Two thumbs up! - niche batteries

[JR8]

Buying specialist batteries.

Need a new cell-battery for my dive computer. Need it before Xmas. Realise I'm in a bit of a hole, as time is FAST running out!

E-Bay, US$4-8, But courier, + say US$30 in addition. Hmmm. Contemplate Sim Lim.... Oh Gawd, spare me. !

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www.rssingapore.com

S$2.14. Ordered yesterday. Arrived today via courier, in a 2/3rd size shoe-box package, with the battery within an internal air-bag!!?

S$2.14, for all of that!? That's nuts!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Damn speedy recovery from can't hardly walk down the street a couple weeks ago to I NEED a new battery for my DIVE computer BEFORE Christmas. Wish my bounce back recovery cycle was still like that! Colour me envious!

[JR8]

I don't get the point you're making, but it sounds terribly cynical. 'Hello I'm JR8, I'm disabled, sorry about that. I'll just sit here in my chair and quietly dribble for you lol'.

I still have quite some difficulty walking (shock!). And the prognosis was and is, that from around this point on, it's not going to get better. But you just get on and make do eh. Still, this is awfully personal, especially considering I've never met you ... Do people have to undergo and publish a health-screening to write here?

I went diving in Tioman last month, and am prepping to go diving again in January. I have mates in wheelchairs who've completed their PADI DM/OWSI's. The concept of people with mobility-issues getting on and doing stuff, really isn't that radical.

In fact it was on my first dive in Tioman (as above, 5 minutes into dive #1) when the battery gave out. You might imagine how incredibly frustrating that was, to spend the rest of the week, at least in 1-D, 'flying blind'.

p.s. The battery/cell and packaging is as per the below [as I sense you require some kind of proof, as to what I'm saying]...

[sundaymorningstaple]

Again, How are we supposed to know. We all know you had a problem that was slowly sorting itself out from the time you were still in Germany and progressively getting better. Sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn't being cynical, but honestly envious as I have been injured before and out of commission for a couple of months while the 30% of my body that had been fried in an offshore explosion healed sufficiently that the doc allowed me to re-enter the water (infections). I managed in double quick time but that was in 1978. I doubt if I could do that today. And no, I couldn't begin to understand your frustration as I've never used a dive computer but plan my dive and dove my plan using the old fashioned, but non-breakable method. Again, Sorry. Your sixth sense is picking up somebody's vibs, just not mine.

[taxico]

Buying specialist batteries.

Need a new cell-battery for my dive computer. Need it before Xmas. Realise I'm in a bit of a hole, as time is FAST running out!

E-Bay, US$4-8, But courier, + say US$30 in addition. Hmmm. Contemplate Sim Lim.... Oh Gawd, spare me. !

-------------------------------------
www.rssingapore.com

S$2.14. Ordered yesterday. Arrived today via courier, in a 2/3rd size shoe-box package, with the battery within an internal air-bag!!?

S$2.14, for all of that!? That's nuts!

you shoulda just mentioned earlier you're changing your PDC batt. i'd have hooked you up to my LDS.

time to buy one of those oceanic ones with user replaceable batteries...!!!

[taxico]

I don't get the point you're making, but it sounds terribly cynical. 'Hello I'm JR8, I'm disabled, sorry about that. I'll just sit here in my chair and quietly dribble for you lol'...

...In fact it was on my first dive in Tioman (as above, 5 minutes into dive #1) when the battery gave out. You might imagine how incredibly frustrating that was, to spend the rest of the week, at least in 1-D, 'flying blind'...

take it easy jr, i think sunday wasn't starting from where you think he was...

take scuba diving easy too. no biggie for your dive comp to die when you're in a group dive. of course, if you were doing some technical deep dive on a rebreather, that's something entirely different.

i'm pretty sure you could have just relied on your buddy. whatever the case is, safe diving and i hope everything works out a-o-k on the PDC and your next trip.

if you need these types of battery/torx thing... actually, anything scuba related, sorted, just drop me a PM.

[JR8]

@Taxi
Ah, maybe next time. I’d never/noted seen any indication you are into diving, and hence ‘PDC’s...

It is an interesting point you raise. I think you become very self-reliant when you have your own computer. And more so when it’s air-integrated. Nowadays when the guide flags me ‘How much air do you have’ I’m telling her for her sake, rather than my own. But more so, the PC can become a daily wear wristwatch too, as mine is (a D6i). But then, as happened to me, you’re just off on holiday, 6m down on dive#1, and it dies (immediately). No dive PC, AND no watch too for your holiday. And you’ve still got to take care of the redundant hunk of pretty but useless metal, so ‘Pedro’ doesn’t steal it from your room. ...

i'm pretty sure you could have just relied on your buddy. whatever the case is, safe diving and i hope everything works out a-o-k on the PDC and your next trip.

I prefer not to rely on strangers. In any case, I’ve just got to stop by Handyman @Scotts and pick up a T-6 Torxdriver, and we’re underway on the battery replacement. It’s amusing in a way, I was musing whether Suunto intentionally made the D6 so impenetrable, such that you have to send it to a dealer ($-kerching) just to change a battery. They charge S$80. A Torx-driver set is S$24, a battery S$1.50... it can’t be that hard can it?

It’s very kind of you offering your help and support. I had no idea you were into such stuff. Touch wood, I think I’ve figured out what I need. But, yes, I’ll certainly be in touch if I think you might help. Like I suggested, this is hardly the best week of the year to be needing specialist tools etc !

TTFN

[x9200]

This is how they work. I have less experience with RSS but a lot with Element14 (found it cheaper) and they offer the service quality hardly anything can beat in this country. Even their couriers are flexible. Not at home? They can come over later same day.
I wish they have also computer stuff (components, accessories etc) priced more reasonably and I could do all my technical shopping with them.
They often have it cheaper and better quality than on E-bay. Check for example things like hdmi/optical/network cables. Also plenty good, unadvertised deals for power tools and more complicated stuff.

It is so nice I can at least say something very good about local services. Almost sort of catharsis.

[taxico]

...It’s amusing in a way, I was musing whether Suunto intentionally made the D6 so impenetrable, such that you have to send it to a dealer ($-kerching) just to change a battery. They charge S$80. A Torx-driver set is S$24, a battery S$1.50... it can’t be that hard can it?

ah, but you're forgetting the water proof chamber they pressure test your comp with. they need to recover costs too...

i used to pay 2 cups of coffee to get my batteries changed, but since getting an oceanic i just do it myself at home with batteries from daiso.

do you have new gaskets and silicon grease?

[JR8]

@ SMS and Taxi.

I've never used a dive computer but plan my dive and dove my plan using the old fashioned, but non-breakable method. Again, Sorry. Your sixth sense is picking up somebody's vibs, just not mine.

Yes, that approach would be entirely appropriate if you know you have to go down say the leg of a rig, boat hull or pier to fix something at xM, i.e. a fixed point.

But recreational diving is usually (as I know you know, but I'm elaborating for those who might not) 'Multi-level'. So you start you dive, go down to maybe 18 Metres, and then slowly tootle along a reef wall looking at stuff, come up to 14M and continue, and finally up to say 10M, where after maybe 40 minutes in total you decide to end your dive, ascend for a 5M/3m safety stop, and surface.

Now when you do your dive certification (IME), you have to calculate your gas 'Pressure Group' through a dive like that. It can be quite complicated. Or put it another way, the opportunity to get it wrong is probably larger than is desirable.

I imagine that's why PADI introduced an electronic RDP some years ago (it's like a pocket calculator). It's a little less daunting than being handed one of the plastic/'slate' RDPs for the first time.

I think that's the beauty of computers. It allows you flexibility, you no longer have to 'Plan the dive, and dive the plan', you can change the plan whilst on the dive.

It used to be that the average American worker got 2 weeks holiday a year. So maybe a dive enthusiast might spend a week off on a diving trip. Take out the day of travel, and the 24hr 'No Fly' window at the end, and you can see why there is a market for getting the max out of each dive/day/trip!

Or how about if you're diving on gas-blends, where perhaps you're on Nitrox 32%, and your buddy has a fill that tests at 35%. Unless you compromised and both dived as if on a 32% mix, you can't share 'No Decompression Limit' (NDL) information.

It's funny, when I've been on dives where people are on EANX, it seems to go hand in hand that they wish and try to completely max out their NDL. I imagine paying the say US$10 premium for a Nitrox fill does that (lord knows what it would be like amongst a bunch of kiasu local divers lol ). As an aside, when I dive on Nitrox, when I get back on the boat, and we're sitting on the boat waiting for dive #2, I'll quite often (when not talking) chug away on what's left of a nitrox fill... the DMs tend to ask what on earth you're doing, but accelerating the off-gassing seems to make sense to me.

The thing with computers these days is how multi-functional they are. They also serve as a wristwatch, a compass, and alarm clock etc. So if you're relying on that also, and it instantly dies on day #1, it is a bit of a pain! For example: I had to adapt to waking up, and judging the time based upon the number of mopeds going up and down the little road behind the place I stayed. Not exactly ideal or relaxing when you have to get up, get ready and have brekko for say an 8am roster

p.s. Taxi. Would you be kind enough to PM me the name of your dive-shop contact? I've just remembered today that I need the 'balance arm' in the 1st/Secondary stage adjusting of my Mares regs fine-tuning. Unfortunately it has a small leak and needs a minor tweak. Ideally I need a shop-owner who is knowledgeable enough to do this adjustment himself, without having to send it off to Mares. Time is running out and I need to find some options as to how I might get it fixed [You will probably know what it's like after years having your own kit, having to use a hired set of regs... not nice, and actually a damned distraction!)

[JR8]

The wife is ...going to pick up the Tork-key this pm. So I’ll leave it until tomorrow, and then it's all systems go. Wish me luck eh?

Unbelievable...

Me: Do you stock a T6 Torx driver?
Handyman: Yes we do. We have a set for $24.
Me: Great, I'll come over and pick one up.

[Wife goes to buy the above set last night, and brings it home].

The tool is styled like a Swiss Army Knife, instead of blades, it has individual flip-out drivers, nine in total, sizes T10-T50.

[Trying very hard not to turn the air blue!!!]

[JR8]

This is how they work. I have less experience with RSS but a lot with Element14 (found it cheaper) and they offer the service quality hardly anything can beat in this country. Even their couriers are flexible. Not at home? They can come over later same day.

Right, just as a follow-up on this:-

I checked RSS, they have 9 various Torx drivers, the T6 is $90! It's not apparent that they sell sets.

Element14, has a set of 6 (like a boxed set of watch-makers screwdrivers), size T5-T10 (yes, incl T6). $4.99. The site indicates they have 190 in stock. They also have a walk-in 'trade counter'. Since we're passing by their location in a couple of days time I will go and pick one up. I was going to see what their delivery charge would be, but would have to register on their www to see that, so that might be a consideration for others who consider using the mail-order service.

Fingers crossed it will work this time, and also that I can get my $'s back off Handyman!

- Thanks all for the help and advice offered. I suppose the conclusion is that the above websites have different but overlapping offerings, but between them seem to have IT/electronics and tools comprehensively covered. Whereas Handyman is perhaps more retail orientated, more expensive (understandable given the rent they must pay), and carries more mainstream tools and DIY items.

[x9200]

The delivery is $10 if you spent less than $30 (online) or $70 (offline). Other than this is free. They also don't wait till all the items arrive to the local stock (if the case) but ship them out immediately once they are available.

[JR8]

For clarity re: Handyman:-

In case anyone else thinks of doing a DIY battery change on a unit anything like mine, or work with Tork Keys:- I've resolved the issue.

The issue with the Tork wrenches sourced at Handyman was a misunderstanding.

As I said I needed a T6 wrench. When the wrench set arrived the back of the packaging described sizes T10-50, with a grid of the various tork-bolt types that each fits. This led me to believe the set in the package were sized T10-50, and not T6. But I was mistaken!

I had no idea what size a T6 was, apart from 'being very small' (maybe 1.5mm?). So knowing no better I assumed the packing indicated the actual contents. And wishing to exchange it for the correct set, I did not want to open the packaging and prejudice that.

So you can imagine my frustration...

Going back to Handyman today, and finding the set was not T10-T50: Oh no! It is in fact T5/6/7/8/9/10/15/20. Quite different eh? I had my dive computer with me/with the bolts, so we tested it there and then. No problem.

The 'penknife style set of keys' IS marked with the sizes of the actual keys. But that marking is on the side hidden from view inside the packaging!

So in summary:
- Handayman were quite right
- The packaging however is wildly misleading!
- I'm sorted for kit now to do my battery change (wish me luck for tomorrow .

p.s. Haven't been to Handyman for a few years. Boy what a mesmerising 'guys grotto' of tools and stuff. Wonderful!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Been using Handyman since the 1980's. Only place in Singapore that was able to source a pair of Fencing pliers, Black bake-on enamel for refinishing the restoration project on an antique Singer Sewing Machine and various tools & bits & pieces when you cannot find them anywhere else. (And the display style of Katana with requisite blunted edges as well. I actually hate walking in their as I always walk out with something that I didn't expressly walk in there for.