DIR backup light question

[grouchyturtle]

Why is it recommended that you use cave line or a tie wrap to secure small accessories such as back up lights to clips?

Isn't this just adding another failure point?

Isn't it better to use the smallest possible split ring?

If the clip gets stuck closed, couldn't you just as easily pry it with your knife, as you could cut the tie wrap?

 

[Wingtip]

Cave line is for accessories that you don't want to be able to break away from, ties are breakable without the use of a knife. However the jury is still out on whether or not we can use ties, it depends on who you talk to at the moment.

I don't know on the split ring, but I personally feel it's a failure point in that if the light, or other item, gets entangled it'll pull the split ring apart causing you to drop/lose said item.

 

[grouchyturtle]

That's what I was thinking about ties too. Very easy to break!

But wouldn't it be pretty hard to get a line in there?

Especially on a smaller one, they really don't flex much and are looped pretty tightly.

Also wouldn't it take a lot of force to pull it apart? Wouldn't you feel the snag long before that happens?

Damn sometimes I think everything is failure point, and everytime you get rid of one there's a tradeoff!

 

[ScottyK]

grunzster once bubbled...
Damn sometimes I think everything is failure point, and everytime you get rid of one there's a tradeoff!

Therein lies the problem

I used to like keeping my backup light in my BC pocket. No way for it to get entangled or lost. Then one night my primary flooded, and It was hard wrestling out the backup, which was a tight fit in the pocket.

You need to find the balance between being firmly secure, and easily deployable.

I've been using tie wraps to secure things to my BC for years, and have yet to have a problem. I do always use the biggest one I can fit, and try to double them up if there's room.

 

[pipedope]

connections.

The reason for cave line, o-ring or tiewrap is to have a breakable/cutable connection.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I use innertube. I can vary the breakaway strength to whatever I want just by varying the thickness of the rubber band.
Rick

 

[MikeFerrara]

I tie a clip to the light with a piece of line. The clip is so you can detatch it from the harness when you deploy it and the line is so you can cut it away if you need to.

My wife used to use wire ties and refused to listen when I urged her to get rid of them. One day in a real nasty cave in Kentucky the wire tie broke. By the time we found her light we were cold and the dive was over.

In general break away connections are used for things like regulators that you or some one else might need in a hurry

 

[OneBrightGator]

Cave line is much eaiser to cut than prying a split ring open would be, plus if the clip did get stuck closed I would not want to be prying with my knife that close to my neck... no thanks.

Off the top of my head backup lights are the only thing that use a bolt snap for as the primary attachment, everything else (long hose, SPG, lighthead) use bolt snaps for stowing, that said, if you have inner tube loops for your lights they should stay even if the line fails.

zipties are useless, use o-rings for breakaway connections and cave line for everything else.

Ben

 

[ScottyK]

OneBrightGator once bubbled...


zipties are useless

Ben

Ok....I'll bite. On what do you base that? My experience with zip ties has found them to be:

Inexpensive and readily available.

Tough as nails. Almost impossible to tear or pry open, yet easily cut or snipped if the need arises.

Tighter cinching and cleaner than line with no messy knots to unravel.

I'm sure line works great too, but I wouldn't say that it's "useless" just because I choose to use something else.

Scott

 

[OneBrightGator]

Well... in my experience, zipties are very easy to break if you twist them (you can twist them off with two fingers) and more than once I've had them snap when using a "ziptie gun" included with the package of zipties.

Cave line rarely fails, you have an abundance of it and is squared away if you melt the ends and knot correctly and as far as tightness goes a little movement in your boltsnaps is good (makes things easier to stow and does not develop any stresses in the connection).

Ben