Future of Canister lights

[PfcAJ]

@wetb4igetinthewater even with big deep trimix dives, remember that the vast majority of your dive time is going to be on deco where you may use the light for signalling, but that isn't enough to warrant going to a large canister. I.e. if I'm doing a deep trimix ocean dive with a planned bottom time of say 60 minutes but has a 3 hour deco, I'll probably want a 2 hour burn time on the light, but I definitely wouldn't say you need something with 4 hours on high. My lights get turned off during deco unless it's dark.
Even in the caves, I shut my primary off on deco and use my helmet lights on deco

4hr ocean dive?

Worst idea in the history of ideas. Possibly ever.

 

[geoff w]

@stuartv the battery pack is big enough to overdrive it. It may only be 1100 with some big efficiency losses but those were calculated from burn time and pack capacity.

Without accurate metering, is it possible to distinguish between 1100 and 1200 lumens?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@tbone1004 ,

Thanks. Great points. I'm not sure how interested I am for doing long cold water deco dives, as I'm a wimp when it comes to temperature, unless I upgrade my heating system. There are a few guys in my area who do rebreather dives on scooters for 5 hours. But they have some serious heated vests. That's a heavy financial investment for all that. I see myself doing 5 hour dives in a cave in the future when I move back to Europe. Again thanks for the tips. Lots of reality in them.

 

[tbone1004]

@PfcAJ I 100% agree with you, but people do it... I don't, but it's not impossible. 30 mins at 300ft will do it real fast

@geoff w no

@wetb4igetinthewater part of that is why I am having a UWLD canister made for me now that has the heating pack on the canister. Huge advantage to that system where you only have to have one battery pack that will power both the light and the vest.
With the big battery and the LD35 and heating vest I'll be using on high, I'll have just shy of 3 hours of burn time. High on that vest is uncomfortably hot at about 120* so it won't be on high that often. Total for the big battery, vest, vest controller, 3500 lumen head, and inflation valve is $3k. Cost of the vest+heater valve+controller is about $1k over the cost of just the light.
For me thinking about the area that you dive, I think it may be worth going with the canister light since you may have the canister on you for a heated vest at some point in the near ish future anyway... That would heavily skew my purchasing decision

 

[PfcAJ]

@PfcAJ I 100% agree with you, but people do it... I don't, but it's not impossible. 30 mins at 300ft will do it real fast

Rule number 1. Rule number 2. Option number 1.

 

[ams511]

Somewhat related to this thread. Are there any uses for old light canisters? For example I was watching the DIR 3 video again and was shocked at the size of a light canister circa 1999. They didn't seem that large at the time but compared to today it is enormous. Filed with batteries it could power an LED light into the next decade.

 

[tbone1004]

Somewhat related to this thread. Are there any uses for old light canisters? For example I was watching the DIR 3 video again and was shocked at the size of a light canister circa 1999. They didn't seem that large at the time but compared to today it is enormous. Filed with batteries it could power an LED light into the next decade.

they still use massive canisters like that for super high power video lights. Other than that, if they're the massive ones you can use them to bring food and stuff into deco habitats...

 

[ams511]

they still use massive canisters like that for super high power video lights. Other than that, if they're the massive ones you can use them to bring food and stuff into deco habitats...

LOL, I was hoping you would say you can swap out the light heads, but carrying food is pretty funny.

 

[tbone1004]

LOL, I was hoping you would say you can swap out the light heads, but carrying food is pretty funny.

I mean, you can, glands are glands and the cable is still the same as what has been used forever. The question is what the cost of the batteries would be, and what the weight of the can would be. Cheap packs from Battery Space are about $1.5/wh
Something that would fit in say the MLS canister from Dive Rite which is a good sized canister, but not a massive one, would probably accept about 500wh of battery. Enough to power the UWLD35 for 14 hours but would cost over $700. Worth it if you have to drive something like 4x of the 10,000 lumen UWLD video lights where that one pack could drive them on high for an hour, or needed it to maybe power interior lights in a temporary habitat maybe? Can't see much of a use for scuba though.
If you need that much power, it's easier to tap into a DPV battery if you need it

 

[ams511]

I don't own anything that big. I have a Halcyon Proteus 10 watt HID. While it is nothing now it was smaller and better than the old halogen lights. The problem is the bulbs are no longer made. So I was hoping something could be done with it.