Thanks all! I have a prototype underway. Sadly to test my project I had to cough up some coin for the "headlamp only" the company sells so I can test it with my power pack. My only reasoning for a BMS would be to avoid over discharge/charge. Divers run their lights into the ground, and they also just plug them in to charge and walk away. The charging isn't as big of a deal I can work around that. The over discharge though would complicate things requiring a low voltage disconnect type switch. I've used them in other projects but they would be too clunky for this type of design, sadly while I can read schematics and build a device from them, I lack the knowledge of how to design a low voltage disconnect switch.
Cheers,
Thank you again for all the comments, can't wait to dunk this thing and see what happens, or doesn't happen!
FYI I don't dive at 300ft, but cave divers paying $$$ want a light that works at those depths. The pressure at 300 feet isn't like oceangate or anything (30,000+ft). Like I said most cave dives in Florida hover in the 40-100ft range usually no more than 60-70ft. That said all the scenarios you have mentioned about panicked divers I've seen. You're trained that a panicked cave diver is likely to kill you with themselves if you decide to approach. I have had total silt-outs with zero viz and my buddy lost his mind because he didn't keep a good eye on the cave line. I grabbed him by his leg and gave him a good pull like "STOP IT" this was a physical action we trained on for emergencies, it meant stop moving, slow down, and then make manual contact by blasting his light in any direction and not moving it. The agreed step was I would then block his light with my hand letting him know I'm there, he's got backup o2 if need be. After confirming this step he calmed, and I used again physical hand touch to have him grab on to my leg and the back of my BC and that I would take us to the dive line. It was a total silt out and even in those seconds on checking on him (which I did at my own risk) I started to lose spatial awareness of where the line was but I had a good idea and they cave was rather narrow so it wouldn't take long to find. I proceeded my search found the line, at which time my buddy squeezed my legs twice indicating he had also found the line and we followed it out until visibility was no longer an issue and we could visually see the line the rest of the way out. We were about 1100ft back into a cave when this happened, which was caused by another diver who passed us stirring everything up.
I had an even more scarier encounter that got to ME. I was diving with a friend, there was a small passage large enough for 1 person to go through. My buddy was hell bent on going to see 'what's in there'. I told him underwater 'not a good idea man I can't come in after you'. He was stubborn and didn't want to list in. I was a bad buddy and gave in to his little side quest. Before I let him go in we tied off a dive line so that if he was in trouble he could tug on it and i would feel it. He went in.... the cave was rather shallow and we always overfilled our tanks (cave fills as they are called) so o2 wouldn't be a problem for awhile. Well AWHILE went by...my heart rate is going up, I'm looking at my life support and realizing that soon I HAVE to turn around based on the rule of thirds (1/3 in 1/3out 1/3 for emergencies). I tugged on the line. Nothing. I flashed my light as far back as I could. Nothing. I kept tugging... nothing...I hit my 1/3 return mark. I tugged for dear life on that line. Nothing. Heart was pumping but my breathing was good. As hard as it was I had no choice but to abort and exit without him, I had already eaten into a little bit of my emergency supply praying he would come out. I exited the cave. That's when the fear really hit me because his wife was there at the cave entrance (not a diver) and she was like where's (lets call him "Bob"). I didn't have to say a word she was freaking out. I told her that I am not going to let "Bob" die on my watch, even if it meant my own demise as well. (call me stupid I dont care). I rushed to my truck, slapped on two fresh tanks that were nice a full and I told his wife that I'm going in alone (cave diver rule#1 you never break) to look for him. I got into the water and dipped back into the open cavern section. Call it divine intervention or whatever you want but it dawned on me that second I knew that cave system had two entrances and exits. So I had to make a choice. Go back to the main entrance where I sat and waited to no avail or completely gamble on the 2nd cave second that if he had not come out of I would have signed his death sentence. Something to told me to go for the 2nd route, I left my primary dive light shining at the cave entrance of the first entry in case he did come out he would see I left him a light path. Secondary backup light (with a third in my BC) I took for for the second side of the cave with nothing but pure fear fueling me. Kept my breathing in check. Used my light to meticulously check every inch of the cave as I passed it, keeping a sharp eye on the cave line too. I kept going and nothing....and nothing....finally I noticed a diver moving his light rapidly (a sign of distress) but he was following the dive line the WRONG WAY going DEEPER in the cave. This particular cave did not have a lot of cave arrows to show you which way is out. I started flashing my light at him to get his attention, and started banging on my tank with a metal clip to make noise. Finally he turned around, and it was him. His eyes were HUGE. His gear had taken a beating going through that squeeze but it was all operational. His o2 was a different story. He KNEW he was going to drown. When he saw me he was sucking down air like no tomorrow (this was a very well experienced cave diver too) he pointed to his o2 gauge and then shook his light rapidly to mean I'M RUNNING OUT OF AIR. I signed him OK I pointed to him and me and signaled OK to convey dude we are going to be OK. Once he got close to me I showed him the gauges on my tanks showing we had more than enough air to get out of there. This calmed him down big time. Then he starts swimming THE WRONG WAY again. lol, I grabbed his leg and pulled on it, he looked at me where I went on to explain underwater, no bud thats the wroooong way. I had him swim right next to me and with about 600 feet to go his tanks were depleted. We began to buddy breathe, which was quite easy because we were side mount divers so he basically had a tank to himself and I had my own, no back and forth sharing of regulators. Once we got further out he released "damnit i was going the wrong way". We managed to surface safely to his wire crying in tears.
We both broke rules on that dive, I shouldn't have let him go in there, he should have listened to me. I proceeded to break more protocols to and look for him alone (not a heavily visited cave we were the only ones there). I knew the risk, and I was willing to do everything in my power including putting my own life on the line to find him. Thankfully it worked out. We both got a good dose of fear of god in us. After we calmed down on the surface and his wife couldn't stop thanking me for saving his life. I hugged him and told him I love you man and then proceeded to punch him in the gut! I told him it was for putting us in an awful position. He took it in stride and said that's the least he expected from me. That story had a happy ending. Sadly many of my fellow divers were not so lucky, including some world renownd cave divers. I lost a friend in Austrailia that I had dove with a few times in Florida. She did a very similar thing to what my friend did, only for her she got stuck. There was no time for anyone to go in and go back. She passed away while other expert cave divers from around the world came together to unite and recover her. Sadly these stories are all too common, most of them by people being in placed they dont have any buisness being in or worse not even certified. It sends a shiver through the diving community when we lose one of our own, its a tight nit group here. I could go own about the horror stories of some people that were just STUPID. Yes I was willing to die to find my friend. But I made that deciscion on the surface and I was OK with it. What I'm not ok with is a dad buying full scuba gear and taking his kids on Christmas day to one of the most dangerous caves (no certifications of ANY kind) and ended up with the demise of all of them. THAT makes me furious and sad. Ok random pointless cave stories over.
Cheers,
Thank you again for all the comments, can't wait to dunk this thing and see what happens, or doesn't happen!
FYI I don't dive at 300ft, but cave divers paying $$$ want a light that works at those depths. The pressure at 300 feet isn't like oceangate or anything (30,000+ft). Like I said most cave dives in Florida hover in the 40-100ft range usually no more than 60-70ft. That said all the scenarios you have mentioned about panicked divers I've seen. You're trained that a panicked cave diver is likely to kill you with themselves if you decide to approach. I have had total silt-outs with zero viz and my buddy lost his mind because he didn't keep a good eye on the cave line. I grabbed him by his leg and gave him a good pull like "STOP IT" this was a physical action we trained on for emergencies, it meant stop moving, slow down, and then make manual contact by blasting his light in any direction and not moving it. The agreed step was I would then block his light with my hand letting him know I'm there, he's got backup o2 if need be. After confirming this step he calmed, and I used again physical hand touch to have him grab on to my leg and the back of my BC and that I would take us to the dive line. It was a total silt out and even in those seconds on checking on him (which I did at my own risk) I started to lose spatial awareness of where the line was but I had a good idea and they cave was rather narrow so it wouldn't take long to find. I proceeded my search found the line, at which time my buddy squeezed my legs twice indicating he had also found the line and we followed it out until visibility was no longer an issue and we could visually see the line the rest of the way out. We were about 1100ft back into a cave when this happened, which was caused by another diver who passed us stirring everything up.
I had an even more scarier encounter that got to ME. I was diving with a friend, there was a small passage large enough for 1 person to go through. My buddy was hell bent on going to see 'what's in there'. I told him underwater 'not a good idea man I can't come in after you'. He was stubborn and didn't want to list in. I was a bad buddy and gave in to his little side quest. Before I let him go in we tied off a dive line so that if he was in trouble he could tug on it and i would feel it. He went in.... the cave was rather shallow and we always overfilled our tanks (cave fills as they are called) so o2 wouldn't be a problem for awhile. Well AWHILE went by...my heart rate is going up, I'm looking at my life support and realizing that soon I HAVE to turn around based on the rule of thirds (1/3 in 1/3out 1/3 for emergencies). I tugged on the line. Nothing. I flashed my light as far back as I could. Nothing. I kept tugging... nothing...I hit my 1/3 return mark. I tugged for dear life on that line. Nothing. Heart was pumping but my breathing was good. As hard as it was I had no choice but to abort and exit without him, I had already eaten into a little bit of my emergency supply praying he would come out. I exited the cave. That's when the fear really hit me because his wife was there at the cave entrance (not a diver) and she was like where's (lets call him "Bob"). I didn't have to say a word she was freaking out. I told her that I am not going to let "Bob" die on my watch, even if it meant my own demise as well. (call me stupid I dont care). I rushed to my truck, slapped on two fresh tanks that were nice a full and I told his wife that I'm going in alone (cave diver rule#1 you never break) to look for him. I got into the water and dipped back into the open cavern section. Call it divine intervention or whatever you want but it dawned on me that second I knew that cave system had two entrances and exits. So I had to make a choice. Go back to the main entrance where I sat and waited to no avail or completely gamble on the 2nd cave second that if he had not come out of I would have signed his death sentence. Something to told me to go for the 2nd route, I left my primary dive light shining at the cave entrance of the first entry in case he did come out he would see I left him a light path. Secondary backup light (with a third in my BC) I took for for the second side of the cave with nothing but pure fear fueling me. Kept my breathing in check. Used my light to meticulously check every inch of the cave as I passed it, keeping a sharp eye on the cave line too. I kept going and nothing....and nothing....finally I noticed a diver moving his light rapidly (a sign of distress) but he was following the dive line the WRONG WAY going DEEPER in the cave. This particular cave did not have a lot of cave arrows to show you which way is out. I started flashing my light at him to get his attention, and started banging on my tank with a metal clip to make noise. Finally he turned around, and it was him. His eyes were HUGE. His gear had taken a beating going through that squeeze but it was all operational. His o2 was a different story. He KNEW he was going to drown. When he saw me he was sucking down air like no tomorrow (this was a very well experienced cave diver too) he pointed to his o2 gauge and then shook his light rapidly to mean I'M RUNNING OUT OF AIR. I signed him OK I pointed to him and me and signaled OK to convey dude we are going to be OK. Once he got close to me I showed him the gauges on my tanks showing we had more than enough air to get out of there. This calmed him down big time. Then he starts swimming THE WRONG WAY again. lol, I grabbed his leg and pulled on it, he looked at me where I went on to explain underwater, no bud thats the wroooong way. I had him swim right next to me and with about 600 feet to go his tanks were depleted. We began to buddy breathe, which was quite easy because we were side mount divers so he basically had a tank to himself and I had my own, no back and forth sharing of regulators. Once we got further out he released "damnit i was going the wrong way". We managed to surface safely to his wire crying in tears.
We both broke rules on that dive, I shouldn't have let him go in there, he should have listened to me. I proceeded to break more protocols to and look for him alone (not a heavily visited cave we were the only ones there). I knew the risk, and I was willing to do everything in my power including putting my own life on the line to find him. Thankfully it worked out. We both got a good dose of fear of god in us. After we calmed down on the surface and his wife couldn't stop thanking me for saving his life. I hugged him and told him I love you man and then proceeded to punch him in the gut! I told him it was for putting us in an awful position. He took it in stride and said that's the least he expected from me. That story had a happy ending. Sadly many of my fellow divers were not so lucky, including some world renownd cave divers. I lost a friend in Austrailia that I had dove with a few times in Florida. She did a very similar thing to what my friend did, only for her she got stuck. There was no time for anyone to go in and go back. She passed away while other expert cave divers from around the world came together to unite and recover her. Sadly these stories are all too common, most of them by people being in placed they dont have any buisness being in or worse not even certified. It sends a shiver through the diving community when we lose one of our own, its a tight nit group here. I could go own about the horror stories of some people that were just STUPID. Yes I was willing to die to find my friend. But I made that deciscion on the surface and I was OK with it. What I'm not ok with is a dad buying full scuba gear and taking his kids on Christmas day to one of the most dangerous caves (no certifications of ANY kind) and ended up with the demise of all of them. THAT makes me furious and sad. Ok random pointless cave stories over.
