About to give up this ROP thing

I built a ROP LE and was at first very impressed by it. But I never could figure out a way to get rid of the moisture that would always form on the reflector after a couple minutes of continous use. Tried blowdrying and heating the parts, and running several battery cycles, still soaking wet. After a few sets of batteries, the reflector got some sort of discoloration or film by the moisture. In frustration, I tried to clean it with a soft cloth, but it seems that I damaged the reflectors mirror finish.

Is there any way I can save this reflector (Lithio 123s LOP)?. If not, I think it's back to Surefire for my part. Im a bit frustrated, as you can tell, but I do find little joy in a flashlight build that can't put up with continous use. Better then to fork out the $$ for the proven concepts, I guess.

Any help appreciated

thanks,

Oscar

I only get a minor amount of fogging on the reflector just around the bulb. Even the same when im using it outside with an ambient temp of 48F. Do you store your light in a cool area, meaning is it cold from the start?

Oscar - If you haven't given up yet, try cleaning the insides of the light with rubbing alcohol (switch area, inside of head, rear of reflector). The idea is to get rid of any oil that may be left over when the light was assembled. As you have already found out, you don't want to touch the front side of the reflector. It can be cleaned by filling a dish with water and dish soap (a lot of dish soap) and submerging the reflector entirely into the dish. Use you fingers to GENTLY rub the front of the reflector, if your fingers don't feel soapy when you put them in the solution you need more soap.

I cleaned mine and also did a run with the lense removed and the head of the light pointed in a safe direction (in case of catastrophic bulb failure) and did a run for 10 to 15 minutes. Haven't had any problems with fogging since. Give it a try see if it corrects you're problem.

As for continous use, I have run mine with the 24W bulb for more than 1-1/2 hours. The light description is in my sig.

Oscar- I live in South Florida and if I run the high bulb I always get condensation buildup in the lens. I have changed to the low bulb and have never had the problem again. The difference in the low/high amount of light is not enough for me to bother with the hassle of the high. Additionally, I enjoy the extra run time form the low bulb.

heat is the best way to remove moisture.. that is a completely bizarre situation.. i would think.. that puttinng the light w/o lens into a very warm, dry environment (wood box outside in the sun on a hot day).. would act like a dehydrator.. put it in there for a couple hours with the tailcap off and lens off.. then put them back on.. the seals should keep the moisture out..

how's the moisture getting in in the first place?

-awr

I don't think I've seen a high-output light that doesn't get a fair bit of condensation after short runtimes. ("Short" runtimes, but long enough for the light to get up to operating temp.) I don't think this condensation will affect light output or performance, and it will burn off if you let the light run longer.

Of course, since we're talking about a ROP, the batteries might die before the condensation burns off. No big deal... shouldn't be a problem for all practical purposes.

hey.. we spend a lot of time and effort to frost our lamps, reflectors and lenses to smooth out the beam... you have nature's frosting.. maybe you actually get a better beam because of it

in all seriousness.. that might be more truth than false.. do you have any pictures?

-awr

How about sticking a packet of desiccant dwon beside the socket before putting the head on. You can use the ones that come with a new pair of shoes or in a medicine/vitamin bottle. Just an idea.

andrewwynn said:

hey.. we spend a lot of time and effort to frost our lamps, reflectors and lenses to smooth out the beam... you have nature's frosting.. maybe you actually get a better beam because of it

in all seriousness.. that might be more truth than false.. do you have any pictures?

-awr

Click to expand...

When i first joined CPF and built my ROP, i got some serious heavy frosting after attempting to clean the reflector , and yep - the frosting/fogging smooths the beam out lol...but it also seriously kills light output (easily noticeable by the eye).

The ROP was created in a 100% RH environment. So bad that sometimes you feel you're sucking down water like a fish.

The fogging issue is a known one, it comes up but not often. What I do to 'season' my lights is that I unscrew the glass lens, and place it back on, just resting on top, partially covering the light so there is a little gap where the moisture can escape. Point upwards. POINT AWAY FROM FACE (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT). You're compromising the shielding and if there should be a catastrophic bulb failure you don't want to be in the line of fire.

Light it up and let it bake off for half an hour. Towards the end, use gloves, screw the lens back on. Shut light off and enjoy. I run mine hard (30-40 minutes at one go) with no concerns.

Thanks for all your replies, guys. Will try your tricks, and maybe order a new reflector some day.

As for the damaged reflector, a bit scratched may not be so bad. It'll help smooth out the beam a bit more.

I think I know where it comes from!!!
I just built an ROP and frosted some bulbs. This is reported in ROPs not other hotwires, Why?
The ROP base is potted, with a plaster or ceramic plaster, anyway it holds water. After frosting and washing the problem showed up in mine. That was the only place it could have come from.

Very interesting comments about the base holding some water. That would probably explain why the bake-off procedure works and apparently never needs to be done again.

Can someone with potted Welch Allyn bulbs help us check if a bake-off is needed?

Another cause of potted bulb residues.
The rosin flux residues burns off the bulb base also. I found that out after repairing the pott job and re-soldering. After cleaning the lamp it smoked for a while and it wasn't moisture.

Closed. There's already a thread running about this.

-dan