Stealth Light Canister Review

[GearHead]

Last month, I purchased a Stealth Canister Light with a Halcyon 10watt HID Proteus Light head (the new one) from Dan at DJS Technical. I can confirm everything that you've read from the guys on the board in praise of the product and dealing with Dan.

As this is my first canister light and a huge investment, I had a ton of Newbie questions for him. To his credit, he thoroughly and quickly answered each and every one of them. The light head that I received was the last one that he was able to procure directly from Halcyon, as they have apparently decided that Dan's canister is competition that they do not want to encourage. He has since decided to make his own proprietary light head, using the same Welch Allen components that everyone else does. You can read more about that on this thread.

The package included the focusable light head mounted on a Goodman handle, wired to the robust delrin canister (40inch standard length, but Dan will cut it to your specs), a Maha MH-C777 universal recharger (you can use for much more than the light), and a 10 cell NiMH battery with a micro fuse for protection.

Dan burn tested the unit before he shipped it to a burn time of over 4 hours, and depth tested to over 400'. Needless to say, I doubt I'll be near any limitations on this light setup.

I finally got 2 dives in with the new light on 2/17, and so far, I'm very happy. My buddy and I dove Keystone Jetty on Whidbey Island here in Puget Sound, and the 10watts of HID power was amazing compared to the UK Sunlight C8 I used to dive with.

As you can see in pictures from one of Scubaroo's threads that I'm too lazy to find, the canister is very small in comparison to the lead acid ones, and when attached on my harness tight to the backplate, it practically disappears. I used a plastic buckle that I got from Heath to secure it, and it was perfectly streamlined.

For communication: A+. I had no trouble getting my buddy's attention and sharing cool stuff to see. For peeking into cracks and crevices: B+. The only reason I'd downgrade here is that you have to be extra careful not to shine the beam into the eyes of all the critters. Incidentally, we saw an amazing Great Pacific Octopus specimen. I love finding those!

So, no flooding in the head or canister, no striking problems, and overall a great experience. I would happily recommend DJS technical to anyone. Regarding the new lighthead, if Dan didn't have any more Halcyons available when I was ready to purchase, I'd have gladly waited and bought one of his new light heads when they come out later this year.

If anything untoward does happen, I'll be sure to update this thread.

Rick

 

[Scubaroo]

...now here's how to accessorize the light:

1. Tie a bolt snap to the goodman handle with nylon line so you can clip it off while not in use
2. Find a neoprene stubby holder (beer can holder) - these make great protective covers for the lightheads while in transit/storage - although I don't know if they fit the new Proteus heads
3. Find an old padded camera bag or six-pack cooler to carry it to and from the dive site - a pelican case just sounds like too much expense, and you can stuff a spare mask, wetnotes, compass, computer, and other delicate goodies in the bag around the light

Dan's great to deal with - I recently upgraded my battery from a 9 to 10 cell pack, and he only charged me $10 including shipping, and the battery was gone for a total of just 4 days, making a round trip of CA to NY in that time!

 

[GearHead]

Thanks for the tips, Ben.

1. Tie a bolt snap to the goodman handle with nylon line so you can clip it off while not in use

Instead of nylon line, I went with a ziptie for attaching the bolt snap. Not ideal, probably, but I just love those zippies.

2. Find a neoprene stubby holder (beer can holder) - these make great protective covers for the lightheads while in transit/storage - although I don't know if they fit the new Proteus heads

That sounds like a great idea. I suppose to find one, I'll have to go to Walmart. I can't think of anyplace else that would carry them in Seattle. If I visited my brother in law in Missouri, I'm sure he'd loan me one, and it would probably even have bikini models. If I went that route, I'd probably have to get a subscription to DIVERS magazine to go along with it, and I don't want to do that.

3. Find an old padded camera bag or six-pack cooler to carry it to and from the dive site - a pelican case just sounds like too much expense, and you can stuff a spare mask, wetnotes, compass, computer, and other delicate goodies in the bag around the light

Perfect! I've been needing a better solution for my CPU, compass, and other delicates than my big ol' mesh dive backpack.

 

[DNAXdiver]

maybe cause he never should have been selling 9 cell paks in the first place cant he read the wa specs

seem to be a lot of threads same people posting aobut what a great light this is over an over what is going on

Scubaroo once bubbled...
Dan's great to deal with - I recently upgraded my battery from a 9 to 10 cell pack, and he only charged me $10 including shipping, and the battery was gone for a total of just 4 days, making a round trip of CA to NY in that time!

 

[GearHead]

Not sure where you were going with this post, DNAX, but the point of the 9 cell packs was that the spot for the 10th cell was taken up by a field-replaceable fuse. Plus, even with 9 cells, the burn time was right at 4 hours for a 10 watt HID, which is plenty for most circumstances.

Now, perhaps you can do a better job of explaining your hostility so we can maybe learn something.

Thanks

DNAXdiver once bubbled...
maybe cause he never should have been selling 9 cell paks in the first place cant he read the wa specs

seem to be a lot of threads same people posting aobut what a great light this is over an over what is going on

 

[Dryglove]

I also sent my battery back to dan for a 10th cell.Turn around time was extremely fast.The 10 cell pack uses a fusible link between two of the cells.The downside is if the fuse blows you have to send it back to dan to have a new one soldered in place.The plus side is that you get 10cells and over 4hrs of burn time.

The 9cell packs have a fuse holder that takes place of the 10th cell.The downside is you have only 9 cells with just under 4hrs of burn time if you can consider that a downside.The plus side is that you have an easily replaceble glass fuse that you can replace yourself.

I look at it this way if i blow a fuse something is probably shorted out and the whole light will need to go back unless the battery is accidently shorted somehow which i cant see happening once everything is set up right.So for me i would rather have a little extra burn time and a fuse to boot which is why i went with the 10cells.

EDIT:I just realized that dans site says that the micro fuse is resettable.Does any one know how this thing is resettable?To me it just appears to be a fusible link between two cells.Does anyone have more info on this fuse setup?

UPDATELEASE READ POST BELOW BY GEARHEAD ON THE MICROFUSE.My above description of it being a fusible link is wrong, it is a truly a resettable micro fuse.Way cool

 

[ScubaDan]

"Battery Update:

Stealthdive is now assembling our batteries with 10 NiMH cell instead of 9. The place of the 10th cell used to be taken up by our user replaceable fuse. However we have recently switch to a micro resetable fuse (visable in the 2nd picture below). This fuse is so small that we can continue to provided a fuse protected battery and include the 10th battery cell! This will give even more burn time over the 9 cell battery. Typical battery burn time is increased about 20 minutes."

http://www.stealthdive.com/Lights/Lights1.html

 

[Dryglove]

DNAXdiver once bubbled...
maybe cause he never should have been selling 9 cell paks in the first place cant he read the wa specs

seem to be a lot of threads same people posting aobut what a great light this is over an over what is going on

So what are you trying to say.We are not allowed to do a little bragging when a company offers a great product and service.By the way he still does offer the 9 cell packs till he runs out of the fuse holders that replace the 10th battery.

If you somehow think we are buddy,buddy with dan and just trying to sell a product for him your dead wrong.I am just passing on info about a great product just as you would recommend a great product you might buy.

So to answer your question there is nothing going on besides the lack of tact on your part.

 

[GearHead]

Hey lal, I've got an answer for you, straight from the responsive vendor's e-mail. This was actually an issue that I was very curious about and he gave me this response:

"The fuse is there so that if someone lets the wiring in the canister get bad
and some bare wires come together, the fuse will stop the current before all
the wires in the canister melt completely (and fire ensues). The fuse will
just open and won't reset until the short has been removed. To avoid any
problems every once in awhile you should inspect the all the wires in the
light for large cuts, nicks or any bare wire.

DON'T TRY THIS!!!!I ( I test them before I send them out)

If you really want to tempt fate you can short the battery wires together
with a paper clip. You should get a small spark and then nothing should
happen (the fuse just saved you). After you remove the paper clip and wait
about 30 seconds the battery should be fine. By the way.... If this test
fails, your fingers will be badly burned!! the paper clip will probably weld
itself in place and cause the high current to melt your battery and catch
your house on fire. Your Wife (assuming you have one) will then probably
divorce you for being so stupid."


Informative and entertaining.

lal7176 once bubbled...
EDIT:I just realized that dans site says that the micro fuse is resettable.Does any one know how this thing is resettable?To me it just appears to be a fusible link between two cells.Does anyone have more info on this fuse setup?

 

[Dryglove]

Thanks for the great answer.All this time i just thought it was a fusible link.The microfuse seems like a really cool setup.Its great that it is resettable.Dan never ceases to amaze me.