Equipment I.D.ing

[mwr1550]

Hello all, I was wondering if someone could help me I.D. some equipment I have inherited. It is a posiedon regulator with a Cressi Sub full face mask and tekna guage console. I'm not sure of the years of manufacture but I'm going to say early 1980's. I've never used it and don't know when it wsa last used. It all looks tobe in decent shape. I'd like to know what model Posiedon regulator it is and how much the whole set up might be worth. I'm attaching pics.
Thanks in advance for any help.
MWR

 

[superstar]

It may be a cyclone 300 reg from the mid 80's. I now nothing on the mask. $100-$200 on ebay

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I don't think the stuff is old enough to belong in the vintage forum. The cut off here is 1980 according to SB (it should actually be 1973 according to Nemrod and a few others)
You might want to post it up in a different forum.

 

[Thalassamania]

It is the same rig that I used in the high Arctic in the mid 1980s. What would you like to know?

 

[mwr1550]

Thanks for your replies.
Question- How can one tell the difference between a Cyklon 300 and a 5000? Also, would it be worth the effort and cost to have it inspected and reconditioned for use or better to just sell it and buy something newer. I'm just a recreational diver and don't feel I need very sophisticated equipment. I don't get the opportunity to dive much anymore.
ZKY- I'd happily more this tread if I knew how.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I was diving on the Warm Mineral Springs Underwater Archeological Project in 1975 with Sonny Cockrell, and we were using the Cyklon 300 on that project; had some malfunctions of it too. Here's a dive log entry:

Dive Location: Warm Mineral Springs
Date: 21 Feb 75 Depth: 65' Dave #239 Bottom Time: 30" Vis: 10m
Divers: John Ratliff, Ron Jones, Toni Carrell, Cathy Tarasovic
Weather Conditions: Sunny, time--late afternoon

Dive Plan: Dive to compass rows and reset the buoy 2 m 200 m to the west (270 degrees) on the west rope.

Water Conditions: Surface was cloudy to 15', then became clearer and black. Temp ~85 degrees F.

Observations: Toni and i accompanied Ron and Cathy down to light up the area and watch them for buoyancy as they reset the buoy. I tried to help at times, but Ron insisted that I stay close by Toni and watch. Ron ascended w/ Cathy to check the buoy's position, and stayed up ~10 min. while we waited below. He came back alone, & signaled that Cathy had ear problems. We swam along one of the ropes to the side of the spring, then surfaced.

Special Problems & Ideas:
1. Used facemask talking technique with Toni; apparently she understood.
______________
Sonny had a regulator malfunction at 90'. Poisiden reg (both 2nd stages & zapper for BC) wouldn't work --> Buddy breathed w/Toni, turned tank off, then on and regulator worked. They dropped from 90' --> 120' in the process & had to decompress according to 120' sch.

SeaRat

 

[Thalassamania]

Never had a single issue with a Cyclon 300, must be because I did all the maintenance on the ones I dove.

Why you'd select a Cyclon 300 for 87 degrees water remains a mystery, unless you were working near the bottom of the lake (wasn't it about 225?) and needed the high flow rate.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Never had a single issue with a Cyclon 300, must be because I did all the maintenance on the ones I dove.

Why you'd select a Cyclon 300 for 87 degrees water remains a mystery, unless you were working near the bottom of the lake (wasn't it about 225?) and needed the high flow rate.

We were diving in Warm Mineral Springs. Here is an analysis of that water, from my Feb. 14, 1975 dive log entry (my first dive there).
Type of material ppm
Total Solids 19433.00
Loss on ignition 2556.00
Fixed solids 16877.00
Cu 512.00
Mg 609.00
Na & K 5162.00
Fe 0.01
Si 6.00
Sulfates 1677.00
Chlorides 9300.00
Nitrates 0.00
Alkalinity (?) 751.00
Total hardness as CaCO3 3785.00
Carbonate hardness as CaCO3 151.00
Non-carbonate hardness 9634.00
CO2 (free) 6.00

When we dove a new, shiny chrome regulator, in just one or two dives it turned black. I suspect that the problems with the Cyklon 300 had to do with its contamination with the minerals from the water.

I recorded the above malfunction on February 22, 1975 in an International Diving Accident Investigation Project report. I assume that I subsequently mailed it to NAUI Headquarters, but don't have a record of that. In the report, there is a section titled "Was there an equipment problem," and I marked "Yes." "If yes, describe: regulator malfunction, Poiseidon Regulator, w/octopus; regulator completely inoperative."

As I recall, we had another Cyklon 300 problem, with a Florida State Senator who dove on the project to see what was going on (State of Florida funded the research, I believe). He had a complete malfunction at about 50 feet too; he was a former Navy SEAL, and so had no problem simply buddy breathing with his buddy. Again, this may be due to the unusual mineral circumstances of this particular body of water.

I was a volunteer diver on the project, and I used my MR-12/Sportsways second stage as my primary and octopus regulators (I figured out that I liked the Sportsways second stage better than the MR-12, and so used it for my primary). I also had my Mistral double hose regulator there, and used that for some of my U/W photography. The Cyklon 300 was used by many of the divers, and I believe that was Sonny Cockrell's decision. We were working deep, as the bottom was a cone-shaped area that started at 180 feet and went down to about 210 feet. I made the 210 foot dive as my last dive on the project, just to see where people were working. I was a safety diver and photographer for the project (using my own Nikonos II camera equipment). We had decompression stations set up, with hoses down to the lines; oxygen decompression was set up for decompressing from 30 feet to the surface. It was a pretty involved project, where they needed a high-volume regulator as they were doing significant work at depth. We had divers working at all depths, as the spring was hour-glass shaped and there were interesting (archeologically) areas on the top ledge. That's where they found at about 60 feet a human skull (~10,000 years old) and an atlatl. This dated the atlatl at approximately 10,000 years, which was a significant finding.

SeaRat

 

[Thalassamania]

I'm quiet familiar with the project. As I said, the only reason I could see for using Cyclon 300s would be if you were working deep, which you were doing. When I had to choose a regulator back in the mid 1970s for dives below 100 feet I usually selected a Cyclon 300.

Now, the Cyclon 300 has a membrane operated, unbalanced for supply pressure, first stage. Water pressure and a large spring are balanced directly by the closing spring and bottle pressure. All the moving parts are isolated from the water by the ambient pressure membrane, so I seriously doubt that there was any chemical problem. In fact, we used Cyclons in some kettlehole dives in fully saturated H2S and had the same blackening experience. Since the Cyclon is an upstream valve, it is possible to fail in a closed position, if that happens, the cause in almost invariably a servicing technician screw up. It's a weird reg to work on and that's why I always service my own.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Thalassamania,

You'll have to talk to Sonny Cockrell or Larry Murphy about the Cyclon 300, and who maintained them. I really don't know, and I think Larry took care of that portion of it. I was more interested in the Kirby-Morgan band mask they were using for underwater video, and the video cameras. I spent only that summer there, and have had no contact with either of them since.

I have a first stage for a Cyclon 300, but have never broken it down, as I don't have the second stage, and don't have the special tools I assume I need to work on it. It's interesting that I've never had it apart too, as I've been disassembling all my other gear for many, many years.

I understand from reading a bit here on the Warm Mineral Springs Underwater Archaeological Project that there has been some controversy about it. I learned of that today, actually, from reading the websites. But at that time, it was a very interesting and innovative dive project.

SeaRat