What equipment do I need for night diving

[Drowning]

I am interested in night diving...besides a flashlight, what equipment do I need?

 

[H2O 70]

Primary light, secondary light, and tank markers.

Don't go cheap on the light. I made that mistake. I didn't really enjoy the night diving until I got a good light and realized what I had been missing.

 

[spectrum]

A back-up light, some sort of tank marker is nice to have. Solid daytime skills are important as you task loading is going up while your visibility is going down.

More here.

Pete

 

[Sas]

Primary torches, and at least one secondary torch (though two is nice). A tank glow stick can be a good idea, but I don't find these necessary on my night dives (about a third of my dives are at night).

I am partial to torches that are not too bright for night diving. If I want a bright dive I'll dive in the day, not at night with a torch that replicates the sun.

A strobe on an entry point is handy too. And if you have a dive flag due to boat traffic a strobe on that is also a good idea.

 

[Drowning]

Primary light, secondary light, and tank markers.

Don't go cheap on the light. I made that mistake. I didn't really enjoy the night diving until I got a good light and realized what I had been missing.

I have just purchased a Princeton Tec Miniwave LED, but for a secondary light I think something a little less bulky would be a good idea. Does anyone have any suggestions on this point?

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I have just purchased a Princeton Tec Miniwave LED, but for a secondary light I think something a little less bulky would be a good idea. Does anyone have any suggestions on this point?

Consider what you need the secondary light to do. If it's just needed to illuminate your gauges and communicate with your dive buddy, then you don't need much. I have a Princeton Tec 40 that uses 4 AA batteries. I paid $10 for it several years ago. Good value IMO if it meets your needs.

I mount the Tec 40 on my harness strap. One thing I'd recommend doing is making a small mark with a paint pen to indicate the proper "off" position. The light uses a clockwise, twist-on switch. Even though it's off prior to descent, once you get down to max depth the increased ambient pressure could turn the light on. Simply turn it off at depth and then, following post-dive rinsing, mark the "off" position with a pain pen. Sorry if this isn't very clear.

Skip the tank light. It's not useful at all IMO. Far better to be able to identify individuals in your dive team based on light beam characteristics and other gear (fins, fin markings, drysuit/wetsuit, etc.).

Enjoy the new light. I have the 8C version of that light. I use these Maha Powerex NiMH rechargeable batteries with it.

 

[H2O 70]

I have just purchased a Princeton Tec Miniwave LED, but for a secondary light I think something a little less bulky would be a good idea. Does anyone have any suggestions on this point?

I have one of the 300 lumen Nocturnal lights. A bit pricey but good money.

I have the older 300 lumen version of this light SLX 800t Dive Lights

I got an e-mail from them, for $179 I can replace the inside and get the 800 lumen...very tempting.

 

[TSandM]

Regarding the tank light . . . if you are shore diving, you can make your own decision about whether it is necessary. (My opinion is that, if your primary light is good, you don't need a tank light.) But some charter operators REQUIRE a tank light, and if you don't want to be the cause of the environmental problems of a cyalume stick, you need to have a tank light of your own.

(Funny story: One of the silliest things I've seen in all my diving to date was doing night dives off the Peace boat on a private charter with 23 DIR divers, all with high powered canister lights and two backups. The boat's insurance requires tank lights, and none of us had them, so the boat gave us all glowsticks and required we put them on. Here we were, with enough underwater illumination to play professional football with, and they're making us put on glowsticks . . . We had one fellow in the group with a wonderful sense of the absurd, and when he got in the water, he yelled to his buddy, "Doug, look at my tank light, you can see me, be sure you can see me with my tank light." We were almost howling with laughter. )

One thing you might want to check before night diving, is whether you can read your depth gauge in the dark. If it has a backlight feature, you may want to look up in the manual how to activate it, and how long it lasts. If not, you want to check whether it's phosphorescent. I can tell you from very painful personal experience that there are few things diving worse than being in midwater, at night, with a depth gauge you can't read.

 

[Atomic_Diver]

I have just purchased a Princeton Tec Miniwave LED, but for a secondary light I think something a little less bulky would be a good idea. Does anyone have any suggestions on this point?

Princeton Tec 400 is a nice back up...

 

[rligon]

We actually carry two backups now. UK SL3 as a backup to the primary, and a Princeton Tec Impact XL as a bailout light. The SL3 is kind of large, but gives enough light that we can keep diving if the primary fails.

I agree with a strobe on the dive flag, make sure it illuminates the flag or that you have another light that does. And never use a strobe as a tank light, it works OK for you but blinds everyone else around you (as was pointed out very strongly to me when I did it )