Shearwater Perdix Battery Died Twice

[dbnewton]

I use alkaline batteries and replace the battery before the next dive when it indicates yellow during the last dive. That has always worked until last week. I had a battery go from no indication to yellow to red and to dead in the course of one dive (albeit a 115 minute dive). I carry a back up computer and it was a very shallow dive so no harm done really.

I would have thought nothing of it except that after replacing the battery I did one dive with no issues but the next day before the following dive the battery was so dead I could not even power up the device.

These issues have not repeated after again replacing the battery so perhaps there is no issue. I could perhaps just ignore the first event and assume that the progression from no battery indication to yellow to red to dead in the course of one dive was simply due to a very long dive near the battery end of life. But I've never seen a battery progress that rapidly before. And I have no explanation for the 2nd event because the battery throughout the dive was full, it died overnight. The device powers itself down if left on for 15 minutes so leaving it on is not the explanation.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Maybe the two batteries that died were from the same batch and were bad batteries?

Try Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries -- they are great!!

 

[dbnewton]

Maybe the two batteries that died were from the same batch and were bad batteries?

Try Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries -- they are great!!

Thanks. I didn't mention they were different brands from different sources. Ill also mention the battery that is in the device now is the same brand/batch as the 2nd one that failed.

 

[Marie13]

Get the Energizer Ultimate lithium ones mentioned above. Make a huge difference and I dive cold water.

 

[GF99/99]

I had this happen once on my primary Petrel 2 for my rebreather (not a big issue but just means you have to abort dive a fly off the HUD, just annoying since you have to end the dive early). Went from just a little blue left to yellow, red, then dead. After this I switched to rechargeable 14500 lithium 3.7v batteries, when they get to about half I just put a fresh charged one in. Never had a dead battery in several years since then.

Plus you never have to play the game where you convince yourself ah I can get another dive out of this battery because you want to get your money's worth out of the expensive Energizer of SAFT. I free and easy to change out a half used rechargeable and you always have that warm fuzzy feeling knowing that you have a fresh fully charged battery.

 

[davehicks]

The rechargeables are not great for dive trips as they may not last 20+ dives. Switching resets tissue data and I don't want that for repetitive dive days. So I mostly use the Energizer Lithium cells, and occasionally use a Lithium rechargeable for weekend diving.

 

[beldridg]

For a while I was using Photo Lithium and they are great, but I personally found the drop-off was very steep. It would sometimes go from a full charge to basically dead in the same dive. That isn't anything to do with Shearwater, it is just how that type of battery works AFAICT.

I switched (back) to Saft and never looked back. They aren't cheap but compared to the "all-in" cost of what we do, it is pennies.

Factors Affecting Battery Life on Shearwater Dive Computers - Shearwater Research

- brett

 

[GF99/99]

The rechargeables are not great for dive trips as they may not last 20+ dives. Switching resets tissue data and I don't want that for repetitive dive days. So I mostly use the Energizer Lithium cells, and occasionally use a Lithium rechargeable for weekend diving.

I have never had an issue with it not restoring tissue loading. That is actually another reason why I change the battery early. If you change it while while it still is "alive" then it fully restores your tissue loadings. If it dies mid dive and then a couple hours latter when you get back to the shop and can change it usually the tissue loading is reset.

Direct from the Perdix manual pg. 88

"Decompression tissue loading
The battery may be safely changed between repetitive dives. Like the clock, the decompression tissue loading is saved every 16 seconds to permanent memory when on, and every 5 minutes when off. When the battery is removed the tissues remain stored in the permanent memory and are restored once the battery is replaced, allowing for battery changes between repetitive dives"

 

[davehicks]

I have never had an issue with it not restoring tissue loading. That is actually another reason why I change the battery early. If you change it while while it still is "alive" then it fully restores your tissue loadings. If it dies mid dive and then a couple hours latter when you get back to the shop and can change it usually the tissue loading is reset.

Direct from the Perdix manual pg. 88

"Decompression tissue loading
The battery may be safely changed between repetitive dives. Like the clock, the decompression tissue loading is saved every 16 seconds to permanent memory when on, and every 5 minutes when off. When the battery is removed the tissues remain stored in the permanent memory and are restored once the battery is replaced, allowing for battery changes between repetitive dives"

I'll have to pay closer attention when I next change the battery. I had a Predator for years that definitely cleared tissues on a battery change. Maybe I just got use to expecting that...

 

[Blackcrusader]

I use re-chargeable batteries and as my dint trips are often 30 - 40 dives in 10 - 14 days of diving I usually change the battery not because it is low on power but as a precaution. As someone wrote read the manual as a battery change does not lose your data.