Problem with Light Cannon and NiMh batteries?

[tholt576]

TechnoMage once bubbled...
I'm looking to get some NiMH C batteries and charger for my Light Cannon. I've had good luck with All Batteries on eBay before. Any comments on this package?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2575788180&category=4660

Thanks,
-Ron

I don't know about that package specifically. I got some NiMH AAA's with a charger to use in my Timex GPS watch. (I run a lot) and wasn't very pleased with it. The batteries didn't seem to last through a whole run and the charger wasn't a smart charger. That's what I get for going cheap. The one you're looking at says it's a smart charger so that's probably a lot better option.


Oh and by the way, has anyone noticed that you can buy the rechargeable kit + the light from UK for less than the rechargeable light by itself on all the lights that UK makes a rechargeable version of? Any reasoning behind this?

 

[h2omammal]

Have any of you used the Light Canon with the rechargeable battery pack, made by UK.

I was thinking about getting it, to save $$$ on batteries, but someone told me that when it runs out of juice it dies very quickly. As in one minute there's light, next minute it's dark.
As oppossed to batteries, where when they start to die the light will start to dim.

Is this true?

...is great. I use the same one on the Light Canon as I do in the C8-rechargeable. In the c8, I had rapid loss of light after about 1.5 hours, but with the Light Canon, I've never had a reduction or loss of light even after 3 hours. However, after 3 hours burn, I recharge it whether it needs it or not (I assume it surely must

 

[d33ps1x]

...is great. I use the same one on the Light Canon as I do in the C8-rechargeable. In the c8, I had rapid loss of light after about 1.5 hours, but with the Light Canon, I've never had a reduction or loss of light even after 3 hours. However, after 3 hours burn, I recharge it whether it needs it or not (I assume it surely must

The C8 and the light cannon can;t be compared.

A halogen bulb will continue to burn and dim as the batteries die. The HID bulb and ballast require a certain amount of power to burn or they die suddenly much like a florescent tube light. To test this put a florescent light on a dimmer and check what happens and you continue to reduce the power.

So it doesn't matter whether it is on alkaline, NMiH, NiCad or any other type of battery. It will react the same way after a certain amount of power drop.

 

[h2omammal]

The C8 and the light cannon can;t be compared.

A halogen bulb will continue to burn and dim as the batteries die. The HID bulb and ballast require a certain amount of power to burn or they die suddenly much like a florescent tube light. To test this put a florescent light on a dimmer and check what happens and you continue to reduce the power.

So it doesn't matter whether it is on alkaline, NMiH, NiCad or any other type of battery. It will react the same way after a certain amount of power drop.

I was not attempting to compare them -- I own and use them both. The question I was answering was in regard to usage of the UK rechargeable battery. I provided the information that the battery pack is the same for both lights, so if you own the C8R already, you can use that same battery pack in your light canon.

 

[Otter]

On our recent trip to Yap & Palau, 7 of us were using Light Cannons....many new. 2 of us used 4500mh NiMH batteries and the others used Alkalines (they were going to use their 4500mh after they ran down the Aklalines).

On the first dive, the 2 of us (including me ) using 4500mh NiMH batteries experienced a failure about 30 mins into the dive. Upon examination, both of us blew fuses. After replacing the fuses and switching to Alkalines, both of our Light Cannons refused to function. Needless to say, the others remained on Akalines.

Is it correct to assume that NiMH are ok, just not 4500mh -- maybe something smaller?

 

[Genesis]

No, either your lights were just plain defective or WA is getting a bit too close to the line with their circuitry in terms of thermal dissipation or something similar.....

 

[Otter]

No, either your lights were just plain defective or WA is getting a bit too close to the line with their circuitry in terms of thermal dissipation or something similar.....

The other thought we had was the fact that one of our group (believes, he is 50 so we aren't all that confident) that he has used the same 4500mh in his light at home. The difference is that at home, our water temp is 54F whereas it was 82F in Yap. Might that line up with your 'thermal dissipation' theory. For obvious reasons, he wasn't going to test his LC with NiMH in Yap.

 

[Genesis]

Yep.

I know that many of the 10W HID ballasts are unregulated - the 18W ones typically ARE. Now what UK is doing, if anything, in terms of incoming regulation of the power I don't know - but if the answer is "nothing" I'd be mighty suspicious.

I haven't torn one of these apart yet, and I don't know if they're potted or not internally. If they aren't, then there's another potential issue in that very slight leaks could hose you badly, especially in salt water, as all it would take is a flash-over inside the unit and you'd have fried electronics.

Without doing some analysis all we have is educated guesses.

 

[archman]

You guys are scaring me out of ever getting rechargeable batteries for my light cannon! What's the deal with these things?

 

[Greg_Manko]

You shouldn't have to worry about the rechargables or using the LC100 in warm water, or even out of the water. I think that there are a lot of parts faliures with this product - probably because the way it works is so complicated. I don't think it's related to the batteries - my light wouldn't work right with either type - alkaline or NiMH until UK replaced the ballast and bulb. Since then, it's worked flawlessly in and out of the water.