Atomic Aquatics Cobalt Dive Computer

[Cromanin]

I vote for bad component. You see, it worked perfect after I got back from diving trip, I checked when I charged the battery before shelfing the unit. Being in a box securely stored in a wardrobe it is unlikely to be exposed to extreme environment (smelly socks do not count) or magnetic fields. Guess the only way to remedy the problem is to give sensor a go every week, not letting it "rust".

 

[fnog]

Hi all atomic gurus,

this may have been answered before, but I just saw no stickies (and this thread is rather long too).

As I live in a land where there is no atomic retailer and I had my mind set on the Cobalt, I did the next best thing and purchased a used one from a reputable folk on the US east coast. The unit is from the 5010 series with a new faceplate, but I just want to make sure it was inspected according the recall procedure.

Given that there is no inspection gizmo around, I would like to know what it measures and what the "fail" limit is... When I take with a calliper the drop between the edge of the casing and the QD bottom, I get a consistent 0.70+-0.015 millimiter.

   _____
  |     |
  |  |\ |
  |  |_ |      quickdisconnect
  |     |                            \/
 -       -     bottom of QD       -------
          ___  edge of casing     _______ this spacing is 0.7mm 
             |                       /\     for my 5010-xxxx unit. 
              \                             Does it pass ? Is there more to check ?
     casing    \  
                |
                \
                 |

Thanks in advance for any details on the recall inspection measurements, or the operation/dimension of the recall-tool plastic widget.

--
Fnog

 

[jimpeachey]

Ok, i dragged my cobalt out of storage after far too not long diving and it has no power whatsoever. I have it plugged in via the mains charger at the moment and am hoping that will do the trick. Any other suggestions, this thing has worked perfectly up to now and totally my fault for not keeping an eye on it so im hoping it will be Ok. Any ideas greatly received.

 

[RonR]

Ok, i dragged my cobalt out of storage after far too not long diving and it has no power whatsoever. I have it plugged in via the mains charger at the moment and am hoping that will do the trick. Any other suggestions, this thing has worked perfectly up to now and totally my fault for not keeping an eye on it so im hoping it will be Ok. Any ideas greatly received.

It should come up within a minute or so of plugging into the wall charger. If you plug in USB first, however, the battery will charge but the system won't restart- It will think it's waiting for a firmware update, in "boot" mode. You then must either let it run down again, or remove and reset the battery to force a restart. I will PM instructions.

If it does not start after just plugging onto the wall charger, checking the battery would be the first thing to do, particularly if it has sat for a long while. Same instructions apply.

Ron

 

[jimpeachey]

Ron. Thanks, i did try USB first so i will leave it unplugged overnight and try again with the wall charger. i really don't want to open her up unless i really have to so fingers crossed she will start tomorrow. And where can i get a new battery from in UK should i need to do so?

 

[RonR]

Ron. Thanks, i did try USB first so i will leave it unplugged overnight and try again with the wall charger. i really don't want to open her up unless i really have to so fingers crossed she will start tomorrow. And where can i get a new battery from in UK should i need to do so?

Ah, OK. USB doesn't give it a "start the program" signal as it's used for updating the firmware. But it does charge the battery, and if the battery is charged at all, the wall charger won't give it a reset. Sounds as if that's where you are.

If you have left it charging over two hours (on either charger) it is almost certainly fully charged. It doesn't have to come on to the main program for the charger to work. So it is in a boot mode- it's using power even though the screen is not on, but it will still probably take something like a week to run down fully just sitting.

If you really don't want to open it, I would leave it a few days, then plug in the wall charger and see if it starts. If it does not come up to the time-date screen within one minute, unplug and let it run down further. It needs to be completely dead to get a reset from the charger. Removing and resetting the battery shortcuts this process. Another possibility is to try updating the firmware- that is what the Cobalt is waiting for in boot mode. Depending on the OS, Mac or Windows, it might be necessary to unplug and re-plug the USB/ Cobalt during the process to trick the system into thinking that it has just reset to boot mode. It's not orthodox, but so long as you don't unplug after the file download starts (as shown on the PC/ Mac screen) you won't muck up the program.

From what you say I would think it is unlikely that anything is wrong with the battery. I don't know who in the UK might have one, but would contact Atomic directly.

Ron

 

[jimpeachey]

Ron, everything worked perfectly. I had it plugged in via USB before i did the wall charger so i let it run down again overnight and re-tried the wall charger. She kicked in after about 10 minutes and all seems well. Thanks for the swift reply and the sound advice.

 

[soonerwink]

I just did two dives on my cobalt and after the second dive it is still in dive mode and I can't get it out of it. It says I am at 4 feet and dive time 453 minutes. I leave for Cozumel in a couple of weeks, I hope someone can help me with this.

 

[RonR]

I just did two dives on my cobalt and after the second dive it is still in dive mode and I can't get it out of it. It says I am at 4 feet and dive time 453 minutes. I leave for Cozumel in a couple of weeks, I hope someone can help me with this.

Someone can. This sounds like a depth sensor that drifted during the dive, causing your Cobalt to think it is still at four feet. It's a malfunction of that part, and If you contact Atomic I'm sure they will replace your Cobalt 2. These sensor are used in many dive computers and in thousands of Cobalts, and have been very reliable, but we have seen a few failures. Atomic has started testing over a much longer time span to catch any problem sensors.

You can get it out of the dive by resetting the Cobalt- hold the Select and the Back buttons down for at least 11 seconds, and it will go to the time-date screen. The dive won't be fully completed and won't be accessible in the log. Sorry you had this issue, but you can be sure Atomic will take care of it.

Ron

 

[soonerwink]

Someone can. This sounds like a depth sensor that drifted during the dive, causing your Cobalt to think it is still at four feet. It's a malfunction of that part, and If you contact Atomic I'm sure they will replace your Cobalt 2. These sensor are used in many dive computers and in thousands of Cobalts, and have been very reliable, but we have seen a few failures. Atomic has started testing over a much longer time span to catch any problem sensors.

You can get it out of the dive by resetting the Cobalt- hold the Select and the Back buttons down for at least 11 seconds, and it will go to the time-date screen. The dive won't be fully completed and won't be accessible in the log. Sorry you had this issue, but you can be sure Atomic will take care of it.

Ron

It is a Cobalt 1. This morning the dive had stopped at 601 minutes. I will give them a call on Monday morning though. I would hate to have a repeat of the problem while in Cozumel. I just got the Cobalt back from Atomic a month ago, they had to re-calibrate the compass.