Scout - LED upgrade

[kidspot]

It's a Princeton Tec DIVE LIGHT, but I'm not sure which model. 3 LED's. Terrible.

edit: Correction- it's CC Crane DIVE light, not Princeton TEC.

Hey DD - yeah - I had one like that that I used as a camping light (runs for days - actually left it on in my suitcase once - found it a week later still on) but any time they use multiple bulbs it is the old technology. The new LED's each put out the same amount of light as 20 of the ones you had. And they usually have a focused reflector - So while you may not want to "buy" another one, it might be worth checking out again.

Here's a comparison shot I took a few weeks ago with my LED and 10 WAT HID side by side in a bucket of water. There is a larger version of the pic on my scuba site http://www.kidspot.org/personal/scubaboard/fincomparison.html - Next time someone is visiting with a Scout light I really want to take some comparison shots of the two (anyone interested in bringing their Scout light to Maui for a night dive? lol)

Aloha, Tim

 

[detroit diver]

Fair enough. I may have the old technology. I really was excited about using it when I bought it, but then it just let me down.

I'd be interested in seeing one with the new light source and reflector, but I wouldn't spend the money up front to do so. Why is it that they can't make these focusable?

Hey DD - yeah - I had one like that that I used as a camping light (runs for days - actually left it on in my suitcase once - found it a week later still on) but any time they use multiple bulbs it is the old technology. The new LED's each put out the same amount of light as 20 of the ones you had. And they usually have a focused reflector - So while you may not want to "buy" another one, it might be worth checking out again.

Here's a comparison shot I took a few weeks ago with my LED and 10 WAT HID side by side in a bucket of water. There is a larger version of the pic on my scuba site http://www.kidspot.org/personal/scubaboard/fincomparison.html - Next time someone is visiting with a Scout light I really want to take some comparison shots of the two (anyone interested in bringing their Scout light to Maui for a night dive? lol)

Aloha, Tim

 

[jonnythan]

Why is it that they can't make these focusable?

There is no reason they can't be made focusable... but why would a Scout need to be focusable?

 

[detroit diver]

There is no reason they can't be made focusable... but why would a Scout need to be focusable?

To tighten the beam. Maybe the new ones don't need it.

 

[jonnythan]

Isn't the idea behind the Scout to have the beam as tight as possible to begin with? I don't see what building in the complexity of focusability into a backup light would accomplish.. seems like the primary design goals would be absolute simplicity and a very tight beam.

 

[detroit diver]

Isn't the idea behind the Scout to have the beam as tight as possible to begin with? I don't see what building in the complexity of focusability into a backup light would accomplish.. seems like the primary design goals would be absolute simplicity and a very tight beam.

I was thinking way beyond the backup light, and onto a primary unit. If these LED's are as bright as you guys make them out to be, and also as power frugal, what's keeping them from primary lights?

 

[jonnythan]

I was thinking way beyond the backup light, and onto a primary unit. If these LED's are as bright as you guys make them out to be, and also as power frugal, what's keeping them from primary lights?

They are in primary lights. Underwater Kinetics makes the C8 and C4 eLEDs, which have brightness equivalent to 10-12 watt halogen lights.

I think 6 watts is the brightest I've seen for an HLD as they're called lately. The numbers keep climbing though.. I would expect that within the next few years, you'll start seeing LED based canister lights. The companies that can lights (Halcyon? OMS? Dive Rite?) don't really have tremendous amounts of money to put into product development I'd guess, so it should take a while for the manufacturers to catch up to the technology once the higher wattage LED's become available.

The parts that excite me most about these are the lack of a ballast and toughness of the bulb. Not at all like delicate HID bulbs.. no filament to break, no delicate glass tube, or anything like that.

 

[divad]

. Why is it that they can't make these focusable?

In the case of the MAL HLD:
"This light emitter is optimally focused by a lens-reflector specifically designed by MAL-Lighting."

It sounds like the optics may have a lot to do with the output. They make a cannister light and large hand-held light which both have 3 bulbs (emitters). Neither is focusable. Tektite makes a conversion bulb for a mini-mag light, so it is adjustable.

 

[Scubaroo]

I would expect that within the next few years, you'll start seeing LED based canister lights.

Green Force in Belgium is already making them.

 

[jonnythan]

Green Force in Belgium is already making them.

Neat.. do you know what wattage they're working at?