Petrel1 - not identifying better gas

[rhwestfall]

@lynnpartridge @Shearwater

This is a replacement computer just sent to me from the repair center in March, with 6 shallow reef dives on it in April...

Just finished up 2 days of diving, and had an interesting "issue". I had two gasses turned on (31% & 50%), and was running ZL w/ GF on one dive, and VPM-B/GFS +3/70 on three other. Ascending from depth (either right at NDL or just shy of it), my computer never identified a "better gas" to switch to when I went above MOD for my DECO gas. IIRC, this is usually a yellow highlighted block on the active gas in the lower left of the screen. This was verified by another diver showing me his did while we were on the line after we had discussed it over a prior SI... Mine just stayed normal text.....

The downloaded log on Shearwater Desktop shows a gas switch requested at the beginning of the dive (descent) until 70', and then showed it on ascent once above 70'. I did manually switch it on the fourth dive, going through the menu...

Anyone have this happen?

 

[lynnpartridge]

Hi Bob, could you send us an email to info@shearwater.com with your logs? We'll get you in touch with one of our engineers and have this figured out.

 

[rhwestfall]

okay. computer is at home, and I am at work so I can't get a file dump/diagnostic from it. Will do this evening when I get home.

 

[lynnpartridge]

Hi Bob, sounds great! We'll keep an eye out for your email.

 

[lermontov]

@lynnpartridge @Shearwater

This is a replacement computer just sent to me from the repair center in March, with 6 shallow reef dives on it in April...

Just finished up 2 days of diving, and had an interesting "issue". I had two gasses turned on (31% & 50%), and was running ZL w/ GF on one dive, and VPM-B/GFS +3/70 on three other. Ascending from depth (either right at NDL or just shy of it), my computer never identified a "better gas" to switch to when I went above MOD for my DECO gas. IIRC, this is usually a yellow highlighted block on the active gas in the lower left of the screen. This was verified by another diver showing me his did while we were on the line after we had discussed it over a prior SI... Mine just stayed normal text.....

The downloaded log on Shearwater Desktop shows a gas switch requested at the beginning of the dive (descent) until 70', and then showed it on ascent once above 70'. I did manually switch it on the fourth dive, going through the menu...

Anyone have this happen?

my understanding is that it wont offer (yellow highlight) you a better gas option if you are not in deco page 46 of my perdix reads

When diving and there is a deco stop, the first gas pointed to will
be the most appropriate gas (highest PPO2 less than 1.61). This
reduces button presses in most cases.On the surface or when no deco stops are needed, the first gas
pointed to will be the active gas

 

[rhwestfall]

Okay, I'll go with that. Thanks.

However, I am still confused that the downloaded dive on the SW Desktop shows a recommended gas switch until I got below MOD for the DECO gas, and again when I returned above MOD....

If it turns out to be that, I am curious as to why...

 

[lermontov]

Okay, I'll go with that. Thanks.

However, I am still confused that the downloaded dive on the SW Desktop shows a recommended gas switch until I got below MOD for the DECO gas, and again when I returned above MOD....

If it turns out to be that, I am curious as to why...

yes it does seem odd but i interpret it as the SWdesktop shows assess turned on and he PDC in real time shows gasses suggested

 

[TrimixToo]

my understanding is that it wont offer (yellow highlight) you a better gas option if you are not in deco page 46 of my perdix reads

When diving and there is a deco stop, the first gas pointed to will
be the most appropriate gas (highest PPO2 less than 1.61). This
reduces button presses in most cases.On the surface or when no deco stops are needed, the first gas
pointed to will be the active gas

Interesting. On my Petrel, the highest PO2 of all available gases is defaulted instead of the one with the highest acceptable PO2. I wonder whether there's an update for the Petrel...when I sent a note to Shearwater last December to ask that the behavior be changed to mirror what's written above, the response was, "We appreciate your comments and suggestions. I have forwarded your email to our tech support department. Your request will be formally logged for future consideration." I also asked about this at BTS. Nobody said it worked as seems to be documented now.

Edit: Despite this, I like my Petrel a lot!

 

[tcoen]

Interesting. On my Petrel, the highest PO2 of all available gases is defaulted instead of the one with the highest acceptable PO2. I wonder whether there's an update for the Petrel...when I sent a note to Shearwater last December to ask that the behavior be changed to mirror what's written above, the response was, "We appreciate your comments and suggestions. I have forwarded your email to our tech support department. Your request will be formally logged for future consideration." I also asked about this at BTS. Nobody said it worked as seems to be documented now.

Edit: Despite this, I like my Petrel a lot!

Hi TrimixToo,

I believe your issue may be due the "Gas Select Style" you are using. The default for this setting is "Classic", but it can also be set to "New". This is setin the advanced config menu.

The classic style shows only one gas at a time. The new style shows all the gases, but in a smaller font. There are some behavior differences as well.

From the Petrel manual, page 37:

Best regards,
Tyler Coen
Shearwater Research

 

[TrimixToo]

Hi TrimixToo,

I believe your issue may be due the "Gas Select Style" you are using. The default for this setting is "Classic", but it can also be set to "New". This is setin the advanced config menu.

The classic style shows only one gas at a time. The new style shows all the gases, but in a smaller font. There are some behavior differences as well.

From the Petrel manual, page 37:
View attachment 416012
Best regards,
Tyler Coen
Shearwater Research

I tried both styles, in hope that the new style would solve this (it did not). I also sent along a dive log when I sent the e-mail, with more detail. I followed up with a discussion at BTS this year.

The issue might only arise with multiple deco gases (I most often use two, sometimes more). If you send me an e-mail address or a phone number, we can take this offline and post the result, but I'd be thrilled to have it preselect the right gas so all I had to do was confirm.