What to do if your computer dies

[pmenear]

Computers are just an indicator set to an average profile and an average person. They are adjustable to make a more aggressive or less aggressive profile so that they may be adjusted to closer match each individuals decompression needs.
Only one person knows how far they may be able to move away from an average profile, they will need to be very experienced.
Many older divers grew up without computers and used 'In Water' re-compression as standard practice.
Many of these older divers will have 'bent' and 'mended' themselves over the years enough to understand their body's limits.
Diving in the early years was a learning curve that few new divers will ever get close to.
There is no substitute for experience.
Give the old guy some credit for knowing more than most.

 

[Charlie99]

me and "trouble" as the secound pair. we were diving to our computers limit on all dives. ...... We were on the line doing our 1/2 stop while he was at depth like it was OK.
As for my say on a dive boat, I realize I have little or no say in others dive profile ..

You have a LOT of say in one person's profile ..... your buddy.

You say he was your buddy, but he was still at depth while you were at 1/2 depth.

To me, that is much more of a problem than the computer issue.

 

[coolhandcarter]

You were wrong. You should never share a dive computer. If your dive computer fails on a dive you should resort you your back up computer. If you don't have a back-up computer then you should have planned the dive using the tables and your back-up time source. If that also didn't happen then you need to abort the dive and refrain from diving for 24 hours.

Even though it seemed like you were doing him a favor he could have spent more time at deeper depths than you. 5-10 feet aren't really noticeable when you are swimming next to someone. But 4 min spent at 120 as opposed to 110 feet can mean the difference in several min of NDC. This diver is lucky that he did not get bent after the first dive.

As for the next few days. That depends on how long he was out of the water and how much residual nitrogen he had left in his body. The only way to know this of from your computer, or to know the max depth and the exact amount of bottom time. From this you can use your tables and figure out this information. Barring this information the diver should have obtained from diving for 24 hours and gotten his computer fixed.

 

[Farback]

A computer is no replacement for a plan, a watch, a depth gauge, tables and a brain. Using these simple tools, a lot of diving took place for many years. Redundant computers, and blind trust in what they tell you show, in my opinion, a lack of competence in the basics of dive planning. The more computers you wear the less you appear to be able to safely dive without technology as a crutch.

My opinion. Other's may differ.

 

[knowone]

Recently I took eight air, both designed for deco and "not" computers
on a post battery oil change comparison dive, need a new perspex on
my pressure pot.

Dive Computer Secrets Revealed | Scuba Diving

The algorithm disparity was such that the tool as mentioned
many times before and will be many times again is only a tool
based on theory and is not a comprehensive thinking diver or
just a tool.

Mission Scuba

Despite U.S. Navy tables on which agency tables are conservatively
based, I have various agency plastic tables and wheels etc dating
back over 30 years and what is clearly obvious is that the numbers
were changed making the table more conservative as the years have
progressed.

Is this because more has been learnt or less?


Oh yeah, It would've been much nicer had I

a few of these.

https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1310

 

[Charlie99]

You were wrong. You should never share a dive computer. If your dive computer fails on a dive you should resort you your back up computer. If you don't have a back-up computer then you should have planned the dive using the tables and your back-up time source. If that also didn't happen then you need to abort the dive and refrain from diving for 24 hours.

That is indeed what the book says, and is the safest course of action.

In real life, there are many thinking divers that use all of the available information to make a reasoned decision.

Some of that information is my knowledge of the divesite and my previous dives there. Another tidbit is my buddy's computer, combined with my knowledge of our relative depths. Another tidbit is my knowledge of what extending my shallow time does to my decompression status.

I will dive conservatively and add extra hang time after a computer failure, but only in rare circumstances would I see a need to stay out of the water for 24 hours (or even the 18 hours until the next morning's trip).

Think for a moment about the absurdity of being forced to stay dry for a full 24 hours. Unless the diver were diving profiles that were so aggressive that he should have been using multiple gases, the is very little risk of staying dry only for the 12 to 18 hours until the dives that start the following morning.

If the diver were on tables, he would be considered clear after 6 hours or 12 hours. But because his computer failed he should stay dry for 24 hours?

If I am sure that I am within NDL when surfacing, I'll just assume that I am in the pressure group Z on the PADI table and calculate dives from there (and yes, I would ignore the 3 hour min SI of the WXYZ rules because I can't get to that point on AL80's with normal dive profiles).

 

[David_57]

A computer is no replacement for a plan, a watch, a depth gauge, tables and a brain. Using these simple tools, a lot of diving took place for many years. Redundant computers, and blind trust in what they tell you show, in my opinion, a lack of competence in the basics of dive planning. The more computers you wear the less you appear to be able to safely dive without technology as a crutch.

My opinion. Other's may differ.

Here we go the tables blah blah blah, I use software like Vplanner, computer or bottom timer this is called progress or should we still be rubbing sticks together to make a fire.

Yes I know how to use the tables and formulas to figure out my gases, but would rather use the above aforementioned technologies with redundancy does this make me less of a safe diver?

 

[=C=]

'nevermind I see what he was responding to....

 

[Kern]

A computer is no replacement for a plan, a watch, a depth gauge, tables and a brain. Using these simple tools, a lot of diving took place for many years. Redundant computers, and blind trust in what they tell you show, in my opinion, a lack of competence in the basics of dive planning. The more computers you wear the less you appear to be able to safely dive without technology as a crutch.

My opinion. Other's may differ.

A computer is a watch, a depth gauge & tables. If you don't take your brain you're just an air head.

Blind trust in a computer is incompetence, blind trust in a table, that's been generated by a computer isn't. Did I get that right?

I defy anyone to scuba dive without the crutch of technology.

 

[=C=]

A computer is a watch, a depth gauge & tables. If you don't take your brain you're just an air head.

Blind trust in a computer is incompetence, blind trust in a table, that's been generated by a computer isn't. Did I get that right?

I defy anyone to scuba dive without the crutch of technology.

The 1915 USN tables were computer generated? The 1953 Table revision was computerized? When did this computerization happen? What year did the tables change significantly?

I think you are mistaking "computer generated" for technology creep.