Trihunter 6000 helium analyzer: how it works?

[rddvet]

It wasn't actually released and likely never will be if you get talking to Wayne. I spoke to him a couple months ago before I sold my trihunter and he said the unit he showed at DEMA wasn't a fully operational unit and they've had tons of trouble making them. Wayne was very very optimistic at that DEMA that he'd have them up and running within 30 days (after 3 years of working on it). He's no longer optimistic and will tell you he's spent so much time and money at this point that the fully auto unit will likely never happen. There are 0 fully functional fully automatic trihunters in production or in working prototype. I

 

[tbone1004]

@rddvet bummer, I haven't talked to him in probably 9 ish months about it, but he was still optimistic at that point that they were close and was hoping it was out already.

which compressor were you having issues with it being fiddly? I'm not entirely sure it's something I'd ever buy for a home fill station, but for commercial trimix stations that don't want to PP blend, it's not a bad option or even for someone who wants a system for nitrox mixing that's already put together.

 

[rddvet]

It was for my K14. I got a good deal on it, so couldn't pass it up. It was pretty accurate, but you had to watch it. My homebuilt nitrox stick sits perfect for long periods of time, but sometimes I have to adjust a little after the autodrains kick on. I found the trihunter to be fiddly. I had to sit and watch it. I actually took a video because it bothered me and sent it to Wayne. His response was that's fairly normal, but it all evens out. And that was typically true on longer fills. Short top offs weren't as accurate. The funny thing is Wayne gave me his Wayne-ism about how he turns on the compressor, leaves for 4 hours to do his business, and when he returns it's exactly as he left it. I definitely found it not true. If left unattended for 30 minutes, it would be quite off from the original setting. It's a nice system, but I ultimately sold it because I wanted to boost oxygen as well. So I sold it for exactly what I paid for it and put that towards a brand new masterline. Now that I'm moving to the rebreather, having a booster and pp blending just makes more sense for me. It's a do it all in one system setup. I loved the masterline at Edd's and all the ones I've been around, so it was a splurge, but I went for it.

Around that time I talked to Wayne too and he was all gung ho on his auto unit. I held off a couple months from buying the trihunter I found, but 3 months later Wayne was saying the new unit may never happen. That's why I bought the older version. Recently when I was about to buy my masterline I asked Wayne about the auto unit and that's when he revealed it likely will never happen. He's definitely upset about it.

 

[rjack321]

The oxyhacker book has a complete description of how to CB trimix with a 2 O2 analyzer stick

 

[Billy Northrup]

Around that time I talked to Wayne too and he was all gung ho on his auto unit. I held off a couple months from buying the trihunter I found, but 3 months later Wayne was saying the new unit may never happen. That's why I bought the older version. Recently when I was about to buy my masterline I asked Wayne about the auto unit and that's when he revealed it likely will never happen. He's definitely upset about it.

I bought your unit however it's still in the box, I'll end up trading it I believe because I'm going full rebreather and will just end up boosting my O2 and mix off some twinsets. It's a convenience thing for me.

Being automation is one of my trades I have already thought out the auto unit, I think I can help. Trying to control (expensive) flow solenoids is tough especially whit lag in the feedback mechanism and take some crafty logic to keep the system from constantly hunting the mixture. Compressor flow rates change as they attain operating temperature and as back pressure builds. So you end up with three variable flows, maddening.

My version would look like this. Since FO2 is the most important parameter I will mange that one by varying the speed of the compressor via variable frequency drive, the ratio of HE to O2 would remain the same.

I don't know anything about caves, maybe him and I can work something out

 

[Arus]

Thank you very much to everybody! Really interesting and clarifying.