The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Unfortunately, serial is becoming less available... like the laptop I am using right now does not have one! 
Sensus Ultra Arrived!
- Thread starter rainman_02
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I couldn't guess the percentage, but a lot of chambers do have our download unit. For instance, I know we've sent the SSS chamber network (of DAN/SSS catfight fame) at least 50 full recording kits that they were going to use for daily logging of patient and tender activities in their chambers.fdog:
The download unit is cheap enough that we can practically (and sometimes literally!) give them to chambers who want them. The retail cost is $25 and chambers can buy them for our wholesale price of $15...nothing like dive computer interface kits.
In fact the download unit has NO electronics in it whatsoever. It is merely a dongle that exposes three of the serial port pins to the contacts on the recorder. In principle, you could use three wires and connect a recorder directly to a PC serial port to dump dive data. So in an emergency, even a chamber WITHOUT our download unit could access your data.
Now that I think of it, that's another HUGE plus for the serial port over USB!
Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.
www.reefnet.ca
No question...serial is disappearing from most laptops. Some PCs (and all Macs) have also lost the serial port. But the widespread availability of cheap USB-Serial adapters means there's no real problem.NetDoc:Unfortunately, serial is becoming less available... like the laptop I am using right now does not have one!
In the near future we'll be offering a sort of "placebo" bundle with the USB adapter included for a ready-to-go package. If you plug the download unit onto the USB cable, for all intents and purposes you have a "USB download unit".
Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.
www.reefnet.ca
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rainman_02:
In what way does it "blow the Suunto Vytec out of the water"?
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Unfortunately, the serial to USB interfaces are problematic at BEST! They really, really suck!reefnet:
mike_s
Contributor
reefnet:
Good thing to see that you gave these to the chamber groups. I applaud your company for that. Your donation might well likely help save someones life.
I like this idea of the bundle... That way you can easily an cheaply buy one that works USB with a USB/serial adapter that is tested to work with a unit.. I guess it's the best of both worlds. Working in the high end electronics industry I can see pro's and cons of both serial and USB, but I still think that USB will be more of the way of the future just purely based on speed and univeral market change. Just something to think about.
So I went to see if any of my LDS's were local dealers on your website (http://reefnet.ca/dealers/) and was suprised to see you had LeisurePro on there. NOthing wrong with you selling them throuh LP... just that many a Scubaboarder is used to LP not being a "authorized dealer" of hardly anyone. anyway...
also... shop on your dealer list is out of Business as of last year. Rock Divers in Madison, AL. (just FYI in case you're wanting to update your dealer list).
back to the Serial thing... I didn't see any pics of the download kit on your website... but I found one on LeisurePro. It looks pretty simple like you just "pop" the unit ontop of the download device. (see below)
However, the way it appears the download device is made (in the above pic) it plugs in very tightly to the download unit(on top of it) which is plugged into the DB-9 serial port. The negative about this seems to be that if you have any other cables around that DB-9 port on your computer, like above or besides it snugly, that you'll have trouble getting it in there. It would also require most people who keep their computers on the floor or in a "computer desk slot/hutch/hole" to pull the computer out every time they want to put it in there. So seems that the user might have to buy a serial extension cable to make it easily usuable. I know I wouldn't be able to use this on my DB-9 port on my home computer w/o an extention cable.
From web page.
Now that's a cool feature. Especially if the chambe networks can read your information. Could really help identify you in case of an emgerncy, since I'm betting that often divers are delivered to the chamber with proper ID and emergency contact info on them.
Any chance this unit records anything on nitrogen loading? (that would be interesting to see as part of the graph., but I'm not sure how you could easily change from 21% to other % the way the unit is set up, w/o doing it electronically at home).
Also.. from the charts shown on this thread by SeaYoda it computes the SAC in PSI per minute. How does it read those start/fishin PSI values? or are those user inputable after the download?
Saw also you have developer guides for developing your own software. Cool! Now I can get started on that Linux, Irix, and Solaris version. Maybe Unicos also in my spare time
BTW other Scubaboarders... they sell some other cool stuff also.
see https://secure.reefnet.ca/products/
OP
rainman_02
Contributor
Stephen Ash:
Accuracy -- This thing is incredibly accurate. The nice thing is that I can't be distracted by the increased accuracy during the dive...so my computer (bottom timer) that measures in whole feet and time in minutes:seconds and a so-so temperature reading gives me useful real-time data, but the post-dive logging always felt like it was missing something. The 10 second Vytec interval is great for general profile view, but I like that I can set this thing so fine (1 sec interval) that I can see my buoyancy change due to breathing. It's that accurate for post-dive analysis and it takes nothing away from the actual dive due to beeping, flashing, or even having a display. It goes in my left pocket, turns on at 6.6 fsw, and logs the whole dive beautifully.
Ease of download -- Gently set it on the download cradle. It downloads perfect every time (with the ReefNet USB-serial adapter). A few seconds, and BAM, it's done. Takes about 1/10th of the time my Vytec takes to download 10x the data.
"Open Source" protocol/software -- ReefNet wants this to be useful to people. So they've said: here's how the thing works, now go forth and build your own software. That means it can be integrated into existing dive log software. Or you can just use their free software and copy-paste the data into Excel or some other program. If I knew a little more about gas theory (bubble and dissolved), I could sit down and write something that would display the Nitrogen and Oxygen (even Helium) loading and display it in some useful manner.
This is a useful tool that enhances my dive enjoyment, because I can later share with my girlfriend or other friends what I did on a dive. And it lets me visualize what I'm doing in the water in a sort-of out-of-body experience.
What can I say...I'm feeling chatty tonight. Sorry for the length of this post!
The original name of the first Sensus model was "The Diver's Black Box"...its primary purpose was to be as a safety device. Then we collectively said "duh!" and realized there was a much bigger market for it as simply a handy dive logger. A lot of people also thought the original name was a bit morbid. They'd say "so this is only good when I'm dead?"...so we came up with a new name.
Precisely. We know USB is more familiar to people, but it's simply the wrong interface for the job. In the interest of producing the most technically superior product, we decided not to cave in to the mass market. Frequently the smartest choice is not the most popular one.
A lot of people are surprised by that. The reason LP isn't an authorized dealer for so many brands is that those brands won't allow LP to buy from them. The LDSes have a strangle-hold on the manufacturers and don't want competition from the internet.
In our case, we simply publish a wholesale price list and anyone can buy, including LP, a local dive shop, or even an individual. To qualify for wholesale, you simply need to meet our minimum quantity requirement. No contracts, no bullying, none of that ridiculous nonsense.
I've spoken with a couple of pretty irate dive shop owners about our policy. Since we do most of our business online, I have no patience for them. It's the 21st century, folks. Learn to deal with the internet.
Thanks for letting me know. Our dealer list needs some cleaning up...
Normally you wouldn't plug the download unit directly onto your serial port. You'd use a serial extention cable. We sell one for $5 for folks who don't have one. Most customers buy either the serial cable or the USB adapter cable, depending on which port will be used.
The info you quoted is not up to date (where was it from on our site?). The user segment is actually about 16 KB, not 4 KB. Our software lets you upload any file that will fit into that space, such as a text file, a spreadsheet, a small image, etc. A clever trick is to ZIP a few files together and upload the ZIP file. As long as you don't enter a password, your data can be retrieved in about 5 seconds by anyone with a download unit.
That's not something you record...you compute it purely from the depth information and the gas mix specification. But to answer your question, no, we don't have plans for nitrogen loading display. That would be on the border of dive planning, and that's where serious issues of liability come in. One reason our devices are so much cheaper than dive computers is that we don't have to pay for liability insurance.
Yes, you enter the IN/OUT pressures by hand after download.
Let me know when it's ready
Whew, that was a long one. Time for me to hit the sack. G'night all,
Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.
www.reefnet.ca
mike_s:
The original name of the first Sensus model was "The Diver's Black Box"...its primary purpose was to be as a safety device. Then we collectively said "duh!" and realized there was a much bigger market for it as simply a handy dive logger. A lot of people also thought the original name was a bit morbid. They'd say "so this is only good when I'm dead?"...so we came up with a new name.
mike_s:
Precisely. We know USB is more familiar to people, but it's simply the wrong interface for the job. In the interest of producing the most technically superior product, we decided not to cave in to the mass market. Frequently the smartest choice is not the most popular one.
mike_s:
A lot of people are surprised by that. The reason LP isn't an authorized dealer for so many brands is that those brands won't allow LP to buy from them. The LDSes have a strangle-hold on the manufacturers and don't want competition from the internet.
In our case, we simply publish a wholesale price list and anyone can buy, including LP, a local dive shop, or even an individual. To qualify for wholesale, you simply need to meet our minimum quantity requirement. No contracts, no bullying, none of that ridiculous nonsense.
I've spoken with a couple of pretty irate dive shop owners about our policy. Since we do most of our business online, I have no patience for them. It's the 21st century, folks. Learn to deal with the internet.
mike_s:
Thanks for letting me know. Our dealer list needs some cleaning up...
mike_s:
Normally you wouldn't plug the download unit directly onto your serial port. You'd use a serial extention cable. We sell one for $5 for folks who don't have one. Most customers buy either the serial cable or the USB adapter cable, depending on which port will be used.
mike_s:
The info you quoted is not up to date (where was it from on our site?). The user segment is actually about 16 KB, not 4 KB. Our software lets you upload any file that will fit into that space, such as a text file, a spreadsheet, a small image, etc. A clever trick is to ZIP a few files together and upload the ZIP file. As long as you don't enter a password, your data can be retrieved in about 5 seconds by anyone with a download unit.
mike_s:
That's not something you record...you compute it purely from the depth information and the gas mix specification. But to answer your question, no, we don't have plans for nitrogen loading display. That would be on the border of dive planning, and that's where serious issues of liability come in. One reason our devices are so much cheaper than dive computers is that we don't have to pay for liability insurance.
mike_s:
Yes, you enter the IN/OUT pressures by hand after download.
mike_s:Saw also you have developer guides for developing your own software. Cool! Now I can get started on that Linux, Irix, and Solaris version. Maybe Unicos also in my spare time
Let me know when it's ready
Whew, that was a long one. Time for me to hit the sack. G'night all,
Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.
www.reefnet.ca
Actually, most work surprisingly well. But some ARE really, really horrible. Usually it's a case of the drivers not being updated regularly. The hardware inside most adapters is actually remarkably similar. There are basically three companies making the actual USB-Serial converter chips. Our adapter uses the most popular one, made by a company called Prolific Technology.NetDoc:Unfortunately, the serial to USB interfaces are problematic at BEST! They really, really suck!
The only reason we sell an adapter ourselves is because we wanted to offer something that we KNOW works, and that we can fully support if any issues arise.
Kris Wilk
ReefNet Inc.
www.reefnet.ca
Aeolus
Guest
I would like to publicly thank Kris for working with me to get my new unit to work properly. I am another one that needed to interface using USB. The new dive logger had issues with that and would only work maybe one out of six times. I tried cleaning the contacts and this seemed to help a little, but not much. I tried to download new drivers from the internet site for the USB adaptor that I had and got no where. Kris provided me with a link to their drivers and after they were downloaded, it worked just fine. Thanks again Kris.
DSDO
DSDO
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