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	I am a new subscriber to the Techdiver list, and over the past week or so
have been reading the responses of some other subscribers.  It has become
apparent to me that there is a wealth of  information gained from
practical experience on this list.  For this reason, I am hesitant to
respond or offer my opinion on the related topics.  Compared to the
(seemingly) majority of the people on the list, I have a minimal amount of
diving experience (13hrs), all within the recreational levels, I have
advanced open water cert.  I did not subscribe to this list to voice an
opinion, or try to show how much I can argue a point, but on the contrary,
am on this list to learn more of the aspects of diving only gained from
personal experience.  I know this is no substitute for experience, but
maybe something that I will pick up from this list will help me in a
future situation that may arise.  I see myself diving more in the future,
after I am out of college and have time and money to pursue the sport more
often, but right now I only get to dive every couple of months.  I set the
time aside to allow me to keep my basic skills somewhat sharp.

	Enough of the introduction stuff, like I said before, I am hesitant to
ask any questions for fear of  responses I have read in the last week, but
here goes nothing.  I have been looking around the Internet lately and
have found some information on building your own dive lights.  A good dive
light is something that I could use, I do not have the money purchase a
very powerful one, but I do have access to all the facilities to build
one.  I have done some design work in a couple of internships, and for
other people, but now I am interested in trying to build a light.  I have
done some preliminary work to see if some of my thoughts are viable with
the materials I can use, here they are:

*Battery case made of 6" PVC Pipe—Have worked out sealing----
	-Seal Pressure test in two weeks
	-One end Permanently sealed, the other removable via a pipe test plug and
fastening 	screws.
-Schedule 40 6" is good to a Max Depth of 1430ft. in Salt
water-----Theoretical Calculation!!
*2-12volt 12ah Lead Acid Batteries wired in parallel
*Thinking of using replacement Halogen Headlight bulb in range of 130-165
watts
	Because they are readily available
*Light head linked to Battery case via umbilical
*Aluminum light head (Anodized), sealed by o-ring and watertight wire
strain relief.
--I have not found a source for a watertight switch, I know Dacor has
some, but I cannot find the part supplier that will sell them to me.
--I am going to need 12-14 gage wire for the umbilical, anybody know where
to get two conductor cable with all silicon insulation?

I am asking the people of this list to relay any information that they
have with lights of this nature. I do not want to re-invent the wheel
here, and would welcome any comments about my initial thoughts of
components, or suggestions for better component selection.  Keep in mind
that I know that this idea has a lot of open ends, I am asking for some
input from people that have dove with big lights like this, what are their
good points, what are some bad points, is there anything I can change on
my light to eliminate past problems.  This light will be for personal use,
I am not designing this thing for market, and will not hold anybody to
there suggestions, so don't worry.

Thanks for the input,
Aaron 
Migrant@Fu*.ne*

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