How much to change a Suunto D9 battery?
- Thread starter AnakChan
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My LDS charges me for the batteries - a few bucks - and changes them as part of annual reg service. I pay less for the full annual service on FOUR sets of regs than your shop is charging you to change the ONE BATTERY on your D9? Yikes!!!!
That said, I have changed the batteries on my Vytec computer and transmitter myself on several occasions. (Usually before a dive trip where I don't want to risk a dead battery.) The batteries are $3-4 each at Radio Shack. It takes about 2min to change them.
If someone was going to charge me $160 + $90 to change the two batteries... they had better sleep with me afterwards and cook me breakfast in the morning!
Not only is it expensive, it takes 2-3 weeks cos they ship it off somewhere to get it done. I'm guessing it's an overhaul service everytime the battery is changed. What is unusual is that they asked where I bought my D9 from. So I told them Hong Kong. The cost of maintenance for a non-Japanese-purchased D9 costs more than a Japanese-purchased D9. As far as I know, it's the same construction - a D9 is a D9. And this is true even if the D9 is out of warranty.
I wouldn't sleep with them
...not my type.
Arturo
Contributor
Everything (and diving gear is not the exception) is very, very expensive in Japan. That would explain the outrageous price quoted for changing the battery to the D9 and transmitter. I do provide the service of battery replacement to any dive computer and have personally replaced the battery to a couple dozen D9´s and a few of their transmitters. A few comments and recommendations:
1. You need the special tool used to unscrew diving watches rear cases to crack open the D9. Any of the several JAXXA (the original Bergeon tool) replicas can be obtained through ebay and will cost you about $ 15. Do not even get started if you don´t have one of those.
2. I would recommend removing the strap before attempting to open the case. You need a small Allen wrench to remove the four (4) screws holding the two parts of the strap.
3. Try to also buy a very inexpensive adjustable watch vise used to hold the D9 steady while you work on it. This watch vise, in turn, should be put into a standard vise fixed to a bench. Otherwise, it would become very difficult to apply the required torque to open and, more important, to close the D9. Frei&Borel sell them on the INTERNET for about $ 5.
4. By all means, do replace the O ring, no matter how nice and preserved the old one looks. On some dive computers you can get away not changing the O ring every now and then. In my experience, that is not the case with the D9. You need to install a new and 100% flexible O ring to insure that the locking ring will remain in place and will not start to unscrew by itself after a few dives. Not only have I seen this happening in a few occasions, but has also been reported by others on this same forum.
5. A final note on the pressure testing. I do pressure test all the watches I repair. On some of them (for example the vyper,the gekko, some TUSA models and the dive rites), the battery enclosure is completely isolated from the electronics. So if the computer floods, can still be saved by washing the battery compartment ASAP with fresh water and letting it dry for 48 hours at ambient temperature. This is not the case with the D9. If water gets into it, it will get to the electronics immediately and this most likely will ruin a $ 1,400 computer beyond repair.
6. Needless to say, thoroughly clean an inspect for debris the slot where the O ring fits and lubricate it with some silicon grease when installing it.
1. You need the special tool used to unscrew diving watches rear cases to crack open the D9. Any of the several JAXXA (the original Bergeon tool) replicas can be obtained through ebay and will cost you about $ 15. Do not even get started if you don´t have one of those.
2. I would recommend removing the strap before attempting to open the case. You need a small Allen wrench to remove the four (4) screws holding the two parts of the strap.
3. Try to also buy a very inexpensive adjustable watch vise used to hold the D9 steady while you work on it. This watch vise, in turn, should be put into a standard vise fixed to a bench. Otherwise, it would become very difficult to apply the required torque to open and, more important, to close the D9. Frei&Borel sell them on the INTERNET for about $ 5.
4. By all means, do replace the O ring, no matter how nice and preserved the old one looks. On some dive computers you can get away not changing the O ring every now and then. In my experience, that is not the case with the D9. You need to install a new and 100% flexible O ring to insure that the locking ring will remain in place and will not start to unscrew by itself after a few dives. Not only have I seen this happening in a few occasions, but has also been reported by others on this same forum.
5. A final note on the pressure testing. I do pressure test all the watches I repair. On some of them (for example the vyper,the gekko, some TUSA models and the dive rites), the battery enclosure is completely isolated from the electronics. So if the computer floods, can still be saved by washing the battery compartment ASAP with fresh water and letting it dry for 48 hours at ambient temperature. This is not the case with the D9. If water gets into it, it will get to the electronics immediately and this most likely will ruin a $ 1,400 computer beyond repair.
6. Needless to say, thoroughly clean an inspect for debris the slot where the O ring fits and lubricate it with some silicon grease when installing it.
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