Predator Battery Clips

[ktomlinson]

On day 5 of a 6 day diving vacation my predator shut down during a dive and cleared all of my tissue data. I had replaced the battery the first day of the trip because I got a low battery indicator. The batteries are supposed to last 60-100 hours. Even after replacing the battery I would get low battery warnings during my dives and because of this I got into the habit of checking the battery voltage before each dive. The battery was at 3.5v immediately before the dive that it shut off during. For those unfamiliar with the predator, you can check voltage in an easily accessible menu both at the surface and underwater. The computer uses a 3.6v battery. On some dives the voltage would get down to 3.19 (which is low). I bought this computer in July of 2012 and have only dove it 40 times. I emailed Shearwater when I got home and was told that they have had trouble with the battery holder and loose connections, the engineer there told me that it happened because of a temperature change during the dive causing either the battery or the holder to shrink or expand. I asked how it was possible since the water temp was 79-80 and the air temp was 75-85 and never got a response (I asked in two different emails, which were responded to, just not addressing that question). I even told them that I took the battery holder out and tried manipulating the battery with my fingers while reading the voltage and still couldn't get the voltage to drop. Shearwater is mailing me a battery clip that I am supposed to put in the battery holder to prevent this issue in the future. I don't have much confidence in this solution but they assure me that others have used it with success. To me it sounds akin to putting duct tape on something. Has anyone else experienced this issue? Did the battery clip fix it? This is apparently a separate issue from the 2010 low voltage issue, so I'm just looking for folks that have had trouble and have been offered this solution.

 

[fdarden]

I had this same issue - only my right button stopped working too. Shearwater replaced my computer with a new 2oneFty

 

[ktomlinson]

When you got it back did you use the clip fix or did it have a good battery holder in it? I don't feel great that I am being asked to apply a workaround on something so new and asked if they would trade me for a petrel, they assured me that temperature changes caused the issue and said that other users were satisfied with the fix. I'm just not sure how 80 degree air and 80 degree water can cause a temperature change related problem and don't want to be inconvenienced again because they attributed my problem to something that it isn't, even when I'm telling them why I am having a hard time believing it.

 

[Dsix36]

Your problem is nothing new and Shearwater has worked on the issue extensively. They have found that the battery "clip" does not always keep enough tension on the ends of the battery to read the voltage reliably. They found a simple solution by replacing the battery cap not the battery clip.

Their fix has solved the problem for me and many other divers.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

They're sending you (1) a self-adhesive foam pad for the bottom of the battery compartment and (2) a new, longer battery compartment cap. Once you've placed the pad at the bottom of the compartment, reinstalled the battery tray/battery, and screwed down the new cap (which extends into the battery compartment further), your battery will be well and truly sandwiched against the battery terminals and the voltage issue fixed.

The Predator I have came with the pad/extended cap kit and I went ahead and dropped them in even though the existing setup seemed to work fine...no problems thus far.

If you're angling for a new Petrel, though, you're probably out of luck

 

[ktomlinson]

Thanks for the info guys, I am happy to hear that it will probably solve my issue. I will be happy to have the predator working, I do like it a lot. If they had agreed to the petrel swap I wouldn't have argued though I just didn't buy the temperature explanation, still don't, but as long as the fix works I'll be happy.

 

[blatter]

I had similar problems with my predator. Initially there was a problem with the circuit board which was replaced under warrenty, but I still had problems with saft batteries. I even had a couple of computer failures during dives - luckily I do serious dives with 2 or 3 computers. I have always bought the safts from reputable places and they should have been fine, but the computer was unreliable and unpredictable to the point of being unuseable. I eventually solved the problem by ditching the Saft batteries and intead using a rechargeable Li-ion battery made by AW (some other brands apparently do not fit or are less reliable). Had to buy a charger as well, but it didn't cost very much and the predator now works really well. Now the battery indicator seems to be pretty accurate and the computer is now predictable. I have the new cap kit but have not bothered to install it as the computer works well without it and have been using it for at least 150 hours with the Aw battery so far. I also have a petrel which can take a wide range of AA type batteries and has a more solid way to hold the battery and this alone makes it a much better computer in my opinion, and it also has software whcih is a little bit better (apaprently there is going to be an upgrade to the predator software soon) so the predator has been gathering dust since the begginning of the year.