Scooter reliability?

[deanme]

Scooter reliability?

Just wondering, burn time aside, what is the probability of a scooter failure with my new N 19 Silent Submerge?

I have completed my scooter class and got great mentoring on how to calculate how far I can safely penetrate a cave on a scooter and still be able to swim out given my sac rate and swim rate. So this is not a question of procedure or whether I should risk violating any standards.

I guess we could start a poll? For those that have a robust cave scooter purchased in the last 5 years (please let’s not get lost in exactly what is a robust cave scooter), how many have experienced a scooter failure that was not related to battery burn time.

Thanks,
dean

[sea2summit]

Only been cave diving a little while and I once observed a partial flood of a SS but it was caught right as it was put in the water and after a drain and seal cleaning was fine.

As a side note I plan for a safe exit but if I don't feel like doing that due to increased deco etc, I/we carry a backup for the team (i.e. EN).

[FW]

One issue with the N-19 is they run full power until the battery starts to get too low, then a sensor cuts off the power. You go from running at full power to stopped with no warning. If you do an occasional burn test, it is easier to predict when that is likely to happen.

Before I got the batteries replaced, it happened twice, at maximum penetration. Luckily my buddies finally missed me, and towed me out.

[phillip1]

knowing nothing of scooters Thomas and I did some research and decided on N-19's. we need a small scooter but with good burn times, portability and weight are major factor for us here.
Are they as reliable as other SS models? I heard at first with the NIMH batteries there were issues but it is sorted out now

[Sludge]

So who has seen James' picture of Andrew's scooter on Facebook?

[aainslie]

Sorry, never saw it. Could someone please describe it for me?

[MORGAN]

So who has seen James' picture of Andrew's scooter on Facebook?

I'm not a Facebooker, but there's a scary picture on TDS.


Mike

[Kelly Jessop]

Scooter reliability?

or scooter unreliability. We have redundant equipment,but the scooter is the weakest link in the chain. I have been party to a couple scooter failures,that dive planning kept it from being an emergency.

[JahJahwarrior]

Mechanical failures seem rather unlikely. I've never heard of an SS flooded through the shaft seal or body orings. I've only heard of one X scooter flooded through a shaft seal, and that seal was visible cracked.

The method of moving the magnet to turn the motor on usually uses a small cable, but I've never heard of any of those breaking either. If they do, it seems easy to move the magnet, if somewhat inconvenient, on most models of scooter out there.

Brushed motors can lose brushes and still operate. SS's new motors exhibit incredibly low brush wear compared to Oceanic motors.

Rodney told me a story about an SS left for a long time at a deep depth, I want to say 200+ feet for over a year, and when the diver returned, he tried the scooter at depth. Functioned fine, and inspection at the surface revealed no problems. Perhaps he'll share more details of the story, it was pretty interesting.


I would worry about PVC gavin's cracking, and might worry about welds on an X breaking or cracking if dropped right, but in general scooters seem to be mechanically reliable. Batteries are the issue in most cases that I have seen.

[Sludge]

I've had an SS break a clutch at p1,900'. I've had a Mako totally flood and stick on at p400'.