Bowzer
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Last summer I made a couple of dive lights for myself and my wife. I used 14 NiMh C cells and a Dive Genie Dive Light Genie Electronics.
Circuit board (also bought the batteries from their recommended supplier.) Over driven halogen in a Maglight body (read very bright, burn your hand, white light - mfg specs indicate output equivalent to about a 70-80 watt halogen/20 watt HID).. Pretty standard fair thus far. I didn't want to use a Otter Box, but rather a PVC/acrylic case (see previous post on how I broke one testing.) Unfortunately I found that I couldn't fit four C cells/layer in a standard 2.5 inch PVC tube. This meant a large battery case, or spending a fortune on a custom sized acrylic tube, not what I wanted. On closer inspection, I found that the C cells had 3 layers of covering, an outer PVC shrink wrap, followed by an oaktag layer and finally an inner PVC shrink wrap layer. By removing the outer layer and the oaktag, I found that I could insert a layer of four C cells in a standard 2.5 inch piece of PVC tubing. This gives me 3 rows of 4 and a row or 2. The extra space on the top layer just fits the wires and quick connectors. The battery fit is snug, so I recharge then in the tube to avoid wear on the single layer of PVC insulation. I use a thermocouple on the charger so they don't overheat.
To those of you contemplating making a light. This can give you an 80 watt pack in a reasonable size using off the shelf tubing. I certainly recommend the Dive Genie
Wife and have a season on the lights so far, so good.
Circuit board (also bought the batteries from their recommended supplier.) Over driven halogen in a Maglight body (read very bright, burn your hand, white light - mfg specs indicate output equivalent to about a 70-80 watt halogen/20 watt HID).. Pretty standard fair thus far. I didn't want to use a Otter Box, but rather a PVC/acrylic case (see previous post on how I broke one testing.) Unfortunately I found that I couldn't fit four C cells/layer in a standard 2.5 inch PVC tube. This meant a large battery case, or spending a fortune on a custom sized acrylic tube, not what I wanted. On closer inspection, I found that the C cells had 3 layers of covering, an outer PVC shrink wrap, followed by an oaktag layer and finally an inner PVC shrink wrap layer. By removing the outer layer and the oaktag, I found that I could insert a layer of four C cells in a standard 2.5 inch piece of PVC tubing. This gives me 3 rows of 4 and a row or 2. The extra space on the top layer just fits the wires and quick connectors. The battery fit is snug, so I recharge then in the tube to avoid wear on the single layer of PVC insulation. I use a thermocouple on the charger so they don't overheat.
To those of you contemplating making a light. This can give you an 80 watt pack in a reasonable size using off the shelf tubing. I certainly recommend the Dive Genie
Wife and have a season on the lights so far, so good.
