CATEYE HL-EL530 - SSC rules !

[Szemhazai]

If you are biker you probably have it or had already - small, reliable, and waterproof.

The material in new catey's heads is much softer than in old ones, so the method of dismounting the head is a bit different. You have to put a spike of the knife about 1 mm under the connection of head parts and start pushing. After a few moments, the head will crack. If you made a small spike shaped hole then use screwdriver and leverage it

There is nothing new in the head compared to earlier HL-EL500 . Only the led is screwed to the base not glued (new EL500 are the same as 530 shown here)

I have used SSC P4 - U bin SV0I Uf 3,00-3,25V. Using hot blade you are dismounting and mounting new led. You can put some thermal paste under the slug for better thermal conduction. SSC is a bit lower than Luxeon so u have to grind a bit base of this black holder. Check polarity and glue everything - using cyanide glues will mat the led (vapors will enough to do it - it's silicon only ).

Effects :

Distance about 3m, ISO200, time 1/8s, F 2.8, white balance manual - fluorescent light. Power source fresh charged NiMH cells 1,29V each - so on batteries you can get more :naughty:

 

[msxtr]

Hi, great work!!!!

If the people are a little handyman, upgrade all light of the market with luxeon I or III to seoul P4 are very simple and the result are great!!!!!!!! I had the same that you with my headlamp petzl myo xp

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr

 

[Steelwolf]

Szemhazai: If you found that superglue vapours will matt the LED, what did you end up using to close the light head?

 

[Szemhazai]

Superglue :devil: - as you can see i't wasn't deadly for the LED and did'n affect any other part of the lamp. I't was the last CatEye EL-500/530 that I have moded, so I haven't tried another glue. Maybe You can try some adhesive or double compound glue :thinking:.

 

[msxtr]

Szemhazai, how you has dismantle the optic of the cateye? I have a friend that he have this light and don't know how do. Could you help us, please?
:huh2:
Thank you

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr

 

[Szemhazai]

You have to push the tip of the sharp knife between the parts of the head red marker on the photo.

Not exactly in marked place - for better look I'm choosing the part covered by case. After making about 7 mm wide hole head will crack apart or you will have to push in to the hole screwdriver and gently "make it crack ".

 

[znomit]

I have two of these lights (were really nice lights until I made my double cree).
The LEDs are in the post so will be choping into it next week.


Do they get hot?

Does this cut down the run time significantly?

 

[Szemhazai]

Do they get hot?

No it doesn't, SSC / CREE are generating far less heat than old luxeons at the same current.

Does this cut down the run time significantly?

No it doesn't, you are only replacing emitter, current is set up by set of resistors that you can see inside. U-Bin SSC gets about 280 mA.

 

[msxtr]

Szemhazai, thank you for the explanation :thanks:

znomit, Could you put photos of your light with the crees?? :huh2::kewlpics:

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr

 

[znomit]

Have posted my Cree setup seperately.

Szemhazai is right, superglue will matt your optics, one of mine is now significantly dimmer than the other (superglued on the optics).
Cree recomended 3m scotchweld for attaching optics, might be better a better option than superglue. Will post a pic or two of the innards once I get my leds and hack the cateye apart.

 

[msxtr]

znomit, Hey!!!!!!!! excellent work!!!!!!! :twothumbs I'm like it!!!

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr

 

[znomit]

I upgraded one of mine last week, here are the comparison beamshots.

The upgraded beam is quite a bit whiter and wider.
I see inside the cateye it is just resistor controlled.:thinking:
Might look at freeing up the current a little to brighten things some more.

 

[kgaren]

Hi,

What kind of battery life have you gotten from the upgraded LEDs in these lights?

 

[Szemhazai]

The same as it was before upgrade - about 7 hours of usable light than it gets dimmer.

 

[havoknz]

No it doesn't, SSC / CREE are generating far less heat than old luxeons at the same current.



No it doesn't, you are only replacing emitter, current is set up by set of resistors that you can see inside. U-Bin SSC gets about 280 mA.

Since the SSC generates less heat, would it be possible to replace the resisters to up the current to the SSC? This way we could get a lot more light output, at the expense of runtime.

 

[K6-III]

Just did the SSC mod on my EL500, along with soldering a 10 ohm resistor in parallel with the existing resistors. Now running about 500mA. Light output is excellent compared to what it was doing before.

 

[noxiouscloud]

Just did the SSC mod on my EL500, along with soldering a 10 ohm resistor in parallel with the existing resistors. Now running about 500mA. Light output is excellent compared to what it was doing before.

Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but I just cracked open my EL-500
after reading this post earlier today and would like to bump up the current. I'm not really following how the resistors are set up on the
board. Are they in parallel or in series? When you said solder a 10ohm
in parallel with the existing resistors, which points should be connected?
The resistors on my board are labeled 20R0 instead of 200. Are they
20 or 200 ohms?

Thanks in advance.

This forum is addictive...

 

[snaps]

20R0 is the way that manufacturers use to show 20.0 ohms

 

[sfCyclotourist]

I'm planning on doing something similar to one of the Planet Bike Super Spot lights that I have. I've got an SSC P4 on order, and I'm trying to figure out which driver board to use inside. I'm thinking of using the GD 750 buck/boost converter.

More photos of the insides of the Super Spot are here.

The upgraded Cateye light looks like a big improvement as well. I have the older HL-EL500 model. Once you crack open the head for LED replacement, is the light still waterproof?

 

[znomit]

The upgraded Cateye light looks like a big improvement as well. I have the older HL-EL500 model. Once you crack open the head for LED replacement, is the light still waterproof?

If you do a good job of gluing it back together, then yes. I wouldn't take it scuba diving like I do my el410 though.