PLBs Can Save Your Life

[Tournesol2000]

I can confirm that the new ACR PLB 400 will fit in the custom divers PLB canister. It also does have a hole on the lid to secure a bolt snap through. The webbing on my BPW will slide through the slot and hold it vertically and there are two pieces of webbing on one side of the holster so it can also be held horizontally. I ordered it Wednesday and it arrived today,

That’s great news.
CD said it would fit based on dimensions of the new 400, so I ordered one (canister).
I love how it sits on my BPW belt, I think it is great.
Now to wait till I can get the PLB when I head to Florida.

 

[tridacna]

I have the Custom Divers canister and can confirm the following problems with my unit:

1. If you over tighten when you close it, it is almost impossible to open.
YMMV

That was my problem. I was never sure how much to tighten. On dives over 100ft, it was almost always impossible to open afterwards. I had to resort to a strap wrench. Totally useless. I need to just bite the bullet and get a light monkey canister.

 

[Dan]

Thanks. It looks like built in buoyancy is in the PLB400. All else regarding transmission and frequencies/satellites are the same? I am most concerned about the actual back end side of how my rescue would play out if I transmitted with one vs. the other.

Both would be transmitting 5 watts of 406 MHz signal to SAR satellites. So, I doubt if one is any better than the other.

There is this interesting case of PLB1 accidental transmission posted by @Luxe miles diver on Canadian diver and buddy rescued near Apo Island, Philippines post #162 in page 17:

Signal of plb will go through in indonesia. Rescue time depend on the location of the military.

Case :
I went diving in manado area with my plb1 in a plastic waterproof flexible case. Upon surfacing, 15 min later i realized the plb was activated accidentally (due to pressure at depth). Since the antenna of the plb was not deployed and it was only less then 30 min of accidental activation? I did not think much of it (i thought for sure signal would not have gone through as antenna was not deployed and not much time was activated and went on our 2nd dive) (Activation was near resort dive site)

Upon return to land. We saw indonesian military personel at the resort (we thought it was routine inspection for that area). That was maybe less then 2 hour after discovery of the accidental activation. (Manado military have to take boat from mainland to resort island. 20 min away from mainlaind)

Later when we turn on our cell phone (cell phone reception signal only on land near resort) we we shocked to get many missed call, texts, and emails from our family emmergency contact. The message was : jakarta sar detected an activation of your plb near manado. North american Sar Contacted emmergency contact and verify situation. Family Emmergency contact said we were diving in indonesia and cannot reach us. North american SAR told our emmergency contact that jakarta said military was notified!!

That was when we panicked and realized that the plb1 is so powerful that even with the antenna down, and short activation time, the plb satellite signal actually went through! We frantically called NA sar and notified of the accidental activation. (Our family was panicking as they thought something happened to us)

After that trip we bought a proper hard case dive canister for the plb.

 

[Dan]

That was my problem. I was never sure how much to tighten. On dives over 100ft, it was almost always impossible to open afterwards. I had to resort to a strap wrench. Totally useless. I need to just bite the bullet and get a light monkey canister.

I’ll test my custom-made acrylic canister in June and see if I’d have similar problem. To keep the threads from binding, I use polyethylene lid.

It looks a bit too big for PLB1 because I made it to fit ACR PLB 400.

 

[CWK]

Does anyone have a PLB and a TG5 housing? Does the PLB fit into the housing?

 

[Dan]

Does anyone have a PLB and a TG5 housing? Does the PLB fit into the housing?

TG5 dimensions
4.4 x 2.6 x 1.3 in. (113 x 66 x 32 mm)

PLB1
2.0"W x 3.0 "H x1.3 “D

PLB400
2.0"W x 4.5 "H x1.5 “D

PLB1 might fit in it. You may need to remove some of internal mounting bracket of the case to be sure. PLB1 is the smallest PLB around. So I doubt any other PLB would fit in TG5 housing.

 

[tursiops]

Does anyone have a PLB and a TG5 housing? Does the PLB fit into the housing?

My FastFind 220 does NOT fit my TG5 housing (PLB is too thick), but it DOES fit my Canon G9 housing.

 

[Dan]

About 2mm thicker. 34 x 47 x 106mm (1.34 x 1.85 x 4.17in)

 

[MaxE]

If the custom divers canister does not work out here is my back up plan, bigger than needed.

 

[tridacna]

I’ll test my custom-made acrylic canister in June and see if I’d have similar problem. To keep the threads from binding, I use polyethylene lid.

It looks a bit too big for PLB1 because I made it to fit ACR PLB 400.

View attachment 517056

My only mod would be adding some kind of grip to both the lid and canister. When you REALLY need the PLB, you don’t want to have to struggle to open it on the surface.