Mk5 Questions

[halocline]

Ouch, that oceanic din fitting is far more than I've ever paid for a MK5.

 

[talkinghead4]

Yes I know. That is why I have not bought one yet.

 

[Zung]

I have considered DIN'ing everything, but now I'm backing off.

There are a few reasons for my thinking:

• Cost: an original SP kit is about $50+shipping, and the latest rig I bought is a MK20+G250 for $80 shipped
• Usefulness: I don't own any 300 bar tank, and there ain't many places around here that rent or fill these. Besides, I usually do 1 hour in the Mediterranean with an ordinary 15 lt tank, even a 12 lt in shallower dives, so I'm not really looking for more air.
• Reliability: DIN is better, but then I've only seen a couple of incidents with the yoke o-ring extruding
• Convenience: for me the yoke is better because the knob is located in a clear area. The DIN wheel is hidden.
• Scope: about the same: either way you travel with an adapter, or you swap the kit. The screw-in type of yoke to DIN adapter is a lot lighter, but they get lost easily

Any comments?

 

[aquaregia]

For me the only problem is cost effectiveness. Swapping to DIN would give me access to several sets of genesis tanks and a Faber 100 twinset. Additionally, I suspect I'm going to end up doing dives where Yoke is looked down upon, although I'm not sure how well my old SP gear will be respected there anyway.

 

[knowone]

Although not literal aquaregia, take it literally that it is cheaper much more better to buy a first and second already din than just the din itself fairdinkum 10 year old regs cheap.


Hey Zung, I get your list and I haven't had any real trouble with yoke or din U/W but with din I give the first a quick twist rolling the wheel with my finger at the same time. More a crack than a twist without cracking anything.
One very noticeable though mainly with shore diving is that I've rounded and destroyed plenty of yoke knobs and bent butterflys and converter bolts without losing an O ring and yet the same dives with din leave little damage to the backs of the valves. Maybe my head takes the impacts.
So that extra pieces of poking out really does poke out.

 

[Zung]

.. Swapping to DIN would give me access to several sets of genesis tanks and a Faber 100 twinset...

In this case, the ultimate cost effectiveness is this. They can be bought for 10 bucks or less if you shop around. And if the tanks are from someone you know, you won't even loose them, you get your butts kicked instead if you forget to remove them at fill time.

Don't you ever sleep?

 

[aquaregia]

In this case, the ultimate cost effectiveness is this. They can be bought for 10 bucks or less if you shop around. And if the tanks are from someone you know, you won't even loose them, you get your butts kicked instead if you forget to remove them at fill time.

Don't you ever sleep?

I was under the impression that the 300 bar DIN valves were too wide to fit a yoke around and that the inserts would only work with the 232 bar valves. Am I wrong?

And nah, don't sleep much. I'm a graduate student and my work has a ~40 second compile time, which is just enough time to refresh webforums but not enough time to do anything useful.

 

[halocline]

Those valve won't work on the old genesis tanks. The inserts won't work on any 300bar valve, and I think the genesis tanks have odd-size neck threads anyway.

The easiest thing to do is just get a MK10 that's already DIN, there are loads of them around. If you're thinking about lots of diving with HP tanks, maybe a MK15 or 20 would be worth it. The bushings really do cut down on the HP o-ring extrusion. I have a MK15 that I pretty much only use on my HP100.

I really don't see where DIN is that much "better". I think the big question is compatibility with available tanks.

 

[Couv]

I’m still very comfortable with a yoke setup. Over the years, yes, I’ve seen a few yoke o-ring blow-I’ve even had one myself. But I’ll admit it was most likely operator error. I suspect most of the ones I’ve seen were the same case, why else would simply replacing the o-ring and reattaching the regulator solve the problem if it was a design issue? I do have one DIN fitting just in case I need one, but for the convenience I remain a yoke fan. When I see the sand traps, aka threads, on those fittings I wonder how many years that sort of setup will last. I've already had problems with an insert.


The only disclaimer I have is that I haven’t used tanks with pressure over 3442 psi.

 

[redacted]

I have considered DIN'ing everything, but now I'm backing off.

There are a few reasons for my thinking:

• Cost: an original SP kit is about $50+shipping, and the latest rig I bought is a MK20+G250 for $80 shipped
• Usefulness: I don't own any 300 bar tank, and there ain't many places around here that rent or fill these. Besides, I usually do 1 hour in the Mediterranean with an ordinary 15 lt tank, even a 12 lt in shallower dives, so I'm not really looking for more air.
• Reliability: DIN is better, but then I've only seen a couple of incidents with the yoke o-ring extruding
• Convenience: for me the yoke is better because the knob is located in a clear area. The DIN wheel is hidden.
• Scope: about the same: either way you travel with an adapter, or you swap the kit. The screw-in type of yoke to DIN adapter is a lot lighter, but they get lost easily

Any comments?

Quite a few years ago I orders an Scubapro Mk20 from Liesurepro and it arrived with 200 bar DIN and a converter. So when I picked up an HP100 (3442/232) I , of course, had to try it in DIN. Worked fine but my old SP metal 2nds were not happy diving with that young unproven 1st so I picked up a Mk10 DIN for them. Then my favorite Mk5s felt left out so I had to do something....

I really do not see any problem yoke or DIN, but if you use the yoke insert in the 232 DIN valve, make sure you remove and rinse after each trip as those threads are unprotected and will collect corrosive deposits. I have never had a yoke connection fail but I have had lots of small annoying leaks with them.

BTW, just to be clear, I figure 1 liter is 0.03532 cu ft so a 15 liter tank is our LP95; a 12 liter tank is our HP 100; an 11 liter tank is our Al80 and LP72; and a 9 liter tank is our Al63. Does that look right?