PLBs Can Save Your Life

[tridacna]

I found the opposite. After chilling in the water, the pressure inside the canister drops quite a bit making it harder to re-open.

I would seriously try and open it on the surface a few times after a dive to see how easy it is to reopen. OTOH, water temps up here are significantly colder than yours-a factor perhaps?

 

[Dan]

It’s like having vacuum inside your canister. I usually put my camera into the case in cool room to avoid vacuum effect.

Someone posted about having problem opening his camera case on land after opening and closing it when he was in the airplane, 10,000' above sea level.

 

[CuzzA]

I found the opposite. After chilling in the water, the pressure inside the canister drops quite a bit making it harder to re-open.

I would seriously try and open it on the surface a few times after a dive to see how easy it is to reopen. OTOH, water temps up here are significantly colder than yours-a factor perhaps?

Maybe, I would think the force of heated and now expanded PVC threads is what would make it harder to open. Regardless, I haven't had any trouble opening it after every dive from diving in 65 degree water to 85. I'm not concerned.

 

[Dan]

Yes, don't over tighten. Just screw it down until it stops and then give it one slight turn. Maybe 12 mm.

If you still have a leak, pick up a thicker outside o-ring. I'd tell you to just go to your local ACE hardware, but I see you're not in the States. I forget the size, but next time I'm in there I will remember to look.

The thinner o-ring seemed to be able to get damaged and deformed too easily. In the absence of not sourcing a thicker o-ring, you could put a single wrap of Teflon tape and that would probably help too.

This is one reason I don’t use this type of seal, where you can over tighten the o-ring, deform it and cause a leak.

My seal design is the o-ring sits in the lid groove, slide into the canister ID to seal the lid against the canister at the design elastomer compression specification. You won’t be able to over tighten it.

The clear see-through canister help you to inspect the sealing quality by looking at the even width of o-ring flat surface on and around the canister ID. Also, if any leakage occurs at depth, you can see it right away.

 

[outofofficebrb]

As mentioned the new ACR is slightly bigger, however it is buoyant. The PLB1 is not; thus, it requires the flotation pouch which then would negate the benefit of having a smaller size.

Frankly, I would not want a PLB that doesn't float. Could you imagine if you fumbled it taking it out of the pouch to deploy and watching it sink to the abyss.

Yes, I can totally imagine...A lot of f-bombs, poetically interjecting a bunch of other not so nice words and a lot of screaming and crying. I do like the size of the PLB1 but the buoyancy thing is a big deal. I noticed there was another difference in their comparison chart - the test column. It had 2 numbers separated by a "/". I think it was the self test/gps test number - it was higher in the PLB400 than the PLB1 though the PLB400 has a battery life of 5 years vs the PLB1 having 7?

 

[Dan]

I think having a float pouch is a better option because I carry it not only for diving, but also for hiking & skiing. So having a small, compact PLB in my pants pocket while hiking or skiing is convenient. During diving, the PLB1 is either in the float pouch or tethered to its float pouch depending on which waterproof case that I want to use.

 

[CT-Rich]

I would not have bought a PLB with out it being specifically designed to go anywhere I consider a diveable depth. I would not take an emergency canister with me that might rely on a magical burst of strength to deploy. I do not rely on magic to save my ass.

Here is a realistic scenario. I screw the pooch on navigation on a shore dive I surface low on air and see that I am much further out than I expected (I was swimming along a rock pile that I thought was another rock, much closer to my planned exit). Swimming on my back heading for shore, I realize that I am making no headway after 20 minutes. I pick another possible exit that is not ideal, but I think is do able. The water is slowly sapping my strength, now having been in the water for almost an hour longer than originally I am becoming mildly hypothermic. Eventually, I realize I am not going to make it to shore and will need assistance. This is when I will start to think about getting my PLB out, after I have tried and exhausted all my self-rescue options.

The decision to deploy the beacon is going to be the result of a slow realization that I cannot get out of this without outside help. I will likely be cold and tired. I am not going to rely on a burst of adrenaline to unscrew a container that might require a feat of strength I may not have.

 

[Dan]

The picture, below shows how I place the PLB1 canister (1), Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS (2) & the Blue accessory pouch (3) into my BCD left waist pocket. The pouch (3) is thin enough to be placed beside the integrated weight pouch (ICP). The PLB1 canister (1) sits underneath ICP. The Nautilus MRG (2) sits behind ICP.

The BCD right waist pocket is reserved for storing DSMB (1), Spool (2) and foldable snorkel (3), in the same arrangement.

So no safety device is dangling on any of the BCD D-rings.

 

[MrBigfins]

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

For starters the acr 400 does not, it is also 250-300$ which means there are a multitude of cheaper options

 

[tursiops]

I would not have bought a PLB with out it being specifically designed to go anywhere I consider a diveable depth. I would not take an emergency canister with me that might rely on a magical burst of strength to deploy. I do not rely on magic to save my ass.

Here is a realistic scenario. I screw the pooch on navigation on a shore dive I surface low on air and see that I am much further out than I expected (I was swimming along a rock pile that I thought was another rock, much closer to my planned exit). Swimming on my back heading for shore, I realize that I am making no headway after 20 minutes. I pick another possible exit that is not ideal, but I think is do able. The water is slowly sapping my strength, now having been in the water for almost an hour longer than originally I am becoming mildly hypothermic. Eventually, I realize I am not going to make it to shore and will need assistance. This is when I will start to think about getting my PLB out, after I have tried and exhausted all my self-rescue options.

The decision to deploy the beacon is going to be the result of a slow realization that I cannot get out of this without outside help. I will likely be cold and tired. I am not going to rely on a burst of adrenaline to unscrew a container that might require a feat of strength I may not have.

So don't over-tighten the canister.