Canister light routing

[grantmac]

I only really use the drop-Ds for my pouch and the occasional reel/camera/video light mod as and when.

I think I'm going to adjust it so it sits a little further up my back, the switch sits just under + behind where the wing bungee starts so that's easy enough to locate + operate.

On the webbing loop there's a little bit of give so I can shift it further around a smidge when clipping a bottle and it's pretty unobstructive.

View attachment 824335

I don't think my heavy tanks will work on my waist D rings. But maybe I can move my drops a bit further out the mount the can upright just onboard of them.

I don't really like it on the crotch strap and my cord is too short for there anyway

 

[MSargeant]

I don't think my heavy tanks will work on my waist D rings. But maybe I can move my drops a bit further out the mount the can upright just onboard of them.

I don't really like it on the crotch strap and my cord is too short for there anyway

Would front hip mounting (under the bottle) a la Brett Hemphill/Matt Vinzant be an option?

 

[mdwalter]

With today's technology in lighting, one can now wear a light on the back of the hand with battery built in and no need for a cord or canister. These are just as powerful and long lasting as the canister lights of just a few years back and avoid the routing issues discussed here. Therefore, I would encourage side mount divers to consider a cordless primary light as an option for at least some situations. I have taken to this method myself for all but the longest of cave dives. When I deem a canister light is needed for whatever reason, I do tend to butt mount it as the others have described here. My light cord is not quite as long as it should be for this routing, so I either need to keep my left arm slightly bent while holding the light or mount the light to the left side of my helmet instead.

 

[dotraphael]

I mount it next to the central spine on the xdeep. on the other side i've got the dry suit inflation cylinder and on the crotch strap i mount my heated battery. i wouldn't put the heated battery next to the spine as i'm not able to turn on/off that easily. if you are flexible enough, you could put it both in next to the central spine.

i think it was the best i could and i kept everything streamlined. i've made a video on how i mount everything

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I got rid of corded lights several years ago. Dive-Rite LX20+ gives me ample brightness and burn time for my cave diving which is all I do these days that requires a light.

LX20+ Primary Light

 

[InWay2Deep]

When I was OC w/ the xDeep I had mine mounted in the spine, I could reach in and turn it on/off (heater + light). Now that I'm using a sidewinder and a K2 I tried butt mounting it, but my suit heater cord was just a tad short and I couldn't reach the switches anyway, spine mounting would be out of the question, no way I was going to get my hand + petrel/wrist slate up in there. I now have it mounted on the waist band (left side) between the drop d-ring and first fixed D-Ring (i use 2 fixed for AL80's in mexico). I typically use steel tanks on the drop D's, so I can still mount those on the drops, and get a stage clipped on the first fixed d-ring and bonus the cords can get tucked out of the way better when kitting up and I can reach all the switches and the cord is plenty long now, i just tuck it in the waist band. Its a little uncomfortable on land while moving as the canister hits my upper thigh and gut (20ah big boy battery), but once in trim flat out i don't even feel it. The light is easy to deploy and most of the time it's stowed and I use my BigBlue as my primary, I have the corded light as a backup, might as well take it anyway since I need the battery to keep me warm.

 

[Walde]

Canister is on the left side of XDeep Stealth spine and 1l steel suit gas on the right side.

 

[PEDiver]

I got rid of corded lights several years ago. Dive-Rite LX20+ gives me ample brightness and burn time for my cave diving which is all I do these days that requires a light.

LX20+ Primary Light

I just recently started to play around with my LX20+ and while the light is great for those <2 hour dives, the one thing I don't like is the soft handle it comes with. I really like being able to use a hard goodman handle to switch hands effortlessly. Are you using the soft handle or did you convert to use the hard goodman handle?

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Are you using the soft handle

Yes

 

[inquis]

I just recently started to play around with my LX20+ and while the light is great for those <2 hour dives, the one thing I don't like is the soft handle it comes with. I really like being able to use a hard goodman handle to switch hands effortlessly. Are you using the soft handle or did you convert to use the hard goodman handle?

I liked the soft handle, but I found it worked best for me on the right hand (leaving the left free to work the hip dump). Yes, care must be taken during longhose donation and during reel operations, but I didn't find it a big deal. I had tried a hard handle early on but found it too loose/floppy (clearly not an issue with the soft handle).

I've switched back to the hard handle on the left hand on the mandate of my CCR instructor who also gave me the solution to it being floppy (a fingerless glove). I stick with the hard/left configuration in open-circuit for consistency.

In my view, both hard/left/easily switched or soft/right/rarely switched work for most things, it's just a matter of getting used to it. The possible exception that my DPV-capable friends have related to me is that the hard/left is much preferred for that use case.