Halcyon Inflator Care to prevent sticking?

[Hoyden]

From the service manual - "Halcyon recommends that the inflator should be serviced at least once a year as a minimum, or every six months under heavy use."

 

[limeyx]

I am very religious when it comes to rinsing and taking care/servicing of my equipment; I've been lucky with my ss inflator, no rust or malfunction so far (with over a hundred dives) - otoh, two of my friend have had problems with "post-recall" inflators, one with an almost brand new ss inflator (it is the version with the serial number and could be one of the new ones with "nickel-plated brass" components - I'll have to check).

I am getting an Eclipse 30 for my gf soon (with the "plastic" non-serviceable OEM power inflator) so will have a chance to compare it with my ss one.

If I were you I'd go with option 1 or 3...

option 3 if you dive salt water. evev the "fixed" version needs way more servicing than is worth it.

 

[Vie]

I tried the Halcyon "plastic" non-serviceable OEM power inflator in the pool today. It's very light and the action is very smooth compared to the ss; there are asterisk-shaped mouldings on the buttons so the buttons are not as slippery as the ss version. The "plastic" also has a soft mouthpiece which is a nice touch - the plastic mouthpiece on the ss is very hard.

Verdict? I like it.

 

[wunat]

I tried the Halcyon "plastic" non-serviceable OEM power inflator in the pool today. It's very light and the action is very smooth compared to the ss; there are asterisk-shaped mouldings on the buttons so the buttons are not as slippery as the ss version. The "plastic" also has a soft mouthpiece which is a nice touch - the plastic mouthpiece on the ss is very hard.

The inflator on my current rig (please refer to the picture attached) is different from those that comes with Halcyon wings. Are there any significant difference on which is better? On DSS site, I see both types of inflators in the pictures of various wing.

If it would be recommended I change it, are they sold separately as parts from Halcyon distributors?

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

Personally I'd ditch the thing (or sell it on ebay).

Designing and manufacturing a reliable inflator is not rocket science. There is no kudos for perservering with a component with questionable reliability and an excessive maintenance requirement. Buy an ugly but reliable plastic replacement and dive without worrying about sticking.

What he said. I can't believe how far Halcyon brand loyalty extends. A piece of gear that has as many notorious problems as this one is no good in my opinion...no matter how many "H"'s they stamp on it.

 

[stonefish35]

Hi,
My Halcyon inflator looks different from the 2 photos submitted here. I'm not sure if mine's the old type ? Any divers can advise me here ? Thanks in advance .

 

[pakman]

Mines going in for servicing. The inflator on my 40lb explorer got stuck while on a 55m dive!! (it's less than 1 yr old and has just about 30 dives on it). Not fun constantly dumping air to manage my buoyancy at 50m+... thank god I wasn't penetrating the wreck on that day. It would just get stuck and cause a slight trickle of air into the wing. Thank god it didn't get stuck fully open. We did try to clean it out (there were signs of corrosion in it) a bit between dives and it helped a little bit, but problem came up again on another deep dive. I thought I was pretty religious about washing out the inflator... guess not...

 

[FLDVR]

I've got two wings with both inflators and havnt had a problem with either.
I do use the LDS for service at least once a year and everything is washed in a big bucket then rinsed after every dive. Adding conditioner and blow drying when time permits.

If you do have issues get it replaced or serviced, if your not comfortable with it for safety purposes get rid of it rather than
always worrying about it when you dive.

 

[FishTaco]

Hi,
My Halcyon inflator looks different from the 2 photos submitted here. I'm not sure if mine's the old type ? Any divers can advise me here ? Thanks in advance .

The inflator you have pictured here is an old style halcyon plastic inflator. This inflator would not be one of the inflators in question.
Hope this helps!

 

[Peo]

The inflator on my current rig (please refer to the picture attached) is different from those that comes with Halcyon wings. Are there any significant difference on which is better? On DSS site, I see both types of inflators in the pictures of various wing.

If it would be recommended I change it, are they sold separately as parts from Halcyon distributors?

One thing that is nice with the Evolve wing is that the inflator inflates slower than how fast you can dump with the butt dump. Even will the button fully depressed, you can actually manage your buoyancy by pulling on the butt dump.

If you dive in cold water, there's a risk of freezing the inflator, and if that happens, you're better off having something other than one of the "high volume" inflators.