DeepSea Power & Light

DeepSea Power & Light (trading as DeepSea) is a San Diego, California designer and manufacturer of subsea cameras, LED lights, lasers, pressure-compensated batteries and pressure relief valves for remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), crewed submersibles, landers and other deep-ocean platforms. It is a division of SeeScan, Inc., which holds the DeepSea trademark, and operates as DeepSea, Inc. from 4033 Ruffin Road, San Diego.

The company's history begins in 1983 with the SeaBattery, an underwater battery for powering deep-sea instruments that its founder built in a garage workshop. The current SeaBattery Power Module is pressure-compensated and rated to 11,000 m. It uses absorbent glass mat lead-acid cells in 12 V/80 Ah, 24 V/40 Ah and 48 V/18 Ah configurations, so it avoids the shipping restrictions on lithium-ion batteries.

DeepSea went on to make incandescent lights for ROVs, then underwater video cameras and 400 to 1,200 W metal-halide (HMI) lights, first developed for the submersible Alvin and the ROV Jason. Its HMI lighting was used on the Mir-1 and Mir-2 submersibles that filmed the Titanic wreck, and on the 1996 expedition to raise part of the wreck. For that expedition DeepSea built four autonomous "Edison" light towers, each carrying five 1,200 W lights powered by 30 SeaBatteries. The company's lights and cameras have also flown on the submersibles Sea Cliff, Turtle, Nautile, Kaiko and Shinkai 6500. For the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's hybrid ROV/AUV Nereus (2008), DeepSea designed and supplied the ceramic flotation.

Today's camera range runs from the compact Nano SeaCam to HD and 4K systems. The Optim SeaCam is described as the first 4K camera to reach the deepest points of the ocean, including Challenger Deep at more than 10 km. It has 15.5x optical zoom, a 350 mm minimum object distance at full telephoto, 6G-SDI output over fibre or coax, a depth rating of up to 11 km, and VISCA control. The Endurance22 expedition used Optim cameras mounted on an AUV to record Shackleton's ship Endurance at 3,000 m in the Weddell Sea in 2022. The broadcast-grade MxD SeaCam was developed with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. It has three 2/3-inch CMOS sensors, 15x optical zoom with a 2x tele-converter and a 7,500 m rating, and in 2025 it streamed live from ROV Little Hercules during an E/V Nautilus expedition in the Cook Islands. Other models include the Vertex, HD Zoom, HD Multi, Multi, LED Multi, Wide-i and Super Wide-i SeaCams. In 2024 DeepSea launched the SmartSight machine-vision platform. Its SmartSight MV100 combines Sony Pregius global-shutter sensors with GigE Vision for autonomous vehicles, aimed at obstacle avoidance, photogrammetry, stereo imaging, automated inspection and AI training data.

The flagship LED SeaLite emits up to 10,000 lumens, with sapphire ports rated to 6,000 m or 11,000 m. It supports digital and analog flicker-free dimming and is also offered as a SeaStrobe configuration and with Multiray dual-source technology. The Nano SeaLite and the SeaLite Sphere extend the lighting range, and the company says its lighting family reaches up to 18,000 lumens. Lasers include the Micro SeaLaser and the SeaLaser 100, a Class III-A diode unit rated to 2,000 m that is used in pairs 10 cm apart to add scale to video. DeepSea also makes double-dual-seal, single-dual-seal and SAE single-seal pressure relief valves, the SmartHub multiplexer, and FleXlink, a robust alternative to delicate fibre optics.

Products come in three ordering tiers: QuickShip pre-built models, Pre-Configured products that typically ship within 12 weeks, and fully custom configurations. Housings use anodized 6061-T6 aluminium and titanium, and every product is pressure-tested in-house before shipping. The company also sells optical measurement and pressure-testing services, handles repairs through an RMA process, and sells internationally through a network of representatives. DeepSea names the Titanic expeditions, the National Geographic Society, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the operators of Alvin, Mir I and II, and Kaiko among long-standing users. It also runs a livestream camera on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography pier at La Jolla Shores.