Heated Undersuit batteries

[BFRedrocks]

Your dives wont be that long or consume that much power. 160wh will be fine for ~90mins of diving IMO and I am very cold sensitive. Alternatively you could bring 2x 90wh batteries.

Cold sensitive diving in WA? For this trip anyway, it seems there will be plenty of time to recharge in between dives if I even use most of the charge on dive 1, so I'm less concerned about the total WHs now. I'm pretty cold sensitive, but not like my wife who was in 6mm neoprene in the Caribbean at 83 deg F.

 

[rjack321]

Cold sensitive diving in WA? For this trip anyway, it seems there will be plenty of time to recharge in between dives if I even use most of the charge on dive 1, so I'm less concerned about the total WHs now. I'm pretty cold sensitive, but not like my wife who was in 6mm neoprene in the Caribbean at 83 deg F.

three hours in a 38f cave back in june with almost an hour of that being effectively stationary on deco
12 hours in a 45f cave last month

Not 28f seawater no, but far longer than your 30-45min excursions - which have also been done plenty of times without any heat at all. I'm pretty sure you'll be fine.

 

[tbone1004]

I'm not exactly sure, but I figured I'd be charging in between dives as much as possible to get that second dive in with a possibility of full heat. Someone who did the trip recently said it's usually hours (one in the AM and one in the PM), so there's definitely an opportunity to perhaps even get a full recharge between dives.

If it's one AM and one PM you should be able to get well beyond 80% charge for the second dive *it likely won't be full since it's something like 0-80 takes as long to charge as 80-100 *don't quote me on that exactly, but it's somewhere around there*.

 

[BFRedrocks]

If it's one AM and one PM you should be able to get well beyond 80% charge for the second dive *it likely won't be full since it's something like 0-80 takes as long to charge as 80-100 *don't quote me on that exactly, but it's somewhere around there*.

After much research and debate, yeah, I think going with a max 160wh battery is the safest choice in dealing with the air travel regulations. Unfortunately that limits the heating time, but if I can get a solid 40 minutes on dive 1, and then recharge the battery enough for 40 minutes on dive 2, then I'll be fine. I dove 40 mins in Silfra (36 deg F) without any heated undergarment and felt good throughout the dive, except for my hands at about minute 30. Maybe 80% will be sufficient anyway, meaning that I should get almost two full dives in on a single charge.

BTW, I emailed with Bobby yesterday and got a good understanding of how his system works...he seemed like a straightforward guy.

 

[BazzaB]

I'm in this boat now, trying to power the Santi heated undersuit and gloves (145W). How has the LM battery with Pitkin held up? I like the UWLD heater controller option, but it's $400 more for only 160Wh versus 230Wh.

Have switched to the Santi 24AH battery which gives me about 2hrs on headed undersuit and gloves.

 

[tbone1004]

@BFRedrocks @Bobby does post on here from time to time and a lot of his posts are really interesting. Several about his heated vests. Glad you were able to get a hold of him and I know you won't be disappointed!

 

[rjack321]

Have switched to the Santi 24AH battery which gives me about 2hrs on headed undersuit and gloves.

How high are you running that???
You must have very little insulation to need that over 100watts of heat

 

[Bobby]

Sorry I'm so late to the party, some good discussion here. There are two podcasts from Dr. Neal Pollock regarding heated under garments for diving. Very good information that was helpful when I was designing our heat controller. Podcast 1 Podcast 2 and we also have a blog page that gives information on our heat controller design.

 

[BazzaB]

How high are you running that???
You must have very little insulation to need that over 100watts of heat

The Undersuit (Santi BZ400 heated) combined with the heated gloves uses around 150watts. The battery only has on on/off switch

 

[rjack321]

The Undersuit (Santi BZ400 heated) combined with the heated gloves uses around 150watts. The battery only has on on/off switch

150watts is about three to four times what I use - even on multi-hour dives in 4C water or ice diving. And I get cold <very> easily.

I don't understand how anyone could need or use that much heat without sweating like crazy. Unless the thinsulate in that suit is old and compressed or you have a thin hood or some other explanation.