SOLUS Technical data

Halogen, HID and Solid State - A Comparison

Solid State Light Engines
Halogen Lamps
High Intensity Discharge Lamps (HID)
Lumen Ratings
Summary
Spectral Output

FAQ

Halogen lamps have been around for a while and have been widely used in architectural lighting. Essentially they're a tungsten filament lamp with a twist.
As electrical current is passed through a tungsten filament it heats up and becomes incandescent. As it reaches this stage visible light is given off. However most of the energy goes into producing heat.
Halogen lamps improve on the poor efficiency of the tungsten filament lamp in that they surround the filament with a gas shroud that allows for more efficient conversion of electricity to visible light. Halogen lamps are cheap to manufacture and produce a broad-spectrum light output. On the downside, they have lower efficiency than some newer light sources, they produce plenty of infrared and ultraviolet light and they are necessarily fragile due to the fine tungsten filament.
The Halogen bulbs used in most high power dive lamps are off the shelf units designed for use in static applications like display lighting and lack the toughness required for a dive lamp

HID (High Intensity Discharge) The HID bulbs currently making inroads into the diving industry are of the Xenon short arc type.
These bulbs consist of a gas filled chamber (under pressure) in which two electrodes are suspended a short distance apart. When a high voltage is applied across these electrodes it creates a spark. If the sparking is sustained a small plasma arc is formed between the electrodes.
This produces a very broad band light including infrared and a phenomenal amount of UV light. Some of this UV is absorbed by the glass at the front of the lamp, but not all of it.
The high voltage signal used to drive the arc is produced by an electronic ballast attached to the bulb. The voltages required to start a typical Xenon HID lamp are in the region of 5000 to 6000 Volts.
The HID bulbs currently used by most dive lamp manufacturers were originally designed for static use in medical inspection equipment and are not really robust enough for portable use.
A major manufacturer of HID bulbs quotes their 12 watt HID (10 watt bulb - 2 watt ballast) as having a life expectancy of 1000 Hours, however this is under ideal conditions (static installation, correct orientation and stable temperature). Installed in dive lamps, with bulbs operating under less than ideal conditions, it is hardly surprising that actual bulb life is falling far short of this figure. The initial high cost of ownership associated with HID lamps is compounded by bulb replacement costs.

Lumens are a measure of the total quantity of light produced at source. The Lumen rating of a lamp doesn't take into account the losses occurring at the reflector / lens.
In some cases the reflectors only successfully redirect about 55% of the source light. That means that only about half of the total quoted Lumen rating is projected forward in the beam.
Our products use high efficiency refractive lenses which capture and redirect up to 90% of the source light into the beam. Unlike reflectors there are no shadows or obvious hotspots.
Some manufacturers also quote thier Lumen ratings inclusive of Infra-Red and Ultra-Violet light. In some cases (HID especially) the IR and UV light make up a substantial proportion of the Lumen rating.

Summary. These inconsistencies in the way the diferent light sources are rated makes it dificult to to determine which light source is the best.
Recently we put the three sources side by side for the ultimate test. A 35 Watt Halogen, 12 Watt Light Engine and a 12 Watt HID. The quoted outputs were 250 Lumen for the Halogen, 255 Lumen for the Light Engine and a whopping 450 lumens for the HID! When tested side by side we found the total visible light output from our 12 Watt Engine comparable to the 12 Watt HID and 35 Watt Halogen, but the light quality far superior to both.

Light comparison projector - click for larger image

Spectral Output. The graphs below show the spectral output of the Solid State Light Engine and HID Bulbs respectively. The pink overlay shows the part of the spectrum visible to the Human eye. (typically 400 - 700 nm).

You can see from the charts that the HID lamp produces only about half its output in the visible range.

Solid State Lighting Engine

HID (High Intensity Discharge) Lamp

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Is Solid State just a fancy way to say LED?
A. Short answer-YES. Long answer-The die used in the manufacture of our light engines are produced by the world leaders in semiconductor LED's. They are not of the type used more commonly in headmount or small LED torches. These die produce enough light to directly compete with conventional light sources. When coupled into a properly designed array with high performance optics and power management these become Solid State Light Engines. The output of which is comparable to HID and other high intensity light sources

Q. Will they really last for 33,000 hours?
A. The 33,000 hours life is a theorectical limit based on a quoted die life of 100,000 hrs. Due to the configuration of our light engines we have derated this limit. Used as a dive lamp (not a hammer) we would expect this 33,000 hour life to be a minimum. As with any large scale electronic component manufacturing there are always going to be a few duds coming off the line. We test these components before and after they are used in our products to prevent any substandard components getting through. Should one get past us we would be happy to change it out at our cost.

Q. How is the lamp turned on ? Is the switch on the battery pack ?
A. The SU lamps have the switch on the handpiece. This is a rotating selector ring which is fitted around the lamp behind the head (it's the bit that looks like a revolver chamber). It has four detent positions spaced at 90 degrees; OFF - 1/2 power - OFF - Full power. As it uses proximity switching there is no physical connection through the body so you can rotate the switch indefinitely and it won't leak or wear out.

Q. I saw your SU-500 at the NEC. It was hard to tell if the lamp was dimmed or not. Was it just a demo model?
A. No. The lamp was fully functional. The performance of the Light Engine in this model is such that at 50% power there is a light output closer to 80%. The new SU-500's have been set up to give 50% light output. This equates to about 40% power consumption and will further improve on the burn times at the half position.

Q. ######## Quote 450 lumens for their 10 Watt HID and 1000 lumens for the 21 Watt HID. Yours seem to fall short by quite a bit. Is there something I'm missing ?
A. Yes, you're missing the light generated outside the 400 - 700 nm part of the spectrum. The Solid State system we use only generates VISIBLE light. HID lamps generate LOTS of light, but a good part of that isn't much use unless you're an insect or happen to dive with night vision equipment. There is further detail in the SOLID STATE section.

Q. I've been told by the ######## dealer that NiMH batteries explode when they're put in sea water and that their NiCad battery packs are much safer than yours.
A.NiMH batteries are now used by the vast majority of dive lamp manufacturers in preference to NiCad because of their higher energy density. We have carried out tests where NiMH batteries were flooded and while they fizz off a bit, it's no more than you see from NiCad. The main reason for the continued use of NiCad cells by some manufacturers is cost. NiCad cells cost about half as much as NiMH and therefore return a far better margin for the manufacturer. EU directives on reduction/elimination of heavy metals in products will come into effect in the very near future, forcing all manufacturers to switch to environmentally safe battery chemistries like NiMH.
Article 4(1) of Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (1) provides ‘that from 1 July 2006, new electrical and electronic equipment put on the market does not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB or PBDE.
Bad news for those manufacturers using lead acid or NiCad Batteries

Q. How does the battery pack attach? Can it be put on a belt?
A. The battery packs SB5 and SB10 have ridges machined into the outside specifically to facilitate easy mounting. On both there is an area to take 50mm webbing. This has proven to be the easiest way to mount to a tank. Pass your camband through a tri-glide or weight retainer clip, pass back through the other side to make a loop, place the battery pack into the loop and tighten the webbing. When you do up the camband the battery pack will be very securely mounted. (please do not use the cheapo plastic clips as these aren't up to the job for this application). If you want to hang the pack from a belt or harness then you can use a quick release clip on a stainless steel band. (jubilee clip or similar) the Bandit straps are pretty good for this. If you prefer, we could fit these for you at an additional cost. (special order only)

Q. How is the battery charged if it's a sealed unit ?
A. The SB5 and SB10 battery packs are both charged in the same way. The battery pack has two electrical terminals protruting from the bottom. Under normal conditions these are inert. When the batterypack is placed onto the supplied charging base, a proximity switch in the battery pack detects the charging base and opens the charging circuit making the terminals live. The charger then senses the condition of the battery and begins to charge the battery accordingly.

Q. Do the umbilical cables have connectors ? In case I want to change the battery.
A. The standard package doesn't have connectors - the handpiece and battery are permanently joined by a length of submarine grade cable. The main reason for this is to reduce the risk of leakage. We can fit wet mateable connectors to a system on a special order basis, however it may be safer to use a closed system with a larger battery pack (SB10) as even the wetmateable connectors can leak.

Q. What's the difference between the 80 Meter and the 250 Meter rated torches ?
A. 170 Meters. As a policy we test each unit in our test chamber and rate them to 85 Meters. To achieve the 250 Metre rating we have to change out a few components to deal with the extra pressure.

Q. Are there any parts to service ?
A. No. These lamps are factory sealed to optimise reliability. In the unlikely event that something does go wrong, please contact us immediately so that we can sort it out. If you're the inquisitive type and like to pull things apart, be warned that the glass window is fitted into the housing under pressure, using special tooling. If you take it out you probably won't get it back in again ! If you wan't to pull something apart I would suggest that you get hold of a cheap HID torch on EBay. There are likely to be quite a few for sale soon.

Q. Your sales guy said something about waterblock cable, is that for real?
A. The cable we use is made to our specification (1000 Metre - Submarine grade - waterblocked) by a specialist manufacturer of cables for ROV and seafloor geophysical equipment. Most umbilical torch manufacturers use robot grade cable. This is very flexible and resists wear very well, however if the cable is damaged, water is forced under pressure down the cable and can damage the whole of the system. The waterblocking in our cable prevents this leakage increasing the damage tolerance on the cable. small cuts and abrasions in the jacket won't ruin the system and the torch should still work.
Some manufacturers use standard household appliance flex for thier umbilical cables. If you're looking to buy another brand of umbilical torch, ask for the spec on the cable and cable fittings.

Q. How do your torches compare with HID on penetration?
A. One thing our light engines share with a HID is a spectral peak around 450nm. That's at the blue end of the visible spectrum. Blue is the colour least absorbed by water and is why the HID torches give good penetration. In clearer water the HID and SSLE give about the same penetration. In water with a lot of suspended particles (fine silt etc) we have found the SSLE to be better, as there seems to be less backscatter. In really murky water we've found that dimming the lamp can actually give better visibility. (A bit like driving in fog)

Q. I have a computer with a remote tank sensor. Are your torches compatible?
A. Our products do not emmit (RFI) radio frequency interference. They will not interfere with the operation of any dive electronics. The problem with (RFI) is specific to unsheilded HID units, particulary those that have the ballast separated from the HID bulb.

Q. How long can your torches be run out of water?
A. Some of the earlier SU torches had a control system which allowed them to be used out of water for extended periods. The controller reduced the power consumtion as the temperature increased thereby dimming the torch. The later versions are fitted with a controller which will shut the torch down completely should it heat up too much. These torches can be used for about 5 minutes out of water before they shut down - (depending on the ambient air temperature). Immersion in cold water will quickly bring them back to normal operating temperature.

Q. Do I have to discharge the batteries to stop them getting a memory ?
A. Technically the NiMH batteries don't have a charge memory like the NiCad cells. They do suffer from a loss of performance if they're over discharged. The control system will prevent the battery from being over discharged by shutting the torch off.

Q. How can I tell how much charge is left in the battery ?
A. We recommend that you fully charge the battery before going diving. NiMH batteries tend to self discharge more than other types and it is best to ensure a full charge before use. The burn times are approximate but should give a good indication of how long you have left. There will be a warning when you near the end of the charge. Half of the LEDs in the Light Engine will shut down. This will reduce the power consumption and extend the remaining battery charge. The torch will shut down completely when it reaches it's final set point.

Q. I've managed to get a few scratches on my SU1. How can I fix them? Is there some kind of paint I can use?
A. If you want to cover the scratches for cosmetic reasons, then use a black waterproof permanent marker to draw over them. Otherwise they shouldn't pose any problems. Our lamps are designed to be used and a few scratches won't bother them. Remember. It's just a torch.

© Dive T.E.C.
Email: info@petemesley.com