Suunto Cobra problem, any one have any ideas?

[DavidHickey]

Good morning, just got back from a trip to St Thomas and had some problems with my Cobra Dive computer. Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar and if so what the problem was. If not does anyone know were I can send it to get repaired?
I bought this computer off a guy that took the classes, bought the equipment and never completed his certification. He claims it was only used on 3 dives and was in perfect condition. "and only used by a little old lady" The computer looks brand new not a scratch on it. I hooked it up to a tank and it read the PSI perfectly. I might add it is equiped with a quick disconnect. Anyhow after going thru the functions and hooking it to a tank everything seemed to work fine. I took it to St Thomas and went on my first dive. It read my air fine and showed 2900. After about 5 minutes I looked and it was showing 800. We surfaced and it jumped back up to about 2600, and we went back down and next time I looked a few seconds later it was down to 1200. Well it went back and forth like this for awhile. We had a dive instructor with us and his SPG and the wifes computer both showed they had 2600 left in their tank and mine had gone all the way down to 800 and then finally to 0 even though we knew the tank was 3/4 full. Anyhow that night out of water I went thru every function on the computer and everything worked perfectly. I could not find any problems at all. Any one have any idea of what might be going on with it? If nothing else it has convinced me to buy a separate SPG for back up so I won't waste a dive. Any help would be appreciated.
David

 

[kent_1848]

If the computer works fine out of the water, then you only have a problem with the computer picking up the tank pressure. Take it to a LDS that carries Suunto. They can check it out for you, and then send it in if they can't fix it.

 

[StSomewhere]

BTW, if you buy or can borrow the download cable its actually easy to see exactly how many dives are on a Suunto. No way to tell if it was a little old lady doing the dives, though.

Good luck getting it squared away.

 

[ABQdiver]

My daughter dives with a Cobra and have had nothing to complain about. I have heard of some anomalies if the batteries get low. Sounds like you need to send it in for some manufacture service.

 

[LUBOLD8431]

Any Aqualung/Seaquest dealer in your area would be able to send it in for factory service. It should be looked at by the factory or an authorized repair center before you dive with it again...

 

[michaelc]

this could be possible
I did this once upon a time, I took my wife diving
Her tank valve was not open all the way, after diving about 3 minutes the pressure gauge would bounce up and down from 2000 to 500 with each breath. I would expect a computer would not do the same thing, but could give a wild reading if you did the same thing.

 

[Rick Murchison]

If the valve's open, it sounds like a trash problem to me. Especially since you have a QD, check very carefully for some small piece of junk in either the hose or the HP connector on the computer. There's also the possibility of trash at the other end - disconnect the HP hose from the first stage and check there too.
Good luck.
Rick

 

[DavidHickey]

Thanks for the responses, I called up a service center that is supose to be one of the only authorized North American Suunto service centers that work on them. They said it was highly unusual and that they would suspect a faulty tank valve before the computer. They recommended trying a different tank before sending it in, and as Rick said cleaning the hose and soaking the hose and computer in a vinegar and water solution. BUT unfortunately she said if its the pressure sensor there is no replacement part and nothing they can do.

 

[pt40fathoms]

It's hooped! Send it in for repairs, unfortunately for you it most likely will cost you a few dollars.

I wouldn't dive it till it gets repaired, the high pressure pickup sensor may not be the only thing wrong with it.

 

[astrl]

Mine did that once when I didn't have the tank valve fully open.