mounting headlight to helmet

JoshW

JoshW

Well-known member
I've just treated myself to a Nora 3 to replace my failing El Speleo and wondering the best way to route the cable that connects the lamp to the battery box.

on my el speleo I had it go under the lip of the front of the helmet, back up through into the cradle space of my ecrin roc, under the lip at the rear and to the battery box. This obviously has two tight-ish bends in the cable as it goes under the lip, is there a better way?

TIA
JoshW
 
Y

yuvals

Member
Another failed Elspelo... just wondering when will people learn the lesson  :-\

Under the lip is the way most people do it and it doesn't damages the cable. Some people remove the ecrin plastic holders for the headlamp's rubber band and use this hole for the cable.
Another option is to drill halls for the cable.

 
PeteHall

PeteHall

Moderator
The other issue with routing the cable under the rim is that it creates a rub point every time you put your helmet down, or take it off for a narrow bit.

Personally, I'd be drilling the helmet front and back and routing the cable inside, much as Petzl do on the factory fitted duos.

I'm not sure the exact cable configuration for a Nora 3, does the cable come apart and can the connector be removed from the end of the cable to avoid drilling an oversized hole?
 
JoshW

JoshW

Well-known member
yuvals said:
Another failed Elspelo... just wondering when will people learn the lesson  :-\

Under the lip is the way most people do it and it doesn't damages the cable. Some people remove the ecrin plastic holders for the headlamp's rubber band and use this hole for the cable.
Another option is to drill halls for the cable.
Click to expand...

In fairness had the el speleo for probably 5 years now, and it's had a lot of use!
 
JoshW

JoshW

Well-known member
PeteHall said:
The other issue with routing the cable under the rim is that it creates a rub point every time you put your helmet down, or take it off for a narrow bit.

Personally, I'd be drilling the helmet front and back and routing the cable inside, much as Petzl do on the factory fitted duos.

I'm not sure the exact cable configuration for a Nora 3, does the cable come apart and can the connector be removed from the end of the cable to avoid drilling an oversized hole?
Click to expand...

Cable is a 'one piece' all the way to the battery box, but looks like I could unscrew it and drill holes to thread it through as you say.
 
F

Fjell

Well-known member
I threaded it though where the grey plastic bits are on the Ecrin. I seem to end up pushing my helmet in front of me fairly often and I don?t want it to rest on the cable. If you have no choice, then some renewable split corrugated ducting would protect it on the edges, but possibly do nothing for your cred. I run most DC cabling through ducting, saves tears later.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flexible-Cable-Tidy-Conduit-Corrugated-Sleeving-Convoluted-Tubing-Protection/112587731202?hash=item1a36c07102:g:vy8AAOSw43VZyjaI&var=412998198683

If it is a dive rated box then might be best to ask how to dissemble it before you do actually do unless it is extremely obvious on the inside like the Scurion standard one.
 
JoshW

JoshW

Well-known member
Fjell said:
I threaded it though where the grey plastic bits are on the Ecrin. I seem to end up pushing my helmet in front of me fairly often and I don?t want it to rest on the cable. If you have no choice, then some renewable split corrugated ducting would protect it on the edges, but possibly do nothing for your cred. I run most DC cabling through ducting, saves tears later.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flexible-Cable-Tidy-Conduit-Corrugated-Sleeving-Convoluted-Tubing-Protection/112587731202?hash=item1a36c07102:g:vy8AAOSw43VZyjaI&var=412998198683

If it is a dive rated box then might be best to ask how to dissemble it before you do actually do unless it is extremely obvious on the inside like the Scurion standard one.
Click to expand...

yeah it's a dive rated box and that's where my concern comes from disassembling it to either drill holes or thread through the light clip holes
 
ILT

ILT

Member
JoshW said:
PeteHall said:
The other issue with routing the cable under the rim is that it creates a rub point every time you put your helmet down, or take it off for a narrow bit.

Personally, I'd be drilling the helmet front and back and routing the cable inside, much as Petzl do on the factory fitted duos.

I'm not sure the exact cable configuration for a Nora 3, does the cable come apart and can the connector be removed from the end of the cable to avoid drilling an oversized hole?
Click to expand...

Cable is a 'one piece' all the way to the battery box, but looks like I could unscrew it and drill holes to thread it through as you say.
Click to expand...

Drilling and routing the cable to have minimum rub-points/crush points would be my choice. Perhaps add a bit of heatshrink or grommets where the holes are if being tidy and professional.

Can be unscrewed. Easy job really. Soldering iron required for disassemby and reassembly. Take care with polarity of individual cables.
 
royfellows

royfellows

Well-known member
JoshW said:
I've just treated myself to a Nora 3 to replace my failing El Speleo and wondering the best way to route the cable that connects the lamp to the battery box.

on my el speleo I had it go under the lip of the front of the helmet, back up through into the cradle space of my ecrin roc, under the lip at the rear and to the battery box. This obviously has two tight-ish bends in the cable as it goes under the lip, is there a better way?

TIA
JoshW
Click to expand...

Avoid tight-ish bends
If something is under stress it will eventually fail.

So, a question.
How do El Speleo lamps usually fail, is there a common fault?
 
Mr Mike

Mr Mike

Active member
royfellows said:
So, a question.
How do El Speleo lamps usually fail, is there a common fault?
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same, a friends started playing up as well with power modes. Mechanical aspect aside, there should be no real reason why the electronics should fail unless its due to a design issue, manufacturing defect or water got in.
 
JoshW

JoshW

Well-known member
royfellows said:
So, a question.
How do El Speleo lamps usually fail, is there a common fault?
Click to expand...

My first failure was the connection between the battery box cable and the lamp cable, where the pin bent out of shape so wouldn't connect properly. Help from a smarter person than me, managed to remove this and leave it as a direct cable into the battery box.

The secondary failure, I thought was the cable bending around the bottom of the lid, but had it confirmed that it was 'a failed connection pad on the PCB'. I understand most of these words individually, but not in that order.

A friend (PaulW of this parish) had one of his buttons fail I think.

Another friend of mine (Tackelbury of this parish), has had an el speleo the same length of time as I have, and has had absolutely no issues whatsoever. Although he routed his cable through the ecrin roc light clips, so maybe reduced the overall stress on the cable.
 
royfellows

royfellows

Well-known member
Thanks.
Failure through cable stress can occur in two different ways. Cables with a PVC outer sheath, hopefully rare as its rubbish cable, will have the outer sheath split open revealing the inner cables. Cables with high flex outer sheath, such as natural rubber, will have the inner metal, probably copper strands fail through metal fatigue. The latter can obviously appear as a sudden 'no apparent reason' failure to the unknowing.
 
darren

darren

Member
I got my Rude Nora direct from Biff, already mounted to a helmet.

He had drilled holes front and back (2 in total) for the cable to pass through.. I did put tape around the cable going through the holes in case of chaffing..

 
Tseralo

Tseralo

Active member
I have routed the cable on my nora around the lip of the helmet around the inside and back out the lip to the battery box 2 cable ties through holes hold it fine.

Note the battery connector is too large to fit through the hole for the gland so unless you can add a new fitting don't bother unscrewing the gland, on the battery box

I've done quite a bit of small caving with mine and the cable has held up fine.
 
The_quiche_whisperer

The_quiche_whisperer

New member
I drilled the front of my helmet so the cable didn?t have a bend in it when I mounted my Nora but looped it up at the back. I?ve just replaced it with a Scurion and drilled the front and back this time. You can take the connector off by pushing the pins in with a needle to get it out of the battery box, just be careful to note which core is which.
 
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