Computers and "technical" diving

[techdiver2us]

AquaTec once bubbled...


why spend the money on computers then, just use a bottom timer and tables. the dark ages embase you

Because not all my dives are technical and a verification of sorts. I like the Matrix to at least clear RED no matter what and the Cochran only handles 2 gases. By the time I got to mix I refused to buy more computers since they really are problematic, especially if you try and depend on them.

 

[AquaTec]

it seems so many peple are afraid of computers, or at least don't trust them.
Who has acualy had a problem with their computer, that wasn't a result of not changing the battery when they should.

If you don;t trust your computer for deco "technical" dives, then how can you trust it to keep you out of deco, how do you know that you are on a no deco dive. or what if you are on a computer dive and then it fails. do you go to tables, and use you max depth and time to evaluate all the deco you are obligated to.

 

[techdiver2us]

AquaTec once bubbled...
it seems so many peple are afraid of computers, or at least don't trust them.
Who has acualy had a problem with their computer, that wasn't a result of not changing the battery when they should.

If you don;t trust your computer for deco "technical" dives, then how can you trust it to keep you out of deco, how do you know that you are on a no deco dive. or what if you are on a computer dive and then it fails. do you go to tables, and use you max depth and time to evaluate all the deco you are obligated to.

Because I don't trust computers for deco. They're great for NDL dives and mild deco scenarios that may pop up. But a planned deco dive is best run with tables. Any time you spend shallower than your planned depth is an added safety bonus. Learned a lesson early that still holds true - Murphy's Law comes heavily into play at about 150'.

 

[AquaTec]

techdiver2us once bubbled...
Because I don't trust computers for deco. They're great for NDL dives and mild deco scenarios that may pop up. But a planned deco dive is best run with tables. Any time you spend shallower than your planned depth is an added safety bonus. Learned a lesson early that still holds true - Murphy's Law comes heavily into play at about 150'.

which by defalt means that you trust them to keep you from going into deco. constantly moving shallower and shallower to keep out of deco.

if you don;t trust it to do deco dives, then you must plan for a failure at the end of a long no deco dive.

for example say you are at 100 for 20 then come up to 70 for 10 then up to 50 for 20. your computer sees this as a no deco dive.
your current run time is 50 minutes. no what we know is possible [according to you] the computer fails.

thats cool cause you got back up tables.
so i guess that would be 100 feet for 50 minutes now what.


so my point here is you are allready completly trusting your computer on deco dives, so whats the difference.

 

[Uncle Pug]

AquaTec once bubbled...
so i guess that would be 100 feet for 50 minutes now what.

That would be a censored profile and we would do the censored and climb out happy.

Besides... since we are DIR we would be using EAN32.

 

[AquaTec]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

That would be a censored profile and we would do the censored and climb out happy.

Besides... since we are DIR we would be using EAN32.

explain a censored profile

I don't care what gas you are using, the point is if you don't trust a computer on a deco dive how can you trust it to keep you out of deco.

 

[Uncle Pug]

AquaTec once bubbled...
explain a censored profile

I don't care what gas you are using, the point is if you don't trust a computer on a deco dive how can you trust it to keep you out of deco.

Can't tell you.... this is your travel year

But I will say that I whole heartedly agree with your last statement there. Course I don't trust them for either.

 

[AquaTec]

PUG it is nice that we agree on something.

just because i spent all my money traveling doesn't mean i don't want to learn anything this year. it just means i won't be taking any courses....probably

 

[spiro]

I spent quite a few years working in a deco chamber with divers bent to varying degrees who blamed their computer for their predicament and we at the chamber made the required sympathetic noises and for the sake of patient peace of mind said "really?" Evil device.

The computer for it's own defense said nothing. This was circa 1990 when the basic Alladin was new to the market. Then came the Alladin Pro which had a rate of ascent violation recorded in its log. But it was very easily and reasonably overruled by the defense that the victim of it's predations had merely gone from, for example 120' to 110' in a normal fashion and stuck a rate of ascent arrow into the log. Fair enough. Guilty as charged.

Then one nice bank holiday weekend a couple of years later I got a call to come to the chamber and there was another victim of computer induced DCS. After the usual discussion about the profile and which usually went" I was within the limits" and for reasons that can only be explained by the vindictive computer "I got bent" the patient was put into the chamber to be cooked for 6 hours.

Nice computer, be careful though, it's owner claims it's a killer. Don't get too fond of it.
So computer, anything to say in your defense? "Not guilty by reason of owner screwup, he's trying to frame me and I can prove it. Plug me into a PC and let me show you"

In this case the diver in question spent 18 minutes at 90' just short of mandatory deco. Running a bit low on air he went from 90' to 10' in 45 seconds and did a 3 minute stop sucking the rust from his tank thinking that he was now excluded from the risk of DCS.

Since the advent of computers that can download their profile no further computers of that brand have been been implicated in DCS with patients at that chamber. The previous ones had their sentences quashed.

Since then we've ran computers in the chamber for fun and curiosity and have never had a DCS event when it was used as it was meant to be.

Computers are safe and efficient when used properly but you must understand the theory behind them. If you don't understand the theory and have a solid grasp on decompression whether or not you do mandatory deco stop dives stick to walking in the rain.