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Rebreathers, and what not to do

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It's a simple mistake to make, which is compounded by the fact rebreathers such as the Inspiration are battery hogs (hence turning them off when not actually in use).

The inspiration doesn't have wet contacts to turn the unit on in the event that the user has forgotten to switch it back on after predive checks / calibration.

Don't get me wrong, all equipement should be checked again before entering the water, but wet contacts could well prove to be a get out of jail card in the event that you have forgotten to switch it on........

One of the alternative electronic systems for the inspiration, HammerHead does actually include wet contacts as a saftey measure to gaurd against such events.

I'm not sure but I think that the new Buddy Evolution also has wet contacts on the controllers.
 
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Hi UK,

You make good points and as always manufactures are playing catch up with mods based on experiences in the field. One simple thing also may have prevented it, his buddy could have checked, if that is the group of men diving did not think this too sissy a thing to do.

We rely on our own abilities and of those we dive with, not a thing one should ever forget, even when you have dived for years and have forgotten that some of the first rules are some of the best.

Regards

Bobco
 
A diver is personally responsible for ensuring his own equipment is functioning, just like nitrox and trimix divers are responsible for personally analysing or witnessing the analysis of their gas mixtures.

Divers, especially those using advanced equipment, should not rely on a buddy check to point out something as simple as turning the unit on. Plus I hardly think that several minutes turned off will preserve the batteries enough to make much of a difference, in fact it would probably be negated by the surge when the unit is turned back on.

Personally, I think you might as well strap a coffin to your back, because you will need it when you let some computer chip and it's voting logic control your dive. The best computer is the one between your ears.

Please don't get me wrong, my heartfelt condolances go out to this mans family, but this is darwinism in action, a bit like packing a parachute and forgetting to attach the ripcord.
 
I actually like my inspiration, Ok so a computer does control the O2 injection. If one of the controllers fails the other will let you know instantly.
If your having a really bad day and both independantly powered controllers fail simultaneously, you can manually control the unit and end your dive (actually, if your that way inclined, you could finish your dive).
Basic training on the unit teaches you to montior the controllers regularly, if you find them both blank it's time to start going through some drills.....

Dumbest thing I've seen people do with a rebreather is to embark on a decompression dive without taking adequate if any bail out gas. A 3 litre cylinder once on open circuit doesn't last very long!
 
I have a phobia of computers controlling things for me (maybe I have seen terminator too many times:confused: ) but there is just something about the inspiration I don't like (well a few things actually)

IF I were to go the rebreather route, first choice would be the Halcyon semi closed, completely mechanical, if it goes wrong then you know about it. Fully closed I would go for a KISS, but a guy I know has just got a Meg, and that is quite nice looking.

Only problem with the Halcyon is no PP02 monitor, but then again, you just plug in the correct gas for the depth, so not much different to switching gas on OC, just got to pick the right one. I could only really see this being an issue on ascent/descent, so I would fit a normal PPO2 monitor, or could just fit a simple little HUD.

And your right about the bailout thing. Halcyon and kiss both have built in bailout mouthpiece, but it is certainly the cylinder size thing that is an issue. Saw a diver going of to the moldavia and his bailout was 3lt pony with 02. HMMM, lets see, 50m, 100% O2, that gives us errrm, oh bugger maths, 6 Bar PPO2 :head
 
You know, Buddy is coming out with a new model, the Evolution I believe it's called, that will allow you to "fly" it manually as well. While it's got a somewhat smaller capacity than the Inspiration, it's also had its entire control system redone so that the redundancy is now hidden back in the case and the wrist console is merely a display of whatever controller you have active, ie the primary or slave. (hence no two separate paddles to keep an eye on)
 
Your right FreeFlow, the new model is called the Evolution.

I wasn't aware that it only had one wrist unit though!

That's all well and good unless it's the display that fails, at least with two consoles you've got decent redundancy.....
 
*ahem* FreeFloat...........

:)

I guess they're figuring if the display fails you'll switch to manual. If I recall the spiel correctly the battery module(s) are also contained in the backpack.
 
Originally posted by UKDiver
LOL, sorry about that, guess my mind was else where :duh
Click to expand...

LOL :D

No harm done. For a while last winter my nickname in real life amongst my scuba buddies actually changed to "FreeFlow" when I was having pretty consistent difficulties with a set of loaned regs.......
 
The evolution has been out here for a while now. Also has a Head Up Display (HUD), can have deco software added to the electronics plus a few other things that wre on the wishlist of a few inspiration users. More info on the evolution here .
 
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