Old Petzl Zoom

[2ManyLights]

My first head lamp was a Petzl Zoom. I found it recently in my camping gear. Needless to say... it's not exactly modern technology. It's more-or-less the spotlight from the BluesMobile on the front and an Empire Strikes Back Lunchbox on the back connected with an elastic Hot Wheels track.

Anyone have a good idea of an easy mod for this bad boy?! I'm not sure why, but I thought it would be fun to use this once more. The bulb is a threaded type, so I cannot just use my TerraLux TLE-5EX and bulb adapter.

Also, while this can accomdate that honkin' 4.5v battery, I use the adapter that holds 3 AA batteries, if that figures into your suggestions. (I know 3 x AA = 4.5, but 3 lithium AA are > than 4.5v, no?)

Thanks for any help.

 

[TMorita]

Try led-replacement.com. They have threaded LED replacements.

Try to avoid the side-emitters. They will make ringy beams.

Toshi

 

[ahorton]

Both my dad and I had one of these. We thought they were great 10 years ago when we took up rogaining.

A few months ago I cut a hole in the front and put a 50mm aspheric lens in. I cleaned the guts out and put an R2 in the back on a cpu heat sink that I had ground into a circle. It was ok, but after one rogaine I took it apart and just made the whole front out of aluminium. Much less fuss, lighter, better heatsinking and smaller. I still use the strap, battery holder and the thing the strap feeds through on the front but I drilled out the rivets on the front and riveted on my own aluminium head.

 

[Sarratt]

I have the same headlight (Zoom) and just a quick look around Ledreplacement com seems to indicate that the only drop-in bulb is the ..

.."Tektite LS365, extra high-intensity 1 watt screw-base Luxeon Star LEDReplacement bulb for 3
cell (4.5 V) flashlights, is an easy way to convert your flashlight into High-intensity LED flashlight." .....

...and from what flashlight reviews says, the output with this luxeon will be less than the halogen bulb. :sigh:
Of course I've never done a mod before so ... ? I just can't bring myself to throw it away.

 

[gillestugan]

I've also modded a petzl zoom. I found it hard to fit a heatsink. There are not much space in the back and the whole cup is covered by the lens "screw on".
Like ahorton I found it easier to make a new head from aluminium. Only problem is I no longer have the nice twist-on Im used to and like very much.

Pulb adapters can't be poweful, as they have very poor cooling sitting in the plastic socket.

 

[saabgoblin]

Terralux also makes a screw type base bulb that would work as well and like most other replacement Led bulbs, their effectiveness is very dependent on the reflector. I think that Battery Junction still has them in stock and the Terralux PR base bulb is pretty decent in a Maglite as well but keep in mind that it's no Malkoff or higher end upgrade.

 

[bretti_kivi]

dig up old thread from teh dead....

I want to replace the 4.5V battery pack with 3 x 18650 NiMH, then use an MC-E; i have a mag-capable light stipple reflector here.

Any thoughts? I'll probably include a d2flex in this... I was thinking of using a 10mm thick chunk of 55-60mm round copper as heatsink. Depending what fits...

Bret

 

[gillestugan]

a 10mm copper chunk is very heavy and wont cool led much better than a thinner. Copper is a very good heat conductor, so you will not need a thick plate to transfer heat from the lead to the surface. Most important is the cooling area of the heatsink. Lots of fins makes large surface area.
I think you will have a hard time keeping a MC-E cool. I had no success when I tried to add enough heatsink to the back of the reflector housing to keep 3X3W cool.

You may use a d2Flex in a 2p2s configuration, but a much cheaper solution is to use a AMC7135 based driver and both batteries and led dies in parallel.
If you only need 1 level or if you are fine with a potentiometer for regualtion you can use a $3.50 buck from Kaidomain (sku2982) , the batteries in series and MC-E in 2p2s @ 1,4A. See this thread.

I've just bout 6 new Zoom lamps to use for modding. I will behead them and use only the battery holder, straps and bracket. (yes it hurts a bit, but they were much cheaper than separate parts)
You can actually fit a 4XAA holder inside the original holder.

 

[bretti_kivi]

so which head will you be using?

 

[gillestugan]

I will be using a die cast aluminium box from hammond as head. They come in different sizes (i will use a 52X38X30mm) and can easily be sealed for water protection. Not beautiful, but it works. Am thinking of trying to anodise them, but havent tried yet.

 

[ahorton]

I've just bout 6 new Zoom lamps to use for modding. I will behead them and use only the battery holder, straps and bracket. (yes it hurts a bit, but they were much cheaper than separate parts)
You can actually fit a 4XAA holder inside the original holder.

I once made a 6xAA nimh battery pack that fit in the back of a Petzl Zoom. I had to remove the little plastic clamps on the side. Of course now I just use Li Ion 18650s. If you can run your light at 3.7V, then 3P Li Ion 18650s fit in and make a powerful pack.

 

[tnuckels]

HA, my first headlamp was a Petzl Zoom too (sensing something of a trend here), as well as one of my first LED mods.

I removed the pr-flange from an EverLED, wrapped it in a couple loops of tape, opened up the hole in the reflector, and reading that the EverLED can run off 1.5-9v, wired a 9v snap to the battery box. That sucker ran like a scalded :rock: dog for about 3 minutes … till the heat shut her down (didn't know much about heat back then). Lucky I didn't melt everything or catch :sweat: fire. I've still got it today, but only run it off the 4.5v AAs, and so far so good, except when the bulb works loose from twisting the focusing head too much.

 

[SleazyRider]

I'm not nearly as energetic or creative as you folks, so don't flame me for this because I'm a novice flashaholic: When I discovered that a replacement battery for my Petzl Zoom cost as much as a new headlght, I went to Radio Shack and bought a 4-AA battery holder (they didn't stock the triple one). I put three fresh cells in, and used a short piece of 3/8 wooden dowel rod covered with aluminum foil to "jump out" the fourth. The entire unit fits well inside the case. I upped the ante one day by taking out the jumper and replacing it with a live cell. It seems to work great. Is there any harm in doing this?

 

[gillestugan]

Not at all. The bulb lifetime will be shorter if you have the 4,5V bulb and are using alkaline batteries, but with rechargeable NiMh there will be no harm at all.

 

[NamTinker]

Or you could remove all the bulb innards, buy one of the DealExtreme surefire clone drop-in modules for around $8-10 and hardwire it together with a on/off switch in the head, and foam the open voids. Quite a few of the DE units accept a wide range of voltages which, if you add an extra external connector, will accept almost any battery pack from 3-15V. "Crude", but it works - especially if you're going to be traveling in places where batteries commonly available in North America are not common.

 

[bretti_kivi]

after checking the prices on MC-E heatsinks, I'm really tempted to create a d2flex / Maxflex driver setup with a relatively thin copper disk acting as heatsink; I don't intend to use it on high anyway. I have a light stipple mag reflector here... that will fit when I dremel the rest of the lens out.

I can understand the attraction of the hammond cases; I'll be using one shortly for a remote control / time lapse for my K10D.

Bret