Calculating the cost to maintain HID light

[alo100]

It seems to me from there that, instead of worrying about what's containing inside the bulb, e.g. Mercury Vapour, Sodium Halide... etc. A manufacturer with a good reputation is the way to go, then of course, check with their updates, isn't it?

Gee... I just checked the price of one bulb, quite expensive.
I wouldn't mind if it is the head light of my car, but never expect the bulb for a flash light... anyway if that's the way...

Then the "10 W bulb is more fragile" may not be too important, as long as the flash light manufacturer has done a good job in design and QC....

Thanks for the the info, I've read some other threads here, all are v. useful!

 

[jonnythan]

alo, these bulbs are not made for dive lights.

The percentage of these bulbs that get used in diving lights is probably far far below 1%. These are bulbs that were being produced for another industry that a dive light manufacturer found and built a dive light around. The market is basically insignificant to the actual bulb manufacturer.

The WA bulbs are made for medical equipment.. bright overhead lights you see in doctor's offices and surgery wards and the like. They don't need to be tough. The Brightstar bulbs are made to be tough because they're made for cars.

 

[double80s]

snip...A manufacturer with a good reputation is the way to go, ...snip

That's what you should really focus on. Maintenance costs on a HID are somewhat trival. In the 2+ years life of my Sartek 10W I've only had to spend $70. This was due to my own "improvement" job...the light head flooded. Sent it back to Carl and he replaced the lens, reflector, updated the switch, changed all the battery connectors and pressure tested it. Not bad if you ask me.

The same goes for the Salvo lights we sell. Most of my dive group uses them and travels with them many times throughout the year. No issues...no extra $$. They have benefited from discounted upgrades and other improvments that were optional.

New divers often cringe at the cost of an cansiter light, but I have yet to sell one to someone who later regreted the purchase. Overall, the lights from all the popular manufacturers are pretty good. The value is in the support and reputation.

I don't know what light you are looking at, but feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

 

[Manta]

First of all - which HID light? I have no experience with a 10w Halcyon, except that I had one for about a year or so and it was perfect until I eBayed it to upgrade to the Halcyon 18w.

I had a Sartek 10 watt for about 9 months. It was perfect until I eBayed it to upgrade to a Halcyon 18w.

I've had my two Halcyon 18w for about 2 and a half ("light A") and 3 years ("light B") respectively. Perfect performance until:

* I flooded two batteries in a week this summer (in the same light..."light A") THE SAME WEEK. Not my finest hour. Halcyon wanted a zillion dollars for a replacement batt. I found a local source (thank you TDS) and bought the same batt for $144 each. Connectors from M.Carr for about $6.

* I broke "light A" lamp 6 months ago. It didn't burn out. I fat fingered it. Purchased another one from W/A for $229. Ouch (snoozed on an eBay auction for $165... double ouch)

* Busted the lamp on "Light B" in transit to Hawaii in December (in my carry on... memo to self: remove the bulb for big trips.) For this one I went to Sartek and had them do the BrightStar mod for $125.

* In February Sent off "Light A" to Halcyon for a switch replacement. From the flood this summer the switch has been crunchy. They replaced the cord, glands, switch etc. for no charge.

* Broke the new lamp on "light A" (the one I replaced in summer) lobstering in January. Sent off "Light A" to Sartek for the BS Mod. Will have it back this week. $125.

Lets do the math. In the last 8 months I've poured almost $800 into these two lights.

In the first previous two years my maintenance costs were zip.

With the BS mods, my bulb issues are over. I now double check the Oring seal before every dive and I have once again known an unbroken streak of leak-free performance. I have new lamps, new batteries, a new cord and switch ("light A") and enough Orings to start a parade.

There it is. Crimany I hope I'm done with all of this.


---
Ken

Hey Ken,

I feel for you...If you look at our Green Force 21 watt HID system, you will not have any problems again. Our bulb is impact resistant, won't break it, in 3 years, no one has (well one, John Chatterton, Deep Sea Detectives did...well it was really TSA...they took it apart) We do not use ON/OFF switches (failure points, as you could attest to) our activation is twist. We use triple O-rings to seal everything..

Food for thought

Thanks - Greg

 

[alo100]

Hey Ken,

I feel for you...If you look at our Green Force 21 watt HID system, you will not have any problems again. Our bulb is impact resistant, won't break it, in 3 years, no one has (well one, John Chatterton, Deep Sea Detectives did...well it was really TSA...they took it apart) We do not use ON/OFF switches (failure points, as you could attest to) our activation is twist. We use triple O-rings to seal everything..

Food for thought

Thanks - Greg

Need to go somewhere...
I checked the site briefly... just doesn't seems to be able to find the illumination intensity (lumens)...

 

[true]

The WA bulbs are made for medical equipment.. bright overhead lights you see in doctor's offices and surgery wards and the like. They don't need to be tough. The Brightstar bulbs are made to be tough because they're made for cars.

Jonnythan, that's a common misconception about the WA bulbs. Just because WA's primary business is designing lighting instruments for medical use doesn't mean that the bulbs used in dive lights are from those product lines. WA is a very large company that makes bulbs for a number of different industries. The bulbs used in the dive lights were refined and marketed for the bicycle and outdoor sports sector-- I can assure that the use of WA in the bike light market dwarfs that of the dive industry. Throughout the last five years WA has worked closely with their sporting goods customers to make sure that the bulbs are properly suited for the applictions we are using them for.

Best,
Anthony

 

[micbu]

Hi,

only the 10W bulbs are designed for the sports market. The others are designed for medical equipment.



Greetings, Michael