Nitek X beta unit testing is underway. I took one cave diving in Mexico last week and it worked as designed the first three days. After that the screen contrast wouldn’t hold the setting due to a software bug. Additional beta units will be in next week, pending the arrival of custom fiber optic backlighting components.
We will begin doing weekly reports on the testing.
Lamar
We have updated the GF factors for the NiTek X, specifically the CONO GF. See Phil’s comments below:
Lamar
Based on your input, we have re-worked the gradient factors and have a new GF for CONO as follows:
CON0 : GF 75/95
CON1 : GF 40/100
CON2 : GF 30/75Briefly. CON2 is Eric Baker’s conservative base assumption, “if you want conservative, use this”. CON1 is good low GF but no surface penalty over an above the deep stop time “this gives considerable deep stops but does not extend shallow deco too much”, CON0 base level safety “Some movement of shallow stops deeper to hint at deep stops, for recreational use”.
I labored most over CON0. Use the Workbench to try these profiles. You will notice that 75/95 has the characteristic that for serious or less serious recreational dives the deco is hardly longer, but does move one or two stops deeper in the water and spread the deco over a deeper range. It is more conservative by “deep stop” rules for this reason. Eg. for a 130 ft dive that usually yields a Buhlmann deco starting with one minute at 9M you will see a few minutes at 12M followed by a slightly longer deco, total. This happens because you need to stop earlier because of the LO-GF, but you are not on-gassing still (much) because you are shallow enough. So the deco is actually more graceful by the same “deep stop rules”. It is more complicated than that physiologically, but as far as the model maps to this I think we are in bounds.
Phil
The programming to add more dive log memory has been completed as well as the fourth cell pin compatibility for the Fischer connector. Circuit boards for the Beta units are scheduled for October 9th at the PCB house, meaning we should have our beta units by mid-October.
Decompression software is in the works and a demo version will be available soon. We will post the demo version on our website as soon as it is ready.
The production beta units should be ready next week. The boards are going to the production house over the weekend for programming. We will also be getting ten beta units for final testing.
We are increasing logbook capacity by adding another chip for more memory storage. We should double if not triple the 6.2 hours in the design. The 6.2 hours was worst-case scenario based on diver settings, profile sampling rate, flags, OC/CC mode and gas switches. If you’re traveling and can’t download until you get home, set the sampling rate at 30-second rate for more storage capacity.
We are using an industry-standard transducer rated to 150m. If you take it deeper than that it will not lock out, but there is no guarantee as to the accuracy or the integrity of the pressure transducer.
The NiTek X is not vaporware. As with any R&D project we have delays. Phase One design and programming went very smooth and initially we were right on schedule. However, in Phase Two we’ve had challenges with vendors changing parts or delivering parts out of spec, which delayed us getting an alpha unit to test dive. What is interesting about the NiTek X is that this project is our original design, created to our specifications. Obviously, an original R&D project is a huge undertaking as there are no templates to follow.
We now have the alpha unit in hand to dive and will be doing daily dive tests before proceeding to Phase Three, which is production of ten beta units for field testing. I will keep you posted on the timeline of the ten beta units. It should be very soon.
