Solo 2AA headlamp upgrade observations

[Buck91]

I have the 2AA Solo headlamp and earlier this year put a TLE-1F LED drop-in in there. Its worked out alright with a much better spill and appearently better battery life.

But I have noticed some draw backs. For one, this light has almost no throw. the LED simply sits too high in the reflector to really do much reflecting. In fact, there is a large dark spot in the center (much like a wide-adjusted mag, just more uniform) with the smooth reflector and the OP reflector is necessary for useable light. This output light is too bright for up close work (eg: reading) but really doesn't throw, I would say its walking/running throw at best.

All in all, it does get my approval, but I just wish I could pick up some various PR/flange-base drop-in's to try. It would be nice to have a proper fit such that either reflector could be used.

 

[Grampa]

I'm looking forward to the responses. I have a Princeton Tec that I bought a pair of AW protected 14500's for, that needs a good PR base LED.

 

[Quickbeam]

I have two PT Solo/Quest/Predator headlamps (all essentially the same - 2AA cells) and put SMJ LED PR-base 3V bulbs in them. Good output and runtime. Nice concentrated central spot with ample spill. They're available from the Sandwich Shoppe (theledguy.com). Go to Mod Shoppe > LEDs > MJ LEDs.

 

[Hondo]

I have exactly what Quickbeam described, a PT Quest with the SMJ PR bulb. It was underwhelming at first, because while the hotspot is very tightly coliminated, it is not very bright due to the vast majority of the light being diverted to the VERY wide spill. But for close work, i.e. stuff in your hands (why we need headlamps, right?), it works awesome. For cutting the grass after sunset where I need to see my cut line ahead of the mower, I use something else. The SMJ bulbs are not barn burners, they are runtime kings, like 24+ hours on 2 AA's.

For a lot more of the same, you can also put in the Sears Craftsman LED upgrade bulb (appears to be a 1W Luxeon). It is a lot brighter, and draws about triple the current, but still only a bit over half of what the old incandescent bulb does. The lottery for tints on these is a bit broad, I have found. I don't know if this one is any brighter than your TLE that you have now, though.

My PT has an OP reflector, but I have had a minor donut with the SMJ bulb in an Eveready Contractor 2xAA light. To fix this, I raised the LED slightly, only about 1/2 mm. It is easy to do by wedging a knife edge under the aluminum cone and prying the pill up from the PR flange. Don't go too far, say over 3 mm, as you could take up the slack in the fine positive wire inside and snap it from the positive connection at the base. Then you will have to pull the whole pill, fix a new wire, clean out the solder at the base of the bulb and re-solder the wire and re-assemble. Ask me how I know! If you want to try pulling the bulb back a bit, just make a little loop of wire and slip it in the holder ahead of the bulb, this will hold it back a bit when assembled. I recall the spring loaded, snap together holder in these having enough tolerance for this to work, but not giving me any more throw.

This light is my go-to guy for crawling in the attic, working on wiring in the ceiling, plumbing under sinks etc. Turn it on and forget it until the job is done, tough rubber armored bezel I can whack into stuff with no damage.

Hondo