Why I am getting a backup pressure gauge for my hoseless air integrated wrist dive computer.

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I

idocsteve

Guest
I've been diving with my VT Pro air integrated dive computer for more than 10 years/300 dives and I think it's fantastic. One look at my wrist tells me everything I need to know, mainly the number at the bottom, which is dive time remaining, based on the most limiting factor: either NDL, O2, or gas remaining. It's almost always the last one but it doesn't really matter which one it is because, well it's right there on my wrist. There's no looking down and grabbing for my heavy, coral busting, unstreamlined gauge cluster because I don't have one.

On a recent trip to Cozumel, both mine and my girlfriend's computers gave us problems. Hers flooded and was ruined, even though it had at least a dozen dives on it since the last battery change. In other words, it wasn't from improper seating of the battery compartment O-ring, because if so it would have failed the first dive after the battery change. Mine kept going through supposedly brand new batteries which died before the dive was even over, and I think I've traced that issue to very small cracks in the battery compartment cover which allowed a minute amount of water into the battery compartment and slightly short out the battery. I've replaced the cover and I'll test it during a future dive but it works fine in a bucket of water so here's hoping.

Anyway I found several old threads on Scuba Board which ask a variant of this question: "Should I install a backup pressure gauge on my regulator if I use an air integrated wrist mounted dive computer?", or a similar question "how can I install a backup analog pressure gauge on a regulator with only one HP port?".

Invariably I see many posts by "seasoned divers" who say "It's pointless to have an air integrated dive computer if you're going to carry a backup analog pressure gauge, it defeats the purpose!".

I disagree, completely, and that's why I started this thread.

Here's why- as I said, the AI wrist computer puts all the data right there on your wrist, and these computers are very reliable, but they can fail, and unless you are willing to face the possibility of an aborted dive while you're in the midst of a great dive while on an expensive dive trip, you need an alternative. It's sort of like saying, why drive a car on 4 air filled tires that can go flat, when you can drive it on 4 donuts that don't need air because they're solid rubber, since you carry a spare tire anyway, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having air filled tires in the first place?

I personally feel that I can complete a dive without a computer monitoring my Nitrogen or O2 exposure, but I cannot continue to dive safely if I have no way of knowing the amount of gas in my tank. Since I dive Nitrox whenever appropriate, the gas remaining in my tank is what limits my dive, not NDL or O2 exposure levels. In the event of a failure of my computer and backup, I will simply keep my dive shallow and extend my safety stop as long as possible to blow off the extra Nitrogen.

I have purchased a mini single analog pressure gauge which will tuck neatly on the side of my BCD, which is not nearly as bulky as a regular gauge or set of gauges, and will save my ass in the event of a failure of my AI dive computer.

Although I said I think I can safely continue and complete a dive without a computer, I will be carrying a spare computer anyway, attached to my BCD via a retractor mounted boot.
 
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Many of us never got rid of our mini SPG's when we added an AI computer for exactly that reason - backup. My SPG just moved from my left chest D-ring (where I could check it with a glance) to my left hip D-ring. There is really nothing new or wrong with that approach - redundancy is not a bad thing.
 
If your SPG springs a leak you will call the dive. Which failure his more likely to happen and which is more critical? As in all things scuba, we make the call for ourselves. I've decided that my spg will stay on the boat in my kit on open water dives. My wife went the other way when she made the call.
 
Ray-

How often does an analog SPG spring a leak? What are the odds that the one time my air integrated dive computer fails and I rely on my backup analog SPG it will fail too? If that should happen I still wouldn't call the dive. Last week I dove in Cozumel with no dive computer, and no backup SPG. I stayed close to my dive buddy in case I needed some gas.
 
Too bad that DTR computation does not consider that which is probably the most important parameter for such a computation and, instead, has to assume you plan to continue your dive at your current depth.

I have no problem estimating my DTR based on my dive plan, considering my gas loading and breathing gas available.
 
Interesting post. I think the answer depends on the kinds of dives you do. I am very happy with my brass and glass SPG. I also bring enough air on most dives so that it is really not a limiting factor as such -- I'm ready for the dive to be over by the time I'm running out of air and don't feel the need to manage the dive to use every last cubic foot short of a safe reserve.
 
Most of my fun dives end from running out of NDL, not Nitrox. On those dives, I would bail because of dead computers. I know my air consumption well enough that I would most likely not bail if my AI died.

I carry an SPG on the boat.

Oh, and I have had an SPG blow an O-ring. I've never had a single problem with my AI transmitter. It's still running on its original battery, which is getting close to 2 1/2 years old now.
 
Ray-

How often does an analog SPG spring a leak? What are the odds that the one time my air integrated dive computer fails and I rely on my backup analog SPG it will fail too? If that should happen I still wouldn't call the dive. Last week I dove in Cozumel with no dive computer, and no backup SPG. I stayed close to my dive buddy in case I needed some gas.

But, what if your dive buddy needed some of your air? Since you had neither a dive computer or a SPG you could only guess how much air you had left, which is not a good way to handle potential air issues. Actually, that does not sound like very good dive planning. What dive op allowed you to dive with no means to determine your air supply? And yes, I know diving is possible without a computer or SPG (did it myself on every dive in the 60s), but that was a different time before the era of SPGs, much less dive computers.
 
IMO. there is no emergency except loss of air. There is no greater stress factor than not knowing if you are about to go OOA. Its nice to have a computer that takes air into consideration. For me it has become moot. You know, after some time, just how much air you need to get up from 100'. if that's 150 psi then you know where to draw your line in the sand. If I am using 25# a min and my AI computer goes out I will start using greater than 25# a minute. I use a SPG for 2 reasons. the SPG just doesn't break and if there is a problem you know it prior to making the plunge. The puter on the other hand is not that way. all my xmitters have been about 300# off at the low end after time. You surface with 500# and it is really 200# or 800#, normally 200.. If you are lucky your high end will also be off. not always the case though. So if I am at depth and using 100# every 4 min (for example) and I have 700# and want to get onboard with 500. I have 8 min of air and I compare it to the computer DTR and ndl usually drives problem with larger tanks. AI is nice for the computer log functions but in real application I ceased using it long ago and now have non AI computers.
 
Last week we did a shallow dive, no more than 12m, when my DC stopped working. Battery gave in after 14 minutes into the dive (my fault, should have replaced it). I decided to continue the dive knowing my air left by SPG and knowing I had more than enough reserve (D12) for the 1 hour dive we did. Knowing my SAC, being able to estimate depth and time I decided to continue monitoring my air more closely than I would have normally.

If I had relied on DTR and other info from my computer I'am not sure I would have continued. It's exactly the reason why I don't care much about computer calculated time remaining and so on. I'am more than capable of doing (a better/safer) job myself. Safer in calculating not only how much air I need in emergency, but also take in account air sharing. Training takes away the need to rely on computer based info. The only thing you really need is an SPG to know how much air is left.
 

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