Changing O-Ring With Battery?

[Hatul]

Are these "authorized" kits from the manufacturer or kits someone put together who thinks they know the proper specs?

No they're not official "authorized" kits. The battery is easy to see that it's the same, and as far as the O ring goes you just have to trust based on his 100% feedback

Battery Kit For Suunto Cobra, Vytec, Vyper, Gekko, NEW! | eBay

I think he buys the stuff in bulk and packages for individual sale. It arrives in a small padded envelope by regular mail.

Adam

 

[Rhone Man]

I once changed the battery on my D9, but I bottled it when it came to changing the O-ring. It is just embedded so deeply in the groove, I was worried that digging it out I might scratch the case. I also fretted that unless I could bed it down perfectly, it might torque when I screwed the back of the case back on.

I figure next time I get it changed I will go to a professional dealer and ask them to be sure to change the O-ring as well.

 

[JB]

Hear is the evidence that that is the official Suunto o-ring spec. You really don't have to buy an official kit. I carry a spare battery and o-ring on all trips.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/co...lyzers/321215-suunto-cobra-maintenance-2.html

 

[knowone]

When I buy my stuff mostly second hand from comps to torches regs
interesting things and other junk, even expensive other junk, I pull it
all apart, wait until there is a big enough pile of O rings, to warrant a
trip to the O ring-seal shop and buy about 10 of each with no failures

Cameras too.

The electronics shop, is very helpful with many batteries
The nerd electronics shop not the department store type


Just as long as I don't change them riding bareback on the beach

 

[Razz]

Eventually, the rubber ages, gets hard and/and cracks (a couple of years down the road)

This should be evident on close inspection.

4) The O ring may be pressed out of shape (likely) and is no longer round. The real reason a new o-ring is provided with most battery replacements. IMHO. Round = better seal when you shut the battery door.

I suspect that this is the best rational as to why to change it out more frequently.

Because a $0.07 o-ring might be the cheapest insurance policy out there for a $700.00 computer. You'll probably be fine but you might want to re-examine the risk/reward calculation you ran.

Well said.

the O-rings are cheap. If you have one, change it when chaging battery. If you don't happen to have one when changing the battery, just clean & lube O-ring and sealing surface. I'm sure you can reuse the same O-ring once or twice, but for what they cost it's not really worth the risk. Normally I change it when I put a new battery in, but have reused the same O-ring without issue when I was leaving for a dive trip the next day and put a new battery in.

That's the spot that I am currently in. I'm confident that all will be fine. I will change out the O-ring the next that I need to change the battery.


Where do people generally suggest that O-rings be purchased? Online or local? If online, which site? Thanks.

 

[driftwood]

Are these "authorized" kits from the manufacturer or kits someone put together who thinks they know the proper specs?

Last time I checked, Suunto wanted around $23 for a battery kit for the Cobra. You can get the battery at Radio Shack for $4. Leaves $19 for a o ring that costs pennies.

Seems to me that both Suunto and our Ebay seller are both making out like bandits. Personally, I buy my o rings from Austin Seal.

 

[SDAnderson]

O-Rings, Inc. Since 1958 - Buy Online

AS568-026 (1-1/4 ID X 1-3/8 OD X 1/16 W)

-026 BN70 $0.04 This is Buna, good enough for a battery compartment.

-026 E70 $0.06 This is EPDM, not that oxygen safe is needed.

The OEM kit will set you back about $25.00 for the battery, o-ring and a little dab of silicone lube, still cheap as insurance policies go. Or you can buy the bits separately. The reality is that buying just one o-ring isn't going to happen but at these prices you can buy 100 and throw 99 of them away - or make your own kits to sell on eBay.

 

[ReefHound]

Except that it's not an insurance policy. One can make a mistake as easily with a new o-ring as an old one, a new o-ring doesn't guarantee it won't flood or provide any compensation if it does.

 

[reefduffer]

I'm not telling anyone they need to buy the official Suunto battery kit, but the one I buy from my LDS (Ocean Enterprises in San Diego) contains more than the battery and O-ring, it also contains the Securing Ring V5844 (see page 58 of the Cobra manual). OE's tech tells me that this has a propensity to get cracked with non-negligible frequency in the process of opening up the battery compartment. And when I bought a kit this past April it was $17.96 retail before tax, in a sealed bag marked "Made in Finland".

Now I'm sure that all of Suunto and Aqualung and OE (and probably UPS, and some international shipper) are all getting a little piece of my $17.96, as well as CA getting their 7.75% on top, but for the parts in the kit, at the volume they sell these, it doesn't really feel like a ripoff to me. Just sayin' - it's not $23 for a battery and O-ring.

You may not want to replace the Securing Ring every time you change the battery. That may be an intelligent choice. I'm glad I have one in my save-a-dive kit, though. Just let's get the facts straight on what they're selling you, for what cost.


Not that anybody else needs to follow this, but I dive < 100 dives/year, so that the battery needs to be replaced every two years. My wife has a Cobra as well, and we happen to be on alternate year schedules. The battery is spec'ed to have a three year shelf life. So every year at reg service time I get a new kit and put it in my spares kit, and give the LDS last year's kit to use to replace the battery in one of the Cobras. So far, we've never seen anything less than 4 bars (full battery) on either. I like that.

Yup, I'm living the lazy rich man's life, paying $20 parts + $20 labor every two years to service my computer. BTW, that $20 labor includes putting the computer in the shop's pressure pot after replacing the battery, and testing for leaks to rec depth. I feel I'm getting my money's worth.

You want to buy batteries and O-rings and do it yourself, that's great, DIY maintenance on anything can save big bucks. I do some on some things. But the pro tech isn't ripping you off, he's getting paid for his time and expertise.


One other point, about the size of the O-ring. See the Cobra manual page 66, it states this explicitly.
One 3 V lithium battery: CR 2450 (K5597) and O-ring 1,78 mm x 31,47 mm 70 ShA (K5664).

I saw a suggestion in the thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/co...nalyzers/321215-suunto-cobra-maintenance.html referenced in JB's post #13 above, that Suunto was now "hiding" the O-ring sizes so they could rip you off for kits. Really, folks, the immediate jump to indignant victim is starting to sound like Faux News.

 

[Arturo]

Last time I checked, Suunto wanted around $23 for a battery kit for the Cobra. You can get the battery at Radio Shack for $4. Leaves $19 for a o ring that costs pennies.

Seems to me that both Suunto and our Ebay seller are both making out like bandits. Personally, I buy my o rings from Austin Seal.

I concur with your opinion on Suunto (although, just to be honest, same applies to all other dive computer manufacturers). However, your local O ring provider could be a solution for some computers but, in my experience -and let me tell you I change dive computers for a living- I have never been able to find with a local provider the exact O rings for the Suunto wrist units (D4, D6, S9 or Stinger). Suunto uses weird metric sizes for their computers and the only place I´ve been able to get those is from the guy on ebay.