Quote: (Originally Posted by
jhaaja)
Could this be something similar?
A.P.Diving Direct
and look for the O2 solenoid in the bottom left...
JH
It is difficult to tell because the solenoid is covered up. Perhaps when someone gets one, they can post a picture so we can see.
If it is a Clippard Mouse solenoid (the shape is consistent with it) then it will most likely be made to APD's spec or one of the others made by Clippard contructed out of nickel plated brass as the oxygen cleaned stainless valve is exclusive to us. If your curious, best that you contact APD and ask them how theirs differs from ours.
If it is the Clippard mouse solenoid then I have to say that we are both flattered and glad they chosen a valve with its characteristics. It will certainly be an improvement long time coming. I guess our release of the Deep Pursuit in September and time spent looking over our kit at the NEC last year wasnt a waste of time.
We chose the all stainless version because we tested the standard nickel brass version about March last year but found it to corrode. We approached the European distributor with our problem who assured us there was no manufacturing defect and was a result of the environment it was placed in. Not the news we wanted to hear which is why we invested in the stainless steel version. We probably could have reduced our costs substantially if we had not gone for the very top spec solenoid but we have hopefully assumed correctly that the end user would not want to compromise.
Incedentally, it's been a joy to work with Clippard/West Group on this. They have listened and accomodated our suggestions to arrive at a product that Narked at 90 are proud to put their name against. If we're not happy to dive with it, you dont get to buy it from us. Thats the bottom line.
Clippard have a number of options in specification which are summarised;
Nickel/brass or stainless
standard or oxygen compatible
oxygen compatible or oxygen compatible and oxygen cleaned.
Obviously cost is a factor of each of the options. We went all in for stainless, cleaned and compatible. The retail price of our solenoid will be £100.
Speaking of cost, when we started the "Deep Pursuit" project, we set a target retail price of £2000. We have made some substantial design improvement while the unit was undergoing testing. One of those improvements was the stainless solenoid. The price is not changing on our system.