Battery or other problem(s) with Aladin Prime/Tec?

[Vie]

I read somewhere (unfortunately cannot remember where...) that there was some kind of battery problem(s) with the UWATEC Aladin Prime/Tec. The problem was apparently fixed and the "new" Prime/Tec has a different battery compartment cover (it is no longer transparent or something...)??

I've been searching SB but cannot find the thread (if there was one). Could somebody please point me in the right direction or correct any misunderstandings that were mentioned above?

 

[ddavid]

Hi Vie, sorry this reply comes kinda late as u posted the Aladdin Prime battery issue back in Jan.. i have a Prime and only after about 29-30 dives the battery is about to go flat.. this is very strange cos from what i know, no divecomp in the market goes from brand new out of the box to almost flat batt within 30 dives.. and i dont do deep dives, play with the divecomp on land etc.. i just use it during dives & tht's about it.

I cld be wrong here, but im guessing the problem u described is related to my issue too, cos the version i have is the earlier batch with the clear battery cover.. (what i read somewhere in 1 of the posts here is that the latter versions come with a black battery cover which supposedly fixes the problem?).. will have to bring this divecomp back to the LDS i got it from.. :-(

Hope the above user feedback is useful. - ddavid

 

[Vie]

Hi ddavid - thank you for the info. Since starting this thread, I bought an Aladin Tec and now have 49 dives on it - the battery is still going strong. From my research (and anyone else please chime in), the later version of the Prime/Tec have a small black circular sticker attached to the clear battery cover. Apparently the battrery issue has been resolved (I certainly hope so!)...

 

[Vie]

I bought an Aladin Tec and now have 49 dives on it - the battery is still going strong... Apparently the battrery issue has been resolved.

Famous last words...

Well, I was getting ready for a dive trip (to the Similans) last night and tried to switch on my Aladin Tec to check the battery status. The computer did not respond. :icon10: I hoped and prayed that it was some freak battery problem, went out this morning and bought a brand new Sony CR2450 battery, carefully replaced the battery in the Aladin Tec with the new one and... Nothing! The IR light came on but the computer stayed dead.

I have never had a computer fail on land before. My last dives with the Aladin Tec was on the 25th of March 2006. I washed it carefully and left it on my desk. A few days later I switched it on to access the logbook (it functioned normally) and didn't touch it again until last night. I always leave it in a cool, dry, well ventilated place away from the sun. Gaaaarrrgghhhh!!!!! Back to the LDS tomorrow... Hope they can replace it before my trip on Wednesday.

 

[*Floater*]

Hi ddavid - thank you for the info. Since starting this thread, I bought an Aladin Tec and now have 49 dives on it - the battery is still going strong. From my research (and anyone else please chime in), the later version of the Prime/Tec have a small black circular sticker attached to the clear battery cover. Apparently the battrery issue has been resolved (I certainly hope so!)...

o/t, but how do you like the aladin tec? do you use the av. depth and stop watch functions?

 

[Vie]

I like the stop watch function very much (in gauge mode) - in "computer" mode, the stop watch function is severely limited. As for the average depth display, I wish there was some way of starting the averaging later in the dive (i.e. when I've reached my planned depth) - the Aladin Tec basically starts averaging right away and I don't like that.

 

[*Floater*]

I like the stop watch function very much (in gauge mode) - in "computer" mode, the stop watch function is severely limited. As for the average depth display, I wish there was some way of starting the averaging later in the dive (i.e. when I've reached my planned depth) - the Aladin Tec basically starts averaging right away and I don't like that.

I read on some forum that you can surface for a few min to reset the av. depth counting, and then drop straight down to your site when feasible. Does that work in practice?

 

[Vie]

I read on some forum that you can surface for a few min to reset the av. depth counting, and then drop straight down to your site when feasible. Does that work in practice?

"Yes," if you surface, hang around for a while and descend then the averaging would start again but it really does not solve the problem of the averaging beginning too early (with no control possible by the user) - otoh, trying to swim down as fast as possible to reach one's planned depth in order to "cheat" the Aladin Tec's depth averaging function is pointless and dangerous, imho.

I guess it is not a huge deal as I can do the averaging in my head (albeit rather slowly) - I just think that it would be nice, since UWATEC went out of their way to add a depth averaging function, if the averaging could be started by the user by pushing a button or something.

 

[ddavid]

Hey Vie, got ur PM, im sorry to hear abt ur divecomp goin flat too.. the description u provided abt how it happened is almost identical to mine..

i brought it back to the uwatec/distributor here yesterday and they took it back from me to get it replaced.. apparently it has happened to other users too, cos the person told me that its not the battery cover issue, but rather possibly defective IC chips from a 3rd party vendor causing a continous drain-out of the battery... thus my divecomp (& possibly urs too) was draining out even as it sat quietly on ur table at home.

btw, my divebuddy got the aladdin tec about 5 months ago and the battery cover has a small black circular sticker on it.. i'll ask her to keep a close watch on its battery life too..

 

[Vie]

Update: I now have a new Aladin TEC; the distributor (Aquamaster in Phuket, Thailand) could not fix the old one (so my dive datas are lost forever) and so gave me a brand new one. They also sent me a new barcode (10507130047) to put on the box. Apparently another batch, 10507150141 (that my old unit was a part of), was defective? The LDS was a bit clueless when it came to dealing with and explaining the problem and I am extremely grateful for the assistance of wunat, another SB member, in speeding up the replacement process.

The Aladin TEC can also be identified by a "hardware electronic ID." See page 44 of Operating Manual (English).

My old unit was:

40 13 03
33 17

My new unit is:

40 12 80
88 31

If there are any UWATEC experts out there who could shed some light on the UWATEC numbering system and perhaps how to identify problematic/defective units, that would be great...