R190 on a bungee as a secondary?

[SCUBASailor]

I know this topic has been talked about ad nauseam, but I need to get it off my chest, so please bear with me.

When I bought my gear a year ago, I got an Air2 secondary specifically for the clean lines. Now I find myself falling under the influence of the dark side (DIR). I'm thinking about removing the Air2. I have a spare Scubapro R190, so I'm thinking of using it with a bungee as my secondary. I have already put my primary on a 39" hose and will donate it, if needed, under either gear configuration.

I dive warm water, and I know that the R190 would be fine in that regard, but in a dive at max recreational depth, would the R190 be sufficient for a secondary? Are there any other considerations regarding the R190 or the changes in the setup? Any comments would be appreciated.

BTW, JK about the dark side.

Oh, when you use a bungeed secondary, do you pull it out of the bungee, or just stretch the necklace so the mouthpeice reaches your mouth?

 

[Zung]

The R190 is plenty good enough for that, no worry. It's a very rugged piece of gear, very popular for rental; I did part of my training with it and went routinely to 100-150 ft. Still have one somewhere.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The R190 is good to go at 130'. It does not have the flow rate or inhalation performance of SPs balanced second stages, but it is still more than enough.

Internally it has the same internals as the R380, R390, R290, R295, etc, but has a larger diaphragm to power them. So potentially performance is better. However I have noted several variants of the R190 and I have noted that qspecifications are a little looser with a wider and slightly higher range of inhalation effrots that are specified as well as greater standard deviation in what can be achieved with any given R190. Some breathe extremely well while others can be adjusted to a peak that is only average and would require some swapping of springs and poppets to get parts that work well enough together to get inhalation efforts down in the 1.0 to 1.2 range.

Also, to meet CE freeflow requirements, SP added a plug in one of the orifices in the aspirator. Removing it can improve performance, but makes it more prone to freeflow until the case floods when jumping in.

 

[Tortuga68]

Oh, when you use a bungeed secondary, do you pull it out of the bungee, or just stretch the necklace so the mouthpeice reaches your mouth?

Neither - the bungee should be loose enough to be able to use your backup without stretching it. Ideally you should be able to pick it up with your mouth without using your hands (in case of entanglement or other reason) although that takes a little practice

 

[PfcAJ]

You don't want it to be able to be pulled out of the bungee at all. The backup needs to be able to stay put 100% of the time.

I have mine short enough so that it doesn't hang down (which is very common) but just long enough so its not under tension when I'm breathing it.

And the R190 is a great backup reg.

 

[Couv]

snip...Internally it has the same internals as the R380, R390, R290, R295, etc, but has a larger diaphragm to power them. ...

.....and oddly enough, pretty much the same as the maligned AIR 2, but as DA mentioned re the other second stages-the AIR 2 has a smaller diaphragm.

c

 

[halocline]

Also, to meet CE freeflow requirements, SP added a plug in one of the orifices in the aspirator. Removing it can improve performance, but makes it more prone to freeflow until the case floods when jumping in.

I'm still learning from your posts, thanks!

 

[halocline]

You don't want it to be able to be pulled out of the bungee at all. The backup needs to be able to stay put 100% of the time.

I set up mine so that it can be pulled out with some real effort in the unlikely event of an entanglement on the short reg hose.

 

[SCUBASailor]

I'm completing my AOW cert in 2 weeks at the Flower Garden Banks. The only dive I have left is the deep dive. I'm going to try out the new bungee setup in the pool this week and give it a go at the Flower Garden. I'm getting pretty excited about all this. I'm 50 years old, and I feel like a kid again.

 

[barrmust]

If you are going to put your back up 2nd stage on a necklace you should put it on a shorter hose. Common sizes are between 22-26 in long.

Also I would recomend putting your primary 2nd stage on a 5 ft hose. This gives you the ability to donate the reg and resolve any problems with out being so close to the other diver that you cant do anything.

Russ