What the?? Air on or off???

[mp4]

I always laugh that a good many folks struggle with this when it comes to opening a valve, tightening a bolt, ect....but no one ever seems to have trouble figuring out which way to turn the cap on a bottle of pop!

[oldtimer]

I always laugh that a good many folks struggle with this when it comes to opening a valve, tightening a bolt, ect....but no one ever seems to have trouble figuring out which way to turn the cap on a bottle of pop!
[/quote]

Or a bottle "O" Rum!  Yarrrrr!

[settinggirl]

I was in Riviera Maya on a dive a month ago and the guide on board was my dive buddy. I had my air on before I got in the water and had him do a buddy check on me.  He checked my air and only turned it on a half turn.  I got in the water and my air was off (thankfully I checked before descending.)  I don't think most people feel they would need the equipment, but there is always that "one time" when you'd wished you had it.  Hey, I say it can't hurt right?

go for it.

[jasondbaker]

Just some technical input on your design.  A non-trivial portion of the population has a hard time distinguishing between red and green.  I'm one of them.   Also, the colors may change depending on depth and lighting conditions. Have fun with your design!

[Dewit2it]

Globe valves would be best as indicators.  You could see from handle position whether it's on or off, as it only turns 90 degrees.  Our cylinder valves are currently designed as flow control type valves.  They are good for slowly pressurizing the system, whereas a globe valve is more of an on/off valve, and will hammer the system.  At higher pressures, you also want to keep surface areas subjected to pressure to a minimum.  A globe valve will also need to rely on O-rings to seal the globe.  Globes will also tend to waste gas.

[pamelakoepke123]

I agree; not a bad idea, but may cause complancency.  I too breathe several times before entering the water and then again several times before descending.  It's not a matter of trusting my buddy, but rather keeping all of my skills and safety checks at their highest.

After experiencing a panic attack at 30 feet, I now never ever dive without taking a few minutes to calm my mind and breathing and think about the procedures of diving - air, gear, mask, etc... and then calmly enter the water and take those couple of minutes on the surface keeping my mind on being safe and ready.

I have a concern that if you take the "thinking" out of diving more divers will become complancent and compromised and run the risk of serious inujury and death.

[E. Davis]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd give an update on the indicating valve handle.
Last summer, I finally convinced the wife (and myself) that we should go forward with the plan to engineer and distribute the handle.  We have been busy field testing prototypes, applying for our patent and spending the kid's inheritance.  All last summer, up until Lake Wazee froze over, I dove with the prototype and it has worked flawlessly, even while muck diving with JCDU on call outs!  Over the past several months I have had the opportunity to show the handle at DEMA in Las Vegas, Our World Underwater in Chicago, Dive Into the Past in the Twin Cities and Ghost Ships in Milwaukee.  I appreciate all of the comments and suggestions that we have received.  For being just another diver, I appreciate the overwhelming support of my idea to make our sport a little safer.  With that being said, I do not have a large budget to research the seemingly endless number of valve manufactures ou there, we could use your help.  Before going into production, I would like to be positive that we are able to retrofit our handle to EVERY valve that is currently being used.  The following is a list of manufacturer's that I have information on: Thermo, Sherwood, Blue Steel, OMS, Youngdo, Dive Rite, Hollis, Scuba Max, Genesis, Dacor, Catalina, Halcyon, US Divers and Spirotechnique.  Have I missed any?  Your help is always appreciated.  If you have any additional feedback or comments, please do not hesitate to post.  Dive safe, see you at Wazee!