NiTek Duo tilts out - anyone experienced this?

[AbyssalPlains]

My NiTek Duo craps out on me intermittently. More precisely, at some point during a dive it starts beeping violently, the "Slow" ascent warning flashes, and the depth indicator jumps between the actual depth and some random, much shallower depth. Not sure what triggers it. Today I was at 90 feet, approaching NDL limits, with one minute left. Since I was diving doubles, I wasn't particularly concerned about going into deco (as a matter of fact, I was following a "simulated deco profile" calculated with V-Planner and I had lots and lots of gas with me.)

Anyway, as soon as my NDLs were up, the NiTek started its show, flashing "Slow" even though I wasn't ascending, and alternating between what I believe was the actual depth and some other, much shallower depth. All the while beeping relentlessly. The only thing that really concerned me was that the dive time display (which shows the elapsed dive time) was no longer there. Instead, in its place, there was some strange display reading "1-3" or something like that.

The NiTek kept doing this weird behavior until I reached the prescribed depth of the first stop at 30 feet. It started counting down a safety stop (WTF?) and then displayed the elapsed dive time again.

It had done the same thing before, during a dive trip, but stopped misbehaving a couple of dives later, so I wrote it off as a fluke. Now it's back.

Anyone experienced this? What is going on here?

 

[Pullmyfinger]

I have had similar issues with mine. It has been the battery in my experience.
Mine has done the same as yours, switching back and forth between two different numbers as the depth reading. This triggers the ascent alarm.
Battery life is hard to pin down. I started having this issue at around 30 dives. I replaced the battery and had no other problems, around 100 dives later, it started doing it again.
I use a Uwatec Bottom timer as my primary depth and time instrument, and the Duo in Gauge mode for my backup.
It is irritating to get the depth and alarm problem when it does occur.
I hope this helps,
Mitch

My NiTek Duo craps out on me intermittently. More precisely, at some point during a dive it starts beeping violently, the "Slow" ascent warning flashes, and the depth indicator jumps between the actual depth and some random, much shallower depth. Not sure what triggers it. Today I was at 90 feet, approaching NDL limits, with one minute left. Since I was diving doubles, I wasn't particularly concerned about going into deco (as a matter of fact, I was following a "simulated deco profile," calculated with V-Planner and had tons and tons of gas with me.)

Anyway, as soon as my NDLs were up, the NiTek started its show, flashing "Slow" even though I wasn't ascending, and alternating between what I believe was the actual depth and some other, much shallower depth. All the while beeping relentlessly. The only thing that really concerned me was that the dive time display (which shows the elapsed dive time) was no longer there. Instead, in its place, there was some strange display reading "1-3" or something like that.

The NiTek kept doing this weird behavior until I reached the prescribed depth of the first stop at 30 feet. It started counting down a safety stop (WTF?) and then displayed the elapsed dive time again.

It had done the same thing before, during a dive trip, but stopped misbehaving a couple of dives later, so I wrote it off as a fluke. Now it's back.

Anyone experienced this? What is going on here?

 

[ianr33]

Well, if you were to read page 36 of the manual you would see that when it enters deco the dive time is replaced by deco info (It's an annoying "feature" shared by many computers that are not really designed for deco diving)

The 1-3 would be 1 minute at (presumably) 10 feet and 3 minutes total ascent time to surface.

Apparently it beeps when entering deco.

The safety stop countdown always amuses me after a deco stop. Again it indicates this is really a recreational computer.

Read the manual and try it again. I suspect it was (at least partly) doing exactly what it's supposed to do.(You do of course have a backup computer/bottom timer and tables?? )

The depth changing thing could be a battery issue as suggested above

I had an early Duo that had issues with water leaking through an O ring on one of the buttons. Started acting flakey then eventually died. This was pretty common way back.

 

[Tanked]

Mine was doing this even after I changed the battery. I had my LDS send it back to Dive Rite, and now it's working great.

 

[gcbryan]

The 1-3 was 1 minute at your first stop (30 fsw apparently) and a total obligation of 3 so 2 minutes at 20 fsw and then it probably cleared but then the safety stop countdown is triggered.

The flashing depth number may be a battery/or other problem or just reading between the lines in the OP it may just be the ceiling info which by definition would be a "much shallower depth".

Nitek Duo's did have problems early on but everything in the OP (as mentioned by ianr33) could simply be explained by the computer going into deco and responding as it's programmed to do.

 

[willembad]

Definitely the battery. They start acting that way and it is way before the low battery warning ever indicates. I've had it after 200 dives on a battery and also after 40 or so. Guess not all batteries are the same state of the shelf. Just change to a fresh one and you'll be good to go.

 

[drbill]

Mine has done a lot of strange things... like switching my gas mix from 21% to 50% (causing me to "die" on a deep dive) and I get the fluctuating depth levels from 0 to about 30 ft. This has mostly occurred when the battery was low... although not always. I wear two computers for safety, but like the large numbers on the Nitek Duo given my aging eyes.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Thanks everyone! The computer was on its first set of batteries and I have dove it over the past 3 years on about 130 dives. So the battery failure scenario definitely made sense. I changed the batteries and will take it diving this weekend and see what happens.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I've experienced similar things due to battery. I got so tired of the computer beeping and flashing at me for the entire dive I almost threw the darn thing away, but thankfully thought to change the battery first. Fixed it right up.

 

[metaldector]

I'm pretty deaf so I never hear the warnings. The Duo is great for me. What that you say?