TRIP REPORT: Webster (KY, US) 2005/09/17 + StenLight Review

[Darklight]

The regularly scheduled Webster System survey trip took place this Saturday, 20050917. The Webster System is a hostile cave, very big, dark, wet, and demanding. It’s a great place to have a good light. Mark Phillips, Pat Mudd, and me met at the Webster Post Office at 0800CST and quickly made our way over to the cave entrance. Our goal for the day was to continue and hopefully finish the Marathon Lake survey. This lake contains chest deep water pretty much the whole way. I would also be testing a new lighting system on this trip, a StenLight dual 3 watt LED. The Webster System, with all its huge trunk passage and light eating mud and water, would be the perfect proving ground. The following is a combination trip report and tech report.

Being somewhat of a techno head, I am always cognizant of new caving lighting gear hitting the market. I am especially interested in the new breed of LED lights. I began caving back in 1982 using a Premier carbide lamp. I migrated to the Koehler Wheat lamp, which became to me the standard caving candle. It was not without fault, however, and the lead acid battery was the weakness. I also invested in the Speleotechnics FX series of lamps, and currently still own an FX2, FX2 dual, and FX5. Nothing beats carbide for a nice wide, diffuse lighting if you ask me. LED modules like those made by Gemini and Petzl come close to reproducing the carbide effect, just not the color temperature. If only there was a light that had both the properties of a well focus Wheat lamp and a high fired Petzl ceiling burner…

For the past year or so I had been looking intently at the Speleotechnics NOVA 5 five watt LED light. Then came along the improved NOVA 3 featuring a Luxeon three-watt driver. The version I sought (a corded model for fixing to a belt battery) turned out to be vaporware. Enter the StenLight…

I made the drip line at around 0847. Little rivers of anticipation ran down my wetsuit inseam as I kicked those double-barreled Sten LED’s into life, and left my experience with all other cave lights behind. Rather than allow my eyes to dark adapt to the cave environment, I boosted the Sten straight into Turbo mode. Wow. The output of the Sten reminded me of a video light. Bright, broad, having excellent color temperature, and very reaching. I didn’t burn it on Turbo long for fear of wearing down the battery too soon. This fear was unfounded I would later discover.

Making lake at around 0900, I had an opportunity to see what the Sten was capable of. The passage here is only about 8 feet high, but is over 50 feet wide. I was able to pierce the darkness for several hundred feet. During this initial experience, I discovered the only shortcoming I was able to find in the Sten. The Sten consists of two 3 watt Luxeon white LED’s. They are driven by highly sophisticated electronics and power plants in order to efficiently run the LED’s. Technical data can be perused at http://www.stenlight.com/ .

The two LED’s serve two purposes: one has a wide angle beam pattern and the second is narrower for “throwâ€

[icave]

You ask the question: "Do Amish cavers use electric or carbide?" in your signature. I was fortunate enough to be on a trip several years ago where we got the answer to that question. We were just coming out of the water section of Alexander Caverns in central Pennsylvania when we ran into about 20 Amish visiting the cave. The owner had brought some friends and family in for a short look. We left the cave following the light of their lanterns.

To answer your question "Amish cavers use gas powered Coleman lanterns."

- Mike Spencer

[steelwool]

"Do Amish cavers use electric or carbide?"

They use electric. Spring 2005 fellow caver and myself where trying to get more passage out of a very promising cave. This cave was owned by a friendly Amish family. The father and the son caved with us and helped to get the cave to go. They where both using electric led head lamps. They were amazed that we used carbide lamps and we where amazed that they did not use carbide.