Looking for advice on canister batteries

[high/baric]

We do have a couple of pretty good local alternatives, at one of which is also known for stellar customer service, so I'm definitely looking into those options as well. But as the market is much smaller, getting any reliable information about user experiences is also much harder. The battery technology is pretty much universal though, which is why I ended up asking about it here.

 

[tbone1004]

I guess the other question to ask, is do you actually need a canister? Are you doing long enough cave dives to warrant it with some of the high end backup lights out there? One of the tough things to wrap our head around these days is that the high end backup lights are throwing out more light than a 10w HID, and doing it for around an hour on a single 18650 battery. If your dives are under 2 hours and that is enough light, then I'd really consider getting a pair of those and calling it a day.

 

[fmerkel]

You solder your own Li-Ion? Bold!

Not as much as you think. I mostly solder onto existing tabs, not the cell itself (though I have done that) By skipping the PCB and putting in a balance tap it's easier to make and I have operating control over individual cells and therefore cell health and diagnostics. You simply can't do that with a shrink-wrapped 'black box'.

 

[high/baric]

I hear you! I currently dive with a Light&Motion handheld, when it's not attached to my camera rig, and it's mostly enough for me. But the diving conditions here pretty much require a light anywhere below 10 meters and a powerful light anywhere below 20 meters, which is where the L&M 1200 just barely suffices. Add to that the possible need for a heated vest and a canister light starts to sound pretty tempting. By the way, I don't dive in caves at all, like I said in the first post I asked my question on this forum because I figured cave divers would have the most experience with canister light batteries (which was the original subject of the thread, it has now derailed a bit). But yeah, the light will not be for cave diving but to cut through all that murk in our natural waters. But perhaps that is a discussion for another thread and forum.

 

[tbone1004]

if I were you, I'd talk to the guys at UWLD and check out the LD-15 *tighter beam with less backscatter if you have a lot of particulate in the water* which will be close to 3x as bright as the Sola when on spot beam, and then their vest controller. Still allows you to plug in via e/o to address AJ's concern with just on/off switch control, but gives you the ability to profile your active heat which from the recent studies is better for decompression risk. With the UWLD, you can get one of the smaller canisters if you're concerned about flying, but all 3 are certified for flight as is.

 

[PfcAJ]

Also consider how much burn time you'll get on a vest with one of those baby battery packs.

 

[tbone1004]

@PfcAJ, I know you aren't a fan of the UWLD lights, and I think your thoughts on the heat controller are comparable to still using carburetors when reliable fuel injection gets better efficiency and overall usability, but to each his own. Here is a rough rundown on the burn times with the three canisters.

With the smallest canister, biggest light, and the Exo2 vest on high, you'll get about 45 minutes burn time. With the smallest light, about 60 minutes. This is with both on max output the whole time, which is not considered normal use. The vest is outputting 50c of heat and you are unlikely to want that the whole duration of the dive. With their heat controlled you can turn that down to something comfortable instead of having to cycle between on and off. Burn times will obviously change depending on what the watt draw of the vest is, those numbers are roughly accurate for a 35w vest that UWLD has on their website.

With the medium canister it's double the burn time numbers above, and the largest triple the way the UWLD packs are designed. That said, all 3 are certified UN38.3 and that is engraved on the actual canister to try to minimize any TSA hassle.
The other advantage of the vest controller is it allows you to use 12v and 7v vests with the higher voltage packs that help maximize efficiency in the light head. With other designs they have had to keep the packs down to 12v or 7v to use the vest straight out of the canister.

If you are using a different vest, you can get rough burn times by doing the following.
Burn Times
go to that matrix, and find the combination that you want. For the small light small canister with a 35w vest you take 200 mins *15/(15+35) and that scales the burn times to close enough numbers.

 

[PfcAJ]

"
Size limits: Lithium metal (non-rechargeable) batteries are limited to 2 grams of lithium per battery. Lithium ion (rechargeable) batteries are limited to a rating of 100 watt hours (Wh) per battery. These limits allow for nearly all types of lithium batteries used by the average person in their electronic devices. With airline approval, passengers may also carry up to two spare larger lithium ion batteries (101-160 watt hours). This size covers the larger after-market extended-life laptop computer batteries and some larger batteries used in professional audio/visual equipment."

With airline approval.

Not always going to happen no matter what's engraved on the side.

It's not about the manufacturer. I don't care who makes the packs. The fact of the matter is that lithium packs and airline travel are a difficult combo and baby packs don't provide much burn time unless you've got dedicated packs for vest and light.

 

[joshk]

"
With airline approval.

I've never once been asked to produce a fact sheet for a canister battery. I've also never asked for approval. In my experience traveling with lithium batteries is not a hassle.

 

[PfcAJ]

I've never once been asked to produce a fact sheet for a canister battery. I've also never asked for approval. In my experience traveling with lithium batteries is not a hassle.

Well I guess you could toss whatever you want in your checked baggage and hope for the best if that's the road you want to go down.