Atomic Aquatics Cobalt Dive Computer

[Dr. Lecter]

alternated between AC Connected and charged stopped messages, quite rapidly

My first Cobalt had a similar issue, IIRC, and it turned out that the battery compartment seal had leaked because of poor assembly (tiny tail of glue across o-ring sealing surface) and the salt water had corroded the positive battery lead off where it connected to the Cobalt. Hopefully this isn't the case for you, but with the battery just having been replaced it's a possibility.

 

[RonR]

I get the charged stopped message when the charger is first plugged in. Oddly enough it did charge the other night to 76% as I left the charger in but unplugged it when a wicked thunderstorm woke me up. So it had been plugged in for 6 hrs or so. I just checked it, unplugged and plugged in and it alternated between AC Connected and charged stopped messages, quite rapidly.

Oddly enough when it went to the factory, it had no issue. Atomic blamed the charger and replaced the battery anyway. As for my LDS I assumed they sent it to California. Their name is Aquarius Scuba Diving Centre in Toronto. I didn't have an issue as when I sent my wife's button failure Cobalt to CA directly it did cost me the same or thereabouts. Did get a new Cobalt then. Noticed that this unit is slightly different than our other 2 in that it only has the Atomic name on the faceplate and Atomic, not Cobalt on the sides. Older unit?

V. 1.13/1 DiveOS
4710-1050 Serial

I will do a software update when I get home, it's still working and we have more dives to do so I'll leave it as is for now.

Thanks for your help. Love the Cobalt, just wish I didn't have these issues.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hopefully the computer is working OK apart from charging. It's conceivable to me that the fuel gauge is failing or lost it's calibration- that could make it think the battery is smaller than it is, and make it look as if the charge were dropping faster- even if it is not in actuality. I'm puzzled about the intermittent nature of the failure also, but sometimes that happens with electronics. I certainly suspect that it's something other than the battery with the same sort of failure after replacement. I'd want to look at the charging circuit in the Cobalt itself.

The latest firmware, 1.41, has some diagnostics that might help us know what is going on. We can tell if the fuel gauge is properly calibrated. I sent a response to your PM as well, contact me after you get back

I was traveling but am back now and can be more quickly responsive.

Ron

 

[Vinnyc]

Got my cobalt arriving later this week I have had a break away from diving and I have fallen back into it having moved to the west of Ireland. So beside the obvious charging and inputting personal details what do I have to do with it before I dive will it need a firmware update out of the box or will it be up to spec?

 

[RonR]

The current firmware version is 1.41. You can check that in the System Info screen. What firmware it ships with depends on when it was manufactured- the previous version was 1.13.

Apart from familiarizing yourself with the Cobalt there should be nothing special to do- though you can set up common tank sizes/ gas mixes you would be using to make it easy to select them before a dive. You can set a number of preferences for units, alert settings, etc.

Firmware updates can be done on either Mac or Windows with the appropriate application available from the Atomic website. If you are using Windows, make sure you say YES to the driver installation- it's problematic without proper drivers. Macs don't need a special driver.

The Atomic Dive log software is very basic, and Windows only. However we have actively supported open source dive log driver development, and as a consequence there are a number of very good dive logs, both low cost and free, that download dives directly from the Cobalt.

Cross platform- Windows, Mac, and Linux:
Subsurface | An open source divelog

Apple OSX:
MacDive
Dive Log Manager

Windows only:
Diving Log 5.0 - scuba logbook software for diver - dive log, scuba log

Hope you enjoy the Cobalt!

Ron

 

[Straegen]

Can anyone tell me what the AC adapter voltage and amperage is? I have so many of these things laying around I want to make sure I use the proper one. USB charging is fine but speeding it up would be nice.

 

[RonR]

Can anyone tell me what the AC adapter voltage and amperage is? I have so many of these things laying around I want to make sure I use the proper one. USB charging is fine but speeding it up would be nice.

It's 5 volt, 1A. USB is limited to 500mA, so the wall charger will be roughly twice as fast.

Ron

 

[Straegen]

Is the max draw 1a or can it pull more if available?

 

[RonR]

Is the max draw 1a or can it pull more if available?

It's limited to a specific profile. The charging circuitry follows a profile that takes into account the charge state of the battery, and the charging chip's firmware has been specifically calibrated to the battery in the Cobalt. So it won't be charging at 1A all the time. The smarts are all in the Cobalt, so any charging source (of proper voltage) will work, but a source that can deliver over 1A won't speed the process, and anything connecting through USB will be limited to 500 mA maximum rate.

Ron

 

[Straegen]

It's limited to a specific profile. The charging circuitry follows a profile that takes into account the charge state of the battery, and the charging chip's firmware has been specifically calibrated to the battery in the Cobalt. So it won't be charging at 1A all the time. The smarts are all in the Cobalt, so any charging source (of proper voltage) will work, but a source that can deliver over 1A won't speed the process, and anything connecting through USB will be limited to 500 mA maximum rate.

Ron

Thanks!

 

[fritzmoore]

I am having issues with my up and down buttons on my Atomic Computer. I have to press extra hard on the down button and the up button is acting up now also. Anyone know how to service this problem?
Fritz
The Oceanic Urban Research Center