As an update from my previous blog, my inspection report is now 160 pages long. It’s as complete as it’s going to be for a while. Decisions need to be made about whether to use the current end caps and remachine them or to make new ones. It also needs to be decided if we’re going to use the spare connectors made of the same material or if new ones will be ordered out of titanium. I spent time unsoldering one of the failed connectors. We’re hoping that we can reuse the wires. The problem is that they may just be old and not optimal after being subjected to dives for years. Ideally we will be able to reuse them because of the pins at the end of the wires; the company that originally made them has closed and no one makes a comparable product. If we cannot reuse the wires, then we may have to redesign a lot of the electrical components in order to accommodate new pins. Also it’s a lot of work to cut several feet of wire for each pin of which there are 66 per connector and there are 8 connectors (1,056 wires in total). I didn’t think unsoldering the connectors would be too bad, it’s just heating the solder and pulling wires how hard can that be? Again, there are 66 pins on the connectors in concentric circles. As you get closer to the center, the pins get closer together. Trying to hold the iron against the solder without melting any of the wires is a challenge but I am up for it.
A halfway unsoldered connector