SUBALERT Si
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Before I had a SUBALERT installed on my Nikonos, my casualty rate was high. In addition to diving a lot, much of that was in the dirty environment of beach diving. I would either destroy or have to have my Nikonos rebuilt once every 12 to 18 months. This was getting to be expensive!
I’d previously tested the SUBALERT in its larger, bulkier form. While this bottom mounted device worked well, its size made it cumbersome. The SUBALERT Si, on the other hand, is tiny in comparison. The Si version mounts on the side of the camera and is barely noticeable during photography. The device must be custom installed, with some of the workings inside the camera.
There are many misconceptions on how a SUBALERT works. It is not a water detection alarm. By the time water is in the camera the damage is often already done. Nor does it “pressurize” the camera against the pressure of the outside water. How it does work is in the best way possible: by preventing problems before they ever occur.
The vast majority of flooding problems come from improperly “seated” or sealed ‘O’-rings—those all so important tiny rubber devices that keep water out. There can be a number of reasons for an ‘O’-ring to not seal: dirt, hair, cracking, bad flange and more. Of course you always want to keep your ‘O’-rings and sealing surfaces clean but you may miss something or an ‘O’-ring could become pinched. Furthermore, there are many ‘O’-ring seals on a Nikonos that you cannot reach or may forget about. What the SUBALERT Si does is first to force ALL the ‘O’-rings of a camera to seal before ever taking the camera into the water. This is accomplished by pulling a vacuum inside the Nikonos with a hand vacuum pump. Tiny red and green indicator lights, easily visible in the camera’s viewfinder, then indicate the status of your seal. Once you have a seal, the green light shows itself. If a red light does not show up for 20 minutes, you have a good seal and it is safe to dive the camera. Should at anytime before, during or after the dive the red indicator light come on, the seal has broken and the camera should not be submerged or remain submerged. This has only happened to me once and I terminated the dive immediately with no damage to the camera.
It does take a few extra minutes of preparation pre-dive and in changing out film and lenses, but the savings in damaged camera gear is well worth it.
The SUBALERT Si works off the existing batteries inside the Nikonos camera. While this reduces battery life, it allows the unit to be much more compact.
For further information, call Pacific Camera in Costa Mesa, CA at 800-481-0146 or visit www.subalert.com on the web. Similar devices are available for the Nikonos RS camera and housed camera systems.
Dale Sheckler is Editor and Publisher of California Diving News, Producer of the SCUBA Show 2001 expo (June 2-3 at the Long Beach Convention Center), and co-author of the book newly released A Diver's Guide to Southern California's Best Beach Dives, 3rd Edition.