The device that could save your life?

[doctormike]

So basically, you want to build a very limited, very expensive, potentially unreliable electromechanical buddy.

The OP specifically said that this was in the context of solo diving.

 

[rossh]

There is one good use case, but very limited, for this "dead man's switch". Those who do the crazy depth record attempts, need a way to auto ascend when they pass out from high pressure helium, or incapacitated from hi CO2. They need intermediate ascent to support people above. This device might save their life, or not.

 

[northernone]

I'd not trust it. The failure points of such a device scare me more than the risk of going unconscious underwater.

Closest thing I've seen done is the mechanical equivalent. Detachable ballast which drops if you go limp (or convulse). Weight bar held behind knees or across elbows. The guy I got it from learned it from of the fatal air depth record attemps. Ironically that was the only part he learned.

Rocketing up unconscious highly positively buoyant to no surface support is a doomsday dive plan I am not preparing for.

Regards,
Cameron

P.s. I am alive due to the fact I was positively buoyant when I blacked out freediving and came to on the surface. A friend blacked out deep and regained consciousness when he floated up to 100ft (felt himself going and inflated his bcd a little). Another friend is alive because his bcd floated him face up at the surface when he blacked out. The concept is possibly life saving, I just feel the cure is worse than the disease.

 

[Solotor]

Closest thing I've seen done is the mechanical equivalent. Detachable ballast which drops if you go limp (or convulse). Weight bar held behind knees or across elbows. The guy I got it from learned it from of the fatal air depth record attemps. Ironically that was the only part he learned.

That's actually a very clever low-tech solution! (the air depth record aside)

 

[Solotor]

Apart from all the "OMG it's going to fail!!" there's still a valid point to be made.

P.s. I am alive due to the fact I was positively buoyant when I blacked out freediving and came to on the surface. A friend blacked out deep and regained consciousness when he floated up to 100ft (felt himself going and inflated his bcd a little). Another friend is alive because his bcd floated him face up at the surface when he blacked out. The concept is possibly life saving, I just feel the cure is worse than the disease.

Thank you for actual accounts on this matter!

 

[Kharon]

Apart from all the "OMG it's going to fail!!" there's still a valid point to be made.

Not! I certainly doubt that there are many instances of rec solo divers going unconcious. Certainly an exceptionally rare occurance. Situational awareness and a pony are far safer and less expensive than a black box that could kill you (even concious) for all the reasons we are taught to keep a safe ascent speed and not to hold your breath on ascent. No thanks. I'll trust myself.

 

[ReefGuy]

I watch people that can't remember to check their air even once during a dive without being told to. I don't expect any of them to remember to push a button.

This might make a great tool for evolution.

 

[Rred]

The OP specifically said that this was in the context of solo diving.

Yes Mike. I'm very much aware of that and find it all the more ironic that he wants to dive solo, but with an electromechanical buddy instead of a meat buddy. That's what a buddy is there for: To back you up. I know, you could also train a labradoodle to do the job, but just one "Squirrel!" and they're gone. And a Newfoundland would certainly ignore the distractions, but I'm afraid they aren't at all happy about "And where do you think you're going???" when Massa gets near the water.

 

[Diver-Drex]

If people rely on the sensors, computer and solenoids to maintain PPO2 in a rebreather why it is any more horrible to do the same with a BC? A depth gauge and computer analyzing ascent rate controlling solenoids adding or dumping air from a bladder is a straight foward system. Certainly no more complex than what constant constant PPO2 closed circuit rebreathers are doing.
For the record... until I can go a week without my laptop or phone locking up I will not dive a rebreather. But for someone willing to trust one the other should be no different.

 

[northernone]

If people rely on the sensors, computer and solenoids to maintain PPO2 in a rebreather why it is any more horrible to do the same with a BC? A depth gauge and computer analyzing ascent rate controlling solenoids adding or dumping air from a bladder is a straight foward system. Certainly no more complex than what constant constant PPO2 closed circuit rebreathers are doing.
For the record... until I can go a week without my laptop or phone locking up I will not dive a rebreather. But for someone willing to trust one the other should be no different.

I largely agree.

I like bringing Occam's razor to my dive planning. A rebreather makes sense for very specific goals. (One of which is "I like them") But I don't welcome the added taskloading and monitoring needed.

A bcd is incredibly simple to operate, unless I had a disability which made it necessary or I felt I'd enjoy the engineering challenge, I'd not put time into something more complicated.

In short, I'm not willing to invest hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to a bcd like I did for a rebreather. The return on the investment isn't there for me. I don't consider it's function worth the increased risks.

Cameron