Phaethon Lights

[DannyW]

I have had my Phaethon for close to a year now and love it. 18650s Panasonic seems to be the best but the 'genuine' units on ebay are a little hit and miss, some pairs getting me around 8 hours of light on the 3rd brightness setting where some pairs only get me 2 hours before it blinks saying its half flat so I suspect they are just generic units made to look like the real deal.

The pelican 1010 case is perfect for these batteries and fits at least 4 pairs of 18650s (what I carry) but you should get an extra pair or maybe even 2 in.

 

[DannyW]

I am buying cells from FastTech Hong Kong, and they are genuine not sexton blakes. Expect long delivery time though, but not as bad as it could be as they are shipping from inside the EU.

Issue is that they are OEM so no protection, I build in my own.

The thing is with these, the actual rating is 3300, typical is 3450, minimum is 3350 and capacity will fall after about 50 to 100 charge/discharge cycles, hence my comment at start of thread.
Regardless of this they are probably the best to come down the pike as yet.

If you see Panasonic with this stated capacity they will be same cells as Panasonic is now part of Sanyo. Any other leading brand with this stated capacity and discharge rate will be a re wrap of these. I caution against using unprotected calls unless your lamp manufacturer says its OK, meaning he has protection inbuilt into his product.

not sure on the Dual (which I believe Duncan has) but the original unit stated to use unprotected cells as they fit the case better and it holds a better seal if you are diving but for dry caving I don't think it matters as I use either in mine. The light flickers once the voltage gets low to warn you that it is time to change out the batteries before the voltage drops too low.

 

[royfellows]

the 'genuine' units on ebay are a little hit and miss, some pairs getting me around 8 hours of light on the 3rd brightness setting where some pairs only get me 2 hours before it blinks saying its half flat so I suspect they are just generic units made to look like the real deal.

Beware of recycled laptop batteries, marks where tags have been filed away are the usual clue. Been a lot of these on eBay, but with the seller honestly stating the origin

 

[DannyW]

Oh and about the button, I had simular issues while in New Zealand caving it became a two handed operation to turn on which was a pain specially if you accidentally turned it off while trying to increase the brightness while on rope but it was a faulty switch and they offered to fix it for free but I asked them to send me a new switch and I changed it out at home and it works great now. Its a Piezo switch, no idea on how it works but something to do with pressure (no moving parts).

 

[Duncan S]

Thanks both!
I checked the manual and it says to use unprotected batteries in the Dual.
I'd found some Panasonic batteries on Amazon and the images are an exact match for the ones supplied with the Phaethon. I'll order some and ditch the Ultrafires.
I made a mistake earlier - I said the batteries were Trustfire, they are Ultrafire.

Results are in on my latest battery testing.
Fujimax AA 2300mAh - Not bad! Label says 2800 but I'll let them off.
Ultrafire 26650 2500mAh - rubbish considering their size and weight, label states 7800mAh!
Next up is the pair of Ultrafire 26650 batteries I had put to one side as the torch goes intermittent and cuts out after a couple of minutes; probably a duff cell.

LOL'd at accidentally turning off when changing brightness; happened to me yesterday!
It's the only real criticism I've got from my experiences so far.
Not sure what else they could do; perhaps a short press followed by a long one as there is nothing like that in the operation sequence.

 

[DannyW]

Thanks both!
I checked the manual and it says to use unprotected batteries in the Dual.
I'd found some Panasonic batteries on Amazon and the images are an exact match for the ones supplied with the Phaethon. I'll order some and ditch the Ultrafires.
I made a mistake earlier - I said the batteries were Trustfire, they are Ultrafire.

Results are in on my latest battery testing.
Fujimax AA 2300mAh - Not bad! Label says 2800 but I'll let them off.
Ultrafire 26650 2500mAh - rubbish considering their size and weight, label states 7800mAh!
Next up is the pair of Ultrafire 26650 batteries I had put to one side as the torch goes intermittent and cuts out after a couple of minutes; probably a duff cell.

LOL'd at accidentally turning off when changing brightness; happened to me yesterday!
It's the only real criticism I've got from my experiences so far.
Not sure what else they could do; perhaps a short press followed by a long one as there is nothing like that in the operation sequence.

It does take some getting use to and can be tricky with thick gloves, cold hands and mud/sand on said gloves as it is hard to tell how much pressure you are applying but you soon get use to it and make sharp presses to increase and just hold it to dim for about 1 second, 2-3 seconds to turn it off.

 

[Benfool]

Duncan S, do you need protected or unprotected cells?

For protected use these:
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1420/10001980/1141104-panasonic-ncr18650b-protected-rechargeable

and for unprotected use these:
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1420/10001980/1141100-panasonic-ncr18650b-rechargeable-3400mah-3-7v

Used the website many times and it usually takes around 3 weeks to arrive. Cells are probably some of best you can buy.

Hope that helps!

B

 

[Duncan S]

Thanks Ben!
Unprotected is what I need; cheers for the links.
Those are the cells supplied with the Phaethon.
Shame to have to get them from USA, but they do seem hard to find!
I've ordered some of the same battery from a Amazon, fulfilled by Amazon so hopefully will be fast delivery; price isn't as good as your link though!
Got my fingers crossed they are the real deal otherwise I'll be straight back to your link.

 

[Mr Mike]

There is a fair few around from the UK:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-GENUINE-PANASONIC-3400mAh-NCR18650B-Li-ion-18650-3-7v-RE-BLE-BATTERIES-FLAT-/331572425410?hash=item4d3341b2c2

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PANASONIC-NCR18650B-FLAT-TOP-LI-ION-Rechargeable-BATTERY-3400mAh-3-7v-18650-/111721292136?var=&hash=item1a031ba168

 

[Duncan S]

Cheers Mike!
Both of those links are a great price.
I went with an Amazon seller with a good rep and Amazon Prime affiliation. Fingers crossed I'll manage to avoid buying fakes.
One thing is for sure, they will go in the capacity tester as soon as I get them.
So glad I bought the tester as it is taking all the guesswork out of battery management.

 

[Duncan S]

Just a little 'gotcha' I learned over the weekend.
The plastic wrap needs to be pared off the negative end of the battery with a knife to make a good contact at the bottom of the battery case.
Two second job - just remember to do it!

I learned the hard way - went caving with my new batteries; both in the lamp and spares.
I'd run them through the capacity tester and all was well; but didn't try them in the light - DOH!
Result was an intermittent connection; actually more off and only occasionally on.
Quickly gave up trying to keep the Phaethon turned on and reverted to using my backup light for the rest of the trip (Craig a Ffynnon).
I've had that Petzl Tikka XP for years and is always around my neck just in case; this is the first time I've needed it. It is uttterly bombproof and reliable, even if the strap is no longer elastic and the light output is slightly lacking by today's standards.
Some lessons are learned the hard way - check and re-check your equipment!

The supplied batteries worked fine and I used my Phethon on the next day's trip with no issues. There was definitely something different about my new batteries, but they tested OK and work well in my dive torch; it was very puzzling.
An email to Phaethon got a rapid response telling me exactly what I needed to do and a photo illustrating what they meant.
Very happy with this level of service!

 

[Duncan S]

Some battery usage info for you...
My capacity tester has a neat feature that indicates how much charge was needed to top up the batteries while charging.
The result from last night was 800mAh.
That's from two hours caving on mode 2 (both lamps on level 2) with occasional  bursts on full power to have look at the caverns plus about 20mins cycling on mode 4 (both lamps on level 3).
The tested battery capacity is 3400mAh, so the claimed run-time of 12 hours on mode 2 looks realistic.

 

[Duncan S]

Battery usage update...
Four hour trip to High Country in Reservoir Hole including high beam usage while we got our heads around the pull-through (took us lots of attempts) and to illuminate the vast chambers.
Capacity tester indicates it needed 1060mAh to top off the batteries.

It's pretty conclusive...
The Phaethon Dual will easily last for 12 hours normal caving.

My concerns over the button haven't been a problem in actual use. Even when it was caked in dried mud from a previous trip it worked fine and a quick trip down Swildons cleaned it up nicely
The lamp modes are logical and well thought out; I'm still not feeling the urge to start tinkering with the settings.
The flat out crawls in Hunters Lodge Inn Sink and Reservoir Hole have added another small scratch to the perspex, but the overall condition is still excellent. The lamp and battery box are faring far better than my oversuit and tackle bag.

I'm getting increasingly impressed using the Phaethon for photography. The spot's soft edge means I can use it to fill in a dark corner without it looking unnatural. I've also started using the flood as my main foreground lighting, it is artefact free and means I need to carry less lights.

 

[Duncan S]

A GoPro shot with my Phaethon Light for illumination.

So far, my Phaethon Light has performed flawlessly.
It's looking in remarkably good condition; after many trips it is in way better condition than the helmet it is attached to.
Battery life is matching expectations which is increasing my confidence to use the high output more often. I'm regularly using the light as part of my cave photography.
Surprisingly, I'm still not feeling the need to tinker with the settings; at no point in my caving or cave photography have I been left thinking I'd like something slightly different.
I'm a very happy bunny

 

[maxf]

Very good !

What settings do you use on your gopro ?

All my stills end up very cold and un natural looking...

 

[Antwan]

If your shots look 'blue' try white balance adjustment in your editing program or sometimes disguised and tone/tint control.

 

[Duncan S]

I just let the GoPro get on with it!
Auto White Balance, auto exposure.
This particular shot is pretty much pure under-exposed (black) and over exposed (white); the mid tones are where the black and white have been blurred. I reckon just about any white balance would produce similar results.
However, in normal shots AWB seems to give OK results too.

The one thing I do that I would highly recommend is using continuous mode at 5FPS.
Usually, the first image in the set is blurred as I press the button, and the last image is blurred when I release the button.
But fingers crossed there is going to be a tolerably sharp images somewhere in the set.
Shots like this I usually take 6-9 images and just 1-3 of them have no blur and are usable.

 

[maxf]

Thanks for the tips, will try them out next time I use it underground

 

[Fulk]

Hi Duncan,

Are you still happy with your choice of lamp?

I prefer a relatively focused beam for general-purpose caving ? how tight is the Phaeton?s spot beam? From the Phaeton website the  dual (your choice, I believe) appears to be 4 degrees ? that sounds very narrow, do you find it?s OK? How long do the batteries last?

 

[Ed]

I'm more than happy with mine.

On setting 2 - low flood and spot, idea for general caving i use one set of batteries per club weekend. That would be a 4 or 5 hour trip one day and another 3 or 4 hours the next day.........if i remembered to charge them before hand.

It depends on setting and battery quality really.

Also has the advantage that it is a 30 second job to transfer to normal head band or bike for non caving use