A big advantage of the Kraken bulkhead over the Nauticam one is that the Kraken is compatible with a higher number of Nauticam housings than the Nauticam plug because the cable on the Nauticam is not removable and the one on the Kraken is which makes a huge difference in favor of Kraken.

I experienced this on the NA-GH5: the 90° USB-C plug simply won't go through the M16 port while on other housing like NA-Z8, it inserts well into the M16. The difference on the housing is just the thread length on the NA-GH5 that is longer than its equivalent on NA-Z8. I wish Nauticam has made a bulkhead with a removable cable. I've solved this issue on the NA-GH5 by using Kraken bulkheads. With the proper adapter (like I it), you can even fit it on a M14 port.

14 hours ago, OneYellowTang said:

@Dave_Hicks

It might just be me ;)

I religiously change the battery in my Z-8 after each morning of 2 dives. I can stretch i to 3, but at that point I might miss a few shots at the end of a dive. I also always change before going black water diving.

With the various updates I have noticed the battery draw getting better, however not to the point I'm trying 4 dives on a single charge. With the ENL-15C battery my older D850 can shoot multiple days without concern (my son is shooting with this camera now).

Do you use the EVF exclusively, or do you use the back screen? And do you have the camera in Airplane Mode? I also rotate between 3 batteries to reduce wear.

I only use the EVF, which I suspect uses less power than the rear screen. And no need for wifi/bluetooth underwater. Even shooting some video for a few minutes across dives, I've still only run down the Z8 to zero once in about 300 dives with it to date. I was stretching it out on a 4-dive day and had several rapid action encounters were I really racked up the shutter count.

Nice idea for my a7V Nauticam housing.

Just still need the same for my s-TURTLE 3 SMART TTL trigger and housing can stay closed forever :)

Has anyone experience on the turtle trigger battery duration ?

I have still only a few dives with the setup, so difficult to figure out...

I'm likely getting the Kraken M16 so I can just leave my housing under vacuum for most of a trip. As I've found recently though the Nauticam leak sensor will rip through a set of batteries in a few days if left on.

I am thinking perhaps of a magnetic reed switch to allow it to be turned on and off without opening the housing?

14 hours ago, FrancoisC said:

Has anyone experience on the turtle trigger battery duration ?

I have the same trigger and it last for a long time. I use manual and not sure on the power setting (fairly low i guess), but i did like one week in a resort (3 dives per day) and the led flashed still over 75%.

Using TTL or max power probably uses more.

4 hours ago, Grantmac said:

I'm likely getting the Kraken M16 so I can just leave my housing under vacuum for most of a trip. As I've found recently though the Nauticam leak sensor will rip through a set of batteries in a few days if left on.

I am thinking perhaps of a magnetic reed switch to allow it to be turned on and off without opening the housing?

My new one uses also way more battery compared to previous (NA-A1ii vs. NA-A7RV). But i dont think magnetic switch for power works, i think the circuit needs to sense vacuum forming, instead of just turning on with vacuum already there.

I might be wrong of course.

18 minutes ago, Sokrates said:

I have the same trigger and it last for a long time. I use manual and not sure on the power setting (fairly low i guess), but i did like one week in a resort (3 dives per day) and the led flashed still over 75%.

Using TTL or max power probably uses more.

My new one uses also way more battery compared to previous (NA-A1ii vs. NA-A7RV). But i dont think magnetic switch for power works, i think the circuit needs to sense vacuum forming, instead of just turning on with vacuum already there.

I might be wrong of course.

He would have to release vacuum and then turn the switch off. Upon rearming the circuit with the "switch" of some sort he envisages then restore the vacuum. But he would not have to open the housing.

I just open my housing in the evening, give everything a once over and then close it back for the next day and pull vac about 30 minutes before departure or when convenient. But, I recharge between dives or at lunch as needed without having to open the housing on the boat or a sandy beach or some other undesirable place.

45 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

He would have to release vacuum and then turn the switch off. Upon rearming the circuit with the "switch" of some sort he envisages then restore the vacuum. But he would not have to open the housing.

I just open my housing in the evening, give everything a once over and then close it back for the next day and pull vac about 30 minutes before departure or when convenient. But, I recharge between dives or at lunch as needed without having to open the housing on the boat or a sandy beach or some other undesirable place.

Alternatively leave it on for a day or two and then turn off without releasing vacuum it should continue to hold.unless you do something like drop the housing or otherwise subject it to load. I think the vaccum valve from leak sentinel is designed to allow you turn it off.

Does someone know a reseller for Kraken bulkhead in Europe ?

If not I can order directly from Kraken... But 30$ postage for a 60$ product :(

Edited yesterday at 05:02 PM1 day by FrancoisC

3 hours ago, FrancoisC said:

Does someone know a reseller for Kraken bulkhead in Europe ?

If not I can order directly from Kraken... But 30$ postage for a 60$ product :(

I got mine from Diveinn for 55 euros last month but now both models are about 80-85 euros.

Edited yesterday at 08:23 PM1 day by eocean-eu

15 hours ago, Sokrates said:

My new one uses also way more battery compared to previous (NA-A1ii vs. NA-A7RV). But i dont think magnetic switch for power works, i think the circuit needs to sense vacuum forming, instead of just turning on with vacuum already there.

I might be wrong of course.

I actually did that mod on the NA-GH5 with a reed switch (magnetic) but there is a big trick behind as you are right: the circuit needs to sense the vacuum forming when one to go from yellow to green. That implies removing the vacuum during "rest time", turning off the circuit then turning it back on and restoring vacuum.

The pushbutton Nauticam puts on their housing that allows to rearm the alarm when switching ports is not a "normally open" pushbutton but a "normally close" model. Contact is broken with the pushbutton is pushed which meaning it just turn off momentarily the circuit when you press it. So you need to solder in parallel to that switch a "normally close" reed switch which are hard to find unless you use a reed switch with 3 pins (the common one, a Normally close and a Normally open pin). By locating the reed capsule close to a wall of the housing and placing externally a strong magnet, you can then arm and disarm vacuum.

You then don't have to open the housing, just release and redo vacuum before diving. With a usb-c bulkhead, I did a 10 days cruise like that without ever opening the back of the housing. The bulkhead was used to charge battery and download files. Every morning I just had to remove the external magnet so the circuit was ready and then start to pump.

Edited yesterday at 08:28 PM1 day by eocean-eu

My use case is more to disable the sensor so I can do an overnight soak without first opening the housing and not run the battery down.

25 minutes ago, Grantmac said:

My use case is more to disable the sensor so I can do an overnight soak without first opening the housing and not run the battery down.

Rechargeable 2032 batteries:

https://a.co/d/07wLBk3T

So you don't need to care if the battery runs down.

2 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Rechargeable 2032 batteries:

https://a.co/d/07wLBk3T

So you don't need to care if the battery runs down.

Looks like their capacity is only 45 mAhr while a CR2032 is 235 mAhr - though that is to 2V so effectively about half of that to just under 3v where Nauticam vacuum alarms signal low battery. I like the idea of a rechargable bettery though- one solution might be to find a rechargable Li battery that you could wire in place of the coin cell holder., something with a small enough cross section.

2 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Rechargeable 2032 batteries:

https://a.co/d/07wLBk3T

So you don't need to care if the battery runs down.

24 minutes ago, Chris Ross said:

Looks like their capacity is only 45 mAhr while a CR2032 is 235 mAhr - though that is to 2V so effectively about half of that to just under 3v where Nauticam vacuum alarms signal low battery. I like the idea of a rechargable bettery though- one solution might be to find a rechargable Li battery that you could wire in place of the coin cell holder., something with a small enough cross section.

Hi Dave,

thanks for hint. I have also checked after reading your message and must agree with Chris. The capacity of rechargeable button cells are very low. Nothing compared with the lithium battery one. You won't be happy using them.

Br Markus

I'd be fine charging every 5th dive if it means I can't kill a fresh set through leaving it on for a day by accident.

5 hours ago, Grantmac said:

I'd be fine charging every 5th dive if it means I can't kill a fresh set through leaving it on for a day by accident.

Have you tried a LiON battery? On a trip to Okinawa, I had my vacuum sensor light on for 5-6 days straight without a problem and downloaded photos and charged the camera through the Nauticam port.

Brett

Thanks for the spec sheet analysis. However, you came to the wrong conclusion. They last plenty long enough to be easy to use and live with.

About a year ago my vac sensor started eating 2032s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It became unusable as it ate the battery after every dive day. Possibly caused by a minor moisture incident in the Philippines that triggered the alarm. In practice I tend to set the rig up and draw vacuum the night before diving and then open it at the end of the day or next morning. So, after 24-48 hours I had a dead cell. The rechargeable cells lasted at least that long and were not throw away.

I since replaced my vac circuit but continue to use the rechargeable cells. They run much longer now, and I just recharge them after they die or after a several dive days. I have a six or ten pack of them so it's easy to rotate between them and recharge in a batch.

In short, they are fine in real world use and much less wasteful. The vacuum circuits are real battery hogs even when they work properly and I always prefer to use a rechargeable cell whenever they are available.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Dave_Hicks

Hi Dave,

if your happy to work with the rechargeable cells it is fine for me. Fact is that rechargeable 2032 have a capacity of 45 mAh and the Li cell between 210-240 mAh. For me, that's a significant capacity difference. Sorry ,but I do'nt want to change cells every few days, but I agree on your argument regarding waste.

FYI: I started my dive trip in march with new installed CR2032 on my Nauticam vacuum system. I did 25 diving days and left the vacuum system running several days overnight (f.e. Malapascua, you leave 05.00 am...I think you know) and even left the vacuum running several times for 2 full days (too lazy open the housing). It was still running on the last diving day without change batteries. I just made a quick calculation and I roughly estimade more than 300 hours the vaccuum system was working with two CR2032.

Br Markus

20 minutes ago, Muellema said:

Hi Dave,

if your happy to work with the rechargeable cells it is fine for me. Fact is that rechargeable 2032 have a capacity of 45 mAh and the Li cell between 210-240 mAh. For me, that's a significant capacity difference. Sorry ,but I do'nt want to change cells every few days, but I agree on your argument regarding waste.

FYI: I started my dive trip in march with new installed CR2032 on my Nauticam vacuum system. I did 25 diving days and left the vacuum system running several days overnight (f.e. Malapascua, you leave 05.00 am...I think you know) and even left the vacuum running several times for 2 full days (too lazy open the housing). It was still running on the last diving day without change batteries. I just made a quick calculation and I roughly estimade more than 300 hours the vaccuum system was working with two CR2032.

Br Markus

My Nauticam uses One cell, not two. They probably put two in yours as the efficiency is so poor. They are battery hogs and wasteful. When mine was damaged it became even worse.

I am not evangelizing for rechargeable cells, but merely responding to someone have a similar problem to mine. To each their own.

Hi Dave,

verry sorry, my mistake. I mispelled may be something. I also have only one 2032 battery on my D850 housing vacuum system.

Br Markus

14 minutes ago, Muellema said:

Hi Dave,

verry sorry, my mistake. I mispelled may be something. I also have only one 2032 battery on my D850 housing vacuum system.

Br Markus

The vacuum circuit in my NA-D850 is much longer lasting than what is in the NA-Z8 housing. Something in the newest generation of these circuits took a nosedive in performance. I've heard similar tales of woe from newer Nauticam Sony housing owners as well.

Just as a remark, previous circuit board using CR2032 were less power hungry than than CR2450.

1 hour ago, Dave_Hicks said:

The vacuum circuit in my NA-D850 is much longer lasting than what is in the NA-Z8 housing. Something in the newest generation of these circuits took a nosedive in performance. I've heard similar tales of woe from newer Nauticam Sony housing owners as well.

I totally agree with that: NA-GH5 : CR2032. Lasts a week even with the system always on. NA-Z8 : CR2450. 2-3 days despite those cells are twice the capacity of CR2032.

Mine is a two cell board and I might get 40 hours total on name brand cells. I'll be going rechargeable.