Vytec Reset underwater

[darylm74]

I have a Vytec, purchased May 2007 and has about 200 dives on it. Probably only 10-12 technical dives < 200 feet. During a dive in Lake Erie, I dipped over the starboard side of a shipwreck to sweep around to the stern to see the rudder at about 120 feet or so and the computer totally shut down. It tried to come back up but didn't recover until I was at about 23 foot of depth. Luckily I have a back-up computer (Mosquito). When I got back to the surface and evaluated the computer, the battery still had 3 bars on it and everything seemed functional, though the entire memory was wiped out, and the computer reset to 2005. I am trying to see if anyone has had a similar experience, reasons, suggestions, etc? I am wondering if the computer is just completely shot and unsafe or maybe needs a new sensor and maybe costs.

 

[kcprofessor]

Sounds like you battery may have died temporarily. The computer will lose its flash memory if left without power for more than a few minutes. While you haven't provided details of water temperature, note that batteries produce lower power at cold temperatures. The manual for the Vytec states that the average battery life decreases below a temperature of 68 degrees and at 50 degrees the battery may have only 50 to 75% of the available life. If you define life as the ability to produce the proper voltage to power the device, cold temperature may be your problem. Having a battery strength of 3 bars at the surface may not have been enough to produce the required output in a cold temperature.
When a depth sensor goes bad, you will know it because you will get wildly erroneous depth readings even after you surface, like 245 feet in my room in Belize. When the depth sensor goes on a computer of that age, Suunto won't even try to fix it.