Electric Suit Heater Recommendation

[ljjames]

course you could always get the vest part of that system here for less... same controller and everything

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/ ... Liner.aspx

the pack looks a lot like the EXO2 powerpack that is used to drive the stormrider series of heated gear by EXO2, but the vest is the Tour Master vest which has different heating elements.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/ ... 14-8V.aspx

[Dashrynn]

I hope your dive buddy warms up, i know how frustrating it is to have to throw on layer after layer of warmth just to stay warm. I have a 6mm drysuit and then a big puffy fleece undergarment i bought from matt s and that does me fine until i hit the 50 min mark. yesterday i did fine though the water is starting to warm up i think.

Something i wanted to add, if your buddies wearing thick gloves but its cutting off the circulation to his hands it WILL make his hands cold despite having thick wool gloves. Thats what happened with me i was getting cold and took a layer off and did fine, just had to get some air in my gloves too!

I understand the whole cold thing, im only 155 lbs and 5 ft 9. It takes additional care so i dont heat up out of the water (so much insulation on) like not put on my hood til the last minute and zip up right before throwing my tank on.

[ljjames]

heheh... he'd also be warmer diving a rebreather *grin* (i couldn't help but toss that in there)

[psundquist]

My hands kept getting cold in my dry gloves and the rest of my body was fine. I recently added hand warmers (air activated, good for 8 hours) and now only the tips of my fingers will get cold which is barely noticable. First, I put on wool gloves, next the hand warmerz, then latex gloves (to keep any moisture out), and finally the neoprene gloves. They cost $8.99 for a 10 pack of pairs at Fred Meyers. Good for multiple dives in a day.

[CaptnJack]

My hands kept getting cold in my dry gloves and the rest of my body was fine. I recently added hand warmers (air activated, good for 8 hours) and now only the tips of my fingers will get cold which is barely noticable. First, I put on wool gloves, next the hand warmerz, then latex gloves (to keep any moisture out), and finally the neoprene gloves. They cost $8.99 for a 10 pack of pairs at Fred Meyers. Good for multiple dives in a day.

these might work ok with air or argon inflation and for shallow dives.
with nitrox inflation the extra O2 will create a run-away heater than will burn you badly.

beware

[Jeff Kruse]

50W of electric heat works great, oh so comfy.

But now I am use to 82 degree water so when I come to visit I use the Thermarest one time use heaters and they work great. And I even use them with Nitrox 32. YMMV and you may get horribly burned :rolleyes:

[CaptnJack]

50W of electric heat works great, oh so comfy.

But now I am use to 82 degree water so when I come to visit I use the Thermarest one time use heaters and they work great. And I even use them with Nitrox 32. YMMV and you may get horribly burned :rolleyes:

You forgot to mention your drysuit leaks so bad that there's not much iron oxidizing

I know two people who got 2nd+ degree burns from the dry oxidizing chemical packs while diving. One actually melted part of her undergarment. The reusable liquidy acetate ones are safer than the dry iron oxide ones.

[Waynne Fowler]

Someone sort of mentioned something that crossed my mind... make sure your buddy isn't packing on so much undergarment that there's no room for air to move around inside the undergarments themselves. Pack on all the thermal protection you want but if there's no room for air inn the suit... theres little or no insulation....

I had the same problem with my hands and found that my OR expedition weight liners were too thick... I went to the light weight liners (single layer instead of double) and my hands are fine.

like cap-jack said also... beware of those heating pockets.. when they're used right they work well.... but do them wrong and you will probably not be a very happy camper. I've seen some nasty burns from those things.

Good luck to your buddy staying warm can be a real trick for those of us that are thermally challenged.

[Ken G]

I am a big fan of the unit that Dive Xtras sells.

http://www.dive-xtras.com/pages/accesso ... ngvest.asp

i either Y it in, or take a second small canister for longer dives. works like a champ!

Laura how much less burn time do you get from your HID if you Y it in with the vest? The calculator on the site only shows the vest burn time. What size light and battery are you using with it?

[CaptnJack]

I am a big fan of the unit that Dive Xtras sells.

http://www.dive-xtras.com/pages/accesso ... ngvest.asp

i either Y it in, or take a second small canister for longer dives. works like a champ!

Laura how much less burn time do you get from your HID if you Y it in with the vest? The calculator on the site only shows the vest burn time. What size light and battery are you using with it?

Its the combined vest & light burntime. You want a 10Ah or larger battery pack. The lil 4.5Ah packs are not going to cut it.

[Ken G]

I am a big fan of the unit that Dive Xtras sells.

http://www.dive-xtras.com/pages/accesso ... ngvest.asp

i either Y it in, or take a second small canister for longer dives. works like a champ!

Laura how much less burn time do you get from your HID if you Y it in with the vest? The calculator on the site only shows the vest burn time. What size light and battery are you using with it?

Its the combined vest & light burntime. You want a 10Ah or larger battery pack. The lil 4.5Ah packs are not going to cut it.

Thanks Richard. I was wondering if that was combined or just the vest. Im running a 10.4Ah so that should be fine

Ken

[CaptnJack]

I am a big fan of the unit that Dive Xtras sells.

http://www.dive-xtras.com/pages/accesso ... ngvest.asp

i either Y it in, or take a second small canister for longer dives. works like a champ!

Laura how much less burn time do you get from your HID if you Y it in with the vest? The calculator on the site only shows the vest burn time. What size light and battery are you using with it?

Its the combined vest & light burntime. You want a 10Ah or larger battery pack. The lil 4.5Ah packs are not going to cut it.

Thanks Richard. I was wondering if that was combined or just the vest. Im running a 10.4Ah so that should be fine

Ken

Yeah just be careful to not draw the battery down to zilch. Those are pricey and deep discharges can kill even li-ion.

[Mattleycrue76]

I am a big fan of the unit that Dive Xtras sells.

http://www.dive-xtras.com/pages/accesso ... ngvest.asp

i either Y it in, or take a second small canister for longer dives. works like a champ!

Laura how much less burn time do you get from your HID if you Y it in with the vest? The calculator on the site only shows the vest burn time. What size light and battery are you using with it?

Its the combined vest & light burntime. You want a 10Ah or larger battery pack. The lil 4.5Ah packs are not going to cut it.

Thanks Richard. I was wondering if that was combined or just the vest. Im running a 10.4Ah so that should be fine

Ken

Yeah just be careful to not draw the battery down to zilch. Those are pricey and deep discharges can kill even li-ion.

Depending on the light the battery pack should have have some over discharge protection circuitry.

[ljjames]

actually no, the ballast on your HID will shut down and that 'protects' your battery indirectly. the heating pad can and will deep discharge your cells. if you turn it off when your HID cuts out, i guess you could use that, but the problem is, even after yiur light shuts down, the heater will continue to run and trick you into not shutting down... 'oh, well its still heating....'

[CaptnJack]

I am pretty sure the Li-ions have a low voltage cutoff. Problem is drawing it down that far will shorten its life anyway. Better to cycle batteries in the mid to upper end of their capacity.

[Jeff Kruse]

Lithium batteries will have a low voltage disconnect to protect the battery but that is near 100% DOD.

IMO with Lithium batteries they will go bad because of time not # of cycles (unless you dive every day) Count on Lithium packs to last 2 – 3 years used or not.

If your talking LifePo4 they could last a long time and it might be good to only go to 80% DOD and they will last 8 – 10 years.

Ni batteries, usually don’t have protection. They can take abuse but again it’s a good idea to stay above 80% DOD.

[ljjames]

I am pretty sure the Li-ions have a low voltage cutoff. Problem is drawing it down that far will shorten its life anyway. Better to cycle batteries in the mid to upper end of their capacity.

ya ya, i was assuming many of us still have Nickel-rocket-packs bad assumption on my part.

the nickel packs i have are actually quite old, far older that that, that are still pretty close to standard capacity (yes, i burn test from time to time mostly cause i'm suspicious of my charger) but i try to cycle them a couple times a week I also probably cycle them _more_ than most because of the video lights... dunno if that is a factor in nickel health as well.

[Rooinater]

Something else to look at in the way of those insulation garments. I was looking both of them up on line and they both appear to be bulky. With insulation you want it to actually loft up and trap the air, it's not the number of layers themselves that cause the warmth, it's the trapped layer of air caused by the lofting undergarment. If you layer 2 lofting or bulky undergarments you might be compressing the insulation to the point that it is probably handicapping it's ability to loft and properly insulate. If they are getting a lot of bunching that's probably a good sign that the insulation is compressing and not working properly. I'd suggest finding someone with a weezle extreme+ that would allow him to try it with a few poly pro layers on underneath. If they are still cold with a single extremely warm high loft layer, than spend the money on drastic measures, just my 2 cents.

I'm not a cold diver, but the basics of how lofting insulation works is the same for all highloft insulation, it must have enough room to fully loft and have enough air in it to loft otherwise it will not insulate properly.