Replacing ScubaPro power inflator

[emoreira]

@emoreira yep, won't be a need for Scubaboard soon when Chat GPT will give all the best advice to new divers

Perhaps it's too soon, but I made a try and asked ChatGPT what is MOD and the answer was a killing formulae for a new diver.
ChatGPT can make good answer for simple things, but for those things that need deep knowledge, ChatGPT still answers nonsenses.

 

[runsongas]

i'd like to see the full query and response, i'm more inclined to believe PEBCAC

 

[inquis]

Asking AI how much weight does a scuba diver need... one of the things it said was the deeper you go the more weight you need. Yeah there's still room for improvement.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Perhaps it's too soon, but I made a try and asked ChatGPT what is MOD and the answer was a killing formulae for a new diver.
ChatGPT can make good answer for simple things, but for those things that need deep knowledge, ChatGPT still answers nonsenses.

I got a perfect answer by ChatGPT 4 (in Bing).
I typed just "MOD scuba diving", and I got this answer:

The current web page context provides a great explanation of MOD for scuba diving. A maximum operating depth (MOD) is a depth limit based on the percentage of oxygen in a diver’s breathing gas. Breathing high concentrations of oxygen can cause oxygen toxicity, which is usually fatal when diving. The concentration (or partial pressure) of oxygen in a diver’s breathing gas increases with depth. The higher the percentage of oxygen, the shallower the depth at which it becomes toxic. Divers calculate a MOD to be sure that they do not descend beyond the depth at which the oxygen in their tank may become toxic. A diver should calculate the MOD for his dive whenever he uses enriched air nitrox, trimix or pure oxygen. Technical divers who engage in deep air diving must also calculate MODs. A scuba diver who breathes air and who remains within recreational dive limits need not calculate a MOD for his dive 1.

 

[johnnywulff]

SP uses proprietary fittings but the inflator itself is a standard 1” so you can change that for a generic K inflator and retain the pull dump, a shorter hose is also possible but you’ll lost the pull dump unless you find a cable the right length. The rest of it you’re stuck with.

Hi, Dive Gear Express sales different hose length with the insert pull cable

SP uses proprietary fittings but the inflator itself is a standard 1” so you can change that for a generic K inflator and retain the pull dump, a shorter hose is also possible but you’ll lost the pull dump unless you find a cable the right length. The rest of it you’re stuck with.

 

[arvin]

Just an update about this, in case anyone like me wants to do this;

Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to change the valves of the BCD since ScubaPro uses a different diameter than others. So I have to live with the bulky valves my BCD has. However, I managed to change the inflator head and the corrugated inflator hose. Those used the standard 1inch diameter(25.5mm) so I had many brands/models to choose from. (but be careful some brands like Hydpro are using 22.5mm so those won't fit).
In case you are curious, I used OMS corrugated hose(33cm) and an Xdeep Inflator head(K style). Using these allowed me to use 2 zip ties at both ends, ensuring a secure fit, if compared to a single zip tie.

When I took the original inflator head off, I saw there was no cable, but instead, Scubapro used a specially designed plastic piece with a series of holes on it (a genius design I must say). The pin, which fastened it to the inflator head, was going through the last whole of the plastic piece.
I was replacing the hose with a shorter one, so I needed to shorten the plastic piece and it needed to have a hole matching my hose length (if there was no matching hole then I needed to replace the plastic piece with a steel cable, which I am not sure if it would be possible to do). Luckily, it worked and I didn't even have to cut the plastic piece. I was able to bend it and some of it holes aligned perfectly at the length of my hose, so I was able to put the pin through those. So I didn't have to cut anything. I now can even go back using a longer hose later if I want to.

The only real problem I faced was the pin used to hold the dump cable(plastic piece), was a bit bigger than the holes on the Xdeep Inflator head. So I had to drill to make the pin holes on the inflator head a bit larger.

I also purchased some low profile zip ties, but they were 1-2 mm wider than the tracks the OMS hose had, so I had to use ordinary zip ties. After I cut the zip ties, the ends were quite sharp, I made sure those didn't touch the bcd and also smoothed them out with a fine file.

I did a few dives with it and it is perfect. Way more intuitive than the ScubaPro BPI and with similar performance.
Thank you for everyone with useful inputs. I probably wouldn't have attempted to do this without the help from the board.


By the way, I now have like new ScubaPro BPI and hose for sale
If anyone interested, I am in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Price is € 75.

 

[johndiver999]

fyi weed wacker line is way better than steel cable inside the hose. the steel always seems to corrode, plastic heavy line seems to last forever. Also, you want to make sure the internal pull cable (or plastic piece) is a decent bit longer than the hose. you want to have to stretch the hose a bit to activate the pull dump. If you make it too short, it will dump air too easily and be a real pain.

 

[emoreira]

I've used double 1 mm fishing nylon line to replace corroded steel cable inside the corrugated hose, with good results.

 

[Green Frog]

It seems a couple of my e-friends here are being a little rough on you, so let me pour some oil on the waters. First, you can change to just about any brand of inflator you fancy. You just have to change the inflator hose on your first stage. I did just the opposite because I wanted to put an AIR2 on my Aqua Lung reg. Since then I’ve moved the AIR2 to a couple of BCDs.

Moving to your dump valves…IIRC, Your BCD has one on the right shoulder and a second above the right hip(?) if you actually measure their flow rate, they probably aren’t all that much bigger than those on other brands, at least this is true on the three SP BCDs I’ve owned. On my latest two, the shoulder dump has a fairly long pull cord but it goes through a tube that protects it from accidental pulling then ends with a big, kinda wonky knob at chest level. I really don’t mind this. The other, “butt dump” is pretty much like everybody else’s and I just haven’t found it to be problematic.

Speaking of dumping air though, the SP corrugated hose has a steel cable that runs through it to act as a third pull cord from the inflator valve to the third (shoulder) valve, which on the SP vests with which I’m familiar. Is also a dump valve. Be aware that if you change the length of the hose, you will need to match the length of this cable so everything functions right. I personally like it long because I have an AIR2 on it, so it is in a handy position for normal operation, and to swing it up to my mouth for oral inflation or to use as an auxiliary second stage. I have a Velcro tab on my BCD so it doesn’t flop about.

I hope this will provide you with something helpful, Arvin, and with nearly 200 dives you are certainly to the point of being able to decide for yourself how you want your gear configured. As I say so often, “You do you!”

Regards,
Froggie

 

[happy-diver]

Good to see arvin the corrugated hose was not cut like the butchers that shouldn't touch stuff suggested