The SDA troubleshooting/failure thread

[Gruz]

[SDA serial number]
E0460C96
[symptoms]
dead, doesn't turn on in the water/while shaking/holding the 2 sliders
[how many dives logged on the unit before failure]
about 50
[after what type of dive, did it fail (deep/shallow/multiple/cold/temperate/tropical/stayed under the sun for a while/was dropped)]
normal dive to 20 m in the Mediterranean, fully charged over night, one day left on a freezer (don't ask why), since then dead
[solutions/replaced by UEMIS]
hoping for help
[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]

There's a thread on the UEMIS facebook SDA page regarding replacing the battery for the dead SDA . The good thing is it works and a dead SDA came back from the dead and just had a full week of diving in the Red Sea. The tutorial to the repair will be available in a near future.

It seems like several people had dead after extended stay under bad temperature condition. Maybe thermal stress (cold/hot condition) is the Achille's heel of that computer.

 

[CRITIDOC]

It seems that I have an Uemis with a stuck depth sensor.
This occurred after the second of two freshwater dives (74-78 degrees) on the first day we used the computer.
It is stuck at 28 feet and incurred a decompression debt of 480 minutes at 20 feet and 10 minutes at 30 feet. (our max TDT was 40 minutes and max depth of 30 feet in freshwater)
It seemed to work without problems during that day, and we did not notice a problem until about 6 hours after the dive when it started alarming that we had to descend and decompress. Until today after multiple cycles of charging it and letting the battery run out, all it would do is alarm. Today on recharging it it went into deco mode with stops at 30 and 20 feet. serial # is E04999DD
I have had no luck with Uemis as far as repairs or replacements.

 

[CRITIDOC]

Placed the computer in water in my Hyperbaric chamber and dove to 66 feet. It did not reset from the 28 ft depth reading. current screen is a deco stop screen showing current depth at 28 feet, with a 480 minute deco stop at 20 feet. The computer did record appropriate depth changes plus 28 feet in the chamber. but would not display less than 28 feet on the surface. Any way to get it to reset? Will try to let the battery run out again and recharge. running firmware 1.20

 

[Scubacastor]

The sensor is stuck. You'll have to go the reverse way. Try to create some vaccum. You'll go back to the surface. And then drain the battery, reupload the firmware and see if it has changed.

 

[CRITIDOC]

Will I nee to place the entire unit into a vacuum chamber or is there a place that I can apply suction to on the unit. May take me a while to find a vacuum chamber. Thanks for the reply

 

[Pyromancer]

Hi,

New to Scubaboard - just found out about UEMIS going bust when I tried to report a fault on my SDA (just a little bit peeved off right now).

Serial No. E045BF49


Seems to be a problem with the pressure sensor - constantly on a dive at 1.1 metres, therefore can't access other functions.

The unit has done about 45 dives prior to malfunction.

Problem occured after/during a flight to Malta (here on a Tec course with no computer - possible result of low cabin pressure?).

Obviously not replaced by UEMIS as they don't exist anymore - have allowed the battery to go flat and then reboot on re-charge - this had no effect, still recording 1.1 metre depth.

Tried washing the SDA a lot, kept water running over the pressure sensor just incase there is a salt crystal causing the problem - Didn't appear to help.

Took it on three dives and it came back to life after the third dive (started off reading 1.1 metres deeper, but dropped to reading 0.9 metres deeper than a Sunto) now that it reads a pressure of less than 1 metres depth the other functions are available when out of the water (but sometimes jumps back into being on a dive while setting it for the next dive!).

Will be taking it on my Tec 50 dives hoping that the increased depth and some additional washing will bring the sensor back to zero.

 

[Scubacastor]

Pyromancer, you may want to have a look at that link : http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/uemis/391883-trouble-sda-after-flying.html

When you are in surface mode, you may also want to try to do a firmware update.

 

[CRITIDOC]

Pyromancer, you may want to have a look at that link : http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/uemis/391883-trouble-sda-after-flying.html

When you are in surface mode, you may also want to try to do a firmware update.

Still trying to get the SDA to the surface mode, have rigged a vacuum chamber with my vacuum sealer and have gotten it to the 10 foot stop so far, it shows 480 minutes of deco at 10 feet that has not changed after 4 days. The unit lasts about 28 hours then powers down due to lack of battery power, I recharge it it reverts to the 28 feet with deco needed at 10 feet of 480 minutes. now in the 3rd cycle, tissues show about 50% saturation at this point. A master reset procedure would be great, if anyone knows of one.

 

[CRITIDOC]

After a lot more cycles of charge the unit, place it under a controlled vacuum, let it discharge at 10 feet, the deco requirement is now gone, it now reads 23 feet at surface pressure( from 28 feet, it slowly surfaces with each cycle). I have it in the vacuum tank again, brought it to 15 feet for a safety stop, then slowly increased the vacuum so the unit thinks it is at the surface. let it shut off an am waiting 24-48 hours for it to discharge again. my hopes are that it will allow me to enter the menu system when it is recharged and won't think it is below water again. I probably could do this easier if I had a mountain nearby or could access the unit while it is under vacuum. Once in the menu I hope to get it to synch and reload the firmware so that it will reset.