Tec Dive Lights

[DeepDiverBob]

What is the minimum wattage you would want in your dive light?

theskull, I have seen your light. That is pretty impressive. I know you told me what the wattage was on it, but I forgot.

[Atlaua]

That would depend on the use, but an 18w HID seems to be pretty standard for cavers.

[theskull]

My light is indeed an 18w HID. For a minimum I would want 10w HID--this is quite enough.

I can't wait to see some of the new LEDs that are coming out, such as the Tristar from Green Force (Manta).

I completed my tech training while using a 10w Halogen. It was adequate, but just so.

theskull

[Atlaua]

I think some companies are making 21w HID's. You know, in case you want to land a plane in the cave :D...

[theskull]

I think some companies are making 21w HID's. You know, in case you want to land a plane in the cave :D...

Yes, the 18w bulbs are still available, but no longer being made. The 21w is the new 18w.

theskull

[cortez]

So my SL4 may not be sufficient???

:D

[reefraff]

Match your primary to the situation - and to your team. Inside a wreck or on a night dive, a 10 watt HID is usually enough light and rarely so much as to blind you. Caving means more power. The difference between the 10 watt and the 21 watt is substantial and if you're the odd man out in a team, you'll find that signalling can be a problem. You're either going to be overpowering everybody else in the team or hard to notice, depending upon what your buds are diving.

[theskull]

Match your primary to the situation - and to your team. Inside a wreck or on a night dive, a 10 watt HID is usually enough light and rarely so much as to blind you. Caving means more power. The difference between the 10 watt and the 21 watt is substantial and if you're the odd man out in a team, you'll find that signalling can be a problem. You're either going to be overpowering everybody else in the team or hard to notice, depending upon what your buds are diving.

10 watt is certainly enough . . . until you've been in there with 18 or 21 watt! More power rules--especially in a cave.

Odd man out in a team is never a problem. The guy with the puny light goes in the middle of a 3 or 4 man team, and in front with a 2 man team. The guy with the brightest light needs to have just a little better buddy awareness, but also gets to enjoy the greatest view. Light handling has a lot to do with this, even when using matched lights--every few minutes you need to make a sweep under your buddy with your light or pass your light through his beam so he knows where you are without having to look back.

Light is good. Sometimes you CAN buy happiness.

theskull

[reefraff]

10 watt is certainly enough . . . until you've been in there with 18 or 21 watt! More power rules--especially in a cave.
Like I said, in a cave, an 18 or 21 watt is preferred. That isn't the case inside a wreck, however, where the potential for blinding your buddy or yourself in the cramped quarters exceeds the benefit of the added wattage. As far as night dives go, the 18/21 certainly provides a bigger/brighter light zone but it also paralyzes almost any fish caught in that beam. I'd rather see a little less area where the fish aren't stunned into submission.:eek:

Odd man out in a team is never a problem. The guy with the puny light goes in the middle of a 3 or 4 man team, and in front with a 2 man team. The guy with the brightest light needs to have just a little better buddy awareness, but also gets to enjoy the greatest view. Light handling has a lot to do with this, even when using matched lights--every few minutes you need to make a sweep under your buddy with your light or pass your light through his beam so he knows where you are without having to look back.I have to disagree: odd man out in a team is always a problem, in general and in this specific instance. Though the protocols you give are correct, as the guy who has been in the saddle with the lesser light on a couple of occasions I can tell you that it can be difficult to impossible to get the attention of the rest of the team in any environment, especially in open water or inside wrecks. No matter how the lights are focused, you simply can't sweep a 10 watt beam through a 21 watt beam and expect results - it just gets lost, so you're dependent upon the peripheral vision of the other divers catching your feeble light. It works sort-of-okay in a cave (where there are semi-distant walls and ceilings to catch a "stray" beam) but in open water there isn't anything to catch the feeble beam and in a wreck the 18/21's just light up the space so bright that the 10 can't find any purchase.

I sometimes dive with someone who has twin 50 watt HID's set up on a video rig - talk about high noon at 40 or 50 fathoms! It's nice until that beam sweeps across you (Hi, Mom!) and then you're going to be blind for a minute or two until your eyes can readjust. Sometimes more power is called for but in diving, as in life, less is often more.

[DeepDiverBob]

I have a 50 watt LED light, and people have been able to get my attention in open water with a SL4.

[reefraff]

I have a 50 watt LED light, and people have been able to get my attention in open water with a SL4.I didn't know anybody was making a 50 watt LED light.

[DeepDiverBob]

Its very new on the market. I would give you the link for it, but I cant find one in English.

[theskull]

. . . I have to disagree: odd man out in a team is always a problem, in general and in this specific instance. Though the protocols you give are correct, as the guy who has been in the saddle with the lesser light on a couple of occasions I can tell you that it can be difficult to impossible to get the attention of the rest of the team in any environment, especially in open water or inside wrecks. No matter how the lights are focused, you simply can't sweep a 10 watt beam through a 21 watt beam and expect results - it just gets lost, so you're dependent upon the peripheral vision of the other divers catching your feeble light.

Respectfully, I think what you are describing is a buddy awareness issue rather than a light selection issue.

I nearly always dive in a team with an odd selection of lights. When with my usual buddies, be it in Open Water, Cave, or Wreck, we are aware of each other's lights and presence and any one of us only needs a quick flick of the wrist to secure each others' attention. Note also that my "usual buddies" is a cast of more than a dozen, some of whom are Tech Divers but most of whom are Open Water divers.

On the other hand, I have made dives with OTHER divers whom I could not get attention from even though my light was 5x as bright as theirs and I was slashing the beam across their chest! These OTHER divers also range from OW to Tech Divers.

So, buy the light that pleases you and fits your budget. But be very careful when selecting buddies to make more serious dives with, and always make dives within your comfort zone and during which you believe you can be self-sufficient.

theskull

[steve2281]

I have a 50 watt LED light, and people have been able to get my attention in open water with a SL4.

Is it a cannister-type light?? I'm in the market for a light.

[DeepDiverBob]

It is not a cannister, it looks more like a hand held flash light. I am still searching for an English link so you can see what it is.

[cortez]

Here's the english link to Bob's light...

http://www.fa-mi.com/ecommerce2/prodotti2_1/

[theskull]

Here's the english link to Bob's light...

http://www.fa-mi.com/ecommerce2/prodotti2_1/

Looks very cool! Can't wait to see it UW Bob. Are you coming to Table Rock for the Project AWARE clean-up dives?

theskull

[reefraff]

http://www.fa-mi.com/ecommerce2/prodotti2_1/

It looks like they are selling lights with multiple LED bulbs and giving them an "efficiency" rating equivalent to some other bulb. The hottest one I see is their "PowerLED 90" that appears to have six 5 watt LED bulbs. That's a combined output of 30 watts for which they report an efficiency of 90 watts. I also see what might be your light - what they're calling the PowerLED 50, with four 3 watt bulbs with an efficiency of 50 watts. I'm assuming that the efficiency comparison is to the lumen output of an incandescent bulb, not the energy consumption...:D

That's still a lot of power but I'd like to see some information about the output in lumens before plinking down the $$$. My guess is that their "50 watt equivalent" is about equal to the ouput of a 10 watt HID.

Unless I'm reading the information wrong...

[steve2281]

Thanks for the link. Interesting.

Sure wish someone could report some first-had experience with the new Sea-Elite HID.

[DeepDiverBob]

Looks very cool! Can't wait to see it UW Bob. Are you coming to Table Rock for the Project AWARE clean-up dives?

theskull

I am going to try to get down there for the clean up. These gas prices are definitly slowing down my diving. I cant afford 150 bucks in gas every weekend. The only thing I know for a fact I am going to do is Bull Shoals house boat next weekend and Blue Water Lake over Labor day weekend.

[StSomewhere]

Sure wish someone could report some first-had experience with the new Sea-Elite HID.Do a search over at TDS. Apparently its a Salvo 10W HID with a focused (but not focus-able) beam.

Edit: Nevermind I just saw your post over there.

[MgicTwnger]

I am going to try to get down there for the clean up. These gas prices are definitly slowing down my diving. I cant afford 150 bucks in gas every weekend. The only thing I know for a fact I am going to do is Bull Shoals house boat next weekend and Blue Water Lake over Labor day weekend.
You're not coming to Mermet for the Meet & Greet? For shame!

[DeepDiverBob]

You're not coming to Mermet for the Meet & Greet? For shame!

Nope...I committed to Blue Water Lake many many months ago. Also, I like the idea of diving someplace new. And looking at the list of people who have signed up to go to Mermet that weekend, I know all of you already. :p