9 replies to this topic

[Dive_Girl]

I had a second canister lid, cord and light head assembly made. If I am on a trip, and my light fails due to a burned out bulb, a bad ballast, a cord problem or a burned out switch, I can just take off the entire light head assembly, pop on the backup, and get back in the water. I will deal with any issues regarding the first light head assembly after the trip. The last thing you want to do after spending a lot of money on a dive trip is to have to abort a dive due to equipment failures in situation like this.

ScubaDadMiami reminded me of the time dive_addict and I rebuilt his Halcyon light canister. We don' t have a Halcyon dealer in the area, so we were in a pickle - well he was. I have a DiveRite canister.

So we end up getting pointers from one of those old dive duffers that knows everything about everything, and the hunt was on. His light had flooded. The Halcyon canister model he has (some of you will find this really really funny), didn't have locking canister clips and one failed popping open on a dive. So what to do with no parts available?

First, we found the bulb from his light was identical to the one from an UK light cannon. He only needed to sauter some prongs on (so he cut off the prongs from the old bulb and sautered them onto the new bulb). He took the battery in and had another built for him from a batteries plus type of store. Then we replaced the switch by walking into good old Home Dpot and finding one that looked just about like it sanding off the edges so it would fit in the opening.

With a little bit of elbow grease and about $100 later, the canister was fixed. It was really pretty cool learning some of the stuff I did along the way. Later on, one of our students came in with a canister he built from scratch. Parts cost him about $250 - and having the know how and tools saved him money. Someone like me? I'd just be out $250 and have a bunch of parts laying around the house.

So who else out there has repaired their own lights or have built their own?

[finGrabber]

this kind of stuff always fascinates me! I guess my Dad being an engineer didn't hurt

I'm interested to know how others have built their own lights...I'd like to have a Niterider type light, but I don't have the cashola

[seafox]

this kind of stuff always fascinates me! I guess my Dad being an engineer didn't hurt

I'm interested to know how others have built their own lights...I'd like to have a Niterider type light, but I don't have the cashola

Ah yes CASH! I know where you are coming from

[BubbleBoy]

I've never built an entire light, but, I have succeeded at increasing the depth capability of one of my small backup lights. Its a really nice little aluminum LED pen light that I bought on eBay. Unfortunately it was originally only rated for 10 meters. I replaced the O-ring seals with ones that were slightly thicker, strengthened the switch cover seal with marine glue, and glued a thicker plexiglass lenz to the existing one. I've had the light down to 130ft. numerous times and it works like a charm.

[6Gill]

The book you want is 'The Divelight Companion' from http://airspeedpress.com the information here is good if you just want to be able to repair and understand how divelights work or all the information you need to build a complete canister light.
Carrying spare parts such as switches,switch boots ect always good 'cause even if you can;t do the work there may be others there that can.

[Dive_Girl]

So it's starting to sound like a should just buy every dive related book airspeed has to offer!!

[6Gill]

So it's starting to sound like a should just buy every dive related book airspeed has to offer!!

I've got 'em all and haven't been disapointed....

[intotheblue]

A friend of mine built his own canister light, and now manufactures them. He also made his own "gavin" styled scooter and manufactures "tubes"/battery packs for sale for them. If you are into tech, he also makes SS "DIN PLUGS"... that will preserve your gas if your valve is bumped open, and your valve orifice if it is bumped by something heavy/hard. We used to consider Home Depot, West Marine and Boat US (now the same store) our "technical diving supply" stores in our area. Try "www.dinplugs.com". As a tech diver, you should know where to find batteries to rebuild most battery packs, bulbs, etc.

[Dive_Girl]

Thanks for the www.dinplugs.com info. I had actually been looking for something better to secure my din valves with. I have those black plastic plugs that screw in to keep debris from getting into the valves, but I like the idea of a secure plug better!

[intotheblue]

Thanks for the www.dinplugs.com info. I had actually been looking for something better to secure my din valves with. I have those black plastic plugs that screw in to keep debris from getting into the valves, but I like the idea of a secure plug better!

The SS din plugs are great. They have a captured o-ring seal to keep in your expensive mix, and they will keep an inadvertent "bump" against your valve from "egg shaping" the opening. One note, keep a wrench the size of the plugs handy in case your gas gets turned on. After shutting the valve back off, you will need to back off the plug to let the gas escape beyond the 0-ring. Once the gas bleeds off, you can remove by hand without further use of tools. These are handy with people handling your tanks or when packing lots of gear for long hauls. I have had it save expensive gas on the trip from Houston to SDM's neck of the woods... and save a trip that would have been lost waiting for Brownie's to mix/fill my tanks.

Gulftex makes great, durable back up lights as noted on the site, and I know he makes a series of small diameter lightweight canister HID lights that are very nice. They should be available even though they are not on the site.

You'll like the plugs.