Mk 15 Upgrades

Paul G

Colkan International

21 Pacific Hwy, Ulmarra 2462 Australia
Email: cw@colkan.com
Ph: +61 2 6644 5223

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Dave Sutton

[quote=lizardland;176148]

Hoppy, thanks I got the price list from Wayne. It doesn't have the external solenoid unit on it which is what I'm interested in though

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Laguna electronics removes the potential for using a secondary as well... a show stopper in my opinion. That's one of the best features of the Mark-15, and I cannot consider loosing it. I'd never consider the Laguna for a Mark-15 as a result of this. For other rigs? Sure, Mark-15? No way.


Dave

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babar

I agree, fortunately I'm working a night shift thursday. I have to call AP

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lizardland

[quote=Dave Sutton;177129] That's was one of the things I tried to ask them about.

I can't help thinking if I'm waiting for questions to be answered before I buy what is the service going to be like after? So far only Col from Colkan and Brent from Narked@90 have showed any response out of the various vendors of various systems (and both extremely helpful) so the list just got narrower.

Anyone know if the Colkan upgrade improves power consumption drastically?

Cheers,

Stuart

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Dave Sutton

What improves power consumption is changing out the solenoid for a more efficient one. That can be done with any pod. The Colkan pod will still need a 24 volt solenoid, but there are better ones available now than the stock one. The internal needs of the Colkan pod are lower than the old analog pods as well, so there is a combined reduction available. I'd have to say this though: The original 18 battery pack lasts a good while even with the oldest systems, so it's not really an issue. I "think" that Colkan is distributing a new battery pack as well, with quick-change "AA" batteries in clips. If not now, then soon.

The Colkan pod has been very reliable, communications have been excellent, and it's a form and function interchange with the old pod. Very nice stuff. The only other viable option is the HH, which is a more complex physical upgrade, gives a higher level of features, and is likely more 'capable'. Reliability? No personal experience, read the other HH threads. There is no third viable option at present, as I ruled out the Laguna after learning that the secondary was not supported.

My own rig, at present, has a Colkan Pod, a Subsea Secondary, and a 4th cell in the counterlung area driving a VR-3. If I don't have PP02 information outta that, I might as well stay home. Rig #2 had the HH and HUD, but went out to a filmmaker for use before I even dove it, so no practical experience with the system. Physically it was lovely.


Col Wilcox just changed his email at Colkan, it's now CCW @ the same domain. I obscured the address to prevent automatic harvesting by the spammers.


Dave

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doug anderson

Hi all,

I read with interest your thread and thought I would put in my pennies worth. I have had the Laguna electronics in for about 9 months now. I have one of the prototype units in now but will be switching to a production unit the next few weeks. I have done just under 300 hours on the prototype electronics and have been really pleased. I was starting to fight the bendex's on my 155 and that is the real beauty of the Laguna gear. Everything is stripped out. Cables, Pod, Solenoid even the old sensor tree and you stick in the Laguna gear in a one lot. Layout is very much in the spirit of the old electronics. Primary on the left, secondary on the chest. The new secondary is nice with a ton of really useful features on top of the obvious sensor info. There are two solenoids in the new pod, dil and O2, and both can be manually controlled from the primary. The gas control is very tight. I can understand your reluctance Dave to give up on old components, and for sure a complete strip out is not for everyone, but if you have had enough of battling an older system and want a new start my experience with the Laguna system has been really good.

Doug

caveseeker7

Hi Doug, could you post some pictures of your unit and the electronics?
Would love to get a look at it all, would be much appreciated.

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doug anderson

HI,

as requested some picks of the Laguna Research Prototype electronics for the 155. The differences between this and the production electronics are the pnumatics are plumbed into the pod with short soft tubing sections to isolate the pod (Aluminium) from the stainless tubing - otherwise the stainless starts using the pod as a sacraficial anode. The rest of the differences, as I understand it, are minor production machining tweaks, refinment of code, and the addition of a HUD. A fellow 155 owner in UK has just put in the new stuff and is in sudan just now. I cannot wait to get my set in mid april. If there is anything else I can do to add to the debate please don't hesitate to ask.

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Dave Sutton

So, uh...... maybe I'm missing something:

Were is the direct reading of the cells voltage (read without digital processing) secondary? This is what I felt is missing from this package, and I still see two modules displaying processed data, but no direct reading of raw cell output calibrated in PP02.

Looks like a nice setup, just curious about the technical details. I'd been talking to Dave about a setup for one of my rigs a year ago, and am still interested. Perhaps not for a Mark-15, but for another rig.


???


Best,

Dave

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hoppyinca

while the readings are "digitally processed" there are 2 independent monitors.

The UDC (first pic above) gets the data directly from the sensor array, and has the ability to control the pO2 in the rig. This would be similar to the digital secondaries running off a 9 volt, but with far far more capabilities and outputs...

The ILD (second pic above) while not showing actual pO2 shows where you relative to your set point; similar to the original primary. you can also fire both the DIL and O2 solenoid from the ILD. The data is taken from the sensor array via the CCM (thrid pic above) which also has the ability to control pO2 in the rig.


Doug, please correct me if I am wrong; but that is what I got from the discussions and many many emails with Dave and Wayne.

can't wait to get mine...

hoppy

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