Over the past two months I have received a number of request for information about the Solly light by Terkel Dive Equipment, so I called Terkel last week and ordered a Solly light.
We talked for a while about the manufacturing process and the materials used. Instead of Delrin, the canister is Adiprene. This stuff is TOUGH. We also discussed some of the issues that are inherent with HID bulbs. The need to make sure the light "heats" to the proper temp for the correct time, (read as turn on, leave on for at least 3 minutes before shutting down, wait for over 1 minute before restriking). HID bulbs handled any other way will create "gas" issues with the bulb and in turn cause intermittent striking issues.
Terkel told me that the lights are all tested before shipment and have been pressurized to 320 fsw. The bulb has an expected life of 1000 strikes and the battery pack has a life expectance of 500-600 charging cycles.
So I ordered the light, gave him the CC number and waited for it to arrive.
It got here Thursday and I was pleasently surprised to have such a nice manual with the light. 24 pages of information about the specs, care, maintenance, and use of the light.
I immediately read the manual, filled the kitchen sink with water and began the burn down of the battery pack for a complete charge. It took about 1.5 hours for the burn to drain the pack.
I then charged the battery pack for the recommended 8 hours with the included trickle charger.
Today's dive took the light to 71 ffw. Water temp at depth was 42 F. The light worked as promised with a nice focused beam. I focused the light before descent as recommended in the manual.
I am really impressed with the light and plan one more dive in Lake Huron before the end of the month before I put them on the webpage for sale. Stay tuned.
Chris
We talked for a while about the manufacturing process and the materials used. Instead of Delrin, the canister is Adiprene. This stuff is TOUGH. We also discussed some of the issues that are inherent with HID bulbs. The need to make sure the light "heats" to the proper temp for the correct time, (read as turn on, leave on for at least 3 minutes before shutting down, wait for over 1 minute before restriking). HID bulbs handled any other way will create "gas" issues with the bulb and in turn cause intermittent striking issues.
Terkel told me that the lights are all tested before shipment and have been pressurized to 320 fsw. The bulb has an expected life of 1000 strikes and the battery pack has a life expectance of 500-600 charging cycles.
So I ordered the light, gave him the CC number and waited for it to arrive.
It got here Thursday and I was pleasently surprised to have such a nice manual with the light. 24 pages of information about the specs, care, maintenance, and use of the light.
I immediately read the manual, filled the kitchen sink with water and began the burn down of the battery pack for a complete charge. It took about 1.5 hours for the burn to drain the pack.
I then charged the battery pack for the recommended 8 hours with the included trickle charger.
Today's dive took the light to 71 ffw. Water temp at depth was 42 F. The light worked as promised with a nice focused beam. I focused the light before descent as recommended in the manual.
I am really impressed with the light and plan one more dive in Lake Huron before the end of the month before I put them on the webpage for sale. Stay tuned.
Chris