Good light for freediving

[Fondueset]

What's a good major light - for night dives?

[jimdoe2you]

UK HID Light Canon. Best hand held primary light for night dives.

IMHO it represents the bests mix of performance and size, and even though it's not the cheapest light by any means, it offers a tremendous bang for the buck. I own a ton of lights and yet this is really the only one I ever use anymore.

It comes with a diffusing filter in the box incase you want to use it as a video light as well.

http://forums.deeperblue.net/hunting...tml#post574387

[cdavis]

Hey Jimdoe,

I looked up some info on that light and found one that uses 8 C cells. Is this the right one? Is there something else that throws a lot of light that would be less drag?

Connor

[jimdoe2you]

Conner,

Yes, that particular model requires eight c-cell batteries, although UK does offer a recharge kit for it that can be purchased seperately.

Dive lights is a subject that can easily become convoluted because there are so many different diving environment, types of diving, gear configurations, etc. The night diver, lobster diver, videographer, cave diver, rescue diver all require different lighting setups.

Based on some of our previous conversations, if you are looking for something compact but will light up some pretty vast caverns, a nice Halcyon Explorer 4.5 with a 18watt HID should mount nicely between your tanks. If you are getting into a lot of chutes and chimneys I would mount at the foot of your tanks (across your butt). If you want to yap more about this, PM me.

Jim

[efattah]

I recommend the SL50 by Nocturnal lights:
Nocturnal Lights - Dive Lights , Video Lights, Focus Lights for Scuba Diving and Underwater Photo and Video

There are others like it by different manufacturers, all are almost the same. 50W, over 1000 lumens, narrow body for hydrodynamics.

I recommend a wide angle beam 35 to 60 degrees.

This and others like it dwarf all other freediving lights I've used.

Best of all, the handle allows you to hang the light with your leading arm, while equalizing with the other hand, making for an effortless descent.

[Fondueset]

Righto - what I'm looking for is a dedicated night diving light - for pretty clear water. Man it's gonna be creepy!!

[Jon]

Jim,

Butt mounting a light? JJ would be sad.

Friends of mine use Halcyon lights and my father-in-law uses a double 50 watt HID light system for his video camera mounted on his Gavin scooter. Super expensive, and very bulky for freediving.

I've always used DIVERITE lights for my canister/HID lighting needs as they were cheaper. They are coming out with a new 10 watt HID back up light that would be super sleek. Since it's small enough to be a back up lights, and be able to be carried on your harness without getting in the way of all your stages bottles and such, it would have to be super sleek. So far it's the slimmest looking HID light I have seen. You could also go with one of their HID light heads on their wreck diver canister, which is fairly small, and that could be worn on your belt. Here's a link to their lights: http://www.diverite.com/products/Lights/Lighting.aspx

Having said all that, I would have to agree with Jim and recommend the UK HID light. It is smaller than other lights I have used and throws out a very good beam of light. They are also some of the most affordable HID lights on the market.

Jumping up to an HID light from a standard Halogen bulb makes a HUGE difference in brightness, burn time, and the amount of heat given off by it. I know of one diver who burned a hole in his boat upholstery when he left his old Halogen canister light on after a dive- burned a perfect circle through the seat! HID's don't give off that kind of heat.

Jon

[jimdoe2you]

Originally Posted by Jon

Jim,

Butt mounting a light? JJ would be sad.

Yes, but I am a pre-DIR hogarthian! Then again it's been 16 years since I have been in a cave so I am certain that I'm now way outside the know.

Originally Posted by Jon

They are coming out with a new 10 watt HID back up light that would be super sleek.

Ohhhh, I want one already!!!! (one more toy can't hurt, ..........unless Diane finds out )

.

[Fondueset]

Yadzoo! Them er expensive. Time for that life 'o crime I been dreamin of.
Interesting technology - not LED evidently - but almost as long lived. Looks like I could do u/w photography at night with that. The locals will know I am insane when they see me out in the bay, mid winter at night.
I think jim allways carries a butt light...it's one of those things I just instinctively avoid speculating about.

[Jon]

Once upon a time I used to "butt mount" my Neutralight beneath my doubles for wreck diving as well- before I went DIR.

With an HID light I have been able to light up an entire section of reef when in the islands. I've had other divers turn off their lights and just follow me around they were so bright. It also made it easier for the boat captain to see where I was at all times from up on the boat.

The first time I saw a cave light I was out wreck diving at night with my old UK 1200R. I went in first to do the tie off on the wreck and waited by the line for the other guys i was going to b diving with. In the time it took them to nter the water another group of three divers jumped in, all with canister lights, and descended upon me like something out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I knew at that exact moment I NEEDED one of these lights. I bought one a month later.

Now with NIMH battery packs and HID lights heads the whole light system is SO much smaller than that old one was- and the burn time is also about 3 times as long as it was before. It would be quite easy to put one of the new small cansiters on your belt and hold the light head on the back of your hand with a Goodman handle while you dive.

The UK HID light is much less expensive and they come up for sale on Ebay all the time.

Jon

[efattah]

I would have to recommend against HID lights for freediving, for the following reason.

When freediving in dark water or at night, it is only usually necessary to turn on your light when you are on the bottom, or at least right before you start the dive. At the end of each dive, at the surface, it is beneficial to turn off your light to conserve battery power.

Now, with an HID light, you cannot turn it on and off during your surface interval. This is because HID bulbs will die in one day if you do that, and further they take forever to ramp up to full power, so even if you turned it on right before your dive, then it wouldn't reach full power until maybe near the end of the dive.

Sure, you could leave the HID light on during your entire session, but this wouldn't make sense either, for one main reason. If you are diving an HID light and having it on all the time, you are wasting tons of battery power. You could use a halogen or LED light, of the same size, and three to four times the power, getting much more light out of the same package. This is, of course, because with an LED or halogen light, you can turn it off during the surface interval.

As an example, if you dove a 2 hour session, with 20 freedives, then you would need either:
1. HID light with 2 hour battery life
OR
2. LED or halogen light with 20 minute battery life

Now, suppose you chose a light with a battery of 50 W-h (watt hours).
Such a light would give you:
25W for 2 hours
50W for 1 hour
100W for 30 minutes
150W for 20 minutes

So, with an HID light, you would be limited to 25W of HID power, however with a halogen light you could use a 150W light and it would be the same size.

Just my opinion!!

[Jon]

A couple more things to add, since I have owned all of these kinds of lights.

You can use a much smaller size HID light head and get more illumination out of it compared to a halogen light. An 18 watt HID head is going to be brighter than a 100 watt halogen. This means a much longer burn time from a similar size light- so no need to turn it off inbetween dives as it will go on for hours instead of minutes.

The other main difference is the quality of the light. The HID light is much bluer and works better than Halogen for underwater photography, you can get away without using strobes, and underwater video. I dove with another instructor one time who had a 30watt halogen light while I was using a 10 watt HID light. He went through the whole dive thinking his light was dying. It turned out he was just not used to seeing the yellowish glow his light was giving off compared to the much bluer light that my HID light was giving out. He decided he needed a new light right after that dive. The difference between the qulity of the two light is significant. My smaller light easily out powered his larger one.

Eric is right when he says that the HID light takes some time to warm up and get going- it's almost like starting a fire and watching it warm up. The replacement light bulbs are also much more expensive than a halogen bulb. I will say that my HID bulbs have lasted much longer.

I have also owned LED lights. They last a very long time, but I haven't been impressed with the light they put out, especially when compared to Halogen or HID.

Jon

[Dewit2it]

HID is what we call HMI in the stage industry. Mainly used in lighting for motion picture and automated stage lighting and followspots. Lamp life is around 750 hours in most with some versions going 2000. The number of strikes (starts) is important, as most of the electrode dammage is done during startup. The number of hours is about the same as the number of strikes. Many HMI lamps will brown over time, and I have seen lamps running at tungsten temps. (3300K, new they were 5600K) Once started, we leave them on all day, only shutting them down if there is a fixture problem. Keep an eye on the rated hours, as the glass becomes brittle and the lamp can explode, trashing the fixture. (fine coating of mecury on everything + radioactive krypton 85/xenon + marred reflectors, broken filters, gobos, ect.) Only hot restrike lamps can be turned off and on without a cool down period. Non hot restrike lamps when struck hot can result in a arc that will destroy the electrodes in the lamp quickly. So if the output does not increase when struck hot, SHUT IT DOWN QUICKLY! DO NOT LOOK at an unfiltered HMI light. The lamp is cranking out incredible amounts of UV and can burn your eyes quickly. If your eyes start feeling dry when using HMI lighting, you have burnt your eyes with the UV. Check that all UV filters are in place, and/or replace them.

Well, that's the stage perspective.

[Fondueset]

INteresting! Okay, I'm up for specific model recommendations for HID. I think these would be practical for me because I am generally diving shallower than eric and can often see bottom from the surface - besides - for night dives in open water during boating season this would be an added safety factor. I fyou have a specific model you think would be good let me know.

I do like LED lights - They burn cool and last forever. I question whether even an LED array can be as bright as an HID.

[Jon]

For freediving I really like the looks of this one:

http://www.diverite.com/NewProducts/LT6078.pdf

One thing we teach all scuba divers before their first night dive is not to turn your light on and off. It wears on the switch and bulb. If you really need to check for something, like where your buddy is, just push the light head into your chest. Your wet suit will block out most of the light and give your eyes a chance to acclimate and look for other lights. Same goes for wreck diving and, I assume, cave diving. Whenever you turn a light off in the water there's never a 100% guarantee that it will turn back on.

Jon