Shearwater setpoint controller
When I got started in
diving, the idea of building your own gear sounded crazy, the longer I was in
it, the more I saw folks designing and building things they couldn’t get off
the shelf. I personally saw the need for
my backplate adaptor, as I, and every dolphin diver I talked to hated the one the RB came with. Now I know people that built their own
rebreather, not just converted one like I did, but built it from scratch. I know another guy who makes his own camera
housings. With more, better and affordable
manufacturing technology making it into peoples homes and shops, it couldn’t have
been long before a guy like
Bruce has been quietly working on this project full time for the better
part of a year now. I saw the prototype
last October and Bruce was diving it attached to his KISS CCR then. I was a bit big and clunky but the simplicity
of it was impossible to argue with. Every thing in one box, display, solenoid, batteries, everything
but 3 O2 sensors. I was
impressed. Now after many dives, on the
bench and in open water, Bruce has managed to shrink the thing by about 1/3,
now its not so clunky, super easy to hook up, program and dive with. Here are a couple of pics.
Shearwater
plumbed into a KISS CCR.
and a closer look
This is the first prototype,
attached to a KISS RB. The unit is set
up to be mated to a KISS valve that has extra ports drilled and tapped into
it. It can be used without the KISS
valve, but the constant flow KISS orifice fed from a regulator set up to be non-compensating,
will reduce the number of times the solenoid has to fire, thereby extending the
battery life. This setup is only good to
the maximum depth, in ATA, of whatever the intermediate pressure the reg is set
for. You may also leave off the KISS
valve, hook o2 off a compensated reg to the input and dive this to whatever
depth your little heart desires. Its all about you here.
The unit is available with a trimix constant PPO2 computer built in or
without. The computer will also do OC
for bailout purposes.
On to the current,
soon to be production, model.
Yeah, it’s a crappy
picture, sorry, my fault, I loaned a friend my D60 and did this trip with a
point and shoot digital. The new unit is
quite a bit smaller, Bruce has gone to a Fischer connector for the sensors with
all the wires in one plug, the cable will be more robust on the production unit
than you see here. The screw, right
center is a wet contact. The unit knows
when it is submersed and changes things in the menu that you wont need while
diving, and rearranges others that you are more likely to want to access. The
display is backlit. The menu system is
easy to navigate, with two buttons labeled “next” and “select”, the buttons are
shrouded to lower the probability of accidental activation.
Here is a much better
shot and some hands to judge size by.
Two lines of text and two lines of description leave little guesswork as
to what number means what.
The bottom line shows
that the unit is in closed circuit mode, the diluent used is 21% oxygen and 00%
helium, the NDL is zero and the Time to Surface is also zero.
Photo by Alan Studley
Here is a shot of
Bruce underwater with the unit, checking the display.
Photo by
Alan Studley
Another shot of the
unit in action. Damn that Studley guy
takes nice pictures. See more of his
talent at www.onlinewildlife.com.
Bruce
dived either the original prototype or the new unit for the whole tech trip with
no failures, and he came back after every dive, so it looks like the unit
works. There was a lot of interest from the other
divers on the boat, the Shearwater, and the Travel/Sport KISS RB were the hit
of the trip. Bruce’s background is in
software design, among other things and the menus and capability of this unit
show off his considerable talent in that area.
The unit is machined from a solid block of metal and looks like you
could drive a truck over it with no damage.
The words that come to mind when handling this unit are “tough” and “elegant”. For the modifiers and home builders out
there, this unit can be adapted to any rebreather. Do you have a Mk 15
with decrepit electronics? How about a
dolphin that you want to automate? Fit
it with a Shearwater. I am talking to
Bruce about fitting it to my dolphin, so when that happens you will see it here
first.
It looks like it wont be long before the unit will be ready for purchase, so
keep in touch with Bruce for more upcoming info.
The following info
was cut and pasted from Bruce’s site www.rebreather.ca
where you can go for more info.
Shearwater Electronics for the
KISS
Price
$1,500 US Setpoint controller
only
$1,800 US Setpoint controller
and trimix deco
Basic Features:
configurable backlight on-time
two set points, each of which can be set between .4 and 1.3
menu adapts to surface or diving mode
set point is controlled and sensors displayed during setup
depth sensor to 600 feet
display in meters or feet
will work with any system that can attach the KISS valve and provide sensor
input
simple 8 screw connection to the KISS
Decompression Features
Buhlmann algorithm with gradient factors conservatism
any combination of oxygen, nitrogen, and helium
open and closed circuit, switchable during a dive
9 gasses
gasses can be preset, or can be selected and changed under water
displays depth, time, time to surface, and no decompression limit
displays stop depth and time when there is a ceiling
no lockout
You may download the current users manual at this link
That’s all for now, as always,
dive safe.
Ron Micjan 20MAR04