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I know the obvious differences but I can't decide if I want to spend the money to convert my reg to DIN. I just picked up a steel HP100 with a din valve for $70. So I couldn't pass it up, but it's going to cost $100-120 to convert my reg to din with the yolk adapter. Just would like a little input. It seems like the converter for din to yolk pushes the reg against your head, just wonder if that's true.
Depends on what kind of diving you will be doing with the tank!
Yoke sure seems to be an odd design. With DIN the o-ring is quite captured and the 1st stage is lighter and more compact.
very true and the tank is a lot nicer. It's mostly recreational diving so either way would be fine. I'll probably convert it. Does anyone know of any good site to buy conversions for a scubapro MK25?
Or if you would like to save money (or make some money) you can just buy a new yolk valve for you cylinder and sell the din valve for just as much or more than you bought the yolk valve for. Plus you can still use your regulator on other cylinders that have yolk(and most do .....at least in the states.)
Ace I was think about that but the guy at the LDS said o rings blow out all the time with the extra pressure and it's bad for the reg. Don't know if that's true, any opinions?
Here is my take, If you got a good deal sell it and get a low pressure tank if you boat dive a lot. If it is a 3500 psi tank you have to find some one to slow fill to that psi. If the tank is a 100 filled to 3250psi cold then you are 10% short or 90qft or only 10 more qft than an 80. Also it is impossible to get a boat to pump that high on a fast fill you will be lucky to get 3000psi! So if you do this kind of California diving the sell it and by a low pressure 2400psa 105qft. filled to 3000psi, which anyone can do even a boat, it cools to 2800psi you are almost 20% above 105qft or about 125qft of air! One and half times that of an 80! Then you can really impress your friends on those 2.5hr dives! So I say sell it! and buy another tank!
Sorry, maybe i've got the wrong end of the stick here but, to convert a DIN valve to take yoke - otherwise known as A clamp- regs merely requires a small adapter that just screws into the DIN valve ? The result is exactly the same as a normal yoke configuration. It is the other way around that requires the addition of a large and expensive adapter that increase the size of the whole 1st stage assembly.
Personally, I've got DIN valves and regs. the main advantages for me are: only one O ring required no matter how many cylinders i'm using over the day, a much more secure fitting, absolutely no danger of knocking it off passing through a tight space etc. The only possible disadvantages are: possible incompatability issues with Yoke valves when travelling, the possibility of jamming the reg into the valve if you hit it hard enough when passing through a tight space.
That is correct. O-Rings blow and the wear and tear on the Reg with High Pressure.Quote:
Originally Posted by hbh2oguard
Look at what you are trying to accomplish, is is "time", is it "Safety" is it ...
"etc..." and go with that.
I prefer DIN personally and carry the converter when traveling.
I really like Papa Bear's idea, but you may not. As far as it being bad for your regulator, it has nothing to do with the valve, but to do with the higher pressure.
You have more than a few choices here on what you can do, so now the bottom line is up to you.
Oh, that just begs for a rhyme rendition:Quote:
You have more than a few choices here on what you can do, so now the bottom line is up to you.
A yoke can blow that dried up o-ring
Without a spare, you'll feel the sting
You may throw the old yoke, in the bin,
And come up to date, with the DIN
You've now got more choices, on what to do,
So the bottom line, it's up to you
Ok, so I just woke up this a.m.
;)
BUT....
If you remember our thread on Save A Dive Kits and you have one, extra O_Rings are not a problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hbh2oguard
I have several things to say, while I am stuck on land due to bad seas and not able to dive, GARBAGE, GARBAGE GARBAGE!!!!!! That is truly the most idiotic thing I have heard in a while! These are high pressure regs to begin with. 3000 psi. is high pressure, 500 psi. is not extra higher pressure. (What is this super secret double probation? [Animal House reference]). The regulator, provided it is serviced annually (per manf. specs.), is designed, and capable of handling this and higher pressures. I have been diving DIN regulators, Mares and Scubapro, for 12 or 13 years and servicing them for longer. The only regs that show unusual wear, are the ones that are not serviced regularly! This is all a function of maintaining the correct Intermediate pressure on the first stage.
That is yoke or DIN.
The profile of a Din is smaller and less obtrusive and less prone to failures. The O-ring on the yoke is exposed to all and wears out much quicker than a DIN O-ring (which is mounted on the regulator itself)
Now if the tank is to your liking and the valve is not, you can sell the valve, buy a "standard" valve as a replacement. This is a store/site that could help you. http://www.diveriteexpress.com/gas/thermo.shtml
It has the added benefit of being able "convert" back and forth, should you so choose. The other consideration, as Papabear indicated, is the ability to get a "true" fill of your HP tank. Here in Florida, and especially in cave country, a good fill is readily available.
I have L.P. tanks (2640 & 2100 psi. working pressure), I have H.P. tanks (3442 psi. working pressure), I have standard tanks (3000 psi. working pressure). They each have their purpose, and are dove in certain combinations and/or situations. What is not changing, are my regulators!
What it boils down to is simply this, what diving are you going to do? What should not be a factoring consideration is whether or not your regulators can handle the various pressures. They can, how about you?
amtrosie that's kind of what I thought, what's another 500psi, and I don't do tons of boat diving so getting a fill isn't a problem.
papa I also see your side to it. I keep an eye out for a lp tank, or switch the valve on the tank I have.
I'd be happy to swap you an old yoke valve or two for the DIN valve (DIN is all I use these days, so I have a pile of old yoke valves laying around.) At the higher pressures you will go through a lot more orings on your yoke connection, but that mk25 will not miss a beat. Mine have seen 4000psi starting pressures on a regular basis and it took quite a few dives (read multiple years) before the HP seat began to leak a bit (easy fix.) Just about all regulators manufactured today are 300 BAR regs, which mean they will easily handle the extra pressure at the beginning of each dive. It is a simple task to replace the yoke on your reg with a DIN fitting, and the $120 sounds about right if you are paying shop labor to have someone else do it for you (the parts themselve can be had for half that or less, depending upon the quality you settle for - e.g. plastic handwheel can be had cheap while the metal handwheels are much more expensive.) It is a relatively simple task to make the switch yourself, you just need to know how to use a torque wrench.
Bama,
Now that sounds like the best plan for him.
He does not even need a torque wrench, he can put the thing on hand tight and bring it to the shop for its VIS inspection, of course they will take off the valve and reinstall it when done. Our local shop charges $15 for the VIS.
So if he makes a trade with you and brings his cylinder to his LDS, he will only be out $15 more and be able to use his new cyl.
So you have YOKE reg and DIN tank valve. You should be able to find the threaded insert that goes into a DIN valve allowing a YOKE reg to attach and work just fine. Some valves actually come with the insert - I have one, but it's DIN 200. If your tank is DIN300, then you need to check out some on-line dive shops and get one. It will NOT be $100-120, but should be A LOT less.Quote:
Originally Posted by hbh2oguard
Cheers,
-S
not all din valves are able to accomodate the thing that screws in to make it yoke. the one i just bought second hand did not. so i bought the conversion for my reg. cost like $40. and i can change my reg back and forth din to yoke in seconds. but after using din I have a strong preferance for it and I am selling all my aluminum yoke tanks.
Bama it's a thermo 3500 DIN http://www.thermovalves.com/scuba_outlets.htm
the last one on the page. It's a pretty small neck not exactly sure what size. If you have a K valve you think would work at high pressure I'd be happy to switch. Just one question, normally an o ring blows when taking off the reg or just turing it on, or can it blow when ever?
Of course it can blow whenever, but 99.9% of the time they start to leak right when you turn the pressure on. If you get the better o-rings they really will last longer. Then again, if you just buy the cheep ones and replace them every 10 uses or so, you should never really have a problem.
In fact in the 80 or so dives my wife and I did over this summer, we only had one o-ring go, and it was my fault as I tried to turn my first stage when it was already connedted and I ripped the o-ring.
I did notice that a lot of the o-rings go bad on rental tanks, but I think they just use them untill it completely fails or someone complains.
Well I decided to sell the HP100 and just got a LP95. With the plus rating it holds more air and it's acutally shorter but a lot wider. It also quite a bit heaver but less weight on my belt.
OK ... I know this is old but I have been having this same conversation with some of my dealers.
Two years ago (the age of this thread) I was selling DIN filler hoses on compressors two to one over the yoke filler. Last hear it turned around the other way. I started selling tank valves last year and have not sold one DIN only valve but a TON of the cheap yoke/DIN convertibles.
Does that mean that DIN isn't as popular as it once was? Probably not. I think that , in at least in the case of the valves, cheap is the winner ... no matter what the configuration.
I also think it has a lot to do with what people already have. Most regulators that have been sold in the US in the past use Yolk fittings. It is not likely that someone is going to replace a regulator just because they are buying a new cylinder, unless they are buying everything together. I also think you are right cost is a huge factor. I also think DIN is used more exclusively in the technical dive community, which we all know is a rather small percentage of all divers.
It is any easy cure, valve companies now have a valve with a built in adapter! All you need is an Allen wrench! So no matter where you go you can adapt to local equipment. As a world traveler I carry a valve insert so my Yoke first stage works! I think the reason for what your seeing is HPs were becoming the "New thing" and then people started looking at it as hbh2 did and shop owners realized how expensive it is to run the compressor to 4000psi! Wait and see if Cap-in-trade goes through!
I have one of these type of valves on my pony bottle. The only problem with it is that I only have one first stage that will actually fit on to it. It is so wide, that most yolk type first stages will not fit. I can post a photo if anyone doesn't understand what I mean.Quote:
Originally Posted by Papa Bear
You do know it is easy to change your 1st stage yoke?
I did, that is why it is on my pony bottle. My pony reg. is the only one that I have that will fit over it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Papa Bear
I am thinking about getting some new cylinders soon anyway. I dove a few days ago with a LP120. It was a beast of a cylinder but I was able to dive for almost 2 hours and I still had air left but was too cold to continue. My friend has 5 of them for sale, thinking about picking up one or two.