What a pain in the butt - installing a new

Terry

I recently replaced the cheapo Buddy Auto Air on my Inspiration with a very good Atomic SS1 model.

Did everybody else know that all the hoses on the Inspiration are non-standard or am I the only one? This means if you are on a dive trip and bust a host or strip out some threads you have to call England for a replacement - the dive trip is over.

In order to simply change out the Buddy Air:
The quick fit connection is non-standard so I had to find a way to use the hose supplied with the new Atomic 2ed stage. You would think that you could just install the reg and quick connect hose.
The threaded fitting that goes into the manifold is non standard - I had to find an adapter and take it to a machine shop to have it modified to fit into the manifold. This was pretty easy to do and the machine shop didnt even charge me (it would have been about 10.00 US dollars).
This should have been just a simple hose replacement. This could never have been done at a resort, in a boat, in a hotel room, on a beach, or anywhere other than a workbench and a machine shop.


The long and short - I certainly didnt realize that that all of the hose fittings are non-standard on the Inspiration. This really upsets me, for this unit cannot be self-serviced except through custom machine shop work or special order through England or APDiving.

Are the standard hoses on the Meg? Hmmmmmm.
This is a very serious argument against the Inspiration.

(dont damage that cheapo Buddy Air on a dive trip cause you'll not be able to replace it temporarily - same goes for any of the hoses)

Popsmoke

jkaterenchuk

You have just pointed out the value of this forum for those looking to purchase or upgrade a unit. You may already know but for those that do not each unit has a sub-forum in which the pros and cons of each unit are discussed in detail. Some research and use of the search function goes a long way towards being an informed consumer. In fact you would find that many owners look towards the purchase of a BOV as a replacement for the Buddy Air.

John

Beanie

Manifold on the inspo is a standard 3/8 UNF port will take any normal LP hose.
I've had apeks, scubapro etc in mine.

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cramerdn

Yep same here. No problem replacing the hoses from the mainfold.

I put an extra short hose to the ADV. When I inserted the cut off the extra length made the loop of hose stick way up so I put a shorter one in to compensate.

Then I replaced the auto air and half way through the process I realised, why am I struggling with all this swapping to keep the original wing. Now I am considering a complete wing change.

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graham_hk

The inspiration was std (last new one I saw up close was about 6mo ago) and most of the hoses reswageable too.

Yellow box of doom

You'd even think they would be standard across the buddy range wouldn't you, but Oh no.

I got rid of my Buddy Air (don't like them-they're cumbersome,unreliable and crap) and replaced with a buddy standard inflater (the one with the big blue deflate button that makes it looks like it should be a regulator but isn't). Pressured up OK and so went diving.

On the deco stop the O ring between the inflater hose and the manifold blew, loosing me all my Dil - not a huge problem as I was ascending but scared the b'jeeszus out of me and my buddy.

On inspection back home it seems that although the thread on the manifold is correct for the inflater hose, the end is slightly different for the buddy inflater hose and the buddy air hoses such that the buddy inflater hose can't quite be screwed all the way home as the lip on it (just behind the screw thread) fouls on the cylindrical face of the manifold, thus allowing the O ring to blow out. a hexagonal or square section for the manifold would of course have avoided this.

I unswaged (if that is a word) the end off the buddy air hose and put on the end of the buddy inflater hose and all works fine now, but why oh why can't these things be standard at least for the same manufacturer!!!

And as this thread raised at the start - it would of course mean a blown hose on tour would be a show stopper - better get some spares ordered I guess.

The Evo is a great unit, and I have to say AP have got quite a lot of things right, but sometime you do wander "WHY!!"

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Fun Under Pressure

I use inflator adapters from Scubapro, with them you can make an inflator hose with any Reg hose. Works perfect. I have cut the manifold on the O2 side and use long hoses from the 1st stage to the inflator und a normal reg hose to the solenoid valve. And a long HP hose to the pressure gauge.

I attached the scubapro adapters to the original inflators on the CL´s.


Cheers Markku

Kelp Krawler

I installed an Atomic SS1 without having to replace the inflator hose. The fitting on the Evo's hose was compatible with my SS1.

It took me about 3 minutes flat to change it.

jradomski

I have worked on MANY inspirations.. the manifold has standard 3/8 ports.. I have used more brands of hoses on the inspiration than I can count..

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All posts are personal opinions and DO NOT reflect any affiliated agency unless specifically stated.

Terry

The hose assembly that came with the Atomic - the quick connect would not fit onto the Buddy Air. The Atomic has a feature that allows the end of the hose to be disassembled and re-installed on other type hoses. Not so with the Buddy Air hose though.

The threaded end of the Atomic would not fit into the manifold bar properly, and I am sure resultied in this experience:

Machining/fabricating an adapter seemed to solve the problem.

But now another problem:
Upon replacing the hose to the ADV - the stainless bar/valve inside the ADV spins when when tightening the allen screw on the outside of the unit.

I some positions it freeflows- in some positions the the ADV 'button' does not work when pressed - it does not inject dil.

What is the proper way to setup, adjust, and test the ADV?

Popsmoke