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| Originally Posted by devilgas am only qual'd to cavern, so may be talking a load of bollocks, but my simple set up is 2x frogman lenser LED (the switched version) and 2x uk mini q40 eLED torches, all helmet mounted with one lenser & one q40 being run at any one time - backup is then identical to the primary. burn times are more than adequate, over 20hrs per lamp. with relatively low power (3 or 5w per lamp), backscatter isn't too much of an issue in poorer viz and can be reduced further by turning one of the lights off.
my backup and main setups are identical so there's no difference in light output should i need to swap from main to backup.
lamps cost about £130 in total iirc. |
As Mark says, depends on what you are diving. In a big passage you'd struggle with that set up and you'd have difficulties light signalling (for anyone who isn't solo).
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| Originally Posted by Mark Chase I recently spent over £200 on a back up tri LED torch. I did this because having had a primary torch fail on me I switched to a Photon Torpedo which felt like a candle in a jam jar by comparison. End result is my dreamed of dive inside the Justicia was ruined by lack of light. |
I did the same after a light failure a fair way inside a cave and had to exit on an LED backup. I bought a 10W HID Dive Rite handheld as a backup, it's not that much bigger than a standard twisty-on style backup torch but is almost good enough to be a primary. I put a set of high capacity NiMH's in it and it does three hours. I wanted it so that if a light failed then I didn't have to turn round and bin the dive. I also thought the chance of scootering out on a normal backup at any speed was nil.
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This is an epic torch and if you have the cash then go for the 21W but I beleive its really unnecessary, its just for childish grin factor, but you will seldom find a disappointed Salvo 21W owner.
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I'll find out on Sunday as it's my first dive with the Salvo 21W after using a Halcyon 18W.
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Having the 10W is like owning a Porsche Boxter when you m8's are tooling around in 911 Turbos
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Luckily I have no friends who are either hairdressers or Scouse lottery winners.
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As for the Salvo failure? I am concerned as to whether or not the Salvo has a temperature cut out on it? The Solus will switch its self off if it gets too hot. I know this as it did during some dry testing i was doing.
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For a torch for cave diving as the original question related to, I would think that any light that has the potential to need a cut out wouldn't be an ideal candidate. Issues like these are the reasons that I've shyed away from anything but halogen underground for so long. Halogen is a bulb hooked to a battery, it needs nothing else, no ballast, electronics, fuses, fancy circuitry, nothing. If you flood it then it will still work. If you break a bulb so what, my local Spar sells them, you can get them anywhere and they cost peanuts. If you can get the test tube off then you can even change the bulb underwater. Cold won't affect it. You can switch it off and on and off and on whenever you want without worrying about striking times. It'll burn (to some extent) as long as the battery is still giving out power. You don't need super flexible robotics cable because halogen tolerates short breaks in the power. Combine it with a lead acid battery and you have a totally bombproof solution for cave diving. Don't get me started on how good SLA's are
The major downside is that halogen drinks power and there is no way round that other than big batteries.
Cheers,
Stuart