Rechargeable batteries for UK HID Light Cannon?

[mkaug]

HAHAHA. Well, in typical indecisive fashion, after reversing course many times I landed back on going with the UK Light Cannon. I don't doubt that the Darkbuster is a great light (btw, the quote I got from Kalex is $320) but what I'm looking for at the moment is a good light to hold me over until I can get a canister light. After waffling back and forth, I couldn't justify paying 2x for the Darkbuster, knowing that it will get relegated to the spare parts shelf as soon as I can muster up the funds for the can light.

No problem. I've seen the Light Cannon above the water. I can try to strain my mind to imagine what an even brighter light looks like.

 

[LG Diver]

No problem. I've seen the Light Cannon above the water. I can try to strain my mind to imagine what an even brighter light looks like.

If you follow the link above, then click on the "click here for more details" link, then scroll to the bottom, you'll see some comparison photos of the UK HID to the Darkbuster.

 

[LG Diver]

In that case, get this:

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=323

I love Powerizer.

Yeah, I saw that and am tempted to buy it. The only "problem" with the BC1HU charger is that it will only charge 4 c-cells at a time. So I either have to invest in extra cells, or not be able to use the HID on every dive on the liveaboard trip I'm going on (4-5 dives a day). For normal diving (2-3 dives a day) one set of cells would be fine. I may end up using disposables for the trip (as much as I hate to have to throw that many cells in the landfill), and then going to rechargeables when I get back. All the chargers that I've seen that can handle 8 c-cells at a time are over $100 for just the charger.

 

[LG Diver]

Seems like you made your choice, but I recommend Li ion packs.
There are very few disadvantages, and the only one to worry about is the loss of capacity with age. This can be nearly eliminated to 1% or so per year by keeping it half charged in your fridge while not in use. My HID has several hours burn time, I never worry about it fading after a dive. In my view Li ion seems superior to NimH.

I haven't seen any rechargeable Li-Ion c-cells at any of the online retailers. Do you have a link to any?

 

[jonnythan]

They don't make Li-Ion C-cells because of the voltage issue. C-cells are 1.2 - 1.5 volts, whereas Li-Ion, by its chemistry, can't come lower than 3.6 volts.

 

[spyder]

I've bought a fair amount of batteries and chargers from Thomas Distributing. Good people/company and good prices. I'm using Powerex 5000 or 5500's (at work and can't remember which) in my LC without any problems. Don't know the run time since the longest I've used it is 1 hour at a time. I bought an Accumanager charger for them. Check out www.candlepowerforums.com for more info on chargers/batteries, great info.

 

[illumiGeek]

I use rechargables in my LC and it works great. I actually made some PVC adapters and use AA cells in mine. I originally did that because I had the AA cells on hand and was planning to get C cells later; but runtime with the AA cells has been fine for my use so I have continued to use them with my ghetto adapter. And the LC is lighter to boot (almost nuetral in SW).

Even thought the LC was designed to run from Alkalines, it runs much better from NiMH rechargeables. Alkalines have trouble striking the lamp after they have some run time on them.

 

[spyder]

I had a need to use my LC this week above water and ran it 3 hours without a problem. It was still going when I turned it off so I still don't know how far it will go. I thought I bought Powerex's (which is what all my AA's are) but the C cells are 5500mah CTA's. The charger is an AccuPower AccuManager20 and works great. It does only do 4 cells at a time but it's not that big of a deal. If you don't want to invest in two sets of cells you might consider doing one set of rechargeables and taking some alkalines for late in the day dependant upon usage. If it's day diving getting all dives in on one set of rechargeables might be possible since you won't be using it all the time. Just a thought...

 

[SparticleBrane]

Why not just get another Photo Torpedo LED? They'd do fine for a night dive...not too bright to scare off all the fishes, but not dim either. LONG battery life, and extra reliable.

 

[LG Diver]

Why not just get another Photo Torpedo LED? They'd do fine for a night dive...not too bright to scare off all the fishes, but not dim either. LONG battery life, and extra reliable.

I just returned from a 3 day trip to the Channel Islands. I had the PT LED and the UK LC with me. Here are my impressions- the LC puts out a ton of light, but it's a bulky light. Consequently, I found myself choosing between the camera or the LC on day dives. It was just too bulky and unwieldy for me to take both. The PT LED didn't put out quite as much light, but was MUCH easier to carry. When stowed on the harness it was basically invisible. When in use it had a very nice tight beam and put out a lot of nice white light... until it leaked and stopped working. Because of this I didn't have a chance to try it on a night dive to compare to the LC, but based on impressions from the day dive I'd agree that it would be plenty for a night dive. Not quite as much light as the LC, but enough for an OW night dive. If I was looking for the ultimate setup I'd go with two PT LED's on the harness and a canister HID. If was looking for a budget solution I'd go with two PT LED's over one PT LED and a UK LC. Hopefully the leak was just a fluke. I removed, cleaned, and lubed both o-rings right before the trip, so I'm not sure why it happened. It wasn't a flood, just a small leak, but enough to cause the light to stop working.