Dive Matrix Exclusive First Look: Deep Sea Supply "Super Sierra" Li-Ion DPV Battery

[Mo2vation]

Here is your first look at the amazing Deep Sea Supply Super Sierra Li-On Battery for the Dive Xtras Sierra Scooter.

This is no ordinary battery.

It is designed from the ground-up to take the humble Dive Xtras Sierra and turn it into the lightweight world distance champion. To do this, Deep Sea Supply had to completely rethink the battery design for this scooter.

It had to be powerful, sure. And it is the most powerful battery to ever land in a Sierra.

It also had to be lightweight - as anything over about 14 pounds puts the Sierra out of trim and risks making the scooter negative with the double gauge mount and boltsnap on the nose. Checking in at 13.9 pounds, this battery is negligibly heavier than the standard 16 Amp hour battery offered.

It had to be durable - so the battery case was completely re-designed using the toughest marine-grade components, enabling Deep Sea Supply to squeeze in all the cells and electronics required to get this powerhouse into a Sierra body tube with no modifications required.

It had to be easy to use - so a specially designed, hand-built charger was created that enables the user to quickly and safely charge this monster battery with confidence.


Specifications

First, the high-level specs, side by side with the standard NiMH Sierra Battery:



This battery made its debut at the Tahoe Benchmark in July 2009. The Super Sierra Li-Ion battery ran away with all distance measurements. This is the battery at which James (Fdog), while on the enuro test, popped up from Lake Tahoe and yelled to the distant shore, "will this friggen battery never die???!!"

Numbers put up by the Super Sierra at the TBM:

Recreational Config - Single Cylinder, Dry Suit

• 182 Feet Per Minute (standard Sierra 16 Ah: 179 FPM)

• 5 Mile* range at top speed (standard Sierra 16 Ah: 1.2 mile)

• 7.5 Mile* range at cruise speed (standard Sierra 16 Ah: 1.8 mile)

Tech Config - Doubles, Drysuit, Deco bottle

• 163 Feet Per Minute (standard Sierra 16 Ah: 160 FPM)

• 3.9 Mile range at top speed (standard Sierra 16 Ah: 1.1 mile)

• 6.0 Mile range at cruise speed (standard Sierra 16 Ah: 1.3 mile)

* Best in show, TBM 2009

I have the complete specifications available if you're interested. Just PM me. I've omitted things like number of cells, types of cells temperature ratings, etc. here. Deep Sea Supply provides a very detailed spec sheet that provides that to the owner.


Form Factor

The first thing you'll notice is the Deep Sea Supply Super Sierra Li-Ion battery has only one pigtail - it comes from the top. Unlike the stock Sierra NiMH, you charge and go from the same connectors.





The next thing you'll notice is that although its taller than the standard battery, it weighs about the same. This is due in part to the redesign of the battery case and all components associated with the case. Ounces were shaved, but structural integrity was not compromised. In fact, its clear Deep Sea Supply took a fraction of a fraction off of the diameter of the battery case, as this Super Sierra Battery was easier to install than my new NiMH 16 Ah battery - it just slide right in and locked immediately into place, and mercifully slid right out.


Here is the Super Sierra battery next to a standard NiMH 16 AH batt.










There are warning labels all over the battery and the charger - for very good reason. This battery is a monster. With reasonable and attentive care there is no more risk to the user than from any other battery.



However, the potential for damage or injury is greater for the careless operator simply because this battery is so much more powerful than the normal battery.

The first generation Deep Sea Supply Li-Ion battery featured a pull strap to replace the painful and often ineffective D-ring on the top. This battery maintains that excellent design improvement and features a wide, comfortable pull strap.





Next up - moving on to the Charger!


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Ken




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[Mo2vation]

The Charger

Now we get to the brains of the operation - the charger. This charger is unique in many ways. It has a multi-stage monitoring system that assures the Super Sierra Li-Ion battery receives a perfect and appropriate charge every time.

This charger (the Mk II) is has been designed and built to only charge the Super Sierra battery Li-Ion battery. Its not designed to charge any other Li-Ion packs.






The Mk II charger is built into a small Sea Horse tough case. It has two fans that keep it cool in this case, and vent holes that need to remain open. Obviously the charger has to be opened when in use.








And as you would suspect, there are both warning labels and instructional labels on the charger. However, the instruction sheet that came with the charger is very well written and very easy to understand.








One of the beautiful things about the charger is the only thing you really need to remember is to charge the battery when its cool-ish. So don't leave the battery on the dashboard of your car in the summer, and don't pull the battery from the scooter when its still very hot to the touch and slap it on the charger - give it a few minutes to cool off.

Simple!




Charging the Battery


Charging the Deep Sea Supply Super Sierra Li-Ion battery couldn't be easier.

Normal charging includes three automatic charge modes:

1. Reduced current conditioning charge for the first three minutes
2. The Main Charge
3. Pulse charges to provide a very accurate full charge

In the final three, the current is interrupted and the battery voltage is allowed to stabilize. If this voltage is less than 25.2 volts, the charger will provide a pulse, stop and again sample the battery voltage. This will continue until the battery remains at 25.2 volts when the charger is "off." When this is reached, the display will read "Charge Done" as well as display the final battery voltage and total amp hours returned to the battery.

When the charger is turned on, it immediately springs to life. The fans spin to speed and the central display confirms you have power by providing the DSS name and the current version of the Software.




It then goes into "Ahem" mode, as it completes a brief self-test, taps its fingers on the table, tells you there is no battery connected and would you please get on it so it has something to do.




Once you put the Super Sierra Li-Ion batt on the charger, it confirms that it can read all "6 cells." Although the battery uses 120 cells, the battery has been built so the charger recognizes the battery as having 6 cells.




As the charger charges, it provides lots of information on the display screen, including the charge current, the mode (1, 2, or 3 as detailed above) the battery voltage, the time the charger has been charging the battery and the amp hours of the charge that has been returned to the battery.




When the charge cycle is completed, there are three beeps and the display indicates the battery charge cycle is done.






A few last thoughts before we get the battery in the water for the sea trials in the next post.


Thanks


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Ken



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[Mo2vation]

Final Pre-Dive Thoughts

Our team has been using Sierra Scooters for about two-and-a-half years. The team has nearly 800 dives on our fleet. There is no doubt these scooters have changed the way we dive, the places we go and how we get there.

Over the last year or so, its become clear to us that the limiting factor to many of our dives is battery power. We simply can't safely reach the places we want to go using the standard battery and its 1-hour-ish burn times.

We've towed a spare scooter, but that's not real fun to set up and get through the surf (and two of us hauling three scooters back in after 60 to 80 minutes of diving is even less fun.)

Quite simply - this battery is going to be the perfect fit to one of our largest and most pressing hurdles - which has been burn time. Going to a 'Cuda or other long body scooter is out because hauling them in and out of the surf is prohibitive. The Sierra has the perfect blend of weight and length to make it easy to one-hand in and out of surf quickly - even when I'm carrying a large camera rig in the other hand.

4-dive days on the local boats require us to bring two batteries, and change over between dives 2 and 3. With the Super Sierra battery we no longer have to bring a second battery. One battery will last us an entire 4 dive day on a commercial dive boat.

Significantly more time. Amazingly longer distances. Negligible weight added to the package. We could scooter from Anacapa island to Santa Cruz on this battery. We could hop in at the boat dock in San Pedro and scoot out the the Oil Rigs with this battery. We could scoot a 10k on this battery. The distance achievable now is just staggering. This is an amazing tool.

The Super Sierra Li-Ion battery is the perfect solution we've been waiting for - longer time from our same scooters. I'm a little sad that I won't ever be able to get this battery on a plane. TSA would just laugh and escort me out of the terminal if I rolled in with this. So I'm keeping my other batteries for air travel.

We'll be getting these in the water on Thanksgiving day (how appropriate) and I'll have a full post-dive report shortly thereafter.

Many thanks to James Flenner and the entire Tahoe Benchmark crew who tested this batter until it finally did friggen die. Then tested it again and again and again. Great work, folks.

Huge thanks to Tobin at Deep Sea Supply - for all you've done to bring these very special batteries to market. Hundreds of hours of R&D and Testing and fabricating, then more testing and tweaking and re-testing until everything is perfect. I'm really the most excited about the new stuff we're going to see with this battery in our scooters.

Chica - get your sheep rockin. We have miles to go before you bleat.

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Ken

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[Rainer]

LOL, you forgot the most important part. Cost?

[vbcoachchris]

if you have to ask you can't afford it.

[fdog]

Very nice write up Ken!

Also, huge kudos to Tobin - as with anything he does, this battery and charger are works of art. I can see from here that it's a huge amount of work for what has to be a small sliver of the market. Thank you, Tobin!

One of the things that has really, really endeered me to the Cuda has been the range. It is an amazingly warm fuzzy feeling to be way offshore, and know you have range available to more than double your planned dive.

Looks like you can get that in your Sierras now, too. Woo Hoo!

Congrats, Ken! BTW, who did you finally sell the kidney to, in your "fund the battery" eBay auction?


All the best, James

[Mo2vation]

Congrats, Ken! BTW, who did you finally sell the kidney to, in your "fund the battery" eBay auction?


All the best, James

If I only had to sell ONE kidney I'd probably feel better right now...



I've been selling everything that isn't nailed down (and prying up things that are nailed down.) This is a pearl of great price, and you do what you got to do to acquire it. Its about putting our heads down and meeting our objectives - which for now is being able to go from Cobble Beach at Marineland to Buchannans and back. The Sierra 16 Ah could get us there and just make the turn and get us part way back. Getting stranded out there would be no fun. We got to the edge one time and chugged back on fumes. I want to do more than peek over the edge. I want to get there and play awhile.

Its much less than upgrading to a Cuda.

This was the only solution for us.

Our Thanksgiving dive will likely be the longest dive I've ever done on OC. It should be fun. I'll be wearing my DUI 400gr for the first time south of Point Conception so I don't freeze.

That 2+ hour cushion is going to feel sweet. Scooting our to The Great Pinnacle, looping around the third sister, etc. Its gonna be great to have.


BTW - If it wasn't for the benchmark data, we'd have never even have known there was something like this out there. I can't thank YOU enough.

And you think I sent my buddy up there to kick you and your slowazz off the throne because I'm a nice guy....

HAH!




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Ken

[Gombessa]

Holy. Cow.

Wonder how many scooter manufacturers are going to be crying foul on Benchmark 2009?

[fdog]

<snip>
And you think I sent my buddy up there to kick you and your slowazz off the throne because I'm a nice guy....

HAH!




---
Ken

And I was proud to have her do it! Claudette was a treasure to have as a test diver.

...slowazz...sheesh...been called a lot of things before, but not that....


Also, looking on the photos, I noticed another cool thing: Tobin put a mini-owners guide right there on the side of the battery. Very nice.


All the best, James

[TobinGeorge]

Wow, nice write up. Thanks!

One small point; The battery does indeed have 120 cells. The are arraigned in 6 groups of 20 cells each.

20 cells are in parallel, and 6 of these paralleled groups are in series.

Paralleling cells increases the amp hour capacity, connecting the paralleled groups in series is how the ~24 volts is achieved.

The charger detects the number of cell groups in series. This determines the voltage the charger will deliver, and the voltage it uses to determine full charge.

Tobin

[Mo2vation]

Wow, nice write up. Thanks!

One small point; The battery does indeed have 120 cells. The are arraigned in 6 groups of 20 cells each.

20 cells are in parallel, and 6 of these paralleled groups are in series.

Paralleling cells increases the amp hour capacity, connecting the paralleled groups in series is how the ~24 volts is achieved.

The charger detects the number of cell groups in series. This determines the voltage the charger will deliver, and the voltage it uses to determine full charge.

Tobin

I'm gonna let this stew here for a few days, then I'll add the above when I post it all over the place.

Thanks, T


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Ken

[breals]

LOL, you forgot the most important part. Cost?

It's approx $2800, according to Tobin's website. I have the original Li-on batterry for my Sierra and LOVE IT! The only issue I've ever had with it, is the charger dying but that's an easy replacement. I wish I could justify buying it, believe me, i'm trying but it's $200 less than what I paid for my X 4 years ago.

[TobinGeorge]

It's approx $2800, according to Tobin's website. I have the original Li-on batterry for my Sierra and LOVE IT! The only issue I've ever had with it, is the charger dying but that's an easy replacement. I wish I could justify buying it, believe me, i'm trying but it's $200 less than what I paid for my X 4 years ago.

I should point out that the charger used with the original Sierra packs was NOT the MKII furnished with the current packs.

Unfortunately the MKII charger cannot be used with the original 7 x 15 =105 cell batteries due to different voltages.

Tobin

[kidspot]

sooo ... at the same speeds how does it compare to the mini-cuda Lithium Ion battery?

This sounds like one incredible battery.

[tdzao]

A streamlined freediver can typically get three times the speed and range out of a scooter (compared to a scuba diver). That would be 36km for this thing !! Which makes anything within 18km a dive site within range... [drooling]


Eric Fattah
Liquivision Products