it goes in the BC pocket. I've even taken it swimming and dropped it down the front of the wetsuit.
Unfortunately, my current and last car, whilst having a dumb key auto armed the alarm when it was used to lock the car so unlocking is an embarrassing rush to get the door open, retrieve zapper and reset alarm while everyone is staring at the car thief...
My latest is similar. The dumb key opens the door and if I touch anything else the alarm activates. I keep the zapper is the door, on a small shelf by the handle. It can be reached in seconds. If people want look they are welcome. If they did get too interested I'd just start peeling off my wetsuit!
More good news. The garage door opener remote was opened, the battery discarded, everything rinsed in fresh water and left to dry overnight. New battery installed and it’s alive! Still amazed that the Subaru key is fully waterproof for 40 mins at 37 metres plus deco! Dave, skipper, said that he worked on the waterproof smart key design for a prestigious car brand which resulted in him testing it by taking it diving. Nice to combine work and pleasure!
