ARC LS helmet light and headlamp prototypes

[Silviron]

CNC Dan made me some ARC LS thread stubs to be used in a variety of mods, and they came in yesterday. GREAT WORK Dan.

I threw together a quick prototype of an ARC LS helmet light to se how they work:

Well, they work just great.

This is just a prototype thrown together in couple of hours with what I had laying around for parts.

It is currently powered by a homemade 3.6V (nominal) 3500mah NIMH battery pack, which drives the ARC head to about 490 LUX @ 1 meter- I think this may be too much power for the ARC, although the 20 minutes or so it has been run thus far doesn't seem to have any negative impact on the ARC LS head.

Future battery packs will probably be 2C or 2AA (or possibly 4AA in a 2 parallel X 2 series AAs) and possibly a 2.4V Nominal 7000mah NIMH battery pack. The 2C, 4AA and NiMH 7000AH battery packs should give at least 10 hours continuous of "full" brightness.

I'll also shorten the "stub" mounting on future models to make it compact as possible.

 

[Gransee]

Great mod! We keep telling people we will eventually make a head strap with a threaded base and balanced power pack for the LS head.

And you went and did something quite close.

Got an extra I can buy off of you?

Peter

 

[Catseye]

Posted by Gransee
Great mod! We keep telling people we will eventually make a head strap with a threaded base and balanced power pack for the LS head.

I want one, no , make that two , wait, I think I'll need three.

Great work Silviron! Are you going to try to attach it to a typical elastic headlamp strap and use a tilt feature for the head assembly?

 

[Silviron]

Originally posted by Catseye:
Are you going to try to attach it to a typical elastic headlamp strap and use a tilt feature for the head assembly?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That's what Peter wants for his, so, yeah, that's the next project.

With any luck, I'll get at least a prototype done this weekend and will post pics etc. here.

 

[Silviron]

Originally posted by Gransee:
....Got an extra I can buy off of you?
Peter

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You want the whole setup? helmet, battery pack etc? ( I assume you can somehow come up with an ARC LS head somehow

)

What kind of battery pack do you want?

Let me know and I'll fix you up, although it will probably be a couple of weeks before I can get one done the way I want it.... Like I said, this was just a quick prototype and not as good as I want them to be.

 

[Gransee]

If you could mount it on a head band that might be better (canabalize from another head lamp?). Also, the pack should definately be 2AA and part of the band so there are no cords to tangle.

Often you guys are so much faster than our contractors at producing new stuff.

I am relying on CPF members for prototypes more and more. Wayne whipped up an excellent converter circuit. Don made a cool tail guard option. Mike is making the nylon carry pouches. ICLEDs produced some excellent pictures. Brock helped inspire the Arc-AAA. Many provided input that resulted in the LS. Darell made me a dimmer ulcer.

And the list goes on...

Thank you.

 

[Silviron]

UPDATE:
As promised and only a few days late here are the modded elastic headband units: So far I have only done two; I'm doing something different for Peter, but these were good training for that, plus I'll offer these as a "production" mod from my light website.

The Rayovac 2AA "Kids" headlamp (Which works fine for adults up about to hat size 9)

This was a fairly easy mod- I chopped off the excess aluminum from the thread stubs CNC Dan made, ripped the incandescent lamp assembly out of the head lamp, made an insulated spacer for the thread / Arc head interface, ran a couple of wires and then partially filled the headlamp body with polyester resin (epoxy would do, but the polyester resin is cheaper and fills the corners better because it is more fluid).

This setup allows switching on / off two ways: the integral switch on the end of the battery compartment or normal tightening / loosening of the ARC head.

The other mod was a little more complicated. It uses the regular 4AA Rayovac "Adult" headlamp for a base.

First, I rewired the 4AA series battery pack to 2 Paralllel X 2 Series AAs. That ought to at least double standard ARC 2AA run-times. (It will also run on just two AAs if thats all you have or want to run).

Then, using a jewelers saw, Dremel type router bit, belt sander and various other tools, I removed most of the light housing from the headlamp, leaving just enough of a tab on the hinged portion of the tilting assembly to mount the (shortened) thread stub.

Drilled and tapped three mounting holes in the thread stub, and made corresponding mounting holes in the plastic hinged tab on the head lamp.

Made the insulated spacer and ran a couple of short wires to connect with the headlamp's regular wire from the battery pack, after clipping off the normal plug.

Soldered and insulated the connections of the wires.

Attached the thread stub to the mounting tab with (3) 4-40 flathead screws. Routed out some small recesess in the flat headpiece to fit the screwheads so the mounting tab could fit flush against it.

Sealed the wire lead to the hinged mount and thread stub using black rubber sealant compound. (Epoxy would do, but this provides a little flexibility and kind of blends in with the black plastic pretty nicely). Let sealant dry for a day or so.

Have used both of these mods in working on the plumbing in some of the dark corners of the house and a little walking in the woods around the place at night for the last couple of days, and both seem to work "flawlessly".

Also, here is a picture of the updated ARC LS helmet mount that I started this thread with.

I shortened the thread stub by about 5/8 inch and changed the 3.6V 3500mah NiMH battery pack for a 2C battery holder.

More info is at:
http://az123.com/darksbane/arc_ls_mods.htm

 

[bwcaw]

COOL! I want one that says "ARC flashlight llc" on it instead of rayovac, though. great work Silveron!

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

A nice mod or 2 would be adapters: 1 for Mag-Lite C Cell body, and 1 for the D Cell body.

D might look a bit ridiculous. Not so much for the C body.

The adapters would screw on tightly to the Mag body, then screw the Arc LS head onto the adapter. Advantage here, is that you have the switch on the Mag, and it is useful for rev1 through rev3 Arc LS.

Benefits: Mag-Lite switch, increased runtime, User selection (and purchase) of desired Mag-Lites for their bodies and number of Cells (an additional 6 choices of 2, 3, or 4 cells in C or D).

Benefit to Mr. Gransee: he won't need to make C or D size Packs! Also an additional selling point.

Only the Rev1 and Rev2 are limited to the 2 Cell Mag bodies. The Rev 3 has the 3 and 4 Cell body options.

okay, it might kinda weird, but it would be a user option.

 

[Silviron]

That idea is already in the works. The question is, who will get them on the market first- CNC Dan, Doug Speck or me (or maybe someone else). Unfortunately I am way behind on the lathe skills learning curve and still getting in tooling.

 

[CNC Dan]

Originally posted by Silviron:
That idea is already in the works. The question is, who will get them on the market first- CNC Dan, Doug Speck or me (or maybe someone else). Unfortunately I am way behind on the lathe skills learning curve and still getting in tooling.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">for that size stuff you can count me out.

"My" lathes have a 25mm max cap. and it has been too long since I have used the bigger lathes. If there is interst, and a comitment to buy, I could get a quote from my boss for a run of parts like that.

 

[Silviron]

Actually Dan, you can do this easily, if he was talking about what I thought he was, which I have had in the plans for months....

I thought I had mentioned this to you before--- I had intended to:

Simply take the ARC LS thread stubs like you made for me, (make them a little shorter), and center drill and thread the inside to fit the Mag bulb post which is about 9/16 - 32 TPI. Then add a little insulated piece for the positive battery contact. Piece of cake on your machine.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

I would certainly purchase at least one package, and maybe a spare adapter.

 

[Silviron]

Oh, If you were looking at a complete replacement to match the whole Mag head, you are looking at a pretty expensive job. Dan couldn't do that (size)on his lathe, mine is maybe big enough but I wouldn't want to try it, even if I had the skill level now. Maybe Doug could do it though.

However I just checked, and using my idea for a small adapter that just adapts from the Mag bulb post to the ARC, the whole thing, including the ARC head can fit inside of the original Mag head (C or D battery sizes). It would have to be a little more compact than I initially planned, but still would be pretty easy to do.

Initially I had planned to just leave the ARC head hanging out in the open on the end of the Mag battery tube, but fitting it inside the mag head will be more "elegant".

You will lose about 10% of the light output by going through the extra "lens" though (unless you just leave it out, although then you would sacrifice the waterproofness. It might also be necessary to leave the Mag lens off for cooling purposes under continuous use, although it might not be necessary.

Maybe I'll be able to work on it this evening, especially if the UPS man brings me some of my tooling today.

Actually, this whole Mag/ARC stuff should be in its own thread... If someone wants to discuss it more, maybe you ought to start a new topic on it.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Actually, it would screw on like the Mag-lite head. You would need the center post to fit in the bulb holder in the Mag.

Hmmmm.............

Had MUCH better thought! If you did it like a PR Flange bulb adapter, you would only need to do ONE size. It would have to be long enough to reach the bezel of the Mag-Lite HEAD. This length is with the Arc LS head attached to the adapter. This would protect the LS head from immersion (pre waterproofed heads).

Take a look at how the LEDCorp Pro Series is done.

Make it fit the length of the C Size head, and it will fit the D size head as well.

Just remember that you would need a center pin as the positive (V+) contact with insulation between it and the negative cylinder. Just like a PR series Flange bulb, but, more robust.

For looks, one would need to slice off part of the Mag reflector. Perhaps include modded reflectors for both C and D heads as part of the deal and price.

Say X amount for package: adapter, C and D mag reflectors modded. Y amount for an extra adapter by itself. Unless of course, the adapter is so robust, that an extra one is not needed.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Okay, Silviron. I will start a new thread called "Mag/Arc LS Adapter Mods." My first post will reference this thread by name.

I will definitely be getting one of your 4AA Rayovac "Adult" headlamp mods. It is far more, the elegant solution than the 2AA version.

I am looking at the Coleman Peak 1 2D Headlamp. It has a faceted reflector and Krypton bulb. The runtime stated per set of alkaline D cells is 12 hours. The problem is the battery holder is separate.

What this has to do with this thread, is that if I read Roy's runtime LS graph correctly, the 4AA Lithium should give 12-13 hours of bright light, before nosediving to moon mode. This would make the 4AA series/parallel headlamp mod, equivalent to the Coleman 2D. Maybe even better.

See you on the new thread!

 

[Silviron]

I had looked at that 2D model, and would have gone that route myself if I had been making something just for personal use.

After years of using a belt mounted Lead Acid battery Wheat or MSA type lamp, I personally don't mind the cord and belt mounted battery. and the 6 ounces of the 2D setup would be wonderful compared to lugging the 6 pounds of Lead acid around.

But the general consensus of the cavers and other headlamp users here seems to be that the vast majority prefer to have the battery pack mounted on the headband / helmet. So, that is what I decided to go with.

If anyone would prefer to go the 2D belt mount route though, I could probably do that just as easily and for the same price.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Those Peak 1 Headlamps are hard to find for me: don't drive and can't afford to, nobody in Ohio carries them, according to coleman. only one I have seen is a current ebay auction, which I am watching.

IFF you can get that model of headlamp, and you can modify it to work with the LS head (preferrably inside the lamp head assembly), I am definitely a Customer. I am a verified paypal member, so that is no problem, just let me know how much, including shipping.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Addendum: the Arc LS running on 2 D Alkalines should get much better runtime than 12 hours or so, or am I wrong on this??

 

[Silviron]

I saw one at Wal mart a couple of weeks ago- Don't know what brand it was though, All I remember is it was 2D with a seperate battery pack. I'll take a look this afternoon, and let you know on that.

As far as run-time, I'll run a test on the 2D Mag adapter tonight, and that will supply THAT answer.