Help with Suunto Cobra Please

[lisa_j]

This past weekend we did 4 dives on Sunday with Stuart Cove's in Nassau. During the descent on dive 4, I got a Diver Alert symbol. When downloaded to the PC it shows as "Violation".

When we were diving we focused on the NDL and airtime (and depth and dive time of course), and were under the assumption that this was all we needed to monitor. We figured that if we were within the NDL we were fine.

The user manual says this alert means we should "prolong your surface interval due to excess microbubble build up".

Okay fair enough. Does this mean that if we were to do a 5th dive we would want to prolong the interval between 4 and 5? Or does it mean we are pushing the limits at that point?

Why does it show as a "violation" in the PC download? I thought the unit would lock-out if you had a violation.

Any suggestions or tips on better utilizing this computer would be great!

Lisa

 

[Captain CaveMan]

do you have the user book. its wanting you to make a saftey stop.. how many barrs did you have on the left sidde of the screen. did you get into the yellow or even the red? when i got close to the yellow mine beeped to let me know that i had little bottom time left and it made sure when i did my 3 at 15 it went to count down.
i was afrad that it went in to dec mode but it didnt.

or you acented to fast in your dive and its making you do a 3 at 15 as a manditory stop when you do the end of your dive and if you dont it will punnsih your NDL for your next dive.
i think thats what happend.
can you post or dive for us.?

 

[lisa_j]

We did 3 minute safety stops at 15 feet on all 4 dives per the computer. I will try to post the dives. The way I understood it - The diver alert shouldn't come on for an optional safety stop, and the manditory stop is indicated by the decompression ceiling.

There was never a time when we saw the decompression ceiling on the display, nor were the CBT bars out of the green (although they were at bar seven out of eight in the green at one point until we came up 20 feet or so).

 

[Lead_carrier]

We did 3 minute safety stops at 15 feet on all 4 dives per the computer. I will try to post the dives. The way I understood it - The diver alert shouldn't come on for an optional safety stop, and the manditory stop is indicated by the decompression ceiling.

There was never a time when we saw the decompression ceiling on the display, nor were the CBT bars out of the green (although they were at bar seven out of eight in the green at one point until we came up 20 feet or so).

With Suunto I don't believe there is an optional safety stop. All safety stops are mandatory. If you don't do them you get penalized on your next dives. If you ascend too fast, and ignore the warnings, you will get penalties, extended safety stops and ceilings. If you ignore those, you'll get lockout and all sorts of strange stuff.

Go over the user manual again, and make sure you understand all of the features. The Suunto Dive Manager has a good simulation program you can play with and get all sorts of results without endangering yourself.

 

[lisa_j]

With Suunto I don't believe there is an optional safety stop. All safety stops are mandatory. If you don't do them you get penalized on your next dives. If you ascend too fast, and ignore the warnings, you will get penalties, extended safety stops and ceilings. If you ignore those, you'll get lockout and all sorts of strange stuff.

Go over the user manual again, and make sure you understand all of the features. The Suunto Dive Manager has a good simulation program you can play with and get all sorts of results without endangering yourself.

We've read the manual a few times, and actually your incorrect. The manual clearly states that there is an OPTIONAL safety stop on all dives below 10M. From the manual:

"The recommended Safety Stop, as the name implies, is recommended. If it is ignored, there is no penalty applied to the following surface intervals and dives. Mandatory Safety stops show up when the ascent rate exceeds 40 ft momentarily or 33 ft continuously." (or when you have a decompression dive I assume)

"If you violate the mandatory safety stop, the available NDLs are shortened for your next dive and it's recommended you prolong your SI"

In any case, I am familiar with the safety stops and the NDL, etc. The reason I posted was because I want to know what could have caused the Diver Alert symbol during my descent on my fourth dive? The book says the symbol means I should prolong my surface interval - when? NOW? Later? Is it just a "hey take it easy your getting close?" sign?

 

[Diver Dennis]

With every dive over 30' there is a recommended safety stop at about 15'. If you blow this off there is no penalty applied to the following surface intervals and dives unless you have gone into deco or have acended to quickly, more than 40' per minute.

 

[Diver Dennis]

If you do get the alert signal you should prolong the surface interval before your next dive.

 

[carbon]

I have a Vytec, and asked the same question the first time I encountered the "diver attention symbol" that the manual states means an "extended surface interval" condition. Here's the thread if you're interested:

Suunto Diver Alert Symbol

I have discovered that I set it off if I sweep my arm (with the dive computer on it) from deeper to shallower while I'm ascending (usually at the end of a long dive). My ascent rate is legal, but apparently the rapid movement of the computer triggers the Suunto micro-bubble alarm (diver attention symbol). Now, I avoid extreme arm movements during ascents -- and I no longer trigger the alarm.

From what I can tell from experience and speaking to other divers, the symbol stays on until an hour of surface interval has elapsed.

I asked Suunto's website to clarify this for me, but they never responded.

Regards,
Carbon

 

[lisa_j]

If you do get the alert signal you should prolong the surface interval before your next dive.

That's what we figured. Mine came on during a descent, in the first few minutes of the dive.

Ok, thanks all!

 

[Diver Dennis]

That's when I usually get mine too Lisa.