I just showed my wife my first headlight I got yesterday (see my other post here). She actually liked it and had a question. She is a nurse in an OR and the doctors wear headlights that are big and bulky and have to be plugged in.
She likes my light and was wondering if someone makes a headlight that is bright and that will go for 8 hours on a charge. I don’t think so but I’ll ask you experts here. What do you think?
There are 2x18650 headlamps out there, on mid could be doable. But they usually use PWM on mid. And carrying all that 8 hours on your head… its probably better to plug in or use something smaller and switch batteries. Or find one that can be dimmed enough that batteries will last for long. For closeup work, you don’t need much lumens and modern leds are also amazingly efficient at low currents.
I don’t know if they’d allow modded lights in an OR, but if they did, there’re are some ideas that could potentially be generically applied to any headlight in this thread:
Also, you could do something like a belt battery pack going to the light itself, with a quick-connect from the light to the battery pack, for backup.
Yes any of the “bike/headlamps” can do that, make sure to buy the “4 mode” instead of 3 mode version (hidden strobe with 3 brightness lvls instead of 2+ strobe 
).
Its a shame this thread was brought back to life by a spammer link above you though 
Sorry - didn’t notice the date on the earlier msgs - it just showed up on recent posts. Did SB delete the spammer msg and that’s why it’s not there now?
I assume so, spam post is gone, spammer had posted a car parts store link.
color rendering would not be good enough for an operating environment, but in future generations that won’t be a problem anymore
PWM should be avoided, in the unlikely possibility that it could cause some kind of treatment complication
sos/strobe should not be allowed, photosensitive epilepsy is rare but she will see patients with it eventually
8 hours can be done, but what brightness is required, 8 hours on a single 3400mAH panasonic would be about 1 watt or 150 lumens-ish, and with a linear driver you won’t have constant brightness, so that needs solving as well.
Yup, I was only halfass answering since it was spammer-awakened, lots of problems with it like above. But you forgot the most important one: someone has to charge the hospitals $500 for each unit for the hospitals to buy it. Who then have to mark up the installation cost to $1,000 to charge the insurance company, so that the insurance company can “adjust the cost” down to $200 and force the hospital to collect a $100 copay and $200 coinsurance from the patient. Then the insurance company can claim the hospital overcharged and they got you a “savings” by “reducing” the hospital’s cost! And then of course increasing insurance premiums so they can build a new skyscraper and pay their investors increasing profits every year 
Betcha cant tell I had to take a family member in recently for a doctor’s visit to get an obvious diagnosis so antibiotics can be prescribed…and a large amount of the cost would not be not covered by insurance.
people who say universal healthcare sucks ignore everything you just said and pretend it doesn’t work like that (not trying to start a debate in this thread, just relating personal experience)
Any of the Zebralight h502 or h52 family on one of the medium settings, xtar h1 or h2 on medium I think, possibly Spark SG5
Yeah I see examples all the time, it 100% works like that. If you look at the overall math, at how the insurance companies investors get increasing profits every year, and even ignoring staff costs, new medical advances always increase costs for care. And then look at what is exactly covered in your insurance: it becomes smaller every year, higher copays, added coinsurance, larger deductibles, more requirements to be covered= less payout. So where does all the money come from to pay for increased profit demanded by investors every year over year? The insured pay more, get less coverage and the medical profession gets reduction on payments. I’m not exactly a fan of socialized medicine either, but our system is broken and affordable coverage is becoming hardly worth having already unless you work for a big company with good benefits.
Consider also the Spark SX5. You have the option of 18650/26650 power or also 3AAA or 3AA if Li-Ions and their fairly particular handling and charging requirements are too problematic for hospital staff. Go for the Neutral White version.
If you are OK with 18650s look into the Armytek Wizard Pro. Great headlamp but first production release has some minor problems which are being addressed by new firmware. Make sure you get one with updated firmware. Neutral White on the way but hasn't been released yet.
Of course, neither option is particularly "budget" but in a medical environment you'd be best to buy quality anyway.
1 Anything used in a surgical suite is going to need certifications and require a method of sterilization. Certification is going to cost plenty and add to the final price to the hospital. Liability and insurance issues require the purchase of certified equipment and disallow anything else.
I used to deal in surplus computer equipment and know folks that buy and sell used medical equipment. Medical equipment cost a fortune, even really crappy (looking) used items like used surgery lights. Another example, carbide grinding burrs used by dentists must be ADA certified. Back in the sixties, they cost $20 to $35 each, similar tools could be bought from a mill supply for about a third of that price or less.
2 Please, lets avoid the political arguments about health care. Lighting is purchased by the Doctors, clinics and hospitals. I can think of no situation where surgical lighting would be charged directly to the patient or their insurance company. I’m not defending insurance companies or their practices. (I just threw up a little :D)
You didn’t say it was, but let’s be clear that an aside complaining about costs and a perverse system isn’t advocating for a particular system of governance; one’s fears about opinions on governance doesn’t necessarily merit introduction of the subject.
Everything bought by a hospital or clinic is ultimately directly charged (though not individually itemized) to a patient. Way too many people in the system forget that everything spent is passed along. That is a fact regardless of any governance mechanism.
One could say don’t buy insurance if you don’t like it - but even that silly notion now could invoke a political discussion by those who want to maintain today’s status quo - or a call for no discussion by those who want to maintain the new law. I do find it interesting that so many who complain vociferously about insurance supported it’s required purchase. Please observe that I am noting an irony and not advocating a position herein.
PS - it is only a small stretch of the truth to suggest the PPACA saved my life last year and keeps me alive; again I’m still not advocating a position. 0:)
First, I’m truly happy your life was saved, albeit attributed to a law not yet in implemented. The rest, in the nicest way, I just don’t care, I like talking about lights not healthcare. I really just wanted to point out you no matter how good an idea might sound, you just can’t decide to use something in an OR without considering the requirements for that environment.
I would imagine PWM would not be allowed in an OR even if the rest of he requirements were met (the ability to autoclave, 100% waterproof/sealed, no crevices). Almost all surgeries are video recorded now days (for training and liability) and PWM doesn’t play nice with cameras.
i never thought of these very good points, i assumed watching something beating with PWM could be misleading