Shearwater Owners with AI, do you dive with a SPG?

[tursiops]

Those who are concerned about your transmitter battery failing during a dive: many dive computers show the trasnmitter battery status, which is transmitted as part of each transmission. The indication is Good, or Low, or Critical.
If Good, there may be no display (all is OK).
If Low, no problem finishing your dive, but change the battery before the next dive.
If Critical, it might fail during the dive. Change it when it shows Low; don't wait for Critical.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Change it when it shows Low; don't wait for Critical.

Or track your hours and change the batteries before you ever see a low warning. The Shearwater Perdix AI and Perdix 2 that I use will show a warning, but I've never seen it. I don't let my transmitter batteries get that low. Just another approach. The cost of a battery is far lower than the hassle of needing to change a transmitter battery mid-trip, especially the SWIFTs which are more involved.

 

[tursiops]

Or track your hours and change the batteries before you ever see a low warning. The Shearwater Perdix AI and Perdix 2 that I use will show a warning, but I've never seen it. I don't let my transmitter batteries get that low. Just another approach. The cost of a battery is far lower than the hassle of needing to change a transmitter battery mid-trip, especially the SWIFTs which are more involved.

I was really responding to those who say they can't be bothered with remembering the last time they changed the battery. I think of them as the J-Valve divers...wait until they run out of air then deal with it. I agree re Swift battery changes; they are painful and slow compared to the older style transmitters.

 

[gmerick]

The Swift battery life is expected to be 300 dive hours, or 5 years storage. Unless you're in the "I'm a fish" bucket, just buy a new battery when you change smoke detector batteries. Put a date on the battery in your SAD kit, and throw it out when it gets close to it's "best used by" date.

 

[tursiops]

The Swift battery life is expected to be 300 dive hours, or 5 years storage. Unless you're in the "I'm a fish" bucket, just buy a new battery when you change smoke detector batteries. Put a date on the battery in your SAD kit, and throw it out when it gets close to it's "best used by" date.

So you don't use (or trust?) the battery health indicator that Shearwater has?

 

[gordonscuba]

I was really responding to those who say they can't be bothered with remembering the last time they changed the battery. I think of them as the J-Valve divers...wait until they run out of air then deal with it. I agree re Swift battery changes; they are painful and slow compared to the older style transmitters.

Well, to be fair, I mentioned that in the context of having a mechanical SPG and a transmitter. The presence of the former implies that one may be less concerned with the battery status of the latter, while still being quite conscious of one's tank pressure at all times.

 

[gmerick]

So you don't use (or trust?) the battery health indicator that Shearwater has?

Did I miss the (sarc) emoji? For local diving, sure, I'll let the indicator do it's thing. But I just got back from a week long Caribbean trip. I put in new batteries, and tossed the one in the SAD kit before I left.

 

[tursiops]

Did I miss the (sarc) emoji? For local diving, sure, I'll let the indicator do it's thing. But I just got back from a week long Caribbean trip. I put in new batteries, and tossed the one in the SAD kit before I left.

Hey, if you want to change the battries before each dive trip, that's your choice. I prefer to change the batteries when they get low. My point is that the computer tells you the battery status, it's accurate, and it gives you plenty of time to react.

 

[Dan]

Not only you will waste battery, but also increase the chance of flooding it when you open & close the battery cap too many times and scratching or introducing dirt to the greasy o-ring and the pain of entering the code for the transmitter to talk with the dive computer. My old eyes are getting hard to see that fine print of serial number on the transmitter.

I also try to minimize the battery use. I only open the tank valve before I jump into the water and close the valve and purge the air off the LP hose right after I am back on land or boat. So far the transmitter has not shown any low battery signal after 500 dives.

 

[Belzelbub]

and the pain of entering the code for the transmitter to talk with the dive computer. My old eyes are getting hard to see that fine print of serial number on the transmitter.

Why do you need to do that when you change a battery? The transmitter serial number doesn’t change, and the computer won’t forget.