Your experiences with heating equipment?

[AJMcc]

i've ended up building own better than santi or anything else i tried before.. 0 extra weight required and very safe. one hid another wetnmate..

Could you provide a bit more detail about your build, what type of vest, wattage, construction...etc..

Thanks,

 

[TSandM]

We use a separate canister, because we had old Terkel lights that were no longer usable, so the canisters could be repurposed. I lust after the LM duel canister. LM was not making a throughport when we bought ours; I haven't seen theirs, but the relief of the valve has not been an issue. We do not have a controller, so our vests are either on or off. Pursuant to the research Neal Pollock presented at DEMA 2 years ago, I only run the vest the last third or so of a dive -- I am really quite worried about running it early and somehow having it fail (battery exhaust or whatever) and getting bent as a result.

I'll let you know what the solution to the E/O cord problem is when I figure it out

 

[kr2y5]

Thanks, everyone! Lots of votes for Thermalution, interesting... I am not sure yet how I feel about carrying any batteries inside my drysuit, I have to think about it some more.

We use a separate canister, because we had old Terkel lights that were no longer usable, so the canisters could be repurposed. I lust after the LM duel canister. LM was not making a throughport when we bought ours; I haven't seen theirs, but the relief of the valve has not been an issue. We do not have a controller, so our vests are either on or off. Pursuant to the research Neal Pollock presented at DEMA 2 years ago, I only run the vest the last third or so of a dive -- I am really quite worried about running it early and somehow having it fail (battery exhaust or whatever) and getting bent as a result. I'll let you know what the solution to the E/O cord problem is when I figure it out

Thanks, Lynne! Do you mount your dual canisters both on the right, on your waist belt, or keep one on the backplate or butt D-ring? Do you think having 2 canisters, despite being less streamlined, still provides any extra redundancy over a dual-outlet / single-canister setup, or not to a meaningful extent? I am not exactly sure what are the major failure modes on this stuff, other than battery drainage (it sounds like all the latest models are potted these days).

Does anyone else dive with dual canisters, a dual-outlet, or share via E/O cord with your light during the dive? What is your setup, and what do you like / dislike about it?

 

[TSandM]

I use two canisters on the right waistband. It's a little bulky, and it's kind of hard to get to the back one, so I mount my light in the back, because I don't turn it on and off during a dive, and the vest one in front, where it's easier to reach. I don't think there is any real reason to do this rather than the dual canister; those canisters nowadays are sealed, so you aren't worrying about flooding. The double canister with the two batteries in it is just quite expensive, and I had the spare canisters already.

You do need a bit more length on the waistband to accommodate two cans.

 

[dreamdive]

Had two hour deco today and what would have normally been a dry suit dive, was managed wet with the thermolution vest.

 

[descent]

... what are the major failure modes on this stuff ... ?

Lithium-based energy storage in pressure sealed containers? Heh heh. I can think of a couple of exciting failure modes.

When shorted, the batteries release lots of heat. They can melt, or worse. From the Wikipedia article about Lithium batteries ...

Rapid-discharge problems

Lithium batteries can provide extremely high currents and can discharge very rapidly when short-circuited. Although this is useful in applications where high currents are required, a too-rapid discharge of a lithium battery can result in overheating of the battery, rupture, and even explosion. ... Consumer batteries usually incorporate overcurrent or thermal protection or vents to prevent explosion.

When attacked by electrolytic fluids, like sea water leaking into their container, the battery chemistry can take a detour into producing large amounts of hydrogen. If the container does not have a working overpressure valve, you may experience a loud noise. See this other thread: Dive light battery explosion.

I have worked around lithium batteries since they were exotic items costing hundreds of dollars apiece. Thankfully, I have never seen one on fire.

I have seen several container failures due to overpressure. Most likely happened due to blocked vents. Some had aggressive corrosion. Typically, they just burst, sometimes with a hiss or a pop, sometimes with a bang. I remember a couple that generated shrapnel, but those incidents involved car-crash levels of mechanical deformation, so it wasn't clear afterwards if the pieces broke off spectacularly on impact or were blown off even more spectacularly milliseconds later by failing batteries.

My impression of modern light cans is that reputable manufacturers sell fairly safe products (as safe as something like this can be made). The much-cheaper discount items from generic manufacturers are either very nice clones and also safe, or barely-functioning junk waiting to fall apart.