Battery Replacement in Uwatec Air X Nitrox impossible

[Bowtie22]

Before I even entertain Scubaflier’s comments I’ll stick to the topic.

Turns out the battery replacement must be too difficult for even the factory - as I have older units they still support without issue.

Safe Diving,

I think you are right about that Mike…. I was talking to a good friend of mine (apparently someone else who thinks they are above the rules) who owns the LDS here and he had an old Air X also that he wanted to see what made it “so technical that the manufacturer had to change the battery”. He actually found the remains of it for me in a box of some old computers some looked like a scuba abacus. Anyways, he was showing me the epoxy like filling that there was inside of the comp that he had to dig out to get to the battery. He actually got to the battery and got it out but was unable to find a replacement battery to match it and he said the next issue was that if he did find another battery he would not be able to refill the case with the epoxy and close it up. They really got carried away with this comp when they designed it, LOL.

You would think that most manufacturers would want to make more easily serviceable products so that they could avoid issues like this and possibly save everyone time, effort and money. It is just funny that they took this approach to building this computer. Who wants to bring a piece of equipment in for something that would seem to be a routine battery replacement/ servicing and have to ship off their computer for a few weeks then be told sorry we don’t replace the battery anymore in this but for $599 we can upgrade your computer…. From what I have heard the “discount” is not that great of a deal.

And now we know why!

 

[Bowtie22]

Vladimir thanks for the post, I’m still LMAO!!!

Bowtie 22 Just checked your profile I was right on the money about you.
Not really a dive pro just a cop with a bad attitude.
thats why you don't wan't to follow the rules you think you are above the rules.
A police officer in my city thought that because he was a cop he didn't need to follow the rules like everyone else. got in a helicopter and thought he didn't need a license to fly it because he was the law. now we have one less helicopter and one less person giving cops a bad name
change the battery and go for a dive something good might come from it

Flier, I sent you thanks for your helpfulness on this matter and for wishing me well. I have been called worse by better!

I will start off by apologizing to you for asking the initial question that offended you because I apparently thought about breaking the rules and tinkering with an inoperable computer that I own.

I will ensure I add “cop with a bad attitude” in my profile now . I am not sure where I ever claimed to be a “dive pro” in there, but I’ll play along. Seriously, what the hell does flying a helicopter have to do with me trying to find out what makes finding out what makes a dive computer battery change so impossible have to do with anything? Please state your point.

History shows that people, especially Americans do not follow the rules well (hence we would be flying a British flag right now if we always followed the rules).You most likely take your car in to the dealership to get the oil changed “because the owners manual says you have to take it to the dealer for an oil change”, you always drive the speed limit “because the law says you must”, when you open up a new product you always STOP, and read these instructions first don’t you. I am sure the list can go on with more examples for you Flier…. I wish I could be more like you but unfortunately I can only put my pants on one leg at a time.

change the battery and go for a dive something good might come from it

Flier, for being such a “dive pro” I would think that you would be a bit more professional than this but “I was right on the money about you”.

In addition, being such a “pro” such as you claim to be, you should remember that a computer is not an essential piece of equipment in order to dive. I assure you Flier that I can smash that computer with a hammer strap it on and go for a dive and much to your disappointment I will return to the surface safely after I complete my dive. I can use a thing called tables to complete any dive safely. You are really hurting any type of reputation that you are trying to claim on here because you are letting your attitude, your ego, and your lack of general intelligence really shine through on your posts.

The point is this…. You can go ahead and look thru every post that I have ever made on SB and tell me where my “bad attitude” is. You won’t find a single post where I have ever called anyone a liar or disrespected them in anyway. You can hide behind that computer of yours and say what you want about me but at the end of the day I am pretty sure I have done more in a single day of work than you have most likely done in your entire lifetime. So keep logging those pretty little clear water recreational “fun dives” and I will keep logging my not so glamorous operational dives where I a, trying to protect, save, and rescue people like you, or where I attempt to prevent an act of terrorism on our Nuke plant and our offshore LNG terminal or when dive a ship hull to ensure there are no IED’s or parasites welded on attempting to smuggle weapons and drugs into our country, or when I recover someone’s loved one’s body after they have drowned or have been murdered, or when I conduct an evidence search and dive to document and recover an element of a crime that may have been used against good citizen such as yourself. That is just the dive side of the house, not to mention the other police work that I have done to protect ungrateful people just like you. I have never once asked for thanks from you or anyone else, in fact I would take a “thanks” from someone like you as an insult.

Nobody likes cops until they need one, then it is a different story… Do us a favor Flier, the next time you need help try calling a crackhead instead of 911!!!

I think anyone who reads thru the posts on this thread will see who has the bad attitude. You are only upset because I called you out and you got your little feelings hurt and now you have a little sand in your panites and you are attempting to seek retaliation. Do us all a favor and save your helpful posts for someone who wants to hear them. :mooner:

On a side note I will be down in Cocoa Beach in July, tell me where your wonderful shop is and we can talk and compare notes on dives that we have made and maybe I’ll take you on a helicopter tour of Orlando, LOL.

Everyone on this thread was getting along and very respectful of each other until you came along.

Go post on someone’s thread that wants your to hear a “professional opinion” from a self proclaimed dive pro such as yourself. (Anyone who calls themself a pro at anything scare the %^&* out of me)

P.S.
I am so proud of you!!! Your spelling is getting better (still a few minor errors, but it was much easier to read I’m proud of you). Now if you can just work on that attitude of yours. :shortbus:

 

[widget]

So, you are a little like me.?? I love tinkering with things and when someone says it "cant be done" it just makes me more determined to prove them wrong

To me theres nothing like fixing it yourself and after 30 years in this game, I know a bit so here go's -

FIRST - This unit was NEVER designed to have a user changeable battery - by doing it yourself there is a good risk of the unit leaking or failing - PLEASE DONT TRY THIS ON A WORKING UNIT OR IF YOU ARE IN ANY WAY UNSURE OF WHAT TO DO.

Right lets go -

YES -you can replace the battery yourself, its just reasonably difficult, requires a lot of patience, some skill with a soldering iron, 2 x spare 3 volt lithium batteries (one for the computer and one for the reset) and the ADVANCE NOTICE THAT CHANGING THE BATTERY IS NOT THE ISSUE - RESEALING THE CASE IS - AND 80% OF THE UNITS OPENED WILL LEAK!!!!!! - often on the first dive.!

Still feel like going ahead -Third warning...... - Okay......

There are basically four issues / steps -

1) The unit is oil filled, you need to save this oil so it can be reused. There are places in Europe who will sell you oil if you loose it, but I dont know in the USA.

2)The battery cover is glued and screwed to the housing, you need to remove the two screws which hold the cover first and they are TIGHT - apply a little heat to assist, you then need to scrape gently away at the cover join to remove the glue, spend a lot of time and work carefully, if the cover is damaged it will not reseal.

3)If you get the cover open without damage you will find the battery underneath, it is a simple 3 volt lithium and still readily available, but requires tags to solder the computer wires onto, do NOT solder directly to the battery - Okay,solder in the new battery, now, even if you get this far without elevating your blood pressure to max, when you replace the battery and switch on, chances are almost 99% you will get an "ERR" (error) reading on the screen. This is not unusual, you will almost certainly have to reset the computer, this is the same procedure for all Aladins and its not difficult, but you will need to know which contacts to use.PM me for details if you have this problem.

The final issue is rejoining the cover unit into a watertight system. This is very difficult, VERY SELDOM SUCCESSFULL and requires a lot of cleaning of the covers, checking the matching edges and carefull re-glueing to ensure there is no leak. My suggestion is to use an epoxy type glue, but then, its resealed for good - no further battery changes.!!!
Refilling with oil is simple as there is a small hole covered by a screw with an o-ring, just use a syringe.

Finally a word here - your question was "Can it be done" and the short answer is "Yes" BUT it is very difficult to seperate the unit and rejoin it successfully - if you want to give it a try and see what happens, well...... I say "have fun" - but remember, chances are the unit will leak sooner or later, so - THINK VERY CAREFULLY FIRST!!!! - you may just junk the unit.!

If you need more info, please feel free to PM me or just ask away here, I will try and assist.

 

[Bowtie22]

So, you are a little like me.?? I love tinkering with things and when someone says it "cant be done" it just makes me more determined to prove them wrong

To me theres nothing like fixing it yourself and after 30 years in this game, I know a bit so here go's -

FIRST - This unit was NEVER designed to have a user changeable battery - by doing it yourself you will assume all risks of failure - PLEASE DONT TRY THIS ON A WORKING UNIT OR IF YOU ARE IN ANY WAY UNSURE OF WHAT TO DO.

Right lets go -

YES -you can replace the battery yourself, its just reasonably difficult, requires a lot of patience, some skill with a soldering iron, 2 x spare 3 volt lithium batteries (one for the computer and one for the reset) and the ADVANCE NOTICE THAT CHANGING THE BATTERY IS NOT THE ISSUE - RESEALING THE CASE IS - AND 80% OF THE UNITS OPENED WILL LEAK!!!!!! - often on the first dive.!

Still feel like going ahead -Third warning...... - Okay......

There are basically four issues -

1) The unit is oil filled, you need to save this oil so it can be reused. There are places in Europe who will sell you oil if you loose it, but I dont know in the USA.

2)The unit is glued and screwed together, you need to remove the two screws which hold the cover first and they are TIGHT - apply a little heat to assist, you then need to scrape gently away at the cover join to remove the glue, spend a lot of time and work carefully, if the cover is damaged it will not reseal.

3)If you get the cover open without damage you will find the battery underneath, it is a simple 3 volt lithium and still readily available, but requires tags to solder the computer wires onto, do NOT solder directly to the battery - Okay,now, even if you get this far without elevating your blood pressure to max, when you replace the battery, chances are almost 99% you will get an "ERR" (error) reading on the screen.You will almost certainly have to reset the computer, this is the same procedure for all Aladins and its not difficult, but you will need to know which contacts to use.

The final issue is rejoining the cover unit into a watertight system. This is very difficult and VERY SELDOM SUCCESSFULL and requires a lot of cleaning of the covers, checking the matching edges and re-glueing to ensure there is no leak. My suggestion is to use an epoxy type glue, but then its resealed for good - no further battery changes.!!!
Refilling with oil is simple as there is a small hole covered by a screw with an o-ring, just use a syringe.

Finally a word here - your question was "Can it be done" and the short answer is "Yes" BUT it is very,very,very difficult to seperate the unit and rejoin it successfully - if you want to give it a try and see what happens, well...... I say "have fun" - but chances are the unit will leak sooner or later, so if you intend using the unit - THINK VERY CAREFULLY FIRST and remember chances are its going to leak and the unit may very well flood.!!.

I cant stress it enough,its possible BUT its not an easy job and the chance of LONG TERM success is minimal.!! Again....... Please dont try this on a working unit!!!

If you need more info, please feel free to PM me or just ask away here, I will try and assist.

Widget is the man!!! He is a true Evil Genius! :doctor:

SEE!!! That is what I am talking about!!! A man that says “YES IT CAN BE DONE” even though the manual says you have to send it to the dealer. After seeing the remnants of the Air X in a box of other dinosaurs in the LDS yesterday I probably won’t even mess with it. Looked like more of a pain in the $%^ and only a one time solution. It is sad that a computer in such good cosmetic shape is basically worthless unless you trade it in to get a discount against the MSRP which will probably still be higher than the LeisurePro price. (The LDS here will give you the LeisurePro price if you even mention LeisurePro to them)

But you hit the nail on the head, it can be done! You even took it a step further and gave detailed instructions!

Widget you are a true rebel without a cause, but I must caution you, as you ,ay have seen earlier in this thread some people don't like people like us. So you may get some harassment and some grief for “breaking the rules”. You and I both must think that the rules don’t apply to us because we are above them and now we are going to fly a helicopter and crash while Scubaflier celebrates and drinks to our demise over the fiery crash site.

:nuke:

So, you are a little like me.?? I love tinkering with things and when someone says it "cant be done" it just makes me more determined to prove them wrong

To me theres nothing like fixing it yourself and after 30 years in this game, I know a bit so here go's -

I love to tinker myself… It doesn’t matter what it is tinkering with, I will take it on. You win some, you loose some but more importantly you are keeping the spirit alive. There are thousands of people who proved them wrong, they are called inventors, scientists, astronauts, scuba divers, and cheap SOB's .

You are absolutely correct when they say “it can’t be done” the drive to prove them wrong increases and there is nothing more satisfying than proving them wrong. Even if it is only for the sake of proving them wrong. I have tinkered with lots of stuff in over the years I consider myself a jack of all trades and a master of none…. Like anyone else I have won some and lost some.

This computer doesn’t matter to me at all really… It was free and it doesn’t work = NO LOSS!

Widget, a true thanks for that reply, I enjoy your “YES I CAN” spirit!!! :worship::worship::worship:

Be careful with that kind of attitude though because you may go on to do great things or come up with a great invention down the road... Remember they used to incarcerate "Free Thinkers"...

 

[Bowtie22]

Jacques Cousteau!!! How is that for an example of someone who tinkered!!! A man with a true sense of exploration!!!

Remember this; breaking the rules is why we are underwater in the first place. If not for that we wouldn't even have a website called ScubaBoard. If it wasn't for people tinkering we would still be living in a cold cave without a fire and criticizing the people for carving out those round things we call the wheel.... Just saying!

:caveman:

Does anyone disagree with this statement?

 

[widget]

here and he had an old Air X also that he wanted to see what made it “so technical that the manufacturer had to change the battery”. He actually found the remains of it for me in a box of some old computers some looked like a scuba abacus. Anyways, he was showing me the epoxy like filling that there was inside of the comp that he had to dig out to get to the battery. He actually got to the battery

Interesting,...it makes me wonder, if maybe, someone had'nt attempted a battery change before your friend got it.? From the ones I have seen, the manufacturer didnt use any sealer or epoxy in the battery chamber, they sort of fused the two pieces together with a glue similar to say Locktight 401, which worked fine on clean, new and well aligned parts and made the join perfectly waterproof - but the downside for the "do it yourselfer" was you actually had to scrape the material away out of the join to seperate it.

Because one was seldom left with a smooth mating surface after opening, a common trick was to use an epoxy filler type glue to re-mate the cases, and often some excess was squeezed into the battery housing where it hardened, - or maybe someone just decided to seal the battery in a sort of epoxy coffin before closing the cover, in case of a leak.?

 

[Mike Ange]

Actually all of the Air X Nitrox and Air X computers were filled with a gel similar to silicone. I was told in a Scubapro/Uwatec service tech course it was silicone - but I cannot verify it. It is the only unit done that way to the best of my knowledge. Apparently the mfg did not intend to change the battery at least in the US. I was just reminded by one of my instructors that all of the battery changes we sent in (over the 7 years or so we could support the unit) came back as new computer replacements. It was a good deal actually, pay something like $70 or $80 retail for a battery replacement and get a brand new unit back in turn. I actually received 2 replacement units in this way. The only down side was that if you did not download before you shipped you did lose the unit memory. Once they quit supporting the unit, sometime between 03 and 06, when you sent it in they made you purchase the upgrade for a few hundred bucks.

 

[Bowtie22]

Interesting,...it makes me wonder, if maybe, someone had'nt attempted a battery change before your friend got it.? From the ones I have seen, the manufacturer didnt use any sealer or epoxy in the battery chamber, they sort of fused the two pieces together with a glue similar to say Locktight 401, which worked fine on clean, new and well aligned parts and made the join perfectly waterproof - but the downside for the "do it yourselfer" was you actually had to scrape the material away out of the join to seperate it.

Because one was seldom left with a smooth mating surface after opening, a common trick was to use an epoxy filler type glue to re-mate the cases, and often some excess was squeezed into the battery housing where it hardened, - or maybe someone just decided to seal the battery in a sort of epoxy coffin before closing the cover, in case of a leak.?

Hmmm, someone may have tinkered and tried to reseal it before… Next time I’m there I will have to take a closer look at it….

I was just reminded by one of my instructors that all of the battery changes we sent in (over the 7 years or so we could support the unit) came back as new computer replacements. It was a good deal actually, pay something like $70 or $80 retail for a battery replacement and get a brand new unit back in turn. I actually received 2 replacement units in this way.

Now the conflicting information I have heard on this is that you had to be the original owner of the computer and it had to be purchased from a Scuba Pro dealer (no second hand units). Is this true? If so how are they keeping a record of who is the original owner?

Once they quit supporting the unit, sometime between 03 and 06, when you sent it in they made you purchase the upgrade for a few hundred bucks.

You are talking about the Air X models?

That is kind of sad if you think about it. I think that if you spend the money on a new computer you should be able to get a battery change for the service fee and battery cost. I would be pretty pissed if I bought a computer that was supposed to be the latest and greatest technology only to get a dead battery 3yrs later and bring it in for service and be told “sorry, we no longer service this, but for $$$ we can replace it”. Poor design I think…

 

[Mike Ange]

You are correct the offer was only made to the original owner. Scubapro is notorious about tracking those receipts and warranty cards. I have had more than one legitimate customer jump through many hoops to get warranty work because he did not send in the card. So the second answer is - you had to return the computer with proof of purchase information, etc. Third - yes I was discussing the air X models. They still provide limited support for the Air Z versions and even my really old Aladin models.

As for the rest - never said it was fair (or not) and for the obvious reasons I will neither agree nor disagree with the other commentary - but I will say I dive with Uemis Computers now for all my non-trimix dives!

Safe Diving,

 

[Bowtie22]

You are correct the offer was only made to the original owner. Scubapro is notorious about tracking those receipts and warranty cards. I have had more than one legitimate customer jump through many hoops to get warranty work because he did not send in the card. So the second answer is - you had to return the computer with proof of purchase information, etc. Third - yes I was discussing the air X models. They still provide limited support for the Air Z versions and even my really old Aladin models.

As for the rest - never said it was fair (or not) and for the obvious reasons I will neither agree nor disagree with the other commentary - but I will say I dive with Uemis Computers now for all my non-trimix dives!

Safe Diving,

Well as they say, "It is what it is" but in my opinion it kinda sucks, it is like someone buying a used car with only 25K miles on it and then something happening to it that is covered by the warranty and the dealer not honoring it because the new owner was not the original owner. I know that most manufacturers of dive equipment are the exact same way though. My thoughts on the matter (not that it matters) is that the service should follow the product and not the just the original owner. People buy, sell and trade scuba gear all of the time (I do), It just sucks for people and to me it doesn't exactly flatter the company either.

So to clarify more on the subject ScubaPro will not even service ANY of their computers that are not owned by the original owner with their proofs of purchase?

You can always PM me if you prefer...