no need to remove SWIFT transmitter battery?

[tep]

I just got my Perdix AI on Friday - it should get its first dives next week.

I'm the guy that reads all the manuals cover to cover and...

why is there a recommendation to remove the battery from the computer if it won't be used for a while, but no similar recommendation for the transmitter?

 

[GF99/99]

I just got my Perdix AI on Friday - it should get its first dives next week.

I'm the guy that reads all the manuals cover to cover and...

why is there a recommendation to remove the battery from the computer if it won't be used for a while, but no similar recommendation for the transmitter?

If you are using regular disposable alkaline batteries they can and they will leak. I have seen this happen on a couple friends computers. And when its in your hardwired in Petrel then you have to send the entire head in for service. If you don't want to remove them for long term storage then use Li-Ion batteries.

The transmitters use Li-Ion batteries. Supposedly do not leak.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

They use two different battery types.

Disposable alkaline batteries are the issue. The swift transmitter uses a CR2 Lithium battery. Those don’t leak.

In your Perdix AI, if you use something other than disposable Alkaline batteries the risk is significantly reduced. This is a card that came pack with my Perdix after it’s recent general maintenance service:

 

[tep]

Thanks - I gotta go buy some Lithium batteries for the computer. I should likely pick up some spares for the transmitter for the save a dive kit.

 

[Para Goon]

I recently had a bad experience with a Duracell Lithium battery in my new Swift transmitter. After testing my new transmitters on my rebreather, I accidentally left them pressurized resulting in two dead batteries. I replaced them the night before my dive with new Duracells...the transmitter on my DIL tank started reading 5000 psi while at the surface before descending. I had an analog gauge and only use the transmitter to log gas consumption. I checked the battery the following day, and it must have overheated and ruined the brand new transmitter. I'm planning to stick to shearwater recommended batteries shown above or the Panasonic brand that they came with.

 

[GF99/99]

I recently had a bad experience with a Duracell Lithium battery in my new Swift transmitter. After testing my new transmitters on my rebreather, I accidentally left them pressurized resulting in two dead batteries. I replaced them the night before my dive with new Duracells...the transmitter on my DIL tank started reading 5000 psi while at the surface before descending. I had an analog gauge and only use the transmitter to log gas consumption. I checked the battery the following day, and it must have overheated and ruined the brand new transmitter. I'm planning to stick to shearwater recommended batteries shown above or the Panasonic brand that they came with.

Wow major bummer, but sadly this is not the first time I have seen this. In the last five years I know of four incidents with friends where they had batteries leak in there Petrel's/Perdix's. $1,000 gone just like that. Also use to do a lot of backcountry skiing and its a common problem in avy beacons as well because people always put them away for the season with AA batteries in them and next year pull it out of storage to find there $400 avy beacon is toast.

If my computers are going to sit more than a week I always remove the batteries even if there Lithium. That's why in my previous post I said Li-Ion "supposedly don't leak" @Para Goon has given us a perfect example of this.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

If my computers are going to sit more than a week I always remove the batteries even if there Lithium. That's why in my previous post I said Li-Ion "supposedly don't leak" @Para Goon has given us a perfect example of this.

This wasn’t so much a Lithium battery issue as it was bleeding a battery to zero. You don’t want to do that with ANY battery. Apart from that, Lithium batteries are FAR safer regarding leakage than alkaline.

Also, the OP was asking about the transmitter. Do you remove your transmitter batteries, if you have any, when not in use? I don’t nor do I know of anyone else who does. Those aren’t as easy to remove and aren’t designed for regular remove & replace.

 

[Para Goon]

This wasn’t so much a Lithium battery issue as it was bleeding a battery to zero.

The battery that failed on me wasn't drained to zero. It was a brand new battery from my save-a-dive kit I had for another transmitter. I don't think this was a situation of a leaking battery. I classify it as a catastrophic battery failure due to a thermal run-away based on the observation that the metal strip of the transmitter that contacts the tip of the battery became so hot that the metal melted and discolored.

 

[Marie13]

Use Energizer lithiums only. I use the non-rechargeable ones. I dive at least once a month over the winter (every week the rest of the year) and no issues at all in both Perdix and both transmitters.

 

[scrane]

I've gone completely off Alkalines if I have an alternative. At home I use rechargeable Ni-MH AA/AAA and single use SAFT AA in my Perdix. It's been a long time since I've had a battery eat itself or melt down.