The SDA troubleshooting/failure thread

[Scubacastor]

So... a substantial number of people here and there have had their units malfunctionning, sometimes replaced. Since we no longer have any support from anyone regarding this computer, I think it's a good thing to start a thread all about troubleshooting.

Please, this thread is not intended to be about complaining about UEMIS but rather to list where some of us have been with their units, if they had a solution, what were the cause and if problems are likely to affect a particular batch of units therefore please keep things factual.

Therefore it would be nice to have the following answers:

[SDA serial number]
[symptoms]
[how many dives logged on the unit before failure]
[after what type of dive, did it fail (deep/shallow/multiple/cold/temperate/tropical/stayed under the sun for a while/was dropped)]
[solutions/replaced by UEMIS]
[cause if known]
[if replaced by UEMIS, what was the new serial number and has the unit performed well so far/how many dives have been done since then ?]

 

[Scubacastor]

[SDA serial number]
E04BE924

[symptoms]
USB not working, electrolysis on 1 connection pin, impossibility to perform any firmware update.

[how many dives logged on the unit before failure]
SDA failed on dive #3

[after what type of dive, did it fail (deep/shallow/multiple/cold/temperate/tropical/stayed under the sun for a while/was dropped)]
shallow, 90min long, temperate water.

[solutions/replaced by UEMIS]
replaced by UEMIS, no solution on my own (including change of ownership from the SDA)

[cause if known]
faulty USB chip.

[if replaced by UEMIS, what was the new serial number and has the unit performed well so far/how many dives have been done since then ?]:
E04DC7CC, 26 dives so far and no issues to report, no signs of electrolysis.

 

[SeaLevelScuba]

We sent a customers in for repair just before the bankruptcy announcement, today we recieved it back in the original condition it was sent out for, broken.

 

[reo]

If your customer paid for it with a credit card, the credit card company may help, provided the item was purchased within the last couple of years. It may be worth looking into.

Ron

 

[SeaLevelScuba]

Dont want to derail the thread here as it has already proven in another thread for this product to be successful in resolving an problem Uemis had turn their back on, my post was to clearly demonstrate with claritity that all those who currently own a SDA from Uemis cannot expect any releif from Uemis nor from the NA Distributorship in dealing with any defects or malfunctions.

 

[ijdod]

[SDA serial number]
E045CEDF (bought January 2010)

[symptoms]
hot pixel, and later complete unrecoverable shutdown during a dive. It never recovered from the latter. This was February 2010.

[how many dives logged on the unit before failure]
Hot pixel after dive #5, shutdown during dive #12

[after what type of dive, did it fail (deep/shallow/multiple/cold/temperate/tropical/stayed under the sun for a while/was dropped)]
1st dive was very cold (around freezing), the rest were in 25 degrees Celsius Red Sea water. The unit was on my wrist most of the time, which means it was in the shadow.

[solutions/replaced by UEMIS]
Replaced by UEMIS

[cause if known]
Faulty battery circuit and/or battery (for the main failure).

[if replaced by UEMIS, what was the new serial number and has the unit performed well so far/how many dives have been done since then ?]
E048E19B, working well so far, with about 150 dives on it. Has seen near-freezing temperatures in the local lakes, and very high temperatures August in Egypt (40 degrees C above, 30+ below water). I do not go out of my way to place the unit in the sun.

 

[reo]

I do appreciate the info--it wasn't my intention to "derail" this thread. If there was no help from the NA distributor, then we can safely assume there are no more new units in the supply chain. I did want to point out that if you can't get help from UEMIS or your dive shop, you may have a way to get your money back.

Does anyone know if there is any news concerning the sale of the company?

Ron

 

[Scubacastor]

Please Ron, ask that question in the "Uemis closing" thread ? Not here as this is totally off topic.

 

[Polo]

Hi guys, my first post after my UEMIS failed on me:

[SDA serial number]
E04C2CFD (bought May 2010)

[symptoms]
Screen went blank underwater, then eventually recovered weakly giving me the very low Battery warning. next thing was a line crossing the screen, which won't go away anymore (dead..). SDA still seems to be working though

[how many dives logged on the unit before failure]
Happened at dive#12, on my brand new SDA

[after what type of dive, did it fail (deep/shallow/multiple/cold/temperate/tropical/stayed under the sun for a while/was dropped)]
It failed at about -15m. Water @25 degrees Celsius, no mishandling, and computer always well cared for, after the previous 11 dives.
Interestingly enough, after the 1st dive, and the weak recovery, I could do a 2nd one, shallow (15m), after 40mn with the computer in the sun, at wrist.

[solutions/replaced by UEMIS]
I wish I knew one. I called my reseller, in France. Told me that there was nothing he could do, and that I would have to wait if ever another company buys it out... he also mentioned that Aqualung might be looking at that... first time ever I hear or read about this...

[cause if known]
it seems that the dead line was triggered by the battery dying in a last hiccup, prior to somewhat recover.

[if replaced by UEMIS, what was the new serial number and has the unit performed well so far/how many dives have been done since then ?]


That's all I have for now.

 

[Scubacastor]

For those who are not members of the "UEMIS SDA" Facebook group, there have been lately some investigation regarding the dead SDAs and actually, someone managed to wake up a dead SDA by digging the battery out of the resin and powering the SDA through that channel

It's hard to exactly identify why some SDA drop dead but factors that are entering into account are:
- SDA staying too long under the sun. We don't know if this leads to circuit failure or cracks in resin leading to water ingress leading to circuit failure by direct contact of the battery board with the sea water.
- water ingress in the battery compartment leading to the destruction of the protection circuit board and/or battery.

Therefore an indefinite portion of dead SDA apparently only requires a change of battery to go back to operating status. All of this is still work in progress but this is where we are and I think this is very encouraging because this is more a mechanical problem than an electronic one which means some of you might be able to repair themselves their unit in a short future.