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Lee, the "brick" on our light is the size of a golf ball and it does not have to be changed for different bulbs . The startup time on ours is a few seconds. With ours the canister space is not taken up by ballast so full batteries can be used, and there is no second cannister. With the E/O connector we can change bulb slugs underwater to go back to halogen or to use a different bulb. Since our cord is powered with the battery voltage, we have no problem doing this. There is no cord length limit with this arrangement, as you know. I should have mentioned this light a long time ago, but I was in no mood to say anything about the gear we use with Stone out there claiming he could do it better than us, and then I honestly forgot all about this and eveything else we do until somebody mentioned it. As I said, our so called "competition" has evaporated so I am more of a mind to discuss how we do what we do and what we use to do it. You may also be aware by now that we kept the scooters, batteries, and motors secret while this was going on, but you may have seen the "uncopiable" version that we now use - this is one of the more clever devices we have come up with , like the light, and like the rebreather, which has also been changed ( thanks to Bill Gavin ) , and like everything else that emanates form an organiziotn with this much accumulated talent and experience, as Jarrod mentioned. Our solutions are cost effective as well. For instance, the batteries we use in the long range scooters cost $250 per set, and burn 170 minutes at full speed. This compares with Stone's $8000 per set that burn less than twice that. I laught when I realize that nobody seems to notice that our whole team has all of this gear of their own, and everyone else either has none or has wasted their money on nothing , and we are totally self funded. We get nothing given to us, and would not take it if we did. Very interesting obsrvation. Lee Gibson and Lucy Bonilla wrote: > Maggie, > I have one of the 17w Dive Rite HID lights. It is much brighter than the 50w > halogen and gives a 3 hour burn on a "single" pack. > Both of these features are big improvements over the halogen bulb. > Now the down side... the bulbs are expensive, $100-150 each. In order for an > HID to work, it has to have a ballast to "jump" the voltage to initiate the > arc at start up. The ballast is BULB SPECIFIC. Once you pick the bulb > wattage you are going to use, you must stick with it unless you change the > ballast too. As the bulb wattage goes up the ballast increase in size. So, > with the Dive Rite light only the 17w and the 24w are availible because larger > wattage ballast won't fit inside the canister. The 17w is perfered over the > 24w as it has a longer burn time and has a higher "temperature" light...6700K > vs 4200k but both of these are double to triple the halogen bulb values. > Now to the cord itself. It is limited to 27" in length to prevent too much > voltage drop between the ballast and the bulb. That is why on some of the > competitors HID lights the ballast is mounted on the light handle...no voltage > drop or ballast size limits, some even use a 50w bulb. But then, you have to > carry the "brick" in your hand the whole dive. Lastly a trait common to all > HID lights is reset time. Once an HID light is turned on to full brightness > and then gets turned off, it takes 3-5 minutes for the ballast to reset for > another start up to occur. That means that if on a dive your light > accidentally gets turned off you will need a handy alternate source for the > next 5 minutes. > Only you can decide if this tool is right for the dives you have planned. > Lee Gibson > > Maggie Owens wrote: > > > Dear List, > > > > I am considering upgrading one of my two Dive Rite MLS lights to the new > > Dive Rite HID light. Let me say first that I KNOW that an EE light is > > preferable (and I plan to get one at some point in the future), but I am > > seduced by the idea of using a light that is as small as the one I have > > now, but has a longer burn time with a brighter bulb. Let me also say that > > I don't know much at all (that would be, I really know nothing) about this > > technology, which is why I'm posting this question. (So please be gentle!) > > > > What I am wondering is > > (1) are HID lights really all they are cracked up to be? and > > (2) Is there something about them that makes them *NOT* DIR, and if so, > > what is it and why? > > > > Thanks in advance. > > > > ---------- > > Maggie, who seems to be a northeast-wreck-diving-geek and boat monkee > > mmowens@pa*.co* > > http://www.panix.com/~mmowens
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