EZ headlamp mod, Ray-O-Vac 3 stage $12.95 at Wallyworld.
all you need is a Luxeon star at least Kbin to match the 3x AAA cells for direct drive. I used a TWOK star.
the star bolts in with the existing 3 screws. simply solder two small length of telephone wire from board to star. Then remove aprox. 1/4in of the reflector to fit star.
that's it.. you now have a three stage led light.
1. two red led's
2. one white led
3. Luxeon for high
headband is fairly comfortable. luxeon beam is useful for close work. Don't know the runtime yet...
Do the 3 mounting screws and underlying material provide sufficient heat sinking? Any idea if it runs too hot on new cells? I imagine that the internal resistance of the AAA cells would prevent too much of a problem.
I bought 4 of those headlamps for $5.95 each when they were on sale at Menard's. I don't like the beam of the incandescent lamp. Is the beam any better with the Luxeon?
Where did you get the Luxeon star and how much did it cost?
Great Job cy, Just what I was lookin for .. I just pick two of these up for work today..Talk about timing !!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Gonna mod mine now.
Marconi
You can further mod these Ray-o-vacs besides setting in a luxeon. I replaced the 2 red leds with white leds so that I have 3 white leds running at 30ma each. That is the first switch setting. I like red leds but not on a headlamp...
The second switch runs the luxeon at about 130ma. The 3rd switch setting runs the luxeon on direct drive. The board on this light is pretty easy to work with. You can get all these settings just by bridging around the board with different resistors.
So, how is it heatsinked?
It looks like the Star is srewed down to a piece of plastic, so the only thermal paths are around the edges of the star and through the plastic. That would hold all the heat in the light where you wouldn't feel it and lead to a short lived Luxeon.
after 15 minutes body was 91 degrees, star was 141 degrees F
as measure by Raytek IR gun
at end of test body was 78 degrees, star was 128 degrees with reflect assembly removed.
luxeon apeared to remain at same brightness thru entire test. We'll see how this holds up under real life conditions. light is O-ring'd and apears to be at least water resistant.
this mod was never meant to be a high end headlamp. just a EZ rugged 3 stage headlamp w/decent head-straps mod. besides, if you don't like it. simply recycle your star.
cy-if you decide to replace the red leds, go for it. I had one problem with replacing the led underneath the switch. After I had completed the mod, it seemed that the one led was blinking a bit. It turned out that the led under the switch leaves limited space to do a good solder job....however, I was able to resolder and make a solid contact.
Also, running the luxeon on direct-drive from 3AAA does not seem to result in over-heating to any serious extent. Maybe because the luxeon draws down the voltage of the AAA to a manageable level.
nah, I'm going to leave my Red led's alone for now. maybe later. headlamp works great as is. the single led stage is aprox. same brightness as ARC AAA.
sure seems to be a rugged mod so far. we'll see. I really like how the three stage switch works.
What timing, another father in my son's Boy Scout troop was selling these last night at the troop meeting (one of his vendors offered them to him for us cheap) and I grabbed a couple. I'm a newbie but can solder, what model number LS should I get and where do you suggest? I'll be using alkalines instead of NiMh.
TWOJ would probably work OK, but it would draw more current. there is no heatsinking at all.
Since my last report. I've ran thru two sets of 3x AAA batt's. got 6 hours+ off each set. output dimmed thru life. never ran a set of cells dead. seems it would keep going for a long time. I simply replaced cells after 6 hours or so.
EZ headlamp mod, Ray-O-Vac 3 stage $12.95
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