D3 date/time problem

[Alun]

i've had no problems with my D3 until recently...

after surfacing from my deepest dives the D3 switches itself from FREE mode to TIME mode and changes the date and time to 6pm Jan 1st 2000! it's never happened on shallow dives - only on the very deepest ones? maybe the pressure makes it go a little loopy?

anyone else had this problem?

i don't see it as a major problem because i don't lose any data or anything. i just have to change the time/date after the dive, which can be annoying.

[frox]

I'm not sure it's related but a friend of mine had almost the same problem with his suunto (don't remember the model) and it was a low battery. Could it be your problem as well?

edit: just remembered it was a Stinger.

[Alun]

the LCD display seems ok to me?... i changed the battery last year sometime. maybe it's running low already? i do use it quite a lot. maybe i should buy another battery kit ready in case it suddenly runs flat.

thanks

[derelictp]

How deep does it go nuts ??

I have not had the problem.

[Adrian]

Alun,
This has happened a couple of times, not frpm deepest dives. The exact same date and time as you, but I never figured out what I did. I thought that this date was the default dual time and that somehow, while pressing one button, I inadvertently pressed it's diagonal oposite with the finger/thumb used to counteract the force of presing the button on the other sde, somehow reseting it to the default dual time. I have since made my standard and dual time the same, so if it changes again, I'll still have the same local time. I hope it works and I'll let you know.

Adrian

[Alun]

it shouldn't be a pressure problem because it's within the maximum depth limit as stated in the manual, and no water seems to get into it. i've no idea what's wrong with it! i just wondered whether anyone else had a similar problem.

[Alun]

i seem to remember it happened once as i pressed the bottom left button. i pressed it after surfacing to check the max depth.

the strange thing is that it's never happened before until the last month or two, despite the fact that i use it in the same way.

[bluecape]

Hi Alun

My guess is battery. I have had my D3 since about August last year, and I have already had to buy 2 new batteries. I dive most weekends.
However, I have not had your same problem. My sign of a flat battery is when my watch just shows Zero's for everything in 'free' mode. It does not register depth, bottom time or anything.

Cheers

Jeff

[rafacuatic]

Hi Alun
I had the same problem.Send the d3 to suunto.They gave me one new for free in 4 weeks.
Rafacuatic

[shaneshac]

Its the battery.

The lower the power gets the more frequently it wil cancel all your info. I was haoppening to me until i changed my battery last week.

Get a new battery pronto and all your problems will be solved

[Alun]

right, new battery it is...

thanks everyone.

hopefully that will sort it. i'll update this thread if the battery fixes the problem. i use the D3 in pretty cold water and i believe this tends to reduce its life. i just didn't expect it to go so soon...

[Alun]

it's strange how the problem only happened on the deespest dives. maybe the explanation is time exposed to cold (4-5C below the thermocline), which would be over 2mins on those deep dives. maybe this is why it's fine on shallow dives. so it's due to cold exposure rather than pressure...

[shaneshac]

Do you take the blanket down with you to wrap up at the bottom?

Not sure what causes this but i know that the new battery surely fixes it.

Have you noticed any erroneous depth readings or depth showing as 0.0m when you are floating on the surface? Mine normally reads 0.4m due to length of arm but just before it gave up the ghost these readings were screwed too.

[efattah]

Ah! The classic D3 reset problem! Join the club!

Having been playing with malfunctioning D3's for years, here is what I have been able to deduce from available evidence.

The D3 has some sort of watchdog circuit, which either monitors the power supply voltage, or some other chip which must 'report' on occasion.

If the watchdog notices that things are not correct, it resets the D3, which causes the time to go back to 6:00pm etc...

So far the evidence points to the fact that the watchdog is in fact monitoring the voltage from the battery. The voltage from the battery can drop below critical in several situations:
- Excessive cold
- Minor corrosion inside the battery chamber (causing 'leakage' from the positive to negative terminals)
- Old/weak battery

One of my D3's experienced the reset problem, more and more frequently, until finally, I would put a fresh battery, and the D3 would work for 2-3 hours, and then suffer neverending resets. Finally I had to trash that one too.

Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

[Alun]

i only changed the battery last summer/autumn i think. since then it's been exposed to a lot of cold water - the warmest it's been is 16C!

... i just hope it will work after i change the battery.

... if it doesn't then i'll be onto Suunto UK for a repair or replacement!