Rayovac 1aa headlamp

[Bearcat]

I'm sure someone could make some $$$ by marketing a knockoff of the
Sportsman Extreme 1AA headlamp. Success would be assured if
the blue led was changed to a white Nichia.

I had the Sportsman Extreme in my hand at Walmart and almost put it into my basket, but the blue LED made me hesitate enough to put it back on the self. What were they thinking?

 

[Hondo]

A personal challenge to all of us masochistic modders out there, that's what! Seriously, if they had not done that, I would not have had the motivation to get in there and then upgrade the Lux to a Seoul while I was there, so in a twisted way, they did me a favor.

 

[Blue72]

A personal challenge to all of us masochistic modders out there, that's what! Seriously, if they had not done that, I would not have had the motivation to get in there and then upgrade the Lux to a Seoul while I was there, so in a twisted way, they did me a favor.

how hard was it to do? How did you get the case open?

 

[Hondo]

how hard was it to do? How did you get the case open?

f22shift did it first in post #87 and#94. I did it with a little more finesse, in post #118, sorry no pics, but mine looks good enough that you would have to tell someone that it had been sawed apart, otherwise f22shift's photo's look just like what I did inside as well. The bead of hot glue (very fine bead!) on one side, and heating the whole thing with a heat gun after assembling was the ticket to getting the works back together clean and strong (and sealed, at least as well as new). The fine Zona saw allows a very tiny gap after sawing, and the neat final appearance.

But like I've said before, you really have to want it to saw the face off of the case. Replacing the blue LED, as well as the Lux, is about as easy as any light, once you are inside. Be careful on the Lux if you put in a Seoul, because while it may not look like it, it will short the positive base if you don't put on a layer of Arctic Alumina (or something) to insulate it.

Have fun if you decide to go for it, I have been waiting for some more adventurers to take the challenge on this one. If it was not otherwise such a great headlamp, it would not be worth doing this to get a white low beam. But now I use it with the Nichia DS more than with the Seoul high beam. Before, all I used was high, and I had pretty crummy runtime, every time.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I can wholeheartedly agree that a nice white 5mm in place of the blue would make this an almost perfect product.

I HEAR ya about the runtime on high!

 

[LightObsession]

I love this headlamp particularily because of its price and 1AA format. The diffuser lens accessible for either side is genius.

Now if only they had a switch for the white LED and another switch for the red and blue,(so I don't have to cycle) like on the Petzl Tac XP, then it would be bloody perfect!

I'm thinking about buying another for some car kit...

I had one and traded it to my niece because I didn't like cycling through the colored LEDs. I have no use for colored LEDs most of the time. I'd love to have one without the colored LEDs. I liked the other aspects of the light.

 

[Turbo DV8]

Well, this happened once in cold weather a while back, and it just did it again in the cold. When the temps get below about 40-45 degrees F, and I try to turn the headlamp on from a cold start, the white LED will not turn on. Click once, red. Click twice, blue. Click a third time, it turns off. It just toggles between red and blue, and the red seems to be a much dimmer than normal brightness with a distinct PWM-type flicker. But if I leave either the red or blue LED on for a few minutes, the white LED lights up and the light cycles through it's modes normally until I turn it off and let it soak in the cold some more.

Clearly something in this circuit does not like cold. It's not the LED itself, since when it acts up and I go to the next click after blue (when the white should come on), the light turns off, but another click after that does not reveal more darkness. It goes straight back to red. IOW, there is no extra empty space in the modes. It's red-blue-off-red-blue-off. Not... red-blue-off-off-red-blue-off-off. Dig? Anybody else experienced this while using the ROV headlamp in the cold?

 

[bobski]

Clearly something in this circuit does not like cold.

My bet is on the battery. It gets cold, slowing down the internal chemical reaction that produces electricity. The slowed reaction doesn't produce enough current to fire up the 1 watt LED, but it can manage the smaller 20 ma units. Once the light has been on for a while, the battery's internal resistance, possibly combined with heat from the headlamp's electronics, warms up the battery allowing it to provide enough current.
Next time it's giving you trouble, try taking the battery out and holding it in your hand for a min or so.

 

[Long RunTime]

 

[Turbo DV8]

My bet is on the battery. It gets cold, slowing down the internal chemical reaction that produces electricity. Next time it's giving you trouble, try taking the battery out and holding it in your hand for a min or so.

Hmmm, well, it's easy enough to try the ol' "warm in the hand" trick. But, I am using Eneloops, which I recall are rated for use down to the 20's, and we're only talking upper 40's here. Also, if it was the battery not being able to supply enough juice to fire the white LED, then there would still be a "blank" spot in the switch cycle rotation. Lastly, if it was the result of a chilly cell, I don't think running the red led for a couple minutes would warm the mass of the cell to any significant degree in that amount of time. But you do hint at a great idea that I didn't think of that would tell if it is the battery or not. I'll stick the headlamp (without cell) in the fridge, which shoudl get it down to about 35-40 degrees. Then I'll take it out and immediately pop in the warm cell and see what happens. Then I can reverse the process... cell in fridge, headlamp kept in toaster. The results of these will pretty much eliminate one or the other as culprit. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Hondo]

I stuck mine on the porch for over an hour, and it's in the low 30's here. No problems with a cheap NiMH in there, cycles through fine. Mine has a Nichia DS in place of the blue LED, and a Seoul P4 in place of the Luxeon, but that should not effect your issue.

Another quick way to tell if cold battery output is a contributor is to pop in an Energizer lithium, if you have one. Those will still hit the circuit hard at those temps.

 

[chimo]

I put mine in the freezer for about 12 hours and it worked fine on exit.

Mine has been modded with a 5mm GS and a Seoul Semi. Battery is a Kirkland AA.

 

[Turbo DV8]

Well, I stuck my light (without battery) in the fridge, along with a thermometer. When I came back about four hours later, the thermo said 35 degrees. Popped in the cell, and no joy. It cycled from red, to blue, a quick flash of white followed immediately by red again. The red also strobed as long as I held down the switch. After less than two minutes of warming up, all worked fine. So... it's my light. Sad thing is, it has probably always been this way. I just didn't get it out into the cold until after the return period expired, and of course after ROV quite making the light. Too bad, it's my favorite camping headlamp, and I do camp inthe cold. Anybody know who still sells these?

 

[tnuckels]

Sprawl-Mart, at least in my neck of the woods, discontinued selling these several months back. One day plentiful at ~ $18, next day clearanced, then all gone – no restock. Go figure …

I like these little lights so much (for what they are, mind you) that I searched the net till I found another source. My three kids each have one, plus I've given several as gifts, plus I keep a few extra as loaners. Anyway, here is where I bought my extras: http://www.flashlightz.com/product.php?p=rayovac_se1whlt-b&product=171722.

They also carry its big brother (don't have one yet, but looks interesting) here: http://www.flashlightz.com/product.php?p=remington_rmhl4aa-b&product=172824.

Do a search for HEADLIGHT or HEADLAMP to see what else they carry.

TMorita, thanks for the pointer to the fine kerf Zona saw! I'd previously used a coping saw to open things up as it only removes about 0.025" of material. At 0.008" I'll be in and out, like a thief in the night, and no one the wiser.

 

[Turbo DV8]

Does anybody know what the warranty is on this headlamp? I bought mine Nov 2007, so if it's a one year warranty, I'm screwed, but over a year, then I'm good.

 

[tnuckels]

See post #107 in this thread for a pointer to the ROV warantee.

 

[Turbo DV8]

See post #107 in this thread for a pointer to the ROV warantee.

Yippee!

"Flashlight Warranty
Rayovac lighting products are unconditionally warranted for life against all defects in materials and workmanship. Excludes abuse and accidents. No receipt required. For replacement, ship your light prepaid to the address below."


Good thing no receipt required, too, since I just discovered I no longer have it. Thanks for the help.

 

[Jumi]

I opened mine with snap-blade knife.
now I'm wondering which led's to choose.
I changed luxeon to seoul and the beam is not so clean as it was before so the diffuser is needed on that side and I also like it that way, pure flood.
I have no use for red, blue, green, UV so I tried noname warm whites.

I connected the leds all in parallel so all 4 leds lights same time, so it has med ->low->high, current draws are same as original.
Nichia Gs-> too bluish.

The 5mm warm whites has narrow beam so they did not work so well with diffused seoul. I had only 1 warm white wide angle 5mm 0.5w led, but that one had much higher Vf than seoul so it was not so bright.

Tomorrow I'm gonna try if I can fit 3 warm white 1w 2$ leds from Kai in there and try to get a clean flood.
Or 3 3x4mm smd warm whites but then it's not going to be weatherproof.

Any suggenstions in place of the three 5mm.
Thanks

Juha

 

[electrothump]

I think the intent of the blue was for tracking blood trails. But the fact is, it is not the right wavelength for that. I have acutally tried it, and it turns blood black. Now the orange screwdriver handles on my workbench, they glow brightly under it. I think for the color of blood, it should have been more toward the UV end of the spectrum to work.

Yep, fresh blood looks like fresh black paint with the blue light going. It doesn't stand out even a little bit. I nicked myself on some sheet metal, and broke out the blue to check it out. I was kinda amazed at how it didn't show the blood. That said, I do find the blue very effective for reading text in the dark, even better than white.

 

[tnuckels]

Yep, fresh blood looks like fresh black paint with the blue light going. It doesn't stand out even a little bit. I nicked myself on some sheet metal, and broke out the blue to check it out. I was kinda amazed at how it didn't show the blood.

Dude! Everybody konws the blue is for tracking wounded screwdrivers :devil: