my tests of the Ikelite Pro Lite 3 video lights

[robint]

As most of you know, I bought the Ikelite video light rig for my trip to Roatan in Nov, 2008. I had been shooting video for 3 years with my Sony camcorder (HC42) with only the red filter during daytime. Because I love night diving so much, and since we were going to CCV resort where there is fantastic night diving from shore, I decided to go ahead and invest in the light system. I went for the 100w single light.
Ikelite Pro Video-Lite 3

My test on a night dive:
I did not use the light rig on my daytime dives on Day 1. Vis was horrible due to constant rain for 2 days causing runoff. That night, however, I decided to shore dive and try out the video lights for a quick dive. Here is the resulting video:
Night dive - lighting test on Vimeo

no editing of any sort on the video, just straight out of the camcorder, so you can see how the lights performed. I was very pleased with the result for several reasons. I have tried to shoot video on night dives just holding a dive light and that sucks! I got a hot spot in center and fumbled with holding the camcorder and light at the same time. It was very awkward and results were bad. The Ikelite Pro Lite 3 video rig is the exact opposite. The battery pack attaches to the Ikelite housing bottom right where the weighted base is (you just swap them out). The weight is the same so no need to add more weight or add bouyancy compensation anywhere.

The light attaches to either arm of the tray and the "on/off" switch attaches to the other arm so that with only slight movement of your hands you can turn the lights on or off. There is a focus light also which you can use to find subjects to film and save the bulb life which is also nice!

And the nicest feature to me was the coverage - the 100 degree beam is fantastic, really covering everything within filming range. I really like that. And the only time I saw a hot spot was when I got too close to a light colored subject. It was really hard to assess this though as vis was so poor with lots of "floaties" in the water. :shocked2:

So, for the approx. $600 price tag, I think the lights are a great investment. I didn't get a chance to use them during the day as I **********ed the camcorder the next day. :depressed:

I know for a true test I need to try the light out on day dives but I don't know when I will be getting a new camcorder (HD this time) and housing. Hopefully in 2009.

robin

 

[ronscuba]

Hi Robin.

Nice footage. Glad to see the lights worked well for you. Results on day dives will not be as good since you will be fighting sunlight. But if you limit the shots to closeups and macro you'll be fine.


Amazing how well old technology and affordable halogen lights are. HID this, HID that. If I could afford it, I'd bypass HID and go to the L&M LED's. But for now, I like my cheap halogen lights that I can instantly turn on/off.
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[C8X]

Interesting. I just did a night dive last night and didn't bring the camera since I haven't got video lights. First I looked at these Pro lights, then I saw a used HID setup in the buy and sell here, and then I scared myself by pricing out the L&M Sunfire 1000 lights.

Is there any rating of how many lumens? Can you set different power levels? Are you using the flex arm? How long do the batteries last? I've half considered buying a couple of these lights for my setup but I think my diving is about to slow down a lot this year so I'll hold off.

 

[robint]

Interesting. I just did a night dive last night and didn't bring the camera since I haven't got video lights. First I looked at these Pro lights, then I saw a used HID setup in the buy and sell here, and then I scared myself by pricing out the L&M Sunfire 1000 lights.

Is there any rating of how many lumens? Can you set different power levels? Are you using the flex arm? How long do the batteries last? I've half considered buying a couple of these lights for my setup but I think my diving is about to slow down a lot this year so I'll hold off.

I got mine in Oct, before the new flex arm came out. I think I would like that but what I have works okay.

No, there are no power level settings on the lights, just an ON and OFF. If you follow the Ikelite link I posted you can get all the specs. I got the 100w which says about 20+ minutes burn time on the battery but that is the time the light is "on", which isn't a whole dive. The 50w gets twice as long according to the specs.

robin

 

[delfini]

Hi Robin,

Very nice footage. I have a question about this product.

I've bought one together with the housing in July 2007 for my friend. We charged the battery properly, dove with it, and the lite hold only for at most 8 or 10 minutes.

We recharged it again, and the same problem occurred.

I've sent it back to the manufacturer and they said that there were no issues. Since, we haven't tried it.

Since we haven't used it for almost 2 years, what do you recommend to do? Is the behavior described above "normal"? We have the unit with 100W, shall I change to the smaller unit 50w instead?

We would appreciate your feedback and support.

Yours,
Delfin

 

[robint]

Hi Robin,

Very nice footage. I have a question about this product.

I've bought one together with the housing in July 2007 for my friend. We charged the battery properly, dove with it, and the lite hold only for at most 8 or 10 minutes.

We recharged it again, and the same problem occurred.

I've sent it back to the manufacturer and they said that there were no issues. Since, we haven't tried it.

Since we haven't used it for almost 2 years, what do you recommend to do? Is the behavior described above "normal"? We have the unit with 100W, shall I change to the smaller unit 50w instead?

We would appreciate your feedback and support.

Yours,
Delfin

Wow, I have no idea. I have only gotten to use mine a couple of times so far so I am no expert. The 100w is supposed to hold 20 minutes at full power or so from what they say. Are you fully charging it? It says it takes 5 hours to fully charge...maybe you aren't letting it go all the way? If you sent it in and they said there was nothing wrong, maybe that was your problem. Yes? NO?

Which battery? Since you got it back in 2007, was it the newer NIMH battery (smaller size) or the older Ni-cad (larger size)? I have the newer one and so the 5 hour recharge listed is for that battery. I have no idea how long the older one takes. :depressed:

Hope this helps!


robin

 

[TaiHei]

I don't have Ikelite video lights, but I might be able to help. I have had my share of problems with batteries over the years.

My guess is the batteries needed (need) conditioning. When I purchased my HID lights with NiMH batteries, they only burned about 1/4 of their rated time the first time, and got better until they were were at full rate after about 5 cycles. I keep them in the refrigerator now, and refresh the charge every 4-6 weeks.

From Frequently Asked Questions about NiMH Battery Chargers, battery conditioning

What is battery conditioning or exercising?

When you intentionally discharge a battery down to a certain minimum voltage and then recharge it this is known as battery conditioning or reconditioning . It is also sometimes referred to as battery exercise. This is particularly important to reduce what some call the memory effect experienced using NiCD batteries if you habitually do not fully discharge them each time you use them. For NiCD batteries this must be done periodically, approximately every 10 charge/discharge cycles or so, or the batteries will begin to lose capacity. For NiMH batteries conditioning is not really needed to reduce any memory effect because that is negligible in this type of battery. However, reconditioning is very convenient for both NiMH and NiCD batteries because brand new batteries are not charged when you receive them and they must be charged and discharged three to five times before they reach their full capacity. In addition, occasionally conditioning rechargeable batteries helps to ensure that they give you years or service and save you as much money as possible, before you recycle them and get new ones.

So whether you have niCad or NiMH, the batteries should be conditioned when new, but the NiMH don't need it after the first time.

From what i've read, NiMH batteries will go bad if they aren't used and kept charged. After sitting uncharged (if that is true) for two years, one cell may have gone bad by now, which means the whole pack won't function

I recommend trying to condition the battery. Do a google search on conditioning. If that doesn't help, Ikelite should be able to. Worst case, you may have to replace the battery.

As far as the light level, I don't see that as making much difference, other than the rate the battery is discharged. For conditioning the important thing is to discharge them to a low voltage level, (when the lights go dim) and not overly discharge them, and then fully charge them. you should see burn time progressively get longer.


I'm trying to help. Good Luck