Second Edition: The version "II. Edition" has a luminous flux in the range of min 300 lm. The LED head is also pressure-tight up to 20 bar. This increases safety considerably, as the lamp head continues to function safely even when the lamp is flooded.
Due to the relative high light output the Heser-BackUp is also applicable as main lamp. This torch runs by standard batteries “baby C”. Depending on quality of batteries, you can do up to 6 hours and longer night dives.
Through the use of a very powerful 4W LED, this lamp has an enormous luminous efficacy in comparison to halogen lamps of comparable size and that with longer burning time.
The focusing of the LED beam is tight enough to meet the needs of cave divers. Until now, no LED lamp on the market has a tight enough focus for cave diving use. This focusing was achieved through a specially manufactured reflector. Until now it was normal for 50% of the available light not to be focused by the reflector/lens combination. This unfocused light spreads out to the sides and doesn't do the cave diver any good. A tightly focused efficient light beam is also advantageous for normal open water diving. Because of this the Heser-Backup is also used as a main light for open water diving.
A large reflector can more efficiently focus the LEDs output than a small reflector. Many LED lamp manufacturers use a smaller, less efficient reflector/lens unit, thereby saving money. We don't.
Since LEDs are shockresistant, and the LED junction emits light almost forever (50000 hours) these lamps are highly reliable.
The completly sealed LED unit keep on working also in a flooded housing. The LED unit is pressure-tight up to 20 bar.
Due to the nickel plated aluminium battery tube efficient cooling of LED is guaranteed. This is not only important for the efficiency of the LED, it is also very important for reliability of the LED. The manufacturer of the LED place many emphasis on importance of adequate cooling for reliable function of the LED. The LED-unit itself don't solve the cooling problem.
The decision to eliminate controlling electronics provides the following advantages for use as a Backup light:
Increased Reliability
Electronics can get damaged by water or shock, and become unusable.
Increased burn time
An electrically controlled LED is always using the maximum power that the circuit is designed for. The advantage is constant brightness until the batteries are completely discharged. The battery voltage drops during the discharge cycle, and the control electronics will compensate this drop by increasing current to the LED. Towards the end of the battery discharge cycle the current draw is at the highest level and the batteries rapidly die with little to no warning. Without control electronics the current draw drops along with the battery voltage. The disadvantage is the LED becomes dimmer as the voltage drops. The advantage is the burn time increases dramatically. This can be an enormous advantage for a diver who needs light since the burn time provided by the electronics is no longer working against him. Due to the elimination of control electronics the lamp is capable of delivering enough light for over 8 hours.
Compensation of battery weakness
If one of the batteries would become week, maybe caused by a battery failure, the electronic controller would raise the current to compensate the lake of voltage. Without a controller the current goes down an reduces the load of the batteries. In such a case, the LED burns weaker but much longer.
Due to the use of an LED and the elimination of electronic controls, the lamp is capable of providing sufficient light for 8 hours and longer (depending on the type of batteries you select).
The outer housing are only two parts. There is only one sealing edge. More sealing edges would rise the rise of leaking.
The only opening is sealed with 2 O Rings, one behind the other. This reduces the possibility of a seal failure which can be caused by sediment deposited on the outside O Ring. If the outside O Ring seal leaks, the inner O Ring will still be sealing the opening.
All internal parts are precision machined. No cheap metal stampings are used. The reflector is made from a solid piece of brass. The battery tube is made from an Aluminium tube with 2mm wall thickness and is nickel plated. The Bottom of the battery tube is made from a solid piece of stainless steel. The contact spring is also stainless steel.
Usable battery capacity is temperature dependent and drops with low temperatures. If you can use the waste heat of the LED to warm the batteries the available battery capacity increases. This is why this lamp returns the heat produced by the LED to the batteries.
The lamp body is turned from a solid rod. The axial channels and roughened middle section make the lamp easy to hold with wet hands and gloves. The rubber hood on the lamp head is also non-slip.
The lamp is switched on by simply turning the lamphead. This joins the reflector to the heat-conducting battery tube which completes the circuit and also conducts heat to the batteries.
The lamp can be used with 3 Alkaline "C" Cells or with 3 NiMH rechargeable batteries. (If you use NiMH batteries, you should ask the battery manufacturer if a hydrogen catalyser is required. Use is NiMH batteries is, of course, at your own risk.) Due to the extremely long burn time compared to normal lamps, one set of alkaline batteries will probably last for a whole vacation's night dives. Therefore you don't need to provide the care needed to properly maintain a set of rechargeable batteries.
- Largest diameter (at the lamp head) 48mm
- Diameter of the tube 37mm
- Total length 215mm
- Minimum pressurised to 200 meter
- Battery type: Baby C (very common type) (not included in delivery)
