Battery light on my dive comms almost cost me a bottom job

Was doing a harbor inspection over in Port Townsend last month, got to 40 feet and my comms unit started chirping the low battery warning. I brushed it off because I thought it had another hour easy. Turned out the battery gauge on that model reads wrong when it's cold, and I was stuck down there with a dead radio for 15 minutes before my tender figured out something was up. Now I swap batteries at the van before every jump no matter what the display says. Anyone else have an electronic tool that lies to you at depth?

4 comments

4 Comments

pat_murray5310d ago

Oh man, that's rough. I once trusted my old dive computer's battery indicator and ended up doing a safety stop in the dark with no light. Learned my lesson the hard way. Now I just replace everything fresh before every dive, even if the gauge says full. Makes me feel like a paranoid dad, but hey, better than a night swim.

jordan_henderson1310d ago

Pat, I feel you on that. My old dive computer did the same thing, died on a night dive in Puget Sound and I had to buddy breathe my way up. I just swap everything fresh now, even if it's overkill.

lucasw8410d ago

Pat, that's a rough one. Had the same thing happen with my old air pressure gauge on a wreck dive off Anacortes. It was reading 500 psi but the tank was actually dry. Lucky my buddy had a spare. Now I bleed off a quick test breath at the surface before every descent. It's a pain but beats the alternative. Good call on swapping at the van.

marybutler10d ago

My buddy had one of those fancy dive lights that claimed to have a low-battery warning light on it. We were poking around a wreck near Neah Bay and his light just went dark without any warning at all. Turns out the sensor was wired wrong from the factory. We spent twenty minutes in the dark till we found our way back to the anchor line. Now he ties a backup light to his harness with a zip tie on every dive.