1000 Lumen Dive Light - SORRY :)

[Dive Right In Scuba]

. No offense to DRIS light, it is a great light especially for the cost.

No offense taken It wasn't meant to compete against can lights. It is close though, and at a fraction of the price, so some people win with it

As for making a canister option, that is not something we have looked at doing with this light. I love all the unique things you guys are doing with the light, but it is intended as a backup. It is obviously EXTREMELY versatile, which is one reason we went with it. But you won't see a million accessories for this light.

 

[eelnoraa]

It worked fantastic as a primary backup within a cave during the day!

This I totally agree. It is a great light. I can't stress enough, that I why I have two.

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I wont disagree with you at all but if there was a way to simply add a length of cable to the current light (like the old DR LED500) seperating the battery from the head and then mounting the head on my hand vs having to hold the whole light in my hand I would pay for that. The current light works great for the lake diving I do around here and not having to hold it would be great.

Well, I have never said it is not a good light. I like mine a lot and have two. But the fact is it is not the same league as canister light, say 21W HOG HID. That I don't think is disputable. I do agree with Mike. For the money, it is very very good alternative. I am happy to leave my canister home and use DRIS for primary on a tropical dive vacation. I however won't replace my canister light with this for my home water.

As for not having to carry it, have you consider putting in on a light sock?? This light may feel heavy on land, in water, it isn't very negative. As for the length, compare it to HID light head, say LM/HOG 21W, it actually isn't much longer, but substantially smaller. The only concern here is if you let go the light sock, you will lose the light. With canister, you let go the head, it is still attach to the canister. But light sock also can attach to you hand much more securely than a metal goodman handle.

 

[chrpai]

I put a bolt snap on mine and clip it to my compass bungee. I can't drop it if I let it go.

 

[chrpai]

If there was a budget can light available (say 3 xm-l t6 emitters and 3 hour burn time) I'd be all over it.

 

[brysonjk]

So after a short test, I have a question for those who have used this light. Has anyone tried rechargeable batteries in their light? I put the light head on a variable power supply, and noticed something rather unexpected. At 3.6VDC (voltage of 3 NIMH batteries) the amp draw was about 1A, but at 4.5VDC (Voltage of 3 Alkaline batteries) it was 1.8A. This tells me that the output isn't regulated, and therefore the performance of the light is less when using rechargeable batteries. Has any real world tests confirmed this? Reason I am asking is that if you were to put this light on a canister, you would either have NIMH batteries (3.6Vdc), or Lithium batteries (3.7Vdc) in the canister. If the light output is less at the lower voltages, then any such upgrade would actually be a downgrade.

 

[chrpai]

Your numbers don't come as a shock to me. I did hook it up to 2 lion in series once and it worked. Wonder if that would burn it out long term?

 

[brysonjk]

To anyone interested, and am writing my thoughts...

So my testing today was a little different. I did the same test as yesterday 3.6vdc, and 4.5vdc, and today the results were that at both voltages there was about a 2.7A draw on the power supply. I also had a lux meter setup, and the light output stayed about the same. So now my thought is that the added voltage of the Alkaline cell vs the NIMH is just dissipated by heat. Meaning that one could assume that running the light on NIMH would actually extend the life of the LED, and driver because there is less heat. The problem is that a typical Alkaline cell has like 8000 mah, and NIMH has about 5000 mah. So my assumption is that this light would burn for about 2.5 - 3 hours on Alkaline, and about 2 on NIMH. Here is where the canister option comes in. A lithium cell is about 2600mah at 3.7vdc. My canister, about the size of the newer, Dive Rite ones (2.5" diameter) will hold 8 of these cells, giving me a total of 20,800 mah. This will increase the burn time to about 8 hours, perhaps more, and gives me the ability to put this on a goodman handle. It might not be a great primary light for a cave, but for local dives where you don't need a 21w HID, or similar, this option might be the best. So if you are able to machine your own canister, this could end up being about a $200.00 canister light system. To me that is a good option. People have been doing this, myself included, with Maglite for a long time. Perhaps DRIS has given us a great starting point with this fantastic light.

What are your thoughts?

 

[00wabbit]

Hi DRIS fans. I have been working for a while on a design for a goodman handle to fit these lights. I am finished now and looking to take pre-orders on it. Check it out here: Goodman Style Handle for Scuba Flashlights | Indiegogo

 

[chrpai]

Any thoughts on how to get 3 25500 batteries in this puppy in a 3p configuration?

 

[3D diver]

No, but I just bought a bunch of Tenergy 5000mAH NiMH C-cells.

They got mixed reviews on Amazon, but I'm accumulating too many partially discharged alkalynes so have to give 'em a try.