Adventures with cheap head torches

Other Types of Lights LED Headlamps
1

Hi all,

New to this forum and new to high power torches in general.

I came to LED torches through my main hobby, shooting.

I had a Maglite for years until someone showed me a surefire aviator. I couldn’t believe a light that small could be that powerful but hated the fact that it needed CR123 batteries.

I bought a Maglite Led replacement bulb in the US about 6 years ago and have been using that as my main hunting torch ever since. Compared to the standard 2D bulb the thing was a revelation and extended the battery life immensely to boot.

I stumbled across one of these on special offer at Robert Dyas over here in the UK for a measly 6 quid: http://www.merchandisemania.co.uk/promotional-product/torches/3096/3w-cree-head-torch.html and was again blown away comparing it to my modified Maglite.

The problem with this torch is that the battery life is not much good on 3 AAAs and that they tend to die after a few months.

I was researching a better headtorch and found this site, unfortunately only after buying one of these: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/refrakta-1000-lumen-rechargeable-bike-light-a15ln for 40 quid at Maplins only to discover you can get them from ebay for ~20 quid…

This torch puts out a lot more light, I can use it to light my bedroom up at night on high by pointing it at the ceiling, but has a few issues also.

The spot is less intense than the spot projected by the cheapo 3AAA torch above, although much larger, and it generally doesn’t seem to throw as far as I’d hoped. Also the battery supplied is a pack of 4 li-ion cells in parallel with a long ( 1m plus) wire to the light itself. I remember enough electronics from school to know that at 4 volts the resistive loss over a metre of wire would be considerable, I wonder if this is holding the light back?

My needs in a head torch are slightly complex, I need both flood, throw and something in the middle. A light for shooting needs to have good throwing capability for situations like looking for shot game in stubble fields at night. Especially when using nightvison sights estimates of range and position can look very different udner visible light and I need the ability to cast a decent beam out to about 150 yards or so. I also need flood lighting for things like climbing into high seats, gutting game after dark and sorting my kit out. In these circumstances the 1000 lumen light on high has enough spill but so much light in the spot that I can’t actually see what I’m doing directly under the spot. Considering that I will necessarily be dealing with a gun or knife in my hands in this scenario, it’s important… :smiley:

The wide/spot combo is useful when looking for things in very thick cover. In these circumstances a pure flood light doesn’t reach out far enough and a spot doesn’t cover enough ground and causes over-intense spots as with the example above.

The soloution seems to be to combine the best of the two designs, ie. a more powerful and better built version of the 3AAA headtorch.

Does anyone do anything like that or do I need to build my own?

I have basic electronics ( Did an A level many moons ago) and reasonable fabrication skills ( Model engineering) with acess to a machine shop for reference.

With thanks,

Cuddly.

2

Hi and welcome Cuddly. Others will chip in but heres one that may suit your needs.

Good luck on your search.

3

Combining a ton of throw (150m) with a headlamp is a problem because you don’t get the throw without a big (heavy) reflector. Any chance you’d consider an ordinary bright headlamp and a secondary torch (possibly even on the weapon)?

4

This seems the best option as headlamps always light where your looking and a good hunting beam isn’t the place to compromise. Even a small 14500 cap light w/clip or zoomie would do for general edc w/low mode.

5

Thanks DNF. :slight_smile:

That does look like a pretty good bit of kit. I was wondering if an aspheric lens was the way to go for a combination of flood and throw, sort of like a better quality version of the Robert Dyas light above but I can see the sense in having two LEDs and not compromising on the reflector design for each function.

6

I am prepared to be told I’m asking the impossible, so no worries on that account Ruffles! :smiley:

At the risk of sounding facetious the trouble with carrying two lights, is carrying two lights… It is the better solution in some ways but it two lights means two sets of batteries, two objects to take up valuable pocket room, two things to potentially lose, etc. It is what I do at the moment ( Robert Dyas head torch in pocket and Maglite in my roesack ) and I have found it less than ideal. I suppose if I were to pursue the two light philosophy I would want the headlight to be floody but as small as possible, like this perhaps: Headlamp and the torch to be the thrower and small enough to fit in my pocket.

Mounting a torch on a rifle is a bit of a no-no because you don’t want to be pointing the rifle at the whole countryside when scanning around. The rifle would have to be unloaded, of course, but the general rule of firearm safety is to not point a gun in a direction that you would not be happy for a shot to go off in should some accident or mishap in the dark happen.

Is there some sort of LED version of the surefire aviator around? I like mine but it eats batteries like popcorn and gets rather too hot to just casually put back in your pocket after a decent period of use.

7

Quite right about the main beam being important Mr. Duck. It doesn’t need to be super bright, compared to some of the wacky and wonderful creations I’m seeing on this board :smiley: but enough to pick up the white belly fur of a rabbit at 75 yards or a deer at 150.

I have a novelty cap with LED’s built into the rim of the peak at the front and runs off two CR2032 batteries. the trouble is that it has a tiny and incredibly sensitive switch invisibly sewn into the material that is always getting accidentally activated and draining the expensive batteries. Are there decent cap lights available? I usually wear a cap when hunting unless it’s well below freezing so if it’s not much bigger or heavier than the Petzl I linked to in my reply to Ruffles then I would consider it. :slight_smile:

8

I have a few thoughts. One is that if you plan on and are stuck to using AAA batteries, that may be your week link unless you wire them in series so the voltage is somewhere around 3.5 - 4ish volts. I would suggest the use of Eneloops XX batteries, 3 x 1.2 giving you around 3.6 volts of juice to power your new build.

If you are not apposed to carrying a battery pack on your waist, then something like this would be sweet.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pcs-4000-Lumens-3x-CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-4Mode-Headlight-Headlamp-Bike-Bicycle-light-/261234774149

I have this rig I use both as a headlight and a bike light. It will rock the woods. Then I use a smaller AA size light running a 14500 clipped to the brim of my baseball cap. Giving me max options. Of course I have about 5 other lights I carry too. LOL.

9

Thanks Rick,

The second light I linked to in my post above is more or less exactly the same as the one you linked to except that the battery pack is 4P rather than (I assume) 2S2P for 3.7V nominal.

This is a little puzzling considering the length of the cable from the battery pack to the light but has the happy side-effect of meaning I would be able to run it from 3 NiMH cells or 1 Li-ion if need be.

I have an ancient 9 “High power” LED head torch that although rubbish in terms of light output has an excellent rear 3 AAA battery box and 1” wide straps. I could use the 9 LED’s for another project and so am tempted to liberate the battery box and straps to see if I can get them to work with this light. I am a little worrieds about drawing something like 3A from the AAA but the XML LED in this light seems to produce more light on low ( guessing something like 700 mA? ) than my previous headlight does on high and so will be usable. I have some decent Duracell 800 mAh AAAs which ought to be able to hold 700-800 mA for an hour’s runtime. That is not ideal but I like to tinker and ought to tide me over until I can think of something better. :smiley:

On a side note does anyone do waterproof battery boxes for 3AA cells or 1 18650 that I might be able to adapt to fit the straps of the torch? As you point out I think decent AAs ought to be able to handle 3A draw without sagging too much.

10

Some random thoughts:

I could be wrong (electronics definitely not my strong suit) but I don’t think you get 3A from AA batteries. You’ll still probably get a decent amount of brightness/current, though.

I’m a huge fan of Petzls, but save for the zip mechanism that the zipka has, you can find that kind of headlamp performance for much less money.

If you win EuroMillions, buy one of these: Loading... (His beamshots are legit and show visible stuff at 175m. You might also have to hire a valet to carry the battery pack.)

The best source I can think of for a 3AA battery pack is a cheap Petzl Zoom (with a battery adapter) from ebay. If you’re patient and a bit lucky, you’ll find one for a fiver. If I knew of a 1-18650 carrier that was good, I’d be all over it, as I’m wrapping a battery carrier in neoprene and securing it with a rubber band.

11

Hi Ruffles,

Thank you for your thoughts mate, much appreciated.

In a fit of impatience I’ve cut and spliced a plug to fit on to the battery pack and measured the current and voltage on the three modes.

Fresh from the charger the voltage of the three AAA batteries measured 4.15V

On high: 1.6A 2.8V On Medium: 0.81A 3.5V
On Low: 0.41A @ 3.8V

The current measured on high is the initial current, it was sagging before my eyes and after a minute or so had dropped to around 1.4A. This together with the voltage reading indicates that 1.5A is too much power to be drawing from these cells? On the other hand the current draw at the two other power settings were at least stable and indicate a run time of about an hour and two hours respectively.

I will have to test the current draw with the Li-ion cells to see if the driver is capable of supplying 3A to the light under ideal conditions, considering that the medium and low are about half of what I think they should be based on the runtimes given in the manual I am not so sure.

The spidereyes light looks really good but I can buy a shotgun for the amount of money that costs! :smiley:

On the Petzl thing that zip string system is the whole reason I am drawn to one, much more compact and tangle-free than the conventional straps and for a light weighing under 100 grams plenty secure.

I’ll keep an eye out for a 18560 battery holder, maybe the idea would to seal the thing up completely with shrink wrap and charge it via a plug?

12

My Suggestion would be a Fenix headband, then choose two torches that fit both your distance and flood needs.

I use it with an old LLh4 and vary the other two for what I am doing

13

This one? http://www.fenixtactical.com/fenix-headband.html

That’s not a bad idea at all Xmint, nice one. :slight_smile:

14

Yup thats it, got mine a bit cheaper though, may be worth searching and sending emails to the dealers asking for best deal, as Fenix are a bit sensitive to advertising lower prices.

Edit: for a cheaper alternative a m8 has one of these and is happy with it link But I prefer the Fenix

15

8)

That’s a good alternative but it looks like the Fenix one is a little more versatile. I wonder if that battery storage compartment might be converted into a waterproof battery box too…

It is looking like I need to build the headtorch of my dreams myself if I want to avoid dropping the price of 2000 cartridges on a Spidereyes. :slight_smile: