Equipment failure on Halcyon Eclipse bcd, Power inflator, Should I bother?

[lnjohn]

I own a Halcyon Eclipse Backplate and wing with STA. Upon surfacing, I pushed the inflator button and it stuck, completely filling my bc. I detached the hose and fiddled with the button pushing it until it appeared to be working properly. I then reconnected the hose and the threaded power inflator button blew clear out of the BC about 5 feet from where I was. As the bc now no longer had a way of holding air, I started sinking and decided to remove my weights and hand them to the Dive master that was close by. My bc continued to lose air and take on water at which point I removed the BC and handed it over to the other Dive Master. I was fortunate that this was during a trip to Cozumel and we had 2 Dive Masters accompanying us on every dive. We had just finished a dive to a max dept of 80 feet for 20 minutes, with a long shallow climb and 3 minute safety stop. Total dive time was around 55 minutes. I was diving with no wetsuit an AL 80 and felt very fortunate that this accident happened at this point in the dive. I typically manually inflate, just in case, which is what I did on this particular dive. This happened on the first dive of a 7 day, 2 tank per day trip. I was fortunately able to go into town and purchase a new Scuba Pro inflator for $70 and continue with my dives.

My question is, should I contact Halcyon and send in the defective power inflator? The BC is probably around 8 or 9 years old and is in great shape otherwise. I realize that this could have been a much different outcome which is why I am considering letting them know about my recent experience. I am not really looking for a new inflator, I just want to bring this issue to their attention. My inflator was not on the recall list.

Please let me know your thoughts
Thanks

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Was this one of the old SS inflators? Even the post-recall version didn't eliminate the SS LPI's issues.

Some of us (myself included) swear by them, but they're notorious for sticking if not serviced regularly and/or ejecting the entire SS assembly from the polymer LPI body if you either don't torque the SS assembly in enough or overtorque it and strip out the relatively delicate polymer threads. There's a reason Halcyon makes you special-order them now.

 

[lnjohn]

Yes, this was the SS assembly, the threads were intact, but I did not use a torque wrench when servicing it in the past. I did call Halcyon, and was not informed that I needed to use a torque wrench. I used some silicone and soaked the ss pieces in vinegar to remove rust in the past. Seems to me that this is not the best design for a company that prides itself on quality. I really love the rest of the BC, but may just stick with another manufacturer's inflator design.
thanks

 

[tbone1004]

first off, why did you need weights when that system is 10lbs negative as is? irritating, but the BC will still hold air, just keep the inflator down, it'll hold as much air as it can to equalize the bubble, so almost half of the bc capacity. Irritating, but it'll hold it. Second, those inflators are notorious for sticking and blowing out as mentioned above and need regular service especially when they are being used in salt water. I love mine and actually have it as the only halcyon piece of kit I own on two diverite BC's, but they do take special consideration

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I suppose I could have been clearer that my reference to torqued was simply that there's a relatively fine line for these LPIs between too loose/works its way out, and too tight/strips itself out...there's no specific torque spec of which I'm aware.

It's the best design for people who require the finest control over LPI they can get short of a needle valve, and are willing and able to regularly do a more thorough service than what you describe. I rotate through about half a dozen of the SS assemblies, swapping them out anytime the one I have installed starts to get sticky, and strip all the grease off, ultrasonic them clean, rinse completely, replace o-rings as needed, and then literally pack the entire SS assembly with silicone. I've also mirror-polished the various SS surfaces that the dynamic o-rings contact. It works reasonably well and I often get close to a year before one sticks; but it's a PITA and given how often it needs to be broken down for cleaning and service, I think Halcyon's use of a shallow flathead screwdriver slot (instead of a deep hex head) on the little part holding the two dynamic o-rings...was a cost-cutting cop out.

It's surely not the best design for divers who want a simple, workable, low maintainance LPI that's made to be thrown away rather than rebuilt. Which is probably why Halcyon stopped offering them unless they're specially requested (and maybe not even that now, I'm not sure) and ships all their wings with the same crappy generic LPIs almost everyone else uses.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Yes, this was the SS assembly, the threads were intact, but I did not use a torque wrench when servicing it in the past. I did call Halcyon, and was not informed that I needed to use a torque wrench. I used some silicone and soaked the ss pieces in vinegar to remove rust in the past. Seems to me that this is not the best design for a company that prides itself on quality. I really love the rest of the BC, but may just stick with another manufacturer's inflator design.
thanks

Get an Air 2

 

[PfcAJ]

Trash it and get generic inflator.

Those older halcyons are a metal bit in a plastic housing. Unless it's just right they can blow off. Send it to H and they'll replace with a generic inflator it I'm sure. The generic ones are pretty good.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Trash it and get generic inflator.

Those older halcyons are a metal bit in a plastic housing. Unless it's just right they can blow off. Send it to H and they'll replace with a generic inflator it I'm sure. The generic ones are pretty good.

You...do realize the generic ones are also metal bits in a plastic housing, right?

 

[chillyinCanada]

The whole thing sounds nuts to me.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

The whole thing sounds nuts to me.

It's totally insane. But they look cool


And they do actually let you really fine-tune air injection...when they don't stick/try to kill you.