Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

[Szemhazai]

or

Some info from the manufacturer:
Weight: 6oz
Output: 3W (3-Watt Luxeon LED)
200 hours battery life
Light distance to 207ft
Four light modes for high output or conservative use
Water-resistant
Emergency flash mode
Includes external battery pack (holds four C batteries)
Costs : 100$ for Silva an 85$ for Brunton.

The offer looks quite impressive, beside runtime that is always counted to the last photon coming from the led. Headlamp is water resistant only so I wouldn't advise swimming in it.

I get In my hands version powered from 4xC pack, using common available NiMH's you can get 4Ah battery pack instead 2,5Ah from AA size cells. The only issue is that the 4xC pack is four times bigger than 4xAA holder - but long cable and clip allows carrying it on the belt or in the backpack.

The first thing for a flashaholic is nicely designed heatsink composed into the head. At last one designer have read led specification to the "Thermal management" chapter.

Opening the head isn't a special problem, you have to leverage with the knife head parts along joint, to crack glue and then it will split into 2 parts. Inside there is standard optics in holder (fi 20mm), emitter is mounted on the thru-hole pcb that allows connection between the slug and the heatsink. At first look it looks like a piece of cake for a modder.

Sorry folks it won't be so easy, after desoldering emitter from the pcb the problem starts – it is impossible to remove emitter from the heatsink. After some needle scratching you will find solid glue all around emitter. I removed emitter using small chisel and hammer . After that you have to clean up heatsink from the rest of the glue and solder a new led.

Under the head strap you will find some nasty label "Warranty void if seal is broken" after removing it and unscrewing back cover you will se some wires and two quite big electrolytic capacitors (47 µF 16V) - in general nothing interesting.

After removing the cover with the "Silva L1" logo you can get to the driver . On the one side epoxied unknown chip, but on the other side familiar looking chip, based on the markings recognized as Sipex SP6651 - buck type driver.

Below, you can see comparison of the led current and the voltage drop from the power source (I get some crappy and used batteries with the headlamp 5,23V without load )

            Luxeon        SSC P4 USX0H    V-in
LOW     2,824V    27mA    2,810V    43mA  4,83V
MID     2,982V   130mA    2,923V   154mA  4,09V
HIGH    3,083V   230mA    3,025V   266mA  4,09V

It can be seen, how Fast source voltage drops, unfortunately I checked that after replacing the led so below comparison shots are for above mentioned currents.

LOW

MID

HIGH

After changing power source to freshly charged AA NiMH's (5,54V without load) there is a major current change.

V-in   I-In     P-In     V-led   I-led    P-led     Eff.
5,50V   47 mA   0,26 W   2,82V    56 mA   0,16 W   61,09%
5,14V  231 mA   1,19 W   3,02V   270 mA   0,82 W   68,67%
4,93V  580 mA   2,86 W   3,25V   683 mA   2,22 W   77,63%

On a bit used AA NiMH's the situation is very similar (5,24V without load).

V-in   I-In     P-In     V-led   I-led    P-led     Eff.
5,13V   54 mA   0,28 W   2,82V    54 mA   0,15 W   54,97%
4,71V  262 mA   1,23 W   3,01V   260 mA   0,78 W   63,42%
3,89V  663 mA   2,58 W   3,22V   657 mA   2,12 W   82,03%

Comparison shots between Petzl New Myo Belt XP '08 (powered from 3 new AA alkalines) and modded Silva L1 (powered from 4x slightly used NiMH's AA)
LOW

MID

HIGH

Summary
After modd you can get very strong headlamp - there is an accumulation between voltage driving and low Vf of the led. On 3,2 volt the led is sucking from the driver over 650mA !
Powering the headlamp from 4 cells instead of 3 with a connection with nicely designed driver and led heatsink allows us to be happy from almost same powerful headlamp as the New Myo XP in the boost mode for a few hours not only for a moment.
Narrower optics improves effect of the high light output – for some people it can be disadvantage, for other advantage – i.e. the Myo have diffuser lens, for Silva you have to buy them separately (there is white or red available).
But if you have Silva L1 / Burton L3 headlamp, some skills and desire you can give it new life (led ) for a next few years of duty.

 

[Edog006]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

Amazing mod review I am impressed, I will give it a shot and see if I can juice this L5 up! Thanks for the mod and pics awesome!

 

[TTT]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

Will it be possible to put a P7 in a Silva LX?

The Silva LX uses an Luxeon K2 running at 5 watts (as far as I remember 1350 ma). What leds would fit directly to the reflector, and could they handle the electronics at factory settings?

 

[Szemhazai]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

Put there P4 - it will be enough, there is no optics available that will fit in such small head.

 

[SWcruiser]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

Newbie here. Just want to say thanks to all for some great info and schooling. I have a lot to learn. Anyway I have an l3 and would like to do the SSC P4 mod. I can't seem to figure out where to buy the LED. Could someone direct me to the right place/ vendor if there is one on the site.

Thanks

 

[tnuckels]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

I've purchased LEDs from these two sources, one is in Korea & the other is Stateside.

Korean source is less expensive, but adds $14 shipping and often slower (though not bad considering it's from the other side of the world), depending on where you live. US source is very prompt and reliable but has a $20 minimum and can cost more per LED, depending on how many you are buying. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Color spectrum for SSC can be found HERE.

Good Luck!

 

[SWcruiser]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

Thank you for the help. I will check on both of these.

 

[psychbeat]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

kinda newbie question but, is there anywhere in the states that does mods like these... Id do it myself but looks a bit tuff. I already have an L3
w hip pack and would love to have it updated!
thanks!

 

[tnuckels]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

Psychbeat, you can look in the "Homemade & Modified Lights" forum where you will find a sticky thread at the top called Threads Of Interest that lists some of the regular modders on CPF. Though I'm not so sure how well maintained the list is, at least it's a starting point.

Good Luck!

 

[psychbeat]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

I'll check there- thanks!!
Im still on the fence as to whether I should do it myself..
Im ok with my soldering iron but cracking it open n scraping etc.
looks a bit daunting and Im not excactly clear on what parts I need to buy
to make the p4 work in there.
thanks again!

 

[tnuckels]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

Look at post #6 in this thread. You will want to but the emitter ONLY, not the star.

 

[psychbeat]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

ok!
Im going to order an emitter n try n solder it on there
it just looks kinda messy with all of the glue holding the stock one on
there etc. Im sure I can dremel it off or something to clean it up.
Just to be clear- all I need to do is take the old emitter off and clean up
the heatsink backing- then solder on the new p4 and put it back together?!

Ill post results as soon as I get this sucker done!
thanks!
this should be fun!

 

[tnuckels]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

You will also need some thermal adhesive such as Arctic Alumina (AA).

AA does several things, 1. ensures proper heat transfer from the backside of the emitter, called the slug, to the heat-sink, 2. holds the emitter in place (you can often use the optic or reflector to center the emitter on the heat-sink, and 3. on handheld lights the heat-sink is most often in physical contact with the body of the light to spread the heat further, which is also often part of the (-) battery path. An adequate layer of AA electrically isolates the slug from the rest of the light.

The slug on a Luxeon emitter is electrically the opposite from the slug on an SSC emitter. IIRC, Lux's slug is (-) and SSC's slug is (+), so it is important to isolate the SSC slug from the rest of the light when swapping Lux for SSC, otherwise poof.

Being that most headlamp bodies are plastic and not part of the electrical pathway, this isolation may not be necessary, though it's still not a bad idea. Test the point where the emitter will contact the heat-sink to see if it is electrically active or isolated to decide if you need a thin or thick layer of AA, just to be on the safe side.

Test and mark the solder points for polarity BEFORE you disassemble and remove the old emitter, as Szemhazi did in the 6th picture. Make sure to align the legs of your emitter over the correct terminals (+) & (-), AA it in place and allow to set, and then re-solder the emitter legs. On the P4 LED the (-) leg is the one on the upper-RIGHT side of this picture, the one whose tab has the notch out of it.

You can often find AA at Radio Shack. If not, you can get some from the Sandwich Shoppe or Photon Fanatic, and both of which sell the SSC P4 LED emitters as well. You might want to buy 2 emitters as first time mods often seem to go awry and it's best to have a backup. One to learn with and sacrifice to the LUMEN gods, the other to install and use long term.

Good Luck!

 

[psychbeat]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

AWESOME!
yeah, Ill buy two just in case I mess up
Ill post results when its done- going to be used for
downhill mountain biking n other stuff and a little
more power will be nice.
I really like the option on this light to use the
4C batt pack, running belt, or head mounted 4AA packs
with a more current emitter its going to be pretty much
as good as it gets for a high power single LED..
til they come out with the next gen :naughty:

 

[psychbeat]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

Finally ordered my p4 emitters and some AA thermal adhesive from
Photon fanatic
I got two just in case... Im still nervous about chiseling off the LUX
and all of the glue etc.
I havent opened up the head yet as I use my L3 a lot and
its been raining a bit and Im assuming I need to reglue it after cracking
it open? should I just use the AA or something else when closing her back up?
Ill be using this with a DX p7 bikelight soon as my DH mountain bike set up and might get a zebra to use in conjuction with the L3 when camping.
the L3 dosent have a very low low setting and will be even brighter with the P4- too much for reading I think.
maybe Ill clip a 501w to the band when hiking.
or a h60 so the batts are the same as my bike light..
decisions decisions...
I thought Id only have upgrade-itis with my car, my bike and my guitar amps( NOS tubes are WAYY mor pricey than emitters tho)..
now its headlamps too
thanks guys!

 

[Szemhazai]

psychbeat, for closing and sealing you will need only super-glue

 

[psychbeat]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

:devil:SUPER GLUE!!
rad-thats easy thanks.
Ill post my results when I get it built up.
the headband stretches plenty to fit comfortably over my
full face helmet even with the 4AA packs on it. better with the
hip belt tho. 4Cs baby!
I still think these lights are a great design- be nice if they update
it with a p7 version in the future...

 

[Linger]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

psychbeat - P7 is made of 4 dies together. Yes it can put out more light, but only if you feed it more power. More power = more waste heat and less run-time.
P7 is also pretty big, and for a small / compact application like these headlamps the P7 isn't the optimal solution if that is all you're going to change.
Emitter is only part of the equation. If you drove both a p4 and a p7 at the same current (say 700ma) the lumen output would be similar. P7 only steps up when it is fed 4x more current then the P4 (the quad-dies's dividing the current amongst themselves)

 

[Linger]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

going to be used for
downhill mountain biking n other stuff and a little
more power will be nice.

But you're not doing anything that is going to give it 'more power'. You're increasing the efficiency of the emitter, so you'll get less waste heat and more lumens. That's great, definately. But you haven't talked about modifying the driver or changing the drive current.
When you get this one under your belt, maybe have a look over in the cycling sub-forum. There's a few posts there that will drop your jaw i'm sure.

 

[psychbeat]

Re: Silva L1 / Brunton L3 – mod & review.

yep- been trolling tha bike forum too
totally get the efficiency thing- by POWER I meant
LIGHT MUHAHAHAHHA
getting my other guitar n bike buddies into this stuff too!

some of those 7up bike light builds