UK SL6 -- energy consumption

Kaneda

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 21, 2002
Messages
41
Location
Germany
Hello flashlight-fans,

I recently bought a Underwater Kinetics SL6 in order to use it as a dive lamp occasionally.
It looks pretty tough and was not too expensive, but there's a problem: the beam-intensity decreased quickly after a runtime of about an hour. Well, I have used cheap batteries I might add, but is this quick energy drain normal ?
Did anyone use a UK SL6 as a dive light in the past ? What do you think of the UK SL6 ?
I'd be glad to read your opinion.

Greetings from Germany,

Kaneda
 

jtivat

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Joined
Jun 14, 2002
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2,375
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Grand Rapids
I have gotten about 3 hours of good light from mine (with Duracell's). It works great as a dive light b/c it cuts through the water with its tight beam.
 

Ratso

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Jul 15, 2002
Messages
413
Location
Knoxville, TN
I bet your using heavy duty batteries. Use some good alkalines. Also, you may want to try using rechargeable batteries since they discharge at a lower voltage reduction.
 

rlhess

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Apr 27, 2002
Messages
864
Location
Aurora, Ontario, Canada
I've had mine for about three months and am still on the original set of duracells. Use alkalines.

The light output dropped from a new peak of 13,000cd to about 9,500 cd now but is still white.

I had great fun with it this weekend in Cambria CA in the fog. It was a bit brighter than a 5D mag light AND lit up about 2x the area...and the 5D mag's cells had MUCH less use than the SL6's.

Of course, the Vector rechargeable spotlight took the prize... <smile>...

Richard
 

BuddTX

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Nov 27, 2001
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Houston, TX
Kaneda,

I do not know what the battery situation is like in Germany, so with that in mind . . .

The general feeling at CPF, is that the best bet for Flashlight batteries is the Ray0vac maximum, or newly released maximum plus.

Not only are they the best, but they are inexpensive too!

They can be purchased in any Wal-mart.

It is suprizing that they can perform better than the Duracell's and Energizers!

That said, try Duracell Ultras or the Energizer max batteries if you cannot access the rayovac's.

Are you running the light in extreme cold? Alklines do not like cold.
 

rlhess

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 27, 2002
Messages
864
Location
Aurora, Ontario, Canada
Originally posted by MR Bulk:
Uh, Rich -- which Vector would that be...?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The 137CO that you sold me ... aka "the banana"

By the way, that LEO with the flashing flashlight is really gaudy! I can't look at CPF at work with that thing flashing away!

<smile>

Cheers,

Richard
 

MR Bulk

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 12, 2002
Messages
6,059
Location
Hawaii
Ahah! I thot so. And you can thank Roy for the "flasher" LEO -- he found and sent it to me...
 
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