Vyper Failure - should I believe my LDS?

[mantajohn]

My Vyper is approx 8-10 years old. Never had any problems with it.

Before heading off on a Liveaboard recently, a dive shop changed the battery for me. Unfortunately, on the very first dive the pressure sensor failed as soon as it activated on contact with the water. Random & excessively deep depths were being displayed. Even in my cabin it was showing varying depths of 7m +. So it won't shut down.

I raised with the Dive Shop that they appeared to have damaged the Vyper whilst changing the battery. They are quite adamant that they could not have possibly damaged the pressure sensor 'its in a separate part of the device to which a battery changer does not have access'.

The LDS belive that my Vyper has simply died on me (possibly due to age?) and the proximity to their battery change is a complete coincidence.

Alas, I know little about the construction of a dive computer. Am I being fobbed off? Or are their comments reasonable?

Thanks

 

[JohnN]

My Vyper is approx 8-10 years old. Never had any problems with it.

Before heading off on a Liveaboard recently, a dive shop changed the battery for me. Unfortunately, on the very first dive the pressure sensor failed as soon as it activated on contact with the water. Random & excessively deep depths were being displayed. Even in my cabin it was showing varying depths of 7m +. So it won't shut down.

I raised with the Dive Shop that they appeared to have damaged the Vyper whilst changing the battery. They are quite adamant that they could not have possibly damaged the pressure sensor 'its in a separate part of the device to which a battery changer does not have access'.

The LDS belive that my Vyper has simply died on me (possibly due to age?) and the proximity to their battery change is a complete coincidence.

Alas, I know little about the construction of a dive computer. Am I being fobbed off? Or are their comments reasonable?

Thanks

My initial vote would be with your LDS. A monkey wearing mittens can change the battery in a Vyper.

It would be worth your time to find a YouTube video on how to change a Vyper battery and open the battery door. Moisture in the internals would indicate a bad "O" ring (and possibly cause your problem) and would be the LDS responsibility to make right

 

[cool_hardware52]

My Vyper is approx 8-10 years old. Never had any problems with it.

Before heading off on a Liveaboard recently, a dive shop changed the battery for me. Unfortunately, on the very first dive the pressure sensor failed as soon as it activated on contact with the water. Random & excessively deep depths were being displayed. Even in my cabin it was showing varying depths of 7m +. So it won't shut down.

I raised with the Dive Shop that they appeared to have damaged the Vyper whilst changing the battery. They are quite adamant that they could not have possibly damaged the pressure sensor 'its in a separate part of the device to which a battery changer does not have access'.

The LDS belive that my Vyper has simply died on me (possibly due to age?) and the proximity to their battery change is a complete coincidence.

Alas, I know little about the construction of a dive computer. Am I being fobbed off? Or are their comments reasonable?

Thanks

Every Suunto computer I have ever had eventually suffered a pressure / temperature sensor failure. Having said that there are only 1-2 OEM sources for the transducers, Suunto is unlikely to have produced their own.

All my Vypers (4-5 at least) decided to go diving on their own. I'd be very surprised if yours (same basic vintage as mine) didn't do the same thing.

Tobin

 

[Schwob]

All my Vypers (4-5 at least) decided to go diving on their own.

Having a Suunto myself, I hate reading this... but hey, your Suunto's must have achieved a de facto solo cert then...

 

[undrwater]

Google search "suunto sensor failure", you'll get the idea.

 

[shurite7]

When Suunto computers start to go they will give erratic depth readings. I've seen several go out in such a manner. When Aqualung distributed Suunto the warranty policy was five years. After that, if it died there was no option but to replace it. It is very unlikely your LDS damaged the computer during the battery change.

 

[KeithG]

My Vyper is approx 8-10 years old. Never had any problems with it.

Before heading off on a Liveaboard recently, a dive shop changed the battery for me. Unfortunately, on the very first dive the pressure sensor failed as soon as it activated on contact with the water. Random & excessively deep depths were being displayed. Even in my cabin it was showing varying depths of 7m +. So it won't shut down.

I raised with the Dive Shop that they appeared to have damaged the Vyper whilst changing the battery. They are quite adamant that they could not have possibly damaged the pressure sensor 'its in a separate part of the device to which a battery changer does not have access'.

The LDS belive that my Vyper has simply died on me (possibly due to age?) and the proximity to their battery change is a complete coincidence.

Alas, I know little about the construction of a dive computer. Am I being fobbed off? Or are their comments reasonable?

Thanks

Battery change and sensor failures are unrelated.

But a couple of questions:
- did the computer work properly just before you took it into the LDS? (i.e. was is working just before?)
- after the LDS changed the battery, did they pressure test the computer? (i.e. was it working just after?)

The pressure sensor could have failed sitting on the shelf months before the battery change and you would not be aware if the battery also died sitting on the shelf. It also seems improbable that the shop gave you back a non operational computer. It should have been working after they replaced the battery. I would have to think that they did some minimal testing. You should ask.

 

[oly5050user]

Just this past Friday I did a refresher for a customer that had a viper computer fail. Transducer that reads depth failed. Sold him a Sherwood wisdom. We have been fortunate to see very few if any failures with wisdoms, and we sell a lot of them.

 

[Damselfish]

I know it seems like a big coincidence, but given the isolation of the battery compartment and the history of sensor failures I'd say you just got unlucky. We've been lucky so far with our Vypers.

 

[Rred]

If the highly skilled and trained dive shop guy simply fumbled the battery and put it in backwards (upside down) might the reverse polarity blow the circuit? As well as the moisture issue?

I've seen too many professionals make simple human errors when an owner would have been paying more attention to the task at hand. Seems like no one focuses, or takes pride in craftsmanship these days. And never noticed a shop with a proper pressure tester, to confirm that a computer had been properly resealed against water intrusion. Although I'm sure there must be some.

Bottom line is that you'll have to open it up, look for moisture, and if you can't find any gross signs of something wrong...take it up with Suunto and the shop, both of them. If the shop is authorized, Suunto should at least not ignore the issue, but I'd have slim hope for either.

If you open it up (battery door or otherwise) and place it in a warm spot, in a sealed bag/container with some silica gel packets, there's a small chance that will pull out any moisture causing a problem, and after a couple of days, properly resealing the computer will leave it working again. Arguably not reliable in the long run, as there may be salt residue if there was salt water inside. FWIW.