Primary light cord too long

[zimm17]

I have a 10w HID primary light (Diverite head, unknown derlin canister/battery) that has a long cord. With the canister on my right hip, and the cord going to the light in my left hand, there's quite a bit hanging down. If I take a wrap of cord around my forearm, it keeps it up and out of the way, but that's not what it's supposed to do.

How do I shorten it? Looks like a two piece fitting where the cable goes into the canister- can I just take it apart, cut and solder, and screw fitting back together? I don't want to flood my battery...

 

[MonkSeal]

How do I shorten it? Looks like a two piece fitting where the cable goes into the canister- can I just take it apart, cut and solder, and screw fitting back together? I don't want to flood my battery...

That's the procedure but you have to know what you're doing. It's not something complicated but ... However, maybe you should try canister before putting batteries inside: put some weights inside (to prevent canister being too floaty), put inside something that will show signs of leakage if any (like soft paper) and make a test dive.

 

[coldsmoke]

Don't loosen the cable gland from the lid. Steel to delrin has a habit of becoming stripped if it's cycled too much. Just loosen the top nut of the gland from the bottom nut. This will allow you to pull cord through. Without knowing how your lid is built it's tough to advise you more, however it should be pretty straight forward. Make sure you connect the wires the same way. Black may not always mean negative in this case. If you don't you will fry the ballast.

Good luck.

Hunter

 

[rjack321]

Holding the part of the gland that goes into the plastic can be hard, you need a thinnish wrench.

Take note of the size of the gap between the two nuts

Then loosen the upper nut until it can slide towards the light head

There is a rubber/plastic bushing inside which will now be loose on the cord, you might need to spit on it to get it to slide. Avoid real lubricants like silicon.

Slide the cord in a bit

Trim the black rubber casing from the outer portion of the cord inside the canister to reduce bulk and ensure the battery still fits

Crank the outer nut back down onto the gland while holding the lower part so it doesn't strip in the plastic. Make sure the gap is about like it was when you started (1mm or less on my DR lights)

A test dive like Monkseal suggested would be a good idea.

 

[rainman_02]

Why is this in the DIR forum?

 

[Gombessa]

OP assumes the widest audience knowledgeable on can lights? (Boy is he in for a surprise when he pops the gland!)

 

[MonkSeal]

There is a rubber/plastic bushing inside which will now be loose on the cord, you might need to spit on it to get it to slide. Avoid real lubricants like silicon.

Why? I used silicon without any consequence.

 

[zimm17]

Here's some pics of what I'm talking about. I think the cord is too long. The photo shows my arms fully stretched out. Normally I have my arms bent a little more. Also note that glued shrinkwrap on the battery side of the cord. The light head looks easier to undo the fitting, but I have no idea how to take apart the diverite housing.

 

[zimm17]

Tough crowd... I should have put this in the equipment forum. Sorry about that. I did post a link to this thread in the dive rite forum. i didn't know I had a dive rite MR11 light. I bought it years ago and I had thought I bought it from a different company until I did a search and saw pics in the classified section. There are no markings on the light and the sticker is long gone from the canister.

yeah, and no extra bolt snaps for me, I just don't want the cord hanging down 2 feet below me when cruising over coral reefs.

I'm looking into their LED conversion- if I send it back for that, they can shorten the cord at the same time.

 

[coldsmoke]

IMHO, what you are trying to do is pretty easy. Don't mess with the light head. A leaking canister is better than a leaking light head. For one you will know about a leaking canister after the first dive and you can do a dry run sans battery. A leaking light head my not show it's self until the ballast is damaged. Also, it's likely that there's much less room to work in the head.

So back to the canister side. Cut the shrink wrap off. It's not necessary and in fact is likely to be more of a spot for corrosion than anything else. It looks like it's there to act as a strain relief and maybe to cover up an ugly brass gland. It looks like you might have to un-solder the wires off the block. Then loosen the gland as described above and pull some slack through. A little spit or rubbing alcohol works great as a lube. I have never tried silicon, but my gut feeling is not to use it.

Once you get it where you want it, mark the insulation near the inside surface of the lid. Pull it through a little more so you can remove the insulation from the mark forward. You will likely have three wires. One of them isn't used. It's just easier to seal a round cord (three wires) than it is to seal a flat cord (two wires). Cut the un-used wire near the cut insulation. Cut the other two wires to the proper length and re-solder them in the correct location. Re-tighten the gland and you should be good to go.

If you really care about the shrink wrap then you can put another piece on but you will have to pull the cord completely out of the lid and thread a new piece on. It's not really necessary but it's easy enough to do if you want.

Hunter