# My custom headlamp - Version 2



## ahorton (Aug 12, 2010)

I made a new headlamp.

It has a few improvements over the first one.
 
More modes and options from custom circuit based on AMC7135 chips.
More power (maximum flood = 700mA to each XP-G)
low battery mode (dissables the highest modes when the battery is getting low)
Different optics (Lisa2 real spot)
Cable gland 
glass lens for flood
5mm red led for battery level indicator or super-low caving mode.
smooth corners
width = 66mm (previous was 60mm)


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## Yucca Patrol (Aug 12, 2010)

That looks like a very nice caving lamp. Any guess what you might price it at?


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## Th232 (Aug 12, 2010)

Nice, I especially like the use of the 5mm LED. Incidentally, I've been working on a throw+flood+5mm LED headlamp as well but taking a fairly different path, so it's neat to see how the designs differ. 

Bit of a long shot, but is that cable gland on the headlamp a Jacob "Perfect cable gland"?


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## ahorton (Aug 12, 2010)

Yucca Patrol said:


> That looks like a very nice caving lamp. Any guess what you might price it at?



I don't have to guess. I've already sold 13 (out of 20) locally for AUD$300.





Th232 said:


> Incidentally, I've been working on a throw+flood+5mm LED headlamp as well



I couldn't find it on CPF, can you give me some hints about it?




Th232 said:


> Bit of a long shot, but is that cable gland on the headlamp a Jacob "Perfect cable gland"?



No it's from Schnaps. Just a cheapie.


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## Th232 (Aug 13, 2010)

ahorton said:


> I couldn't find it on CPF, can you give me some hints about it?



Haven't put it up on CPF, PM me your address though and I'll send you some pics and further info.:thumbsup:


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## Yavox (Aug 23, 2010)

Looks tempting. Questions:

1. What kind of LEDs are inside?
2. OFT lumens, estimated?
3. Any chance for warm white / high CRI in "flood" reflector?
4. Beamshots please?


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## ahorton (Aug 23, 2010)

1. Two XP-Gs with Lisa2 optics for flood and one XR-E with aspheric for throw. 

2. There are several modes but the highest flood is 700mA to each XP-G so it's probably about 550 emitter lumens and maybe 450-500 OTF lumens? Just guessing here. There is a 2mm glass window in front of the Lisa2 optics.

3. Any XP-G or XP-E can be used for the flood so a warmer tint is very possible. As for the reflector, I'm not aware of one that will fit in the 8mm cavity without some modification so it's easiest to stick with the Lisa2 optics which I think are very nice. Having two makes the flood very smooth.



4. Beamshots are the same as in my old version in the previous thread.


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## Yavox (Aug 24, 2010)

ahorton said:


> 1. Two XP-Gs with Lisa2 optics for flood and one XR-E with aspheric for throw.
> 
> 2. There are several modes but the highest flood is 700mA to each XP-G so it's probably about 550 emitter lumens and maybe 450-500 OTF lumens? Just guessing here. There is a 2mm glass window in front of the Lisa2 optics.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the answers. More questions: :naughty:

5. How waterproof it is? Has anything changed from previous version? Is it suitable for working outside under heavy rain?

6. Is it possible to mask the electronics and the wires and to move the red led a bit so that it looks more proffesional and symmetrical? (I need it for a gift for someone).

7. How hard it would be to disassemble the unit after some time to mod it (i.e. swap the XP-Gs with more efficient bin). Do you seal the headlamp with a glue, epoxy or something?

8. Heat management - will it run on spot or flood with max brightness for a long time (taken off the head, placed on a table)?


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## uk_caver (Aug 24, 2010)

A fantastic-looking headlight, ahorton.

As for yavox's question re: masking wires, even just changing to more covert colours can make a great difference.

In early versions of a light unit I made, I used red+black wiring to the LEDs, a little of which was visible.
After suggestions from a friend, I switched to all-white wiring for anything that could be seen. It made a real difference to the appearance, and caused no significant hassle when it came to connecting things up.
In my case, I was running over either white-painted or natural aluminium, so the white wiring fitted in well. For more shadowed areas, I'd be tempted to go for black+black.

Also, sometimes switching to the thinnest possible wire, (such as PTFE/PFA insulated 7/0.12 rather than PVC 7/0.2) can give advantages both in reduced visibility, and also in ease of pushing the wiring out of the way after making connections and/or potentially allowing longer wiring (for ease of assembly) but with minimal increase in total wiring volume.
Thin PTFE wire seems to be extremely well-behaved when it comes to prodding it where you want it to go.

Differences in resistance are minimal for short lengths of internal wiring at low-ish currents, with 7/0.12 being ~25 milliohms for a 10cm length compared to ~9 milliohms for 7/0.2.


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## ahorton (Aug 24, 2010)

5. It's pretty waterproof. I had initially designed it so that it would be O-ring sealed at the front but the threaded rings weren't quite strong enough to compress the O-ring properly. The ring is only 2mm thick and probably needed to be 4mm to do the job well enough. So in the end I used silicone to seal the lenses in place. 

The gland is screwed into the body with silicone in the threads.

The button is IP67 rated and siliconed in place.

The battery is dipped in rubber.

The battery connector is a snap-fit plastic seal but a little smear of petroleum jelly goes a long way to waterproofing it.

I wouldn't go diving with it but it's certainly good enough for occasional dunks down to 1m. 




6. Yeah ok It's pretty ugly. For what it's worth, masking the wires would not be enough to make this thing pretty.

If I was trying to make it pretty enough to entice buyers I would make the whole thing very differently. This thing has been designed purely for function for my friends who want a strong headlight.

I might consider some of uk_caver's suggestions but it will still remain ugly. The wires are currently 7/0.12 which is as small as I was willing to go for 700mA to each of the XP-Gs.

The easiest way to mask the wires and circuit would be to paint the back of the lens, leaving a small, neat gap for the Lisa2 optics and indicator red LED.




7. As I mentioned before, the initial plan was to not use any glue so it could be dissembled easily. There are also threaded holes to hold the LED MCPCBs in place without glue but as I've made them I just glue them in because I don't have any screws (M3 and M2) short enough at the moment.

That said, it would not be impossible to take the thing apart but I doubt it would be worth the effort.

8. While wearing it outside at night you never feel it warming up but if you leave it on a table on high for 30 minutes then you feel a slight rise. It never gets too hot.


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## gillestugan (Aug 24, 2010)

That looks really fantastic! Im sure you have put a lot of work into it. Have you designed the driver and programmed the UI yourself?



ahorton said:


> 1. Two XP-Gs with Lisa2 optics for flood and one XR-E with aspheric for throw.



Hmm, didn't you say you use Lisa2 for spot and aspheric for flood?
If so : Do you use a frosted aspheric or one of your clear ones?

I bought a 30mm frosted glass aspheric from KD some time ago that is fantastic for glare free flood. I happily ordered 5 more but got plastic ones of really bad quality.


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## ahorton (Aug 24, 2010)

gillestugan said:


> That looks really fantastic! Im sure you have put a lot of work into it. Have you designed the driver and programmed the UI yourself?



Yes to the driver but I got a friend to program the microcontroller for me. We bashed it around for a while trying different UIs until we got something we liked. We compete together in 24 hour races so he also had an interest in the headlights. If he didn't want a headlight for his own use then I would have had to learn to program the microcontroller myself because I could never afford his time.




gillestugan said:


> Hmm, didn't you say you use Lisa2 for spot and aspheric for flood?
> If so : Do you use a frosted aspheric or one of your clear ones?



Sorry, maybe what I wrote was ambiguous. In the first post I said that I used Lisa2 optics (real spot). The 'real spot' is the narrowest type available in the Lisa2 optics range, but I assure you that it's still very floody.

I also said I'm using a glass lens for the flood. Previously I used a flat polycarbonate lens in front of the flood optics but now I use a flat glass lens. This lens just holds the Lisa2 optics in place.

So the aspheric really is for the spot and the Lisa2 optics really are for flood.


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## Yavox (Aug 25, 2010)

Are the two XPGs a fixed number related to the way the driver works or it is possible to have a triple XPG setup for flood (preferably placed in a more symmetrical way behind the lens)?


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## ahorton (Aug 25, 2010)

Yavox said:


> Are the two XPGs a fixed number related to the way the driver works or it is possible to have a triple XPG setup for flood (preferably placed in a more symmetrical way behind the lens)?



There are 4 AMC7135 chips in two strings of two. One 700mA string for each XP-G. If I wanted another XP-G I'd redesign the body.


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## Yucca Patrol (Aug 27, 2010)

I really wouldn't worry about the visible wires. Nobody will notice them when you shine it in their eyes! :devil:


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## AsianAnts (Oct 8, 2010)

Ash,

I want to thank you very much for the light! Shipping was faster than what I expected, and packaging was superb! Lots and lots of bubble wrap 

Good stuff, I've been playing with it and familiarizing myself with the different modes. Its amazing. The weight of it on the head, eh doesn't matter. I'm used to wearing my military cover that's almost just as heavy. The extension chord is a great idea; reaches to my pockets just perfectly (front pockets and the rear pockets). I love how the plugs just fit perfectly. As far as the batteries goes, small and compact but gots some juice in em



. However, not sure if I got a bunk battery because one out of the two turned green quite quickly while charging while the other is still red. Maybe charge time for these batteries are long and one of them had some juice in vs no juice? 

Anywho, I love your creation! Please keep me in the loop for your upcoming project kind sir! God bless ya and thanks






-AnTz

P.S
The other battery works! It just turned green 





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## ahorton (Oct 9, 2010)

Glad you like it so far. 

I'm not sure how much juice was in each battery. It may be that one was full like you suppose. 

Let me know if they don't have the right runtimes. That is the real test.


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## AsianAnts (Oct 23, 2010)

Finally got some time available to run some runtime tests. I'll let you know!


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## mytoyz (May 17, 2011)

Aloha,

What type of battery does this light take? Thanks!!


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## ahorton (May 17, 2011)

It's a 2P 18650 pack. At various times I've sealed it in different ways like rubber-dipping or silicone wrapping, but it's always had a thick diamond-pattern heat-shrink tube on the outside. 

There's a single protection circuit in the pack.

The cable has a waterproof 5.5 x 2.1 DC Barrel connector.


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