The Princeton Tec EOS Diet…

[SilverFox]

Hello Jar3ds,

Protected cells would work fine, but usually with protected cells you loose some of the capacity. Starting with only 330 mAh, the losses in capacity may be significant.

I never asked AW if these came in a protected form, so I don't know if they are even available.

Since the EOS is a regulated light and doesn't have a high current draw, I am not sure there would be an improvement using Lithium AAA's in the stock configuration. However, if you were going to store it in your car for emergency use, it would be a good choice.

I remember the original Alkaline cells seemed to last forever. After I ran them out, I switched to NiMh. I never had a problem with them, but I am diligent to re-charge often.

After using this modified EOS for a few days, I find that since I changed the optic, I find that I am using medium more than before at work. With the stock set up, I would switch the light to low and go. Now, with the wider beam, I can get by with low, but prefer medium.

However, I no longer need my diffuser to read a book. The low setting is just right.

I guess there are trade offs which ever way you go...

At any rate, using re-chargeable cells, I don't mind going up in power, I just have to re-charge a little more often.

Tom

 

[jar3ds]

what did you do to the optic? I'm thinking about McR-18... but I don't know if it will be better? I want a replacement reflector that gives me tons of flood/spill! The McR018 seems to be spot/spill beam like a HDS... I think I want more of a flood than a HDS style of beam... I wonder how the IMS 17mm compares to the McR-18?

What would you recomend?

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Jar3ds,

I just happen to have an optic on the shelf. I believe it came from Mr Bulk and was used in his Baby Pin light. It dropped right into the holder, but I don't think it sits all the way down on the LED.

It has the effect of making the spot wider, at the loss of some spill. My light meter readings dropped in half. This makes low very nice for reading without having to diffuse the beam, but makes me step up to medium for work. I am still getting good run time, and with rechargeable batteries, it's no big deal. Obviously, high will not throw as far as the original optic did, but for throw I usually have a flashlight handy...

Tom

 

[jar3ds]

Tom,

I assume the new weight for the EOS w/ 3x10440 is the 98 grams weight... as you stated in the starting post...

however, what is the weight w/ only one 10440? Thanks

Jared

 

[chesterqw]

to get real light weight, lithium disposable ?
or does it make no diff?

 

[jar3ds]

well... i'm unsure of the weight of the 10440's... or the AAA lithium primary's

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Jared,

I believe the 10440 cells are close to 6 grams each.

Tom

 

[jar3ds]

thanks silverfox.... i'm ordering up some 10440's ...

how do you charge them? I'll use AW's 10440 charger to get me by for a while... however in the future...

I'm thinking about buying a 4xAAA holder from http://www.thomas-distributing.com/battery-holders.htm

then making that holder parallel... then connecting it to my DSD (or some other charger)... I would assume if I hook up 3x10440's in parallel that the charging current of the DSD would be safe... but i'm just guessing...

 

[Rudi]

Hello Jar3ds,

I just happen to have an optic on the shelf. I believe it came from Mr Bulk and was used in his Baby Pin light. It dropped right into the holder, but I don't think it sits all the way down on the LED.

It has the effect of making the spot wider, at the loss of some spill. My light meter readings dropped in half. This makes low very nice for reading without having to diffuse the beam, but makes me step up to medium for work. I am still getting good run time, and with rechargeable batteries, it's no big deal. Obviously, high will not throw as far as the original optic did, but for throw I usually have a flashlight handy...

Tom

Simpler and easier is to affix a UCL-LDF diffusing lens to the front of the EOS. Makes for a very nice reading beam.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Jared,

I charge them individually on my Schulze isl 6-330d at 0.25 amps, or all three in parallel at 0.5 amps.

Tom

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Rudi,

I will have to check that out. My solution has been to take a white baby sock and pull it over the light.

Tom

 

[jar3ds]

Hello Rudi,

I will have to check that out. My solution has been to take a white baby sock and pull it over the light.

Tom

silverfox,

i think you'll be much better off w/ the HDS Mild diffuser... its a drop in solution w/ no perm. mod


http://www.lighthound.com/sales/hds_edc_accessories.htm

 

[Pydpiper]

I get nervous just thinking about unprotected cells going on my nightstand, and your strapping them to your head.
Great bunch of info here!

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Pydpiper,

Almost all of the problems associated with unprotected cells occur during charging. With this in mind, I simply use a quality charger and check the voltage before charging. If the open circuit resting voltage goes below 3.3 volts, my plan is to stop using the cell and replace it.

The next source of problems comes from physical abuse. I feel the light offers adequate protection, so no worries there.

The final thing to keep in mind is that there is not a lot of capacity to deal with. I am guessing that an "event" with a very low capacity cell will not amount to much.

All in all, I feel confident with this set up and use it freely.

Tom

 

[jar3ds]

Thank to Silverfox for this thread and coming up with this idea. :rock:

I got ~ 1 hour and 25mins... so Silverfox's 1hour&15mins is not too far off at all! :thumbsup:

I used an McR-18 reflector that has been cut down and this is by far the best beam I've got'n out of the EOS (cheers to mosport )...

Also, after the runtime test as soon as it popped out of regulation. I checked the heat. My star was a tad warm and SO WAS THE McR-18! So in addition to having a better beam with the McR-18 (instead of the 17mm IMS)... it aids as another area for heat to travel to... Very nice! :naughty:

Also, using the McR-18 I find myself using the medium and low settings a lot more than when I did with my IMS 17mm. Mainly because the McR-18 seems to give me more fill beam between my spot and spill which is really important for a headlamp. So I can expect according to Silverfox, about 4 hours on medium which is quite a bit of light for a decent amount of time, all on a single 10440.

Since the original topic of this thread was the EOS DIET, I would say that it does lighten up the EOS a lot... it almost feels like there aren't any batties when you use just one 10440 cell. The way I have my EOS wired is so that only a single 1x10440 can be put in (in the bottom slot, perfect for weight distribution when tilted)... however, i did not need to solder anything... I just wedged a small jumper wire into the springs... So at anytime I can take out the jumper wire and go back to using normaling ~1.5v AAA's...

I will use this mod for my car. I can keep a pack of 10440's in the car w/ me and some lithium primaries. That way I have the slow discharge of LiON's and great cold weather performance, which is very important where I live. However, if I get stranded and need Gas Station replacement batteries all I have to do is take out the jumper wire and I'm good-to-go!

The EOS is an amazing headlamp. Waterproof to 1 meter, BRIGHT mod'able Lux's, regulated, light-weight, uses the beautiful McR-18 reflector, and has a ton of battery options including li-ions!

EDIT: well PT's website says 105g for the EOS w/ 3xAlks... So an Alk according to Quickbeams site is 11.5g. That makes the weight w/o batteries 70.5g's... So add 6g for the single 10440 and you have a 76.5g headlamp!