18650 batteries: what's your go to

[BrackaFish]

You carry extra batteries when you dive? How would you swap a battery without flooding your light? I could just be incredibly dense.

LOL. I believe that he means that he carries extra backup lights, not extra batteries. Carrying 2 or 3 backups lights is the gold standard in cave diving

 

[kelemvor]

LOL. I believe that he means that he carries extra backup lights, not extra batteries. Carrying 2 or 3 backups lights is the gold standard in cave diving

Yep, you need at least 3. 2 is 1 and 1 is none... whatever that actually means Backup lights are small and it's easy to stuff a couple into a pocket without even noticing the extra stuff is there during a dive.

 

[flymolo]

You carry extra batteries when you dive? How would you swap a battery without flooding your light? I could just be incredibly dense.

cavesloth promise us you're not trolling?

 

[tbone1004]

You carry extra batteries when you dive? How would you swap a battery without flooding your light? I could just be incredibly dense.

carry an extra light with you. Now that lights are small and cheap, just throw an extra one in your pocket. I keep them in the "normal" place on harnesses/helmets, etc, then I keep one with an Oxycheq goodman handle in my pocket. The one in the pocket is the "primary" if I have to travel with it

 

[fmerkel]

Re: laptop re-claiming18650 - Unless you have the tools, meaning a GOOD analyzing charger, are willing to develop the skills to both take them apart and analyze the cells, and are fully cognizant of the risks...I suggest not bothering.

I did this for a couple years. ALL cells went through an analyzing charger. Torn shrink wrap was replaced. Obviously defective cells were recycled.
But.....most analyzers use puny resistors to discharge, many top out at 1/2A, and only a few go to 1A. Very few go higher.

I finally got an FET discharge analyzer that would go to 2.6A discharge, also accurately test internal resistance (which most analyzing chargers are pretty flaky about).
2 months of testing later I've divested myself of 80% of those pulls as garbage, and probably 40% of my old NiMh stock. Much of it has been relegated to 'light duty' only. I now know why some of the (old) Eneloop NiMh weren't working well in my strobes. At 1/2a, they seemed great, at 1A they started to show weakness, at 2A the weakness was obvious, at 2.6A many fared pretty poorly.

Even a decent analyzing charger may only show part of the discharge story.

 

[CaveSloth]

LOL Yes, I know that we we carry at least 3 lights with us into overhead environments. I swear I am not trolling. I just have an oddball brain. It sounded like he was taking spare batteries down with him.

OK so what he was really saying is that he carries like 5 or 6 lights down or as many as he will need for the duration of the dive. Makes sense.

 

[CaveSloth]

carry an extra light with you. Now that lights are small and cheap, just throw an extra one in your pocket. I keep them in the "normal" place on harnesses/helmets, etc, then I keep one with an Oxycheq goodman handle in my pocket. The one in the pocket is the "primary" if I have to travel with it

Speaking of small and cheap lights. What is your go-to small/cheap light? Is there anything worthwhile that is really cheap like under $25?

 

[CaveSloth]

Also what do we all think about the Orcatorch D630 as compared to the ULD / LM / DR etc...? Is it really dim after burning for 2-3 hours?

 

[tbone1004]

Speaking of small and cheap lights. What is your go-to small/cheap light? Is there anything worthwhile that is really cheap like under $25?

no. $50 is about as cheap as you can get with them, but with all of the tariff changes they've all gone way up in price.My go-to is the Cave Adventurers Explorer light, but that isn't cheap. Orcatorch sent me a D550 which is nice, but again not cheap, and you can find them on amazon from other brands for around $50. The key there being to throw out the chargers and recycle the batteries and get real ones because you use it.

As far as the D630. No specific mention of UN38.3 compliance in their manual so that's sketchy enough to me. As far as how it compares to the lights made here? I'm sure it works perfectly well and that it's dimming is only noticeable if you shot with video before and after. It will still be much brighter than a 10w HID or your backup lights. The question is whether $1k is worth it to you and if you actually need a light that big.
5x cree LED's at claimed 4k lumen means XML-U2's more than likely. 89wh battery with a 5 hour burn time means 17.8wh burn, but you only really get 80% of the battery which is about 14.5wh average consumption. 100 lumen/watt means that light is on average 1400-1500 lumens across that burn. It may start at 4000 lumen, but it will quickly fall off to probably 2000 lumen then stay pretty stable down to about 1000 lumen for the rest of the burn.
So to compare that to UWLD, we need to look at the LD15 with what is essentially halfway between the smaller of the two canisters. At $1100-$1300 vs $600, it's a steep upcharge, but with the Big Blue canister incident recently, I'm not sure I'd be able to risk it since they don't explicitly call out their UN38.3 certification

 

[CaveSloth]

I ordered a few of the PANASONIC NCR18650B from liionwholesale based on some comments you made. Also got a Nitecore i4 charger for $20 off of Amazon. Will toss my old stuff.

Currently my primary light is a Big Blue VTL6300P but not liking the proprietary battery. I like how it switches between spot and wide or video mode. I like the video mode for filming. Debating getting a different primary light (canister) but not sure how to illuminate for video since most primary lights are spot only. Not sure what brand of primary light to get. I have a bunch of DiveRite gear.