Randy956
03-22-06, 10:25 AM
I'm in the very early stages of planning and discovery for building my own canister light. I've got the airspeed press book and am subscribed to a couple of groups where members have or are in the process of building their own canister lights.
It doesn't seem to be that difficult. Obtaining and designing the light head for an HID is the most difficult, as it seems.
But I think I have access to a light head (custom) that uses an off the shelf HID and ballast.
The bulbs are available off of the shelf, so that's a good thing.
What the heck, if in a couple of years something happens and I have to replace the goodies in the light head there will probably be newer and better HID products to be used in it.
So far the components I'll need will (should) cost only a fraction of the cost of a new HID.
Also the Salvo (Brightstar) 18W seems to be the star performer in canister lights these days. It's favored over the 21 watter because of the bulb characteristics as I hear from some users of both.
The bulbs (HID) that Salvo uses are more robust than the Welsh-Allen ones Halcyon uses. I'm given to understand the WA bulbs are more fragile and in fact WA discourages using their bulb in a dive light, whereas the Brighstar bulb seems to be much more durable.
It doesn't seem to be that difficult. Obtaining and designing the light head for an HID is the most difficult, as it seems.
But I think I have access to a light head (custom) that uses an off the shelf HID and ballast.
The bulbs are available off of the shelf, so that's a good thing.
What the heck, if in a couple of years something happens and I have to replace the goodies in the light head there will probably be newer and better HID products to be used in it.
So far the components I'll need will (should) cost only a fraction of the cost of a new HID.
Also the Salvo (Brightstar) 18W seems to be the star performer in canister lights these days. It's favored over the 21 watter because of the bulb characteristics as I hear from some users of both.
The bulbs (HID) that Salvo uses are more robust than the Welsh-Allen ones Halcyon uses. I'm given to understand the WA bulbs are more fragile and in fact WA discourages using their bulb in a dive light, whereas the Brighstar bulb seems to be much more durable.