One handed light operation

[dumpsterDiver]

Recently I have been using the Dorcy lights. They have a screw on head which means that to turn the light on, you have to screw down the light head. There is no external switch. This is supposedly a very robust means to construct a light; many cave and wreck divers choose lights with this mechanism for the simplicity and reliability of this design.

I have mine tied to a swiveling bolt snap and then clipped to a shoulder D-ring (Pretty much DIR fashion, if that matters). I can wear it there and use it to look into holes when spearfishing without unclipping it. However, I found this light to not be user friedly.

I want to have my gun in one hand and the light in the other. However, it takes two hands to turn the darn light on. One hand holds the body and the other twists the head. This simple drawback was quickly becoming intolerable for me, I just hate having to mess with my dive gear, it needs to be efficient.

Yesterday, on the way in from a dive, I figured the solution! Tools needed: One Hammer!

Actually I used a vice, . I simply crushed the swiveling collar on the brass clip with the vice to the point where it no longer swivels! Now I can reach up with one hand and spin the light head on or off, without unclipping it or using my other hand.

It is such a simple fix, I assume others have done the same thing, but I've not heard of it before. I know I am going to like the light a lot more now.

 

[jh_MacLeod]

Recently I have been using the Dorcy lights. They have a screw on head which means that to turn the light on, you have to screw down the light head. There is no external switch. This is supposedly a very robust means to construct a light; many cave and wreck divers choose lights with this mechanism for the simplicity and reliability of this design.

I have mine tied to a swiveling bolt snap and then clipped to a shoulder D-ring (Pretty much DIR fashion, if that matters). I can wear it there and use it to look into holes when spearfishing without unclipping it. However, I found this light to not be user friedly.

I want to have my gun in one hand and the light in the other. However, it takes two hands to turn the darn light on. One hand holds the body and the other twists the head. This simple drawback was quickly becoming intolerable for me, I just hate having to mess with my dive gear, it needs to be efficient.

Yesterday, on the way in from a dive, I figured the solution! Tools needed: One Hammer!

Actually I used a vice, . I simply crushed the swiveling collar on the brass clip with the vice to the point where it no longer swivels! Now I can reach up with one hand and spin the light head on or off, without unclipping it or using my other hand.

It is such a simple fix, I assume others have done the same thing, but I've not heard of it before. I know I am going to like the light a lot more now.

I've been wearing the Dorcy on the back of my left hand, using the hybrid handle/clip sold by Piranha. The lamp is held securely by the clip but was still free to rotate. Because the Dorcy has two flat spots on the barrel, I found that molding and inserting a piece of hard webbing into the base of the clip (so that the webbing fits into the flat spot of the lamp barrel) accomplished the same thing. Once the lamp was not free to rotate in the clip, on-off became easy.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I would have thought that this issue would have been previously addressed by cave divers on their back up lights???

 

[rongoodman]

There's not much to shoot with a spear gun in the caves.

 

[Cave Diver]

I would have thought that this issue would have been previously addressed by cave divers on their back up lights???

My backup light is clipped to chest d-ring and secured by an inner tube. I can reach up with one hand and turn the bezel to activate without taking it loose because the body doesn't move. Nothing to address.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Oh that is interesting, the light can't rotate because of the inner tube. For my application, I need to manipulate the light and point it forward etc. This might occur several times during the dive, so I couldn't be spending time slipping it back under a bike inner tube sleeve. /Is that what cave divers do?.. remove it from the sleeve and leave it hanging or do they slip it under the inner tube after each use?

 

[Cave Diver]

Oh that is interesting, the light can't rotate because of the inner tube. For my application, I need to manipulate the light and point it forward etc. This might occur several times during the dive, so I couldn't be spending time slipping it back under a bike inner tube sleeve. /Is that what cave divers do?.. remove it from the sleeve and leave it hanging or do they slip it under the inner tube after each use?

Generally, the clip keeps you from losing it and the innertube keeps it streamlined against your harness so it doesnt dangle. Typically if we're going to back up light, it's due to a light failure. Step one is turn it on. Step two for me is generally to pull the head of the light up and point it where I need it. That causes the innertube to "roll" down the body towards the clip end and allows me to point the light. At that point, if I actually need it in loose, I'll reach up and pop the boltsnap off the d-ring. I never take the light off before turning it on, in case it were to fall making it unable to be located.

When I'm done with the light I clip it back off and tuck it into the innertube. In some cases, I may just let it hang from the clip.

 

[aquaregia]

Do you restow it in the innertube with a single hand?

 

[Cave Diver]

Do you restow it in the innertube with a single hand?

I can, but it's usually faster using two hands. Since the innertube is around your shoulder harness, all you have to two is hook two fingers in it and stretch it out and the light head will drop right in with a little guidance from your thumb (depending on the b/u light you're using of course). It's just a matter of practice and since I seem to hold the world record for light failures I've had a fair amount of practice.

 

[Peter_C]

Why would you want to turn it off during a dive? Leave it on until you are back at the surface. Are you trying to save batteries? I use alkaline batteries in my backup but have rarely used it, so cost is not something I personally worry about. I have given it to other divers, since everyone having a light helps keep track of dive buddies on bad vis days. For us a light is a tool for signaling and marking our position.

My primary, which is a can light, is turned on before descending, or on the way down, then turned off either near the surface or at the surface.