no din in bonaire.......?

[djtimmy77]

Nope. Hardly any price difference between a new Yoke-only valve and a DIN valve that accepts Yoke plugs. In fact, many new cylinders come with a DIN/Yoke valve even in the USA (particularly steel cylinders). Also, I can't think of any good reason why people would be dropping/bending DIN valves more often than Yoke valves. Then again, 90% of all "bent valves" are really just a bent or broken valve handle, which is easily replaceable without the need to buy a new valve.

OK let me spoon feed you. You don't have to replace the yoke valve when it is somewhat bent/deformed. It still works most of the time. I had a couple tanks in Bonaire where you couldn't get your yoke (adapter in my case) on it square because it was bent too much. I had to deal with a stream of champagne bubbles on that dive. Learned not to take tanks like that from the fill station and keep an extra in the truck. If the same damage occurred to a DIN valve, you would not be able to screw a reg into it anymore. If there was a plug in it, it would likely be jammed in place. All of the damage I noted was to the head of the valve, nothing to do with the handle. With damage I saw, an operator would have to replace all of the damaged valves if they were DIN that were still useable with yoke. That is your cost increase.
Yes, people wouldn't drop DIN tanks more than yoke tanks, but that is not the issue. The issue is they are rental tanks and people treat them poorly because you just drop them off back in a pile of tanks when you are done with no recourse for damage.

At home ALL of our tanks/regs are DIN, and I personally would never buy a yoke only valve. But I am not lending them out to people who throw them in the back of trucks and treat them generally poorly.

We have no issue with using the DIN to yoke adapters in Bonaire, as the ones we use definitely don't stick out 5cm, and aren't really headbangers. If they didn't work well we'd simply spend a few minutes at home before our trip and switch the reg to yoke. Not a big deal whatsoever.

 

[oceancurrent]

Thank you for the spoon feeding. We don't have this bent valve issue with rental cylinders that you are describing, but I suppose things are different in Bonaire somehow. If we get a bent valve though we will charge it to the customer, no doubt. Also, any DIN-to-Yoke adapter will invariably make the reg stick out significantly because it puts the male DIN thread that normally goes inside the valve outside the valve in addition to putting a chunk of metal as a sealing surface between the two O-rings. Anyhow, like I said, to each his own. It's good to have choice and use the system of your choosing on Binaire. Happy diving!

 

[Colliam7]

We have no issue with using the DIN to yoke adapters in Bonaire, as the ones we use definitely don't stick out 5cm, and aren't really headbangers.

Out of curiosity, what adapters do you use. I have 5, different brands - Dive Rite, Zeagle, Apeks, etc. All of them have virtually the same profile, and total length from yoke valve shoulder to the end of the DIN threads. And, I consider them to be headbangers. So, if there is a 'low profile' model out there, I would like to know about it for future use.

As a result of reading comments in this thread, and previous threads addressing similar issues, I completed some measurements. The equipment involved included a Thermo Pro valve (mounted on an AL80 cylinder) which is a 200 bar DIN valve with a thread Yoke insert, b) a Zeagle 50D (turret) regulator first stage, and c) a Dive Rite Din to Yoke adapter. I measured the distance from the rear surface of the valve to the front of the first stage casing (main body, not the upper turret portion) with General 6" Dial Calipers under three conditions: 1) the first stage, with a DIN bolt in place, fitted to the Thermo Pro valve, WITHOUT the yoke insert (DIN to DIN); 2) the first stage, with a DIN bolt in place, fitted to the Thermo Pro valve, WITH the yoke insert, AND using the Dive Rite DIN to Yoke adapter (DIN to Yoke); and 3) the first stage, with a YOKE bolt / A clamp in place, fitted to the Thermo Pro valve, WITH the yoke insert (Yoke to Yoke). Pictures of the 3 configurations are shown, below.



While not intended to meet rigorous Underwriter's Laboratories standards, I made every effort to position the calipers consistently each time. The total distance from back of the valve to the front of the first stage casing was 90mm in the DIN to DIN configuration, 110mm in the DIN to Yoke configuration, and 87mm in the Yoke to Yoke configuration. The extra 20mm associated with use of the adapter qualifies as a headbanger for me. In contrast, the difference between using a) a DIN regulator in the Pro valve opening, with the Yoke insert removed, and b) a Yoke regulator in the DIN Pro valve opening, with the Yoke insert in place, is only 3mm

If they didn't work well we'd simply spend a few minutes at home before our trip and switch the reg to yoke. Not a big deal whatsoever.

Yes! And, that is what I do when I travel to Boiaire - takes 30 seconds, maybe a whole minute, and is much easier than using an adapter.

 

[Scared Silly]

Yes! And, that is what I do when I travel to Boiaire - takes 30 seconds, maybe a whole minute, and is much easier than using an adapter.

I am too lazy anymore for swapping out DIN for Yoke. Instead we have travel regs with yoke. More toys better living.

 

[oceancurrent]

The total distance from back of the valve to the front of the first stage casing was 90mm in the DIN to DIN configuration, 110mm in the DIN to Yoke configuration, and 87mm in the Yoke to Yoke configuration. The extra 20mm associated with use of the adapter qualifies as a headbanger for me.

Nice! There is nothing like precise science proving me wrong. The engineer in me loves hard numbers. Thank you for taking the time to measure it up.

So, formal apology - I was off in my eyeball estimate. DIN-on-Yoke does feel awkward nevertheless, but I guess it is subjective at the end of the day.

 

[djtimmy77]

Thanks for the measurements. 20mm is definitely not enough for myself, or my 3 Bonaire buddies to worry about.