Titan Micra help

[Amyx1]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new (1 year...in the midwest, no less) to diving and received a brand new Titan Micra for a birthday present. Although I like it, I've found that it doesn't breathe quiet as easily as I had hoped. I know there's the knob on the reg. (what AquaLung seems to all the Air Turbo System unless I'm getting that confused with the Venturi Adjustment Switch) that's supposed to allow one to fine tune the ease of breathing. I was playing around with it on the dives I've done with the Micra (2 to date), however, after I turn the knob to the "+" side quite a bit, I get a rattling sound from the reg. (I call it a "sucking" sound - kinda like Darth Vader). Granted, I was wearing pretty heavy gloves during these dives so I didn't have as much fine control on twisting this little knob from the "-" to the "+" side. It breathed much easier turned more to the "+" side, but I'm not so sure I should be ignoring the rattling sound....

Incidentally, I had the VAS turn to min, rather than max. Don't know if this would make a difference at 50 ft....

I hope this is making sense to someone out there who could help to educate me on what I'm doing wrong/what the problem might be.

Thanks so much!

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new (1 year...in the midwest, no less) to diving and received a brand new Titan Micra for a birthday present. Although I like it, I've found that it doesn't breathe quiet as easily as I had hoped. I know there's the knob on the reg. (what AquaLung seems to all the Air Turbo System unless I'm getting that confused with the Venturi Adjustment Switch) that's supposed to allow one to fine tune the ease of breathing. I was playing around with it on the dives I've done with the Micra (2 to date), however, after I turn the knob to the "+" side quite a bit, I get a rattling sound from the reg. (I call it a "sucking" sound - kinda like Darth Vader). Granted, I was wearing pretty heavy gloves during these dives so I didn't have as much fine control on twisting this little knob from the "-" to the "+" side. It breathed much easier turned more to the "+" side, but I'm not so sure I should be ignoring the rattling sound....

Incidentally, I had the VAS turn to min, rather than max. Don't know if this would make a difference at 50 ft....

I hope this is making sense to someone out there who could help to educate me on what I'm doing wrong/what the problem might be.

Thanks so much!

Hello,

Unfortunately I don't have my regulator in front of me so please be tolerant of my descriptions.

For the purposes of understanding please assume that the regulator is in your mouth, this will assist in my description of the two separate adjustments.

If you had the regulator in your mouth just under your nose on the top of the regulator is a small lever. If you look inside the regulator through the mouthpiece and adjust this lever you will see a small vane that will turn from a position that somewhat blocks the airpath and at the other extreme points right at you allowing unobstructed airflow. This vane is useful for keeping your regulator from freeflowing while you are at or near the surface. On your primary regulator (the main one that you use during the dive) you should leave this vane in the unobstructed airflow position. On your octopus (the regulator you do not breathe from) you should leave this vane in the position that will block airflow. By putting this vane in the "blocking" position you will very slightly increase the resistance by creating turbulance. This slight change will most likely be enough to prevent a freeflow.

If you had the regulator in your mouth on the side of the regulator near your left cheek is a largish knob. This knob will make it harder or easier to breathe. Set this knob to a level that makes breathing comfortable. If you turn the knob too far one way breathing will seem a little difficult, like sucking air through a straw. If you turn the knob too far in the other direction the regulator will start to leak air into your mouth all of the time, even when you don't want it. Turn the knob to find a level that is comfortable, allowing you ample air while not seeming to have to work for it.

The little vane on top is somthing you should not need to adjust while underwater, simply set it and forget it. The knob on the side is one that you can feel free to adjust during a dive. You might find that you like one setting for shallow depths and another for deeper portions of your dive. You might also find that once set you can ignore this knob as well as the vane. The choice is yours.

Have fun and dive safely,

Mark Vlahos

 

[Mark Vlahos]

OH, bye the way.

Welcome to ScubaBoard and to diving!

Mark Vlahos

 

[xSandman3]

I have a little over 50 dives on my Micra. The sound you are hearing happens when you breathe it wide open above water, right? Both mine and my wife's do that. Underwater, the sound should stop. It took me awhile playing around with it to fully appreciate the adjustment knob on the side. It really doesn't make much difference above 60 feet or so, but below that, open it up and it breathes a LOT easier. I keep the vane switch on top in the middle position all the time...really can't tell much difference no matter where it is.

Give it some more time...two dives isn't much of a base for figuring it out. Hope this helps.

 

[Amyx1]

Thanks for all the advice. Although the rattling sound is something that I hear underwater, perhaps it was just because I had the adjustment knob turned too far out at a shallower depth. We're heading down to the Florida Keys in a few weeks, so hopefully I can mess around with it more and see what I can do to stop the rattling!

Amy

 

[KrisB]

A couple of notes (I have the Micra ADJ, too):

1. the VAS (little switch under your nose) is supposed to be used as a "surface/dive" switch -- when the reg is in your mouth, this should be set to "max", when it is not in your mouth, "min". What the vane does in the min position is provide a little bit of back pressure into the reg to minimize freeflow. If you have this in the "max" position, without the reg in your mouth and just touch the purge button, you'll see the result -- it will freeflow until you put a finger at the mouthpiece opening.

2. in the "max" position, the VAS provides a "Venturi Assist" -- it has to do with Bernoulli's principle, which is the description of the forces that allow a plane to fly.

3. the adjustment knob (near your left cheek) adjusts what's referred to as "cracking pressure" -- the further out (counterclockwise or '+') it is, the easier it is to get air... but also the more likely the valve will "leak" air -- on the surface, after pressurizing your regs, listen to the second stage and turn the knob towards the '-' (clockwise) until the leaking stops. You may adjust this later during your dive.

It is likely that the "rattle" you are hearing is actually just leaking air and the resulting bubbles.

Just one more thing to add here -- while it may seem counterintuitive, an adjustment switch set to "max" will actually reduce your gas consumption. Consider this:
1. breathing takes effort (muscles)
2. effort uses oxygen
3. requiring more oxygen requires more breathing
4. more breathing = poorer gas consumption.

So, anything that will help you get the breathing gas into your lungs easily is a good thing, providing it's not causing a freeflow!

HTH,

 

[KrisB]

Also, the "Air Turbo System" has to do with the first stage -- I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it is, which is how I stumbled across this thread. It seems to have something to do with delivering higher pressure air to the LP ports on the 1st stage when the demand valve is opened.

I'm also trying to find out which three of the four LP ports on my Cousteau 1st stage have the "Air Turbo" system...