[PSUBS-MAILIST] Gauge for outside viewport?

Mon Sep 21 20:09:22 EDT 2015

What about illumination ?

Pete 
--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 9/21/15, Alec Smyth via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Gauge for outside viewport?
 To: "Personal Submersibles General Discussion" <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
 Date: Monday, September 21, 2015, 6:35 PM

 It would
 go outside one of the CT viewports. Specifically, the one
 that looks back toward the stern and is therefore seldom
 used. The tank pressure is something I normally look at just
 once before a dive. You want to be able to see it if you
 want to, but it's not a frequent-use item I would put
 right in front of the pilot where real estate is most
 precious.
 So far I
 still haven't located a liquid filled SPG. The one
 Stephen suggested is for sale in Germany but I haven't
 located it here yet.

 Thanks,
 Alec
 On Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at
 7:08 PM, Pete Niedermayr via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
 wrote:
 Alec,
 Where are you thinking of mounting the gauges ? Outside one
 of the conn viewports ? Outside the dome ? Or 2 sets for one
 each ?

 Pete

 --------------------------------------------

 On Mon, 9/21/15, Alec Smyth via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>
 wrote:

  Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Gauge for outside
 viewport?

  To: "Personal
 Submersibles General Discussion" <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>

  Date: Monday, September 21, 2015, 8:34 AM

  Exactly.

  The valves to blow ballast are outside and operated via

  through-hulls.

  On Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at

  8:57 AM, James Frankland via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>

  wrote:

  >1) I

  have a bunch of oil filled gauges lying around, but if
 they

  are left in any position other than with the rubber caps
 at

  the top, they leak all over the place. The shelf they
 live

  on is covered with oil, so I'm just not confident
 they

  will >keep the oil inside in the

  field. Yes, I suppose so.  The ones

  I have drip.  I thought i'd sprung a minor hull leak
 at

  first... >2) Yes,

  SCUBA tank gauges have a tiny orifice in their hose
 fittings

  for just that purpose, to prevent a broken instrument
 from

  emptying your tank too quickly. That is good and I plan
 to

  use it on the sub as well. However, the problem
 >still

  persists that SCUBA gauges can only be taken to under
 500

  feet. I came across tech diver accounts of gauge issues
 such

  as the plastic faces buckling and pinning the needle, or
 the

  whole enclosure imploding at about 400

  >feet.  oh.  Are you not having

  the HP lines inside the sub at all?  Controlling the
 air

  with a through hull? 

  RegardsJames

  On 21 September 2015 at

  13:20, Alec Smyth via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>

  wrote:

  Hi James,

  1) I

  have a bunch of oil filled gauges lying around, but if
 they

  are left in any position other than with the rubber caps
 at

  the top, they leak all over the place. The shelf they
 live

  on is covered with oil, so I'm just not confident
 they

  will keep the oil inside in the field.

  2) Yes, SCUBA tank gauges have a

  tiny orifice in their hose fittings for just that
 purpose,

  to prevent a broken instrument from emptying your tank
 too

  quickly. That is good and I plan to use it on the sub
 as

  well. However, the problem still persists that SCUBA
 gauges

  can only be taken to under 500 feet. I came across tech

  diver accounts of gauge issues such as the plastic
 faces

  buckling and pinning the needle, or the whole enclosure

  imploding at about 400 feet. 

  Thanks,

  Alec  

  On Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at

  5:03 AM, James Frankland via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>

  wrote:

  Hi Alec, I have a

  couple of thoughts.   1.  The

  gauges I have are chemical protected, so they have an
 oil

  filled diaphragm separating the inlet line from the
 gauge

  internals.  Then there is a small vent hole at the top
 of

  the gauge.  You could attach a rubber hose\bladder
 to

  this vent hole, top it up with glycerine or whatever
 the

  gauge is filled with and have a fully compensated valve
 with

  a bladder. 2.  How about using just

  a normal scuba gauge which will probably be perfectly

  fine.  But, just make a small adapter that screws onto
 the

  gauge and has only a tiny little orifice to allow the
 input

  air.  That way if the gauge did ever fail, it would
 only

  bleed out air slowly and you'd have time to blow

  tanks.  If you are using a scuba 1st stage and piping
 from

  the HP port (I assume your not and are plumbing
 straight

  into tanks) then the scuba HP already has this small
 hole

  for the same reason. Also, it would

  be easy enough to test a gauge.   Find somewhere deep

  enough and take a fishing rod and a packed

  lunch! Im fairly sure Emile has

  external gauges on his sub and its a 200m diver.  He
 could

  maybe advise? Just a thought.

  Kind Regards

  James  

  On 21 September

  2015 at 06:51, Brian Cox via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>

  wrote:

  Hi Alec,    New sub ? 

  I must have missed that !    do you have any

  details?    BTW, I received that big gage ! 
 It's

  huge !  I hope I can get it in through the hatch !  
 As

  it is designed for sea water I assume all I have to do
 is

  plumb it in, will salt water getting into the tubing
 cause

  any problems?   Brian

  --- personal_submersibles at psubs.org

  wrote:

  From: Alec Smyth via

  Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>

  To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion

  <personal_submersibles at psubs.org>

  Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Gauge for

  outside viewport?

  Date: Sun, 20 Sep

  2015 23:03:02 -0400

  I have an

  interesting thing to think about and wondered if any of
 the

  PSUBS brain trust might have a suggestion.

  One of the simplifications on my new

  sub is that all HP air lines are external, aside from
 the

  BIBS (which is normally shut off anyway). Thus, I'm

  looking for a 3,000-4,000 psi gauge to mount outside a

  viewport, like in the Pisces photo that I'll paste

  below. In case my paste doesn't come through, it is
 the

  one at the top of the following article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/science/piloted-deep-sea-research-is-bottoming-out.html?_r=1

  The first thing that came to mind

  was to use a SCUBA submersible pressure gauge, but the

  problem is these are normally 1 atm dry enclosures of

  limited depth rating. There is generally little
 information

  posted about how deep they'll go, but what I did
 find

  was mentioned 260 feet for the plastic ones and 490 feet
 for

  the brass variety. This is a 1,000 foot sub.

  The second idea was to use oil

  filled gauges intended for above-water use. But these

  generally have considerable bubbles in the oil, are not
 very

  good at keeping the oil inside, and have other hardware
 not

  intended to live long in sea water.

  Any suggestions would be most

  welcome!

  Thanks,

  Alec 

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