Are battery tanks for diving lamps still useful ?

[Pareto]

Hello together

I started technical diving this year and the deco times are getting longer and longer. Because we in Switzerland are not blessed with warm water in the deco stops all year round, I am currently considering buying a heating vest from Santi.

My lamps currently work without tank and I honestly do not see the benefit of a battery tank for lamp (My Tillytec Maxi can hold 3x 21700 and shine longer than I dive). Besides, if the battery tank fails, you lose the primary light and heater at the same time.

How do you handle this? Please write the answer in the comments or the poll.

Greetings
Pareto

 

[Tug]

I still use a canister light and have a separate battery canister for my heated undergarments. I like having it split between two sources so I can tailor my usage for each dive. It also has the benefit of not losing both heat or light if one fails.

 

[Wibble]

Not quite as simple. For the heater, get a decent size battery pack. It consumes a lot of power and it's only purpose is to keep you "not cold". A small 6AH one will not last a full dive, certainly not a long one.

I have two Light For Me 18AH cannisters. They work, but Light-for-Me's service is terrible, so I cannot recommend them as they take months to get fixed (if you can't do it yourself). My batteries work well and I have one clipped to the back of my rebreather; the second one is the spare.

If buying again, I'd make sure that there were two outlets from the battery (for torch and heater), terminating in E/O connections. I'd like the option to blank off either one if it's warmer or I'm using a separate torch battery. Alas most of the options are not cheap.

Options I'd consider would be Light Monkey (which also has a Pitkin controller built in); I'd only consider the 20AH or greater. The Ammonite battery which is good quality. Might look around at the Polish manufacturers, but my LfM experience has put me off of them. Santi do a larger 18AH(?) pack. All of these options are well over €1k.

 

[Rich1280]

I'm just in a heated vest occasionally, so I tend to put a second battery pack on as I need it. I think flapping cables when not needed are just likely to snag and pull when not in use and that is cost to fix when that happens. With my relatively low utilisation, it is easier just to have a relatively small battery pack and use it as needed.

Rich

 

[Bobby]

With my latchless system you can mix or match having the heat controller and light together and/or separate. There are other advantages to my system as well, such as constant heat output regardless of battery voltage, and many other features. https://uwlightdude.com/g6-heat-controller/

 

[Pareto]

With my latchless system you can mix or match having the heat controller and light together and/or separate. There are other advantages to my system as well, such as constant heat output regardless of battery voltage, and many other features. https://uwlightdude.com/g6-heat-controller/

Hello Boby

Thanks for the link, but I think for this purpose I will use the Scaleo Heat. A friend of mine has this and is thrilled.

https://scaleo-light.de/scaleo-heat/

Part of my dive school concept is to use European (preferably local) manufacturers wherever possible. Therefore your solution is unfortunately not an option for me, but thank you

Regards Petar

 

[Wibble]

Hello Boby

Thanks for the link, but I think for this purpose I will use the Scaleo Heat. A friend of mine has this and is thrilled.

https://scaleo-light.de/scaleo-heat/

Part of my dive school concept is to use European (preferably local) manufacturers wherever possible. Therefore your solution is unfortunately not an option for me, but thank you

That looks like a neat controller and not a bad price.

 

[Jcp2]

With my latchless system you can mix or match having the heat controller and light together and/or separate. There are other advantages to my system as well, such as constant heat output regardless of battery voltage, and many other features. https://uwlightdude.com/g6-heat-controller/

Is it possible to buy an empty canister with a blank cap to use as a storage container for plb?

 

[tbone1004]

Is it possible to buy an empty canister with a blank cap to use as a storage container for plb?

UWLD went to a latchless design several years ago so while I'm sure you could buy a blank canister there wouldn't be an easy way to open it if you needed access to the PLB....

 

[greeniguana]

EU MFG:

Power Canister G2 192Wh D - For heat vest or lights