Computer anomaly. First time.

First time this has ever happened to me. I was diving in the Sea of Cortez, off a small boat, looking for hammerheads. It was a long trip out to the seamount, so we loaded the boat and got underway. During the ride out, I set up my gear, checked to see that I had air and that my computer was on, and then shut the air off.

Got to the dive site, geared up, turned on the air, and jumped in. Got down about 40 feet, took a look at my computer, and it was off! Tried turning it on, it just cycled through the startup display and then turned off. Didn't even go into a gauge mode. Wound up aborting the dive.

Apparently, after turning it on, if you shut off the air, after a certain amount of time the computer shuts itself off. Granted that I should have checked it before I went in the water, but I think you should at least be able to get it to start up in gauge mode at least.

Suffice it to say, lesson learned.

BTW, the computer in question is an older Oceanic datamax pro.

Normal procedure for that computer.
Will not activate below 3 feet of water.
The older Datamax Pro's didn't have the "Wet Activate" feature.

the Kraken

Yep. Same thing with my old Atmos Pro. No "wet activate feature."

Same thing will happen with my Oceanic Data Plus and Data Plus 2 computers. Only starts with button activation. If you don't start your dive within 2 hours, it shuts off.

It won't start up at depth because it does a zero depth calibration as part of the startup boot sequence, and if you are already at depth the sensor output is outside the allowable range for zero depth.

The other time the 2 hour timeout can easily get you is in repetitive diving. If your SI is right around 2 hours, you may have the computer shutoff just as you get into the water.

the old datamax proplus had to be manually turned on, whereas the datamax proplus 2 has a user setting allowing water OR manual activation.

Charlie99:

The other time the 2 hour timeout can easily get you is in repetitive diving. If your SI is right around 2 hours, you may have the computer shutoff just as you get into the water.

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Hi Charlie99 - The 2 hour timeout only applies to initial activation when a dive is not initiated. Once a dive is made, the computer will stay on for 24 hours.