PLBs Can Save Your Life
- Thread starter letterboy
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I may create a separate thread for searchers, but I wanted to update here. We took the HDVseaTek container with our plb1 to the Red Sea this past week. Our max depth was 42 meters (can you say Narked?! LOL) For hammerheads! So, we didn’t even think to check the cannisters until we were packing up. I’m sorry to say, it flooded at some point, and was pretty much full of water. Blessedly, the PLB still works in test mode. (Idk if we need to test it further?) Maybe next time we will include a waterproof bag around the PLB itself inside the case and hopefully avoid damage. Considering that was our maximum depth ever, I doubt we’ll test it that deep again any time soon. Maybe to 30 meters. Or we just won’t risk it and will get ahold of DanT’s canister.
@dianna912 If this was the 1st time testing it, maybe you should test it again, but probably without the PLB in it. If it floods at shallower depths that will tell.
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35 meters or 115 feet is a deep dive, but well within recreational limits. Sounds fun to me.
I think al PLBs are waterpoof at shallow depths, and if it tests ok - it should be ok. Mine has a test that will actually connect with the satellite system. I think it's good to do that now & then, as well as the simple battery test.
It sounds like your O-ring leaked enough to let water in but not enough to cause problems. Did you silicone grease it before the trip? Mine leaked like that last trip with an old o-ring I didn't grease. I've since obtained new ones and made a note to grease before every trip.
DanT's canister is innovative, but not tested to the extreme depths of various other brands, including the HDVseaTek.
hammet
Contributor
Please ACR, just make a damn PLB waterproof to 200 feet and save us all this grief!!!
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Dan
Contributor
Sorry to hear your canister was flooded. As long as the leak is slow enough that you still have air pocket in the canister (i.e., not completely filled with water) by the end of the dive, your PLB1 should be fine, because it is waterproof up to 50’ depth (22 psig). Air is compressible. So the water in the canister will have lower pressure than the ambient pressure.
I have flooded my GoPro6 acrylic case at 100’ depth, but it was a slow leak. There was still air pocket in the see-through case. I just thumbed the dive, ascent back to the boat and removed the GoPro6 out of the case, including the battery & micro SD card out of the GoPro6. No harm was done to it. I was able to use it on the next dive after drying the case internal and regreasing the o-ring. There could be dirt on the o-ring when I replaced its battery. You just need to insure you do the regreasing the o-ring in clean & dry environment, including your fingers.
Hopefully coating the o-ring with silicon grease fixes your leak. It’s always good to waterproof test it at the maximum depth without the PLB, but with a paper towel in it.
Since you also have PLB1 and I no longer need my good-old $10 camera case for it (as shown below), I can sell it to you or anyone that need a cheap case for $10 + shipping. It’s been a good case for me for 100+ dives down to 144’ (44m).
Dan
Contributor
What I put in my BCD pockets for my next trip:
Left side - PLB1 & Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS
Right side - DSMB & 3/4L Platypus water pouch
Left side - PLB1 & Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS
Right side - DSMB & 3/4L Platypus water pouch
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I took my Hdvseatek canister and PLB diving last week in Cozumel. I did not refresh the silicone grease on the o-ring at first, so the canister did leak a little - not much, no harm. I regreased it, and it held well after that. No more leaks.
This coming weekend, my kids and I are touring southern Arizona national parks, and the PLB will certainly be along for the ride and any hiking.
This coming weekend, my kids and I are touring southern Arizona national parks, and the PLB will certainly be along for the ride and any hiking.
I don't think that is how the physics works. Imagine an upside-down glass that you lower into the water. You can take it down to (say) 10m, and the air will compress to half the glass, water will fill the other half, and the pressure in the air is ambient at 10m...2 ATM. the key is that the air is at the top, so anything there will still be dry...but under full pressure. Now if the water can only go slowly into the upside-down glass...a slow leak....then the pressure in the air will slowly increase from 1 to 2 ATM. So the key is to have a slow leak, so the pressure in the canister increases slowly...you might still end up with ambient pressure in the canister, depending on the orientation of the canister and whether the air can get out.
