Strobe Lights and Night Diving

[Remy B.]

In the AOW they talk about redundancy when comes to lights, carry two torch at all times, but what about a strobe lights, any experiences about good brands and the bad ones to stay away from them.

My first night dive from 4 divers, 3 torch's did fail/ran out of power, that mean from 8 torchs, 3 fail, the night diver instructor had a collection of torch's that got floaded hanging on the roof from the dive shop, most of them plastic ones, one aluminum one.

In the case you have your torch's go bad, will you turn on your Strobe and stay near your dive buddy or just stay near you dive buddy.

Lest say you are with a Insta-buddy and happen to be a bad one that basically never look at you, both of your torch's go bad, you turn your strobe.

Will the strobe light annoy the other divers ??

 

[KevinNM]

No, you turn on your backup light. You do have a backup light, right? Your tank marker light is how your buddy can track you.

If you and your buddy end up without any lights in a night dive then things have not been handled well. I'd suggest heading back to the boat if you have two failures between the two of you. And significantly reducing the aggressiveness of the dive after one of you loses a light.

If you are diving with someone who just shares the same ocean then I'd be heading back towards the boat after one light goes.

Strobes are just normally used to do things like mark the boat, hanging from a line under the boat. Or used by you if you end up on the surface away from the boat, so they can find you at night. And yes, strobes will really annoy the other divers if you use it under water, like as a tank marker.

 

[RJP]

And yes, strobes will really annoy the other divers if you use it under water, like as a tank marker.

Especially photographers using slave strobes... because your flashing strobe will cause their slaved units to fire.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I think stobe lights annoy everyone. I use a stobe to mark the point of exit and entry. If it is a boat dive, I suspend it from the mooring line or safety stop line. If it is a shore dive, I will use a strobe in conjuntion with two colorred lights for easy spotting and navigation. I wore a strobe as a tank light once, and only once. It even annoyed me. I will carry one for emercency signaling at the surface, but only turn it on for that purpose. ( something I have not yet had to do) When Debbie and I do a night dive, we each take at least two lights, and I favor an older model tank light that can serve as an emergency third light. As with all equipment, we own and maintain our own lights, and always start a night dive with new batteries or a fresh charge on each. We also check all o rings, and submerge them in a tank at the surface just before the dive to make sure they are secure. Don't let any lights dangle on entry- the shock of entry may jar the batteries, the bulb, or otherwise cause a maklfunction.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Scared Silly]

As said strobes are marking entry/exit points or the boat. Otherwise they are for emergencies. When we night dive we typically have three lights, primary, backup, and strobe. Often the backup and strobe stay on during day dives. Just depends on the area (i.e. currents).

 

[Remy B.]

I understand the use of the strobe light at surface, and in emergency scenarios, or boat pickup at night, now that you mention the tank light, what brand do you guys suggest ??.

Night dives for me will be from shore not boat anyway.

Strobes for Day diving to mark the entri/exit point is a good idea, additional of self orientation, any idea if this have negative impact on marine live, I guess less than what we do in night diving with the torch's, Camera strobes/flash lights.

 

[KeithG]

carry 2 lights, never had a failure. no need for a personal strobe. ever.

when we dive live aboards, they suspend a strobe from the stern (and sometimes the bow) and suggest that NOBODY carries one underwater. the reasoning for using the strobe is that the boat swings on the mooring and has a very large travel arc. it is not stationary. your exit point is a moving target. since it moves, they mark it by a strobe. they do not want anyone else to pretend to be the boat, so no other strobes.

for shore dives i have once or twice seen someone hang a strobe. seems like an equipment solution to a skills problem (basic navigation!).

 

[R-balljunkie]

............

 

[victor]

Personal Strobes only for emergency please. Tank strobes are very annoying for other divers.
Yes to an entry/exit strobe hung from the boat assuming it's not on top of the dive site.
We had one on a night dive doing a free descent over a wreck to about 30 metres. It did give the most fantastic views of the wreck as we descended.

 

[BDSC]

when we dive live aboards, they suspend a strobe from the stern (and sometimes the bow) and suggest that NOBODY carries one underwater. the reasoning for using the strobe is that the boat swings on the mooring and has a very large travel arc. it is not stationary. your exit point is a moving target. since it moves, they mark it by a strobe. they do not want anyone else to pretend to be the boat, so no other strobes.

Expanding on this for a minute, make sure if you purchase a battery operated tank marker, it's not one that blinks off and on. I had purchased one for my wife because she wanted to make sure I knew which diver was her. We were getting ready to do a night dive and they asked us not to wear that marker as it was a white light that was blinking and they were afraid that another diver may see it from a distance and swim toward you thinking they were headed to the boat. Of course up next to the actual strobe hanging off the boat, it wasn't nearly as bright or powerful but underwater, that might not seem so obvious.