Welcome all divers!

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF's Dive Lighting forum!

New divers - or seasoned divers who are new to CPF - introduce yourselves here! Tell us about yourself and your dive lights.

We already have many members who are experienced divers, but CPF's real knowledge is in lighting of all types. As stated in the header at the top of the page, the purpose of this new sub-forum is to cater exclusively for dive lights. There are other sections of CPF which will also be relevant, and where you will need to look to find out more about certain aspects of lighting.

 

[300winmag]

Good day all.
I dive the lakes in Alberta and BC, as you could imagine I don't see coral reefs or anything that will blow you away but a lot of these lakes have history and such hold some interesting things to see.... Kalamalka Lake in BC was once an ammo dump and I still find bullets all over the place but to find the more interesting items you would have to good much further down.
At the moment I use a Underwater Kinetics D8, Princeton Tec 400 and a Princeton Tec Sport. However I am thinking of a new dive light for this summer....

 

[McGizmo]

Hi guys,

I use tanks on occasion but most of my water activity is on the surface or in shallow exploration via skin diving. I enjoy UW photography and light is certainly a key element in this!! I have yet to do any night explorations of the reefs but do hope to and portable lights will be critical to those ends.

 

[Packhorse]

Greetings all.

I have been diving for about 6 years now and have clocked up about 450 dives. Currently dive do dives down to 55 meters or so.
My first DIY light was a modified mag light with a MR16 halogen and SLA battery pack in a PVC cannister made from storm water pipe and fittings. Nothing much has changed. I still use the same maglite head but its now got 4 LEDs and aspherics, the battery pack was upgradded to 12 Ni Cd D's along time ago but when I went LED I reduced the NiCD's to 8. Sure they are old technology but they still work. The cannister has changed a bit too but its still storm water pipe.
I will start on a new cannister next week as I have a new project that needs a battery pack (Ring of Light). I will then use the same cannister for both light systems.
I also started modifying the ISTs about a year ago and now sell them through here and scubaboard. Im now working on modifications to the DX W200 dive light. I took the first one to 57 meters yesterday! Man I was so narked! haha

 

[SUBjohan]

Hi Guys,

I live in the Netherlands where we have verry dark waters (so we need lots of light ), I am a PADI divemaster and a IANTD rec TRIMIX diver.
My first home made light was given to me, it drowned at 20 meters. After this I bought a lathe and start making my own dive lights meanwhile my main light is a 24W HID canister light.

Greetz Johan

 

[steve6690]

Hi from me too,
I've been diving for about 3.5 years and done 130+ dives. Nearly a BSAC Dive Leader. I'm heading down the technical diving route and possibly getting a rebreather next year. Most of my diving is off the south coast of England but I've done 3 trips to the Red Sea. Last weekend our club went to Plymouth and had a great time. I'm club secretary of Worcester Divers BSAC, until they find someone competent . This is a link to our club site.

http://www.worcesterdivers.com/

I built my own canister light last year and I still use it as it's "man" enough for the type of diving I do. I've taken it to 52m without issue. It's a 7 x Cree Q5 / Blue Shark setup inside a custom housing. I built my own 4.8 Ah, 16.8V Li-ion pack, with protection pcb, which gives me around 2.5 hrs burntime.
I'm in the process of building 4 lights for sale which I hope to have finished soon. I'll probably keep one for a helmet light, and maybe another one for prototyping leds/optics etc.
I've got a few projects planned. Next up is a personal diver strobe for those low-vis dives. I think an MC-E ( or maybe 3 ) will do the job. Then maybe a 3 x MC-E primary light...
Narcosis ? what's that then ?

 

[Cosmo7809]

This is the first and last time I will be in this sub forum but congrats to those who wanted it!


CPF=:grouphug: and a little bit of :whoopin:

 

[spearsniper]

Hi all.
I've spent all of my free time in last 20 years in or around the ocean.
12 years of that was scuba diving, and I ended up working in a dive store, and divemastering. Diving in 10 degree water and 1 meter vis every weekend put me off scuba diving, but not before I got heavily into U/W photography.
Being out of the water for more than a week seemed wierd, so I took up freediving and spearfishing. Suprisingly I spent more time in the water as a result, and had more fish and crayfish to take home that I ever did on scuba. The U/W photography also took off a lot more.
I started making spearguns, and CNC'd a mill to make this easier. When my UK1200 torch blew a bulb, I bit the bullet an decided to mill a new light head for it, complete with 6 Cree Q5's. The start of the light modding bug had hit :thumbsup:

 

[issarh]

Hi everyone



I have been diving for the last 10 years and a part time instructor for the last two years .
never modded a dive light cant wait to start.
I really want to try something with an aspheric lenses like packhorse's

so i have ordered the lenses and leds from dx ill post when i have some progress

Great new sub forum !!!
issarh

 

[fasuto]

I've been diving for about 4-5 years. I have around 90 inmersions. I usually dive in Spain but had traveled to the Red Sea and Mexico. Mexico is very interesting for flashaholics because of the "cenotes".

My main dive light is a Barbolight U-15 and I carry a UK eLed as backup (while I save money for a smaller Barbolight). Sometimes also a glotoob

 

[Barbarin]

Hello,

First caver, cavediver and then flashlight manufacturer... Some of you know about me already... I've been here, on CPF, for a while, so greetings to all.

By the way... I'm always happy to help others to make their own stuff, so let me know if you need something.

Javier

 

[GTRio]

Greetings all, I have been diving for about 10 years in the frigid waters of British Columbia, Canada. I am just starting recreational doubles diving and planning to start decompression diving instruction in the next year.

I have some very pathetic lights (UK D4, C4 and C8) that I am hoping to breath some life into before designing my own canister light. I am interested in the single P7 system for these lights and considering a multiple P7 head for the canister. If anyone has some advice about this plan I am very interested.

I took mechatronics in university so I probably just have enough electronics know how to get me into trouble

Cheers,
Brandon

 

[Bob01]

Hey Fellow Divers,

I've been diving off an on for 3 years with my trusty UK Light Cannon 100 - until I found it dead the other day...you can see thread here, luckily however someone has pointed me in the direction to get a replacement bulb at a reasonable price :-D. I've always wanted to make my own canister light...though I think I'll first try with making a backup light or video/focusing

Don't really "need" light where I dive - mainly shore diving in Miami - but its nice to have looking under rocks/crevices, and of course during night dives...and one can never have too much light when it comes to underwater photography/video :-D

 

[The Welsh Wizard]

Hi

I been diving for a few years but never have had a dive light. I joined here to try and change that. As I am still at school I have little money so don't think I will buy one any time soon but at some point may considerer making one.

 

[JeffCarver]

Hi Guys!

My First post!!! I'm kind of excited lol.

Anyways, I've been lurking for awhile and finally decided to register and jump in.

So........Hi!

 

[MRNOSFL]

Hello. Glad to see a dive light specific forum. I am sure that all the reading here will encourage me to melt many LED's in attempts of curiosity! I do mainly spearfishing in the Gulf of Mexico and many trips are night dives so lighting is always of interest to me,just not my wallet :sigh:. This stuff is very addicting! Anyway, Glad to meet you all.

C P F Rocks! :twothumbs

 

[Gwilki]

Great Lakes Diver

I found Candlepower and this forum yesterday, so I have a lot of catching up to do.
I dive mainly the St Lawrence River and Lake Ontario wrecks and have been for about 15 years. I dive Florida caves when I'm down there.
My current primary light is a Halcyon halogen canister. The canister holds 2 x 7ah 12v lead acid batteries. The head is a Goodman handle with a slug holding a 35w bulb protected by a test tube. The reflector is adjustable from flood to tight beam.
I'm looking for more light, using the same canister. I've looked at HID, but they are too pricey for me.
I've much to learn about LED, and any and all advice will be welcomed.

Grant

 

[Rydive]

Hey everyone. I'm new to CPF and thought I'd join as I'm about to start my first dive light project (well, my first lighting project full stop really). CPF certainly seams like a gold mine of information.

I'm based in Scotland, I dive regularly here and have a growing passion for wrecks. Most of my diving is in the 30-45 metre range (100-150ft).

Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute something once I have my project underway. I'll likely be asking for lots of advice before then.

I'll post up some details of my project on the forum shortly!

:thanks:

 

[sathan]

Hello all. I'¡m new to this forum which I found seeking information about diving torches. I'm from spain and I've been diving for one year now

 

[Abrams.357]

Hello fellow divers!!

I'm from central new york state, and i love scuba! My open water certification is through PADI and i got it two years ago. I recently finished my advanced cert! i dont have any lights and im going to be asking questions for when i do buy them