Question Heated Vest - Santi Flex 2.0 vs. Light Monkey DTEK

[MrBlenny]

My family member dive buddy gets painfully cold after 30min in our PWN waters, and adding bulkier midlayers has resulted in too much loss of mobility, so a heated layer seems like the best option now. I settled on on either Santi or DTEK because they use a bulkhead and exterior battery, but beyond that I only know that the Santi is 55w, while DTEK is 40w. I should add that my buddy is smaller woman, so maybe one fits small frames better?

Thanks!

 

[BFRedrocks]

Both my wife and I have the Santi heated vest and they work great. We also have the Santi full heated suits and gloves (we dove in Antarctica and the Arctic) and so far, all of the Santi heated undergarments have worked really well. You'll also need a good battery...Santi makes a small one for the vests...we have UWLD batteries for the suits. You just need to keep the battery under 160 wh for any airplane travel.

 

[JohnN]

Both my wife and I have the Santi heated vest and they work great. We also have the Santi full heated suits and gloves (we dove in Antarctica and the Arctic) and so far, all of the Santi heated undergarments have worked really well. You'll also need a good battery...Santi makes a small one for the vests...we have UWLD batteries for the suits. You just need to keep the battery under 160 wh for any airplane travel.

Why external battery? I’m very happy with my Venture Heat Vest. Batteries are completely sealed (you could wear it under a wetsuit ) and has about 6 hours of run time on lowest power

 

[Superlyte27]

Why external battery? I’m very happy with my Venture Heat Vest. Batteries are completely sealed (you could wear it under a wetsuit ) and has about 6 hours of run time on lowest power

Because a runaway battery shorted out could kill you.

This has happened. It’s not speculative. If a battery catches on fire OR controller goes haywire, you can not shut it down if it’s not external. People have gotten very severely burned by vests/batteries that they couldn’t access when they malfunctioned. Some of those burns have been shown here on SB. It’s a big deal.

 

[JohnN]

Because a runaway battery shorted out could kill you.

This has happened. It’s not speculative. If a battery catches on fire OR controller goes haywire, you can not shut it down if it’s not external. People have gotten very severely burned by vests/batteries that they couldn’t access when they malfunctioned. Some of those burns have been shown here on SB. It’s a big deal.

Like I said, the battery is completely sealed. The burns you referenced happened with people using motorcycle vests inside their drysuits. Can you cite a single case where a Thermalition or Venture Heat battery behaving in that manner?

 

[michael-fisch]

Like I said, the battery is completely sealed. The burns you referenced happened with people using motorcycle vests inside their drysuits. Can you cite a single case where a Thermalition or Venture Heat battery behaving in that manner?

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

If you are willing to take the risks, we can't keep you from trying to kill yourself - but if you do we'll roast you on the internet much more thoroughly than the battery that caused your death did.

Michael

 

[Superlyte27]

Like I said, the battery is completely sealed. The burns you referenced happened with people using motorcycle vests inside their drysuits. Can you cite a single case where a Thermalition or Venture Heat battery behaving in that manner?

You think a sealed battery can’t catch fire and burn through its containment? Lol. If so, you’re too dumb for me to waste any more time on you. Do your own research. You don’t have to look far. The burn pictures are on this very board.

 

[Leto]

MrBlenny, maybe a heated shirt would be a better option then a bulky heated vest (in Europe Heizteufel, Yellow Diving or Smart-Tex would be good examples).

@Michael, still happy with your Heizteufel shirt? Still without heated gloves?

 

[treasurehunter]

The problem as @Superlyte27 mentioned is thermal runaway
It is irrelevant if the battery pack is watertight. A lithium battery's worst enemy is heat.
The most probable cause of a lithium battery over heating is a short circuit in the electronics and/or wiring.
There are many ways and points that can cause a short to happen, starting from a defect at assembly of the battery pack to the wiring from the battery to the vest, a defective battery prematurely going dead in the pack, and the bms.

Once the battery goes into thermal runaway there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it other than (pun not intended)runaway, and the heat from that one battery burning will cause all the other batteries in the pack to also go into thermal runaway.

Anything electric or combustible inside a dry suit that you don't have the option of shutting it down reliably from the outside is a big risk.
Doing a techdive or a cave dive, you have enough risk to deal with already, adding a potential fire hazard in the mix is not wise, especially if there is other options to make it all safe.
A recreational dive in a dry suit can also become catastrophic with a battery in thermal runway. you still have to get back to shore or on the boat which could take long enough that you will be in a spiral of trouble.

An exterior battery that you can disconnect like a breaker in you electrical panel at home just make a whole world of sense. If your electronics only gets stuck in the on position and you cant stop it consider your self lucky compared to potential bigger hazard of having a ticking timebomb in your pants.

you can easily go on YouTube and see lithium batteries in thermal runaway in action, it will be a eye opener.

​

 

[JohnN]

You think a sealed battery can’t catch fire and burn through its containment? Lol. If so, you’re too dumb for me to waste any more time on you. Do your own research. You don’t have to look far. The burn pictures are on this very board.

OOOOOhhhh insults. Isn't that the last refuge of the hopeless.