cell replacement...

[jorawley]

just wondering how often divers are having to replace their o2 cells... ??

yes i realise they are consumables, and there is no definate 'they will last 81 hours exactly' but just to get an idea please people...

thanks.

[Paul Bailey]

I just swapped out 2 of mine that were May 2007.
I still have one in there from the same date.
I'm not sure how many hours they had on them before I got it but I've put almost 60 on them since March.
I believe the cells were still fine but I managed to knack the cable link on my Shearwater without realising so probably swapped them out needlessly.
I believe the manufacturer states every 18 months but I know people that do them every 12 and others that do them when there is a problem.
I personally don't see the need to swap them out if there isn't a problem with them but that's just me.

[NotDeadYet]

I swap one cell every 6 months regardless of it is still performing. The replaced cell gets chucked in the tool box as a spare (and the previous one gets chucked out). That way no cell does more than 18mths and never have to change two or more cells at once.

Cheers,

Stuart

[nigelH]

I traded out all three, all together, every year.

[nickb]

Wouldn't a cell checker pay for itself fairly quickly for those binning perfectly good cells every year?

EDIT: keep doing it though, as people like me can use them in our analysers

[NotDeadYet]

Wouldn't a cell checker pay for itself fairly quickly for those binning perfectly good cells every year?

EDIT: keep doing it though, as people like me can use them in our analysers

I suppose it might but cells are a relatively cheap consumable. My cells work out about £2 a dive, if I could squeeze an extra year out them then that only drops it to £1.20 a dive... That's about 7yrs it would take to break even.

[bubbleless]

Just use the unit to test cells when they die replace them.

[NotDeadYet]

Just use the unit to test cells when they die replace them.

I stick to 1.0 SP so I can test to that on the surface in the unit and then spike it on descent for a double check.

It's a nice bit of kit and the N@90 guys are brilliant but I just can't justify buying one.

[nigelH]

Wouldn't a cell checker pay for itself fairly quickly for those binning perfectly good cells every year?

They're not perfectly good, they're a year old and past their use-by date.

Instrumentation is my business and I know galvanic cells are cr... well not something I'd put money on, that's why we have three. Cells may be life'd at two years but when it's my life I start to get picky...

Saving money on cells is like saving money on sofnolime. Cells and lime are our two big inevitable costs because they are the two big 'in-water' failure points. If the price gets to be a problem then get rid of the rebreather and save 100%. You know it makes sense.

[G man]

I ve staggerd changing my cells so I swap one every 6 months or unless i geta problem with one.

G.