Time For Some Industry Standards for Dive Computer Alarms

[divad]

It is my contention, that high priority alarms be universal on every dive computer, namely,


Off. Yes, off is good. They're already on ignore anyway. On a party-boat dive it sounds like "attack of the dolphins."

 

[rongoodman]

I've never had a computer that I didn't turn the alarms off, first thing out of the box.

 

[Nwcid]

Well I have only had one computer so far. It has no alarms and no way to tell me what my air is. How will my buddy or I ever survive?

 

[manni-yunk]

If the industry will not adopt these measures on their own accord, then perhaps it's time to propose a bill to set a standard.

Feedback?

For the love of God - NO. Propose a Bill???? The last thing our country needs is more laws - let alone ridiculous ones that aim at standardizing SCUBA computer alarms.

 

[Agility]

I have my alarms turned off.

So do I.
I found out very soon that I cannot distinguish my audio-alarm from someone else's under water so I try to avoid getting into an alarm status by regularily (possibly too often) checking buddyposition, pressure, depth, time, orientation and waypoints.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Many of us don't feel air integration is important on a computer, and many others don't want any audible alarms on a computer at all. If your buddy gets in the water without first figuring out their own gear, their incompetence is of no concern to the rest of us -- and surely no reason for us to suffer a poorly thought-out computer design for our own gear.

 

[fjpatrum]

You and you're buddy decided to go for a dive. You descend to your intended target and after 5 minutes of dive time, your buddy's dive computer starts making a noise. After you see him check it, you signal if everything is "okay", he in return gives you the "hands up" IDK gesture. You swim over to have a quick look but you soon realize that you're not familiar with this brand of computer.

Has this or something similar ever happen to you? If you have been diving for awhile, my guess would be that it has.

Different computers have different alarms with an array meanings. The problem arises when the user, or his buddy, is unable to interpret the alarm. Some alarms are more urgent than others e.g. a low-air alarm would have a higher priority than a breach-of-rate-ascent alarm.

It is my contention, that high priority alarms be universal on every dive computer, namely, two distinct alarms: 1. Low air alarm which I feel should activate automatically at 500 psi or less and continue until the air supply is exhausted 2. A "I'm requesting immediate assistance alarm" which would be manually activated and manually turned off. I feel that both signals should incorporate some sort of visual signal, such as a flashing led light to assist finding the diver in need.

If this standard was adopted, it would eliminate confusion when a emergency, or near emergency, is at hand. I can think of many scenarios, where something as simple as proper interpretation of an alarm could advert disaster, not only for the person in trouble, but for his dive buddies as well.

Once adopted, all future OW should receive training to distinguish between the two alarms.

If the industry will not adopt these measures on their own accord, then perhaps it's time to propose a bill to set a standard.

Feedback?

So you're now requiring all computers be air integrated, adding ~$300-$600 to the price tag. No thanks. I like the idea of some standards but I wouldn't pick those as my standard alarms. It's one of those equipment solutions to a skills problem, as I see it. Getting something resembling a standard for interface (where the numbers are located) would be nice, though. Of the three brands of computers I've poked with so far, there were some similarities but nothing "definite".

I see the big issue being how do you deal with different options for different types of dives/divers in a reasonable manner? How do you show mix of all the different mixes such that it makes sense to all different divers, for example? I can agree bottom time remaining, time down, current depth, should all be fairly consistent but I think, for the most part, they already are. Stepping through the major functions of a given computer [brand] is where I've seen the major differences, so far.

 

[boulderjohn]

You and you're buddy decided to go for a dive. You descend to your intended target and after 5 minutes of dive time, your buddy's dive computer starts making a noise. After you see him check it, you signal if everything is "okay", he in return gives you the "hands up" IDK gesture. You swim over to have a quick look but you soon realize that you're not familiar with this brand of computer.

Has this or something similar ever happen to you? If you have been diving for awhile, my guess would be that it has.

It has never happened to me, and it has never happened to anyone in the groups with which I have been on dives, at least as far as I know.

What alarm would that be? Low on air? If the computer knows about it, then that information will be staring you in the face, impossible to miss. Deeper than the MOD for your nitrox mix? If that is it, then the diver must have set that alarm himself, since it is not normally a part of the computer function without being purposely set. Even if the diver forgot that he set that, once again the depth will be staring him in the face when he looks at the computer, and if he can't figure out that he is deeper than he should be, well....

As for alerting your buddy, there are all sorts of buddy-contacting devices on the market now, most of them remarkably cheap. Your local dive shop will be able to show you several options. Lots of divers buy them and then stop using them after a while.

 

[BluewaterSail]

One of the tenents of DIR is that buddies dive similarly configured gear, so that when something goes wrong, the buddy can immediatly assist without having to figure it out. Is not legislated, it what the buddies choose to do.

The concept is out there, but the analogy falls short, because of course, DIR buddies are using bottom timers, not computers. And if one chooses to set alarms on a bottom timer, its going to be pretty easy to figure out whats happening because of the limited number of possibilities.

 

[HowardE]

My computer (Shearwater) doesn't make any noise at all. It's not an option.