Finished Putting Together My PC Interface Kit!

No problem, haven't soldered in years. Was trying to use the test method as per the instructions, but couldn't get it to work right.

When I plugged in the unit to my PC, and placed my Vytec onto the contacts it worked great. Only thing is my air consumption didn't sync. It did not register the air consumption as per my last entry.

Got my Suunto Vytec and Dove with it for the first time.
I didn't have time to go through all the directions, just the basics and also to personalize the Vytec. The only problem I felt I had and it's probably only because I'm not too familiar with it was that I dove with my HP100 tank with the Vytec transmitter attached to it, and I dove with a 40 cu ft. pony bottle, staging that. I did not set up the pony bottle on my computer as my 2nd Mix just dove with a Mix 1 setting. Both tanks just had regular 21% air.

Near the end of the dive, I switched from my primary tank to my 40 cu ft. pony for about the last 20 minutes, and when I got out of the water and checked my computer, it did not register the amount of air I consumed for the dive. Is this because I did not stay long enough on my computer that it cut off the readings/recordings?

End.


On this sync, it still did not register the air consumption, I will check to make sure it does on the next dive.

Glad to hear everything went well with your kit. I was apprehensive for a while but knew you would find that the kit is great. Kudos to Jamiei.

most likely, it didn't register how much air you consumed because you switched tanks during the dive. The computer probably saw this as an error because to it, you stopped breathing during the dive. It could only see the air you breathed from your primary tank, ot your pony. If it had given the SAC info, it would be way off because as the computer saw it, you didn't use any air the last 20 minutes of your dive. Instead of showing what the computer knew was impossible, it didn't display the info because it was invalid. Maybe I'm giving the DC a little too much credit, but thats basically what happened. To get an accurate idea of your air consumption you'll just have to make some dives without the pony. I'm glad the kit was to your liking. I knew it would be.

I guess congratulations is in order on your 100th post smk.

It was fun building it. I did end up epoxying the pins in place, after cutting off the screw heads/contacts. The screws wouldn't take the solder to hold the wire on so the epoxy did the trick, holding the wrapped wires and especially the pins in place. You definitely have to hold the unit in place just right to get it to sync, but absolutey no problems, worked like a charm.

Does anyone know what the factory Suunto PC Interface unit actually looks like for the Vytec?

you can probably find a picture of one on ebay. There's always one for sale there. It looks similar to mine, except the pins have a plastic plug body around them and the pins look to be gold plated. About the same size too. I epoxy all my pins in place and usually wrap the wire around the base and tighten it down to insure good contact before I epoxy them. Depending on the screw you use, and the amount of heat applied, it isn't too hard to solder the tips. I've been using smaller, stainless screws that really won't take solder. Most of the ones in the kits are zinc and larger and I usually don't have any problems soldering them. The reason include larger ones in the kits is that it allows for a little more error in the distance b/w the pins. As soon as I find a better solution, I'll use it. I'm afraid it may increase price slightly,but it should be worth it. The contacts themselves cost about $1 each so expect the price with the new contacts to be about $5 more for the complete interface and $2.50 more for the kits. If anyone has any feedback, let me know. I will test these before I make them available to insure that their installation is durable as well as which contact point is best for this application.

Again, just to stress this, I haven't had any dissatisfied customers with either the function, quality, or service I provide with this product. This is just something to further improve upon the interface.

If anyone wants to upgrade their interfaces with these contacts, please email me and I can either send them to you for a small fee or you can ship it back and I will install them for you. Again, this is still in the works, so don't ship them yet. Also, you go ahead and purchase kits from me and if you want the new contacts when they have been tested and are available I will ship them to you. If you wish to wait for the contacts, please go ahead and place your order and make a note that you want the new contacts as there may be a waiting list and these will be made available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Thanks

101...

Please let me know when you get those contacts in and I will send you the dinero for their shipment. I looked around but couldn't find them. If I had wanted to take more time looking, I probably would have found them somewhere. I think they will make a great design advancement on your interface.

they are hard, well almost impossible to find and at $1 a piece, pretty expensive when you have to buy in bulk. I had to sift through all the available lengths and lenght of compression to find one that (hopefully) will fulfill my needs and still fit in the case. How will they mount.... we'll see. They are gold plated and i'm trying a couple different tip options. There are like 10 different designs. The process was very frustrating to say the least. I think I'll end up using a cupped tip to keep the contacts from sliding around on those tiny contacts.


by the way, the next best option I found... and the only other option was $4.90 each contact.... don't ask why cause I don't know, but I clicked like a mad man to get out of that screen.