Paint Ball Mini Gauge for Pony Regulator

[Chris12day]

While cleaning out the closet. I found a new paintball mini guage (5000psi) from the good old days of paintballing.

I was thinking of putting it on the pony regulator. The manufacturer is Dye. This is the one that glow in the dark. See photo.

Good Idea? or Not? Anybody been there - done that? What was the result?

NOT A TRIAL DIVE! If the OP would place this on his pony and he needed his pony for some reason...it would put him at risk. Period.

A redundant system is for an emergency. I would not do it!

 

[JahJahwarrior]

So, let me get this straight...he fills his pony bottle, checks that it is full, and then replaces the current gauge with this paintball gauge. He then goes on a dive and surfaces without using his pony bottle. The gauge looks fine. He then closes the tank valve, and stores the bottle for his second dive. After a one hour surface interval, he gets back in the water after reopening his tank valve. Sometime during this second dive, the gauge face cracks and the gauge fills with water. Suddenly, this water in the gauge ________________ with the ______________ to cause a ________________ loss of ________________ leaving the OP _________________ to _________________ and he dies.

Can someone smarter than me fill in the blanks?

 

[UaVaj]

Can someone smarter than me fill in the blanks?

This is starting to sound like overfilling LP tanks in cave country.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

This is starting to sound like overfilling LP tanks in cave country.

We can make one for that, too.

"In Cave Country, I filled my steel tanks to ________psi and they ____________."

But the answers will tend to be "3600" and "just sat there."

 

[Chris12day]

A redundant system is for an emergency. I would not do it!

Why increase your risks?

 

[redacted]

NOT A TRIAL DIVE! If the OP would place this on his pony and he needed his pony for some reason...it would put him at risk. Period.

A redundant system is for an emergency. I would not do it!

I have heard you say that a couple times now. I'm still waiting for you to explain the mechanics of how the gauge failure would produce risk. Are you figuring the gauge will explode and damage the first stage causing and massive HP leak? Do you have any idea how a SPG works and therefore some understanding of how it might fail and the effects of such a failure?

 

[redacted]

Why increase your risks?

Please, how would it increase risk??? It could actually decrease risk. Afterall, that gauge eliminates an HP hose and 2 o-rings; all components subject to failure resulting in the loss of gas.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Please, how would it increase risk??? It could actually decrease risk. Afterall, that gauge eliminates an HP hose and 2 o-rings; all components subject to failure resulting in the loss of gas.

Radical ideas you express here. I raised the same issue with the DIR people and they had to explain that the plug guage is defintely not DIR. Also eliminates a spindle which can be snapped off.

 

[Chris12day]

I have heard you say that a couple times now. I'm still waiting for you to explain the mechanics of how the gauge failure would produce risk. Are you figuring the gauge will explode and damage the first stage causing and massive HP leak? Do you have any idea how a SPG works and therefore some understanding of how it might fail and the effects of such a failure?

I am not a SPG expert.

Allowing a corrosive substance, saltwater into the inner workings of a paintball pressure gauge will allow possible corrosion of the Bourdon tube or its connection. I do not know the construction material of a paintball gauge. Is it compatible with saltwater? Will the connections holding the Bourdon tube fail when a pressure not equal to atmospheric pressure is applied? What about multiple differential pressures against the external workings of the Bourdon tube?

I personally like my equipment to be designed and tested for its intended application. Substituting a paintball gauge for a pony gauge is a personal risk that I am not willing to take or would advise someone else to take.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I am not a SPG expert.

@Chris12day: Take a few minutes to learn about how a bourdon tube SPG works. Phil Ellis at Divesports.com has a very informative page showing the inner workings of a SPG. The connection from the HP port on the first stage to the bourdon tube is a closed system. As the gas pressure increases, the bourdon tube "uncurls" in a spring-like action. This action is linked to a needle that deflects and displays the pressure reading on the gauge face. Conceptually, you can think of the bourdon tube as a balloon on the end of the hose. When gas pressure increases inside the hose, the balloon gets bigger. When gas pressure decreases inside the hose, the balloon gets smaller. The balloon seals the system to gas, oil, or water.

This is why installing the paintball gauge on a pony reg poses no immediate risk to a diver. Salt water will very likely get inside the case...but it cannot penetrate the bourdon tube. Therefore, the reg system remains closed. The needle on the gauge face may or may not work. Still, it will not affect the function of the pony reg. If salt water gets inside the case, it will eventually cause corrosion...but that cannot occur during the course of the initial dive. Even if it did, the reg system should still remain closed since the bourdon tube is sealed. The only danger is that corrosion on the bourdon tube would weaken it and cause it to rupture. Then gas would leak out of the reg. Ask yourself this: Is it reasonable to think that such corrosion could occur during the course of the initial dive?

Hope this helps you understand where awap and UaVaj are coming from...