DIN Question...

[Jasonmh]

I just got my first set of DIN regs, Apeks DS4s. I have never used DIN regs before and I have a silly question. With a yoke reg there is a dust cap (although I always think of it as a waterproof cap) that you screw into place so that when I soak the reg for cleaning it doesn't get water in it. With the DIN regs, is there a similar device that keeps water out of the reg while soaking it? The 2 new din regs I have came with a rubber cover that goes over the threads up to the handwheel, but it defintely does not look like it is waterproof.
thanks,
Jason

 

[Chad Carney]

Jason,

There are water tight DIN caps, but another way is to put the DIN to yoke converter back on with it's dust cap in place.

Chad

 

[rescuediver009]

I dive with a pair of DS4's aswell, and to be honest the dust cap that comes with them is ... well... just that, a dust cap. And if you tighten it too much it just falls off. So as chad mentioned, I would either use your yoke adapter (may not have one) or invest $5 in a pair of water tight dist caps so that you can rinse your regs.
Aside from that, I wouldn't worry too much about the first stages. The environmental seal takes care of the cold and the salt really well. I wouldn't trade mine for anything.

 

[Jasonmh]

I don't have a din to yoke converter yet so it sounds like I need to get a pair of the water-tight caps. Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[DiverBuoy]

You can use this method, or the din cap that most din regs come with, it's certainly water tight enough for a rinsing bin or garden hose. Personally I recommend hooking up your reg to your tank and opening the tank valve ... then rinsing the regulator thoroughly at pressure. For storage or concern about dripping around the boat or dive site - the din dust cap or the din-yolk converter with dustcap both work fine.

 

[rescuediver009]

You can use this method, or the din cap that most din regs come with, it's certainly water tight enough for a rinsing bin.

...clearly doesn't own an Apeks....
I maintain my previous statement that the apeks DIN caps are not quite watertight.

 

[dbg40]

...clearly doesn't own an Apeks....
I maintain my previous statement that the apeks DIN caps are not quite watertight.

DITTO!!!

 

[Marek K]

Jason--

Assuming you don't have or always use your own tanks -- and you have to rinse or dunk or soak your first stage off the tank -- the rubber cap you got with your first stage is better than nothing... but I think you're right... it will probably allow water to seep past the threads eventually during a soak of any length.

If you're dunking the first stage with that kind of cap, I'd say it would be safer to take the cap off and just hold your thumb over the orifice while you dunk it... then be careful to dry around the orifice and threads (and inside the cap) before replacing the cap.

If you're looking for a replacement watertight cap, you need to carefully check how it's designed. Many cheap screw-on delrin caps, with a flat "bottom" inside the cap, don't seal either... and would be worse than your rubber cap.

The kind of cap you probably want is one that has a circular "pit" inside the bottom of the cap, into which the central flange of your DIN fitting's orifice fits. That will allow the fitting's o-ring to (theoretically at least) seal against the permeter of the bottom of the cap. AquaLung makes one like that; don't know about others.

See diagram below -- drawn from memory, so I apologize for inaccuracies... but you get the idea.

Edit: Looking at my phrase "theoretically at least" above, even with a cap like this, it would probably still be best to hold your thumb over the orifice while dunking.

--Marek

 

[spectrum]

You can use this method, or the din cap that most din regs come with, it's certainly water tight enough for a rinsing bin or garden hose. Personally I recommend hooking up your reg to your tank and opening the tank valve ... then rinsing the regulator thoroughly at pressure. For storage or concern about dripping around the boat or dive site - the din dust cap or the din-yolk converter with dustcap both work fine.

I agree with DiveBuoy, it's a dust cap. No cap will keep you from getting water in through an accidentally purged second so do the cleaning under pressure.



Pete

 

[DiverBuoy]

...clearly doesn't own an Apeks....
I maintain my previous statement that the apeks DIN caps are not quite watertight.

Pardon me, I own two of them, both DIN! Example: