Océanos - Expediciones y Buceo

At the request of Tom Carroll, CEO, and Henry Hester, General Manager, Dive Lights International, Inc (DLI), we agreed to participate in a voluntary field test evaluation of the above lights. The guidance given by Henry was “just dive with ‘em in the caves and let us know how they did.”

Dives in the overhead environment typically run much longer than a recreational reef or kelp dive and can occur in demanding environmental conditions. Our dives generally average from 80 to 130 minutes in water temperatures ranging from 62 up to 75 degrees F in a wide variety of chemical, mineral, and salinity conditions. It is essential that the cave diver’s primary light be manufactured to withstand these extremes and perform with a high degree of reliability. In addition to the need for decent illumination in a cave, in the event of an emergency, the light must be bright enough, and the beam narrow enough, to be able to attract the attention of other dive team members when shaken.

System Information

Both of these light systems utilize either the fixed focus 6 and 13 degree Welch-Allyn 10 watt HID Solarc lamp and their corresponding ballast. This is one of several HID lamps currently used by manufacturers making primary lights for technical divers. The Nightrider HID lights are powered by a 13.2v Four Amp Hour Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) Battery Pack. The housing for the battery pack (canister) and actual lamp (light head housing) is molded Delrin, which is a highly impact resistant material. The light head housing is very small and ergonomically suited to carrying just the light, sans a Goodman Handle, directly in your hand. The canister is small enough to provide a number of mounting options. We wore them on our right side backplate waist belts, where most canister lights are carried by technical divers. These systems come with an 11” wet connect cable attached to the canister and a 33” wet connect cable attached to the HID light head. The fact that these cables can be joined or removed in the water or on land provide a unique interoperability in that different light heads and battery canisters can be instantly “swapped-out” (or joined in parallel with a Y connector) depending on the circumstances. We know of no other primary dive light currently on the market with this versatility.

Findings

We were pleased with the overall performance of these light systems. They performed very well in high flow and reduced visibility conditions. In terms of output, these lights performed as well as, or better, than any of the other 10 watt HID Solarc lamps currently on the market. But that’s where the departures begin. On more than one occasion, we either dropped the HID light heads onto the ground or banged them up against either rocks or other items both inside and outside of the caves. In all cases the Delrin light head casing did a great job of absorbing the shock with no damage to the Solarc lamp filament. We can’t say the same for the identical lamp contained in metal housings. In those situations, and under the same treatment, the filament would generally break.

DLI generally ships both of these light heads with the 13 degree Solarc lamp. For cave diving and wreck penetration, it is important that customers ask for the 6 degree lamp, which the company stocks. We found the 13 degree lamp to be ineffective in signaling and attracting the attention of other divers more than 8 feet away. In the case of the dual light head, we determined the ideal combination to use was one 13 degree lamp and one 6 degree lamp in the housing. The 6 degree lamp was used as the regular primary light in position 1 on the housing. When we needed a good “close-in” beam to light lateral portions of the cave we switched to the 13 degree lamp in position 2. For an outstanding effect emphasizing both distant views with the narrower beam and a floodlight effect on both immediate sides of the diver, we ran both lamps….but not for long periods of time. Which brings us to an important point. As a general rule, cave divers should not exceed over half the known burn time of a battery. For 4 amp hour NiMH batteries that are fully charged, that would be approximately a 2 hour dive on the single light head, and one hour for the dual light head. Because the 4 amp hour battery is the minimum size battery that you would want to take on a cave dive, we found that we needed to “double-up” on a second set of batteries to use for dive #2 on the same day. Obviously, if you are only going to dive once during the day or you don’t mind waiting the approximately 3 hours needed to re-charge the battery pack (assuming a location with electricity), and you are using the single light head, then that won’t be an issue. In reality, our single head lights often performed fine after 120 minutes, however there are two important caveats that go with that statement:

* If you want to use the Dual Head for a cave dive of over one hour, you will need to take a second battery along and connect the two in parallel using Nightrider’s Y Connector. Considering the canister’s size, that should not be a problem.

* If you are going to use any 4 amp hour light and you surface into another portion of the system after a one hour burn time…DO NOT turn the light off. Keep it on and burning with the light head in the water. Otherwise there may not be enough “battery oomph” for the ballast to put out the 1000-2000 volts it needs to get the lamp initially fired for the return trip back out…been there, done that!

These systems are perfect for the traveling cave diver. They are light, and, in a pinch, you can use parts that are generally available oversees or in Mexico for other Welch-Allyn 10 watt HID Solarc based system.

There are obviously other fines lights out there. In fact, we own several. What we found is that there is not one “magic bullet” light that does it all. If you are looking for a very lightweight, small, and well designed 10 W fixed focus HID light, that performs great on a BC in open water as well as in the overhead environment, then the Nightrider HID is a good choice. Also, these lights serve as a perfect secondary primary light if you are diving solo.

We have known Tom and Henry for a number of years now…When you talk about customer service, it’s as if they invented the term. Both they and their products are a pleasure to deal with!

Jack and Jackie Gregory
Marietta, GA

*Jackie Gregory is an SSI Dive Control Specialist Instructor (DCSI) and Assistant Store Manager for a Dive Shop in Marietta, GA. Jack Gregory is a Master Repair Technician at the same store. Both are Full Cave Certified with the National Association for Cave Diving (NACD) as well as through the Cave Diving Section (CDS) of the National Speleological Society. Florida cave systems where the tests were conducted are: Little Rivers, Devil’s and Little Devil’s (Ginnie Springs), Manatee Springs, Telford Springs, Peacock Springs I, II, and III, Orange Grove, Cow Springs, Royal Springs, Jackson Blue Springs, Vortex Blue Springs, Madison Blue Springs, and the Old Freetown System on Grand Bahama Island.

Here is the 10 Watt Dual Head HID (with Goodman handle) attached to right shoulder D Ring on Jack’s backplate

Here is the 10 Watt Single Head and canister (at the entrance to Mermaid’s Lair, Old Freetown System, Grand Bahama Is.)

Miss Jackie doing a good job of lighting up the cave with her Single Head 10 Watt HID and Goodman Handle (Old Freetown System, Grand Bahama Is.)

The 6 degree lamp (for distance) when combined with the 13 degree lamp (for close-up) makes an awesome combination (Old Freetown System, Grand Bahama Is.)