New Dive Rite 24W canister flooded....options?

[Gombessa]

With a 24w light, you'll want at least 9AH (3-4hr burn time). I assume this has a wreck can? Once you find the source of the canister leak and eliminate it, here are some options for batteries:

1. Yes, you can find out how your cells are wired and replicate the original pack using fresh cells. It seems fairly straightforward to me, but you probably want to have some rudimentary familiarity working with circuits and electronics, and someone with experience can probably let you know if it's worth the trouble/cost. Batteryspace.com sells the individual cells you need. I'm not sure it's that much cheaper than going with option 2, below.

2. You can buy a new, third-party battery. batteryspace.com sells 12v NiMH battery packs, you just need to find one with the right capacity and fits the wreck can (which if I remember correctly, has just under 3.0" ID but is slightly shorter than a Salvo/Halcyon 13.5AH canister?). Another option is to e-mail Hawk (info@batterystore.com), he's familiar with what your light needs and can build a custom battery pack for you. I expect your cost will be about $100-200 for an 8-10AH NiMH pack.

Good luck.

 

[letterboy]

yes, we spoke yesterday. I have an RA #, but what I understood from our conversation, my only option will be to send the light in and to see what the costs will be to replace the parts that were damaged. I cant see this being anything under a $400 repair with shipping costs. and i'll only get 30 days warranty.

And yeah, you do sound like a dick. Should i stay silent? just pay over and over again whatever it costs to repair their light every 10 dives and just hand over my credit card each time with a smile?? How is spending $1500 for something that has failed 3 times in 20 dives a good investment?? read what i've explained already, not every time i sent it in can be simply blamed on user error.

And i never claimed anyone's fault in this. I've stated the facts, judge for yourself. all I know is that i've done everything i can possibly imagine to keep this item in the top condition, storing it in a dry, clean pelican case when not in use, cleaning the o-ring and lid/canister every single time before closing it up....

If you can please read the original story, i didn't come on here blaming anyone, i just wanted to know what I can do to replace the battery or to sell what's left, nothing accusatory. No one needs to become defensive and protect diverite. Like i said, i'm sure their great, but for whatever reason, my experience has been a costly, unpleasant one.

Much like how I have gone through 6 blackberry's in the last 8 months . . . some of us are just gifted electronics killers. . .

I am not defending DR, I was in retail for a long time . . . my replies most likely stem from that . . .

Here is a solution I have for you . . . you now have we will say 2K invested in this light, instead of taking the loss on the cost of the light, if you can't get it repaired due to funding or whatever is it possible to wait and get it repaired later? Is this a light you use for cave/wreck diving?

 

[TinoD'Voe]

With a 24w light, you'll want at least 9AH (3-4hr burn time). I assume this has a wreck can? Once you find the source of the canister leak and eliminate it, here are some options for batteries:

1. Yes, you can find out how your cells are wired and replicate the original pack using fresh cells. It seems fairly straightforward to me, but you probably want to have some rudimentary familiarity working with circuits and electronics, and someone with experience can probably let you know if it's worth the trouble/cost. Batteryspace.com sells the individual cells you need. I'm not sure it's that much cheaper than going with option 2, below.

2. You can buy a new, third-party battery. batteryspace.com sells 12v NiMH battery packs, you just need to find one with the right capacity and fits the wreck can (which if I remember correctly, has just under 3.0" ID but is slightly shorter than a Salvo/Halcyon 13.5AH canister?). Another option is to e-mail Hawk (info@batterystore.com), he's familiar with what your light needs and can build a custom battery pack for you. I expect your cost will be about $100-200 for an 8-10AH NiMH pack.

Good luck.

thanks for the links. Looks like they have something already pre-built thats a very close match. Price is still steep, $200 but better than anywhere else i've found so far. If I can find the individual cells that hopefully can work for me, i'll just copy the damaged battery's wiring.

Much like how I have gone through 6 blackberry's in the last 8 months . . . some of us are just gifted electronics killers. . .

I am not defending DR, I was in retail for a long time . . . my replies most likely stem from that . . .

Here is a solution I have for you . . . you now have we will say 2K invested in this light, instead of taking the loss on the cost of the light, if you can't get it repaired due to funding or whatever is it possible to wait and get it repaired later? Is this a light you use for cave/wreck diving?

I was hoping to get into some more technical diving but I'm just glad to be able to dive at all after a long dry spell. The light has turned into basically a novelty for me, but I've loved the thing too damn much to just get rid of it. I'd really prefer to keep it but financially its impossible for me to spend more money on this.

So as you can see i'm stuck. I'm thinking to wait, but that could end up with dive rite running out of parts like they did with my 21w. Or try to sell it now, at a huge loss. I can buy the battery and at least find out if the light still works, then troubleshoot from there to see where its leaking from. I'll probably take it on my next dive with just some weights in the canister. I'll try to see if i can find any points where air is leaking.

 

[Gombessa]

thanks for the links. Looks like they have something already pre-built thats a very close match. Price is still steep, $200 but better than anywhere else i've found so far. If I can find the individual cells that hopefully can work for me, i'll just copy the damaged battery's wiring.

You can reuse the parts too (the bulkhead plate that separates the cell packs, trailer plugs, etc. if you need to.

If you buy it retail, make sure you get a pack with the right dimensions. The wreck can is a bit on the fat and squat side, and a lot of those battery packs are quite long to fit Halcyon cans.

Last I looked, you really don't save much $$ building your own pack, plus you have to deal with not getting matched cells, shrink wrapping, thermistors, etc. But if you're so inclined, it looks kinda fun. Probably worth getting ahold of Steve Lindblom's Dive Light Handbook from Airspeed Press, it'll have all the info you need (especially if you go the way of troubleshooting/replacing your own switch/gland, etc.).

 

[jeckyll]

foolish investment . . . not to be a dick here but is it diverites fault that the light flooded?

Did a dive rite technician seal the can lid before your dives? ...

You know, my light, let's call it "Brand X" as we are in DR's forum here, doesn't need to be closed by a tech from "Brand X" to survive a dive without flooding.

Light's do flood on occasion, that's the nature of the beast, but Tino's experience seems excessive.

For clarity, I dove with him the day his light flooded. It seemed fine on dive 1, was not opened in between dives from what I saw and would not strike on dive 2. When it did not strike (in the water) I checked it can all clamps were clearly closed).

Tino also takes significantly better care of his light than I do (my 10 W canister light lives in my dive bag along with all kinds of other gear with only an old gym sock to cover the head as "protection", his lives in a dedicated pelican case with custom cut padding). And to get back to the "sealed by a DR tech" comment, it seems to me that closing and sealing a light is not a skill that you have to be a trained "DR tech" for.

And we're not talking about blackberry's or how many you need to go through either. In case you haven't noticed, that's a very different type of electronic device. We're talking about dive lights, specifically canister lights.

So, is it diverite's fault the light flooded? Well, if they have a problem with their product design that makes it prone to failure, then yes, it sure is.
And I'm not saying that they do. I don't have statistically significant sample sizes to make any such suggestion. But what I am saying is that from everything I've seen, Tino takes better care of his light than many of the other divers I know, and yet he has not gotten very many problem free dives over the time he has owned it.

Hopefully the situation will find a happy resolution