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The half turn back is unnecessary. I learned this way forty years ago (It was unnecessary then, too). To paraphrase Yoda “All open or all closed, there is no ‘almost’”
You could do anything I suppose; but the real question is a matter of pros-and-cons. I don't really see any advantage of this over either leaving the valve completely open, or completely closing the valve but opening it every time:
Battery life on the PPS transmitters is pretty good. Not sure about the Swifts, but I’d imagine they are pretty close.
Don’t know, as I’ve never seen it. For me, though, I‘d finish the dive I was on and change it. I believe it will also give you a critical warning when it’s real low.
IIRC, they are rated for around 300 hours. The transmitter turns on when it senses pressure, and turns off when pressure drops to around 50 psi. So if you leave the reg pressurized more than necessary, battery life will be reduced.
The spec is 300 dive-hours when diving two hour-long dives per day, so about 300 dives. Much like annual regulator service, I feel yearly battery replacement is excessive for most people, but peace of mind is a personal call.
Most likely true. I do change it annually, though I'm sure I could extend to every two years without issue. I do it annually because it's easy to schedule. I also take in my regulators for either an inspection/bench test or overhaul every year (alternating). I remove the transmitters from the regulator before taking in to my LDS. That's a good time to swap out batteries and o-rings in the transmitters.
