What else goes in HP port other than AI?

[ScubaVideo]

Perfect. It came very quick and I'm quite pleased with the quality of Mares. And at $150 brand new, it was a great deal.

I just wish it came with a wrench. Oh well.

I plan on using this one as my Octo and buying the Mares Proton Metal as my primary. The quality of that one is probably pretty high since it's an all metal reg (brass & chrome)

Well what I was getting at was it setup or just new in the box? Your need for a wrench tells me NIB and still needing setup.

 

[aquaregia]

Aqauregia, I am posting on tapatalk so I can't quote, but you mentioned that your hp port was on the wrong side of your 1st stage. Cant you flip your first stage so that it will be on the other side? (I may be thinking wrong, but wanted to throw that out there as a possible solution)

Thanks for the suggestion.
If I'm understanding correctly, that would place the body of the first stage above the valve, which is also undesirable. It's a ScubaPro Mk5, so the input is on the side and at one extreme of the main regulator body. I managed a workaround, fwiw, by angling the regulator in such a way that the HP hose and the valve knob are somewhat irritating, but neither are completely irritation.

 

[OkByMe]

If you connect anything to the high pressure port on your first stage that will allow any significant airflow... and you open it up, You will likely freeze it up. Not to mention that if it is flexible, like a hose and it gets away from you, it can whip around and break something - like your nose. Look at the regulator end of a HP hose.... there is a restriction smaller than a number 60 drill to limit how much air bleeds through it if the hose breaks.

 

[knowone]

Dude. What kinda reg do you have dude?

 

[johnnyscience]

Well what I was getting at was it setup or just new in the box? Your need for a wrench tells me NIB and still needing setup.

Yeah it was NIB with the seal unbroken.

But I called LP & they told me this was setup & ready out of the box even for nitrox up to 40%?

I plan on using the Prestige as my octo & buying the Proton metal for the primary, so I didnt think the Prestige needed to be calibrated, but the Proton would so that it would free flow or something? (I'm probably not using the right terminology?)

 

[knowone]

Imported cars come NIS (new in ship) and then the car people spend
a few days getting them ready for action.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Yeah it was NIB with the seal unbroken.

But I called LP & they told me this was setup & ready out of the box even for nitrox up to 40%?

I plan on using the Prestige as my octo & buying the Proton metal for the primary, so I didnt think the Prestige needed to be calibrated, but the Proton would so that it would free flow or something? (I'm probably not using the right terminology?)

Do you know if LP assembled and tested the reg (they may have), or just assembled? Or assembled at the factory, and just shipped from LP?

My experience with Mares 2nds is that they come faily conservatively tuned from the factory.... meaning much less likely to freeflow when out of your mouth, but ho-hum performance until you re-tune them.... If this holds true for your Mares regs, either the Proton or Prestige will likely be "ok" as an octo... But the only way to know for sure is to attach them to your first stage and test them (the tech would need to do this) for "cracking effort" which is a measurement of how much inhalation effort it takes to get the 2nd stage demand valve to just "crack" open and air begins to flow.

Ideally, you will tune your primary 2nd stage for the lowest stable cracking effort it is capable of so that you have the best possible breathing performance, and tune the octo to be just a tiny smidge harder to breath so that it does not freeflow every time you look cross-eyed at it

A good tech can do this for you while you wait.

Best wishes.

 

[johnnyscience]

Do you know if LP assembled and tested the reg (they may have), or just assembled? Or assembled at the factory, and just shipped from LP?

My experience with Mares 2nds is that they come faily conservatively tuned from the factory.... meaning much less likely to freeflow when out of your mouth, but ho-hum performance until you re-tune them.... If this holds true for your Mares regs, either the Proton or Prestige will likely be "ok" as an octo... But the only way to know for sure is to attach them to your first stage and test them (the tech would need to do this) for "cracking effort" which is a measurement of how much inhalation effort it takes to get the 2nd stage demand valve to just "crack" open and air begins to flow.

Ideally, you will tune your primary 2nd stage for the lowest stable cracking effort it is capable of so that you have the best possible breathing performance, and tune the octo to be just a tiny smidge harder to breath so that it does not freeflow every time you look cross-eyed at it

A good tech can do this for you while you wait.

Best wishes.

Hmm yeah not sure to be honest.

I'll probably end up picking up the Mares Proton Metal from LP also at some point in the near future, so hopefully they will tune that one properly for me. I'm sure if I send the Prestige back to them they would tune it for me to be an octo, but from what I'm understanding from you, that may not be needed & it should be good to go as is...?

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Hmm yeah not sure to be honest.

I'll probably end up picking up the Mares Proton Metal from LP also at some point in the near future, so hopefully they will tune that one properly for me. I'm sure if I send the Prestige back to them they would tune it for me to be an octo, but from what I'm understanding from you, that may not be needed & it should be good to go as is...?

The only real way to know is to test it.

But here is my Mares experience:

When I (and my family) returned to diving a few years ago, we bought 5 sets of Mares regs online... this was part of a "package" that included 1st stage, 2nd stage, octo, SPG/depth gauge/compass. They were two sets of MR22/Abyss 2nd/Rebel octo, and three sets of MR12/Proton/Rebel octo.

I'm 99% sure in the case of our regs that they were assembled by the online dealer, probably tested, but not actually tuned.

The primary 2nd stages were all tuned to "crack" at about 2.0 inches H20, the Rebel octos at about 2.5 inches. This is very conservative for these regs (and most other regs too).... the Protons can be tuned to around 1.2"/H20, and the Abyss 1.3"/H20, and the Rebels are very happy as octos at maybe 1.6 "/H20.

The difference of an inch of cracking effort is very noticeable.... night & day in how the regs breathed after I re-tuned them.

For your regs? There is no way to tell, they need to be checked.

If you have access to a tank, you can do a quick n' dirty test of cracking effort. You hook the regulator to a tank, turn on the air, and then slowly lower the 2nd stage you want to test into a sink or pail of water with the moutpiece pointing up. The distance that the joint between the front cover and body of the 2nd stage is below the surface of the water when the regulator starts to "hiss" is a rough measure of cracking effort. You can use a ruler to gauge the distance below the surface....

But really, this is something any good tech (not necessarily a Mares tech) can check and adjust for you if necessary. Mares 2nd stages are dirt-simple to work on.... if a reg tech says he can't, I wouldn't take any reg in for him to service

Best wishes.

 

[johnnyscience]

The only real way to know is to test it.

But here is my Mares experience:

When I (and my family) returned to diving a few years ago, we bought 5 sets of Mares regs online... this was part of a "package" that included 1st stage, 2nd stage, octo, SPG/depth gauge/compass. They were two sets of MR22/Abyss 2nd/Rebel octo, and three sets of MR12/Proton/Rebel octo.

I'm 99% sure in the case of our regs that they were assembled by the online dealer, probably tested, but not actually tuned.

The primary 2nd stages were all tuned to "crack" at about 2.0 inches H20, the Rebel octos at about 2.5 inches. This is very conservative for these regs (and most other regs too).... the Protons can be tuned to around 1.2"/H20, and the Abyss 1.3"/H20, and the Rebels are very happy as octos at maybe 1.6 "/H20.

The difference of an inch of cracking effort is very noticeable.... night & day in how the regs breathed after I re-tuned them.

For your regs? There is no way to tell, they need to be checked.

If you have access to a tank, you can do a quick n' dirty test of cracking effort. You hook the regulator to a tank, turn on the air, and then slowly lower the 2nd stage you want to test into a sink or pail of water with the moutpiece pointing up. The distance that the joint between the front cover and body of the 2nd stage is below the surface of the water when the regulator starts to "hiss" is a rough measure of cracking effort. You can use a ruler to gauge the distance below the surface....

But really, this is something any good tech (not necessarily a Mares tech) can check and adjust for you if necessary. Mares 2nd stages are dirt-simple to work on.... if a reg tech says he can't, I wouldn't take any reg in for him to service

Best wishes.

Hmm ok I'll keep all of that in mind. I guess I dont know if I want it to crack at 2.5 or 1.5 without testing it as is first to see what I personally prefer?

Are these simple enough to work on myself? Do they sell kits?

I havent sent the warranty card in yet because I dont know if I'm going to want to get my regs serviced every year since I'll only be to go on a trip to diving recreational a couple times a year - if I'm lucky. But perhaps being able to work on them myself is something that would work out.