Advice needed: Using an Aqualung Conshelf 21 with my Sherwood first stage?

[Scarydog]

Hi all,

Currently I have two sets of regulators. Sherwood Maximus + Minimus Octo and US Divers Conshelf 21 + Conshelf Octo.

I like the Maximus, it breathes really well and I like the hose routing under the arm. But, I hate the Minimus octo :-). I am thinking of moving the Conshelf 21 on to the Sherwood rig to replace the Minimus.

This would also allow me to move to a long hose for the primary and a short hose secondary on a necklace, which seems like a nice way to organise everything.

I am interested to hear what you'll think?

An alternative would be to by a new (secondary) second stage for the sherwood (not necessarily Sherwood though).

Regards
Nathan

[herman]

It should work fine, a little tuning on the second stage might be needed but nothing major. Otherwise there is no reason to mix and match them as you choose.

[keyshunter]

Even though I like Sherwood regs in general, I join you in hatred for the minimus. The conshelf 21 second is a simple downstream similar to the Sherwood. Thus, as herman said, just be sure it is tuned to the IP of your Sherwood first stage and you will be fine.

[Scarydog]

Thanks everyone, I am popping the regs in to be serviced soon so will get them adjusted and serviced at the same time.

Should I put the main reg on as the secondary source (conshelf 21) or the octopus?

Is it a safety issue if your secondary source isn't flouro yellow?

Regards
Nathan

[herman]

I would arrange them the way you want to dive them and then have them serviced. Tell your service tech you want the IP (intermediate pressure ) set to the same value on both first stages. That way you can easily mix and match the second stages as you like. The main reason I suggested you may need to have minor adjustments done is because the IPs may have been set differently on both first stages, the specs allow a fairly wide range of values and if they happen to be set at opposite ends of their ranges the second stages may either breath hard or free flow when moved to the other first stage. By setting the first stages to the same pressure you eliminate that problem. If they tell you it can't be done, find a better tech.

[tfsails]

Shhhhh--don't tell anyone, but second stages are really, really stupid. They don't know, nor do they care whether the input pressure comes from a Sherwood, Poseidon, Apeks, or anbody else's first stage. The only thing they know is how much pressure they're getting.

If you tune your second stage crack where you want 'em to with your first stage, it doesn't matter who made which stage. They'll work just fine.