I have several uploads for you about J-valves. The first is from Fred Roberts' book, Basic Scuba, in which he shows the air pressures in the tank with various combinations of J-reserve valves and their different springs (usually 300 psi for single tanks, and 500 psi for double tank manifolds). He also shows a "center position," which is the J-valve mounted on the regulator. Many manufacturers decided to incorporate a J-valve into their regulators, and when they did that, on double tanks and triple tanks the J-valve was on the center position, and not over one cylinder. For twin manifolds, the usual configuration was to have the J-valve on one tank, and when pulled it equalized into the other tank, so you see a resulting pressure as 1/2 of the spring pressure. What he was showing was that the center position of the J-valve, with a 300 psi spring, withheld more air than the side position on twin tanks, which withheld 500 psi in one tank. Now Fred Roberts was an engineer, and so he shows all tank pressures in absolute pressure. He adds the 14.7 psig at sea level to the pressure to give absolute pressure.
Scubapro invented a new type of J-valve in which the spring pressure could be adjusted from 300 psi to 500 psi with the turn of a screw on top (when unpressurized on a regulator). I decided to make some calculations on the amount of fluxuation in a SPG I saw with the valve in the reserve position (yellow sheet with hand-written calcs). I did this with several different regulators on the valve and got varying amounts of fluxuation in tank pressures when breathing.
The other valve as an AMF Voit valve, which could be converted from a K-valve to a J-valve. The parts diagram shows that conversion. Now, if anyone has this valve, the J-valve may not function currently, as the plastic seat on this valve deteriorated over time, and disintegrated. So if you have this valve, take a look by disassembling it and see whether the small plastic ball at the end of the 85-810 Reserve Sub Assembly is intact or gone (probably gone by now). The only exception I have found is that there was an aluminum valve made, probably for the U.S. Navy, identical to this valve that had a seat of a different material, and that one is still intact.
SeaRat