Does anyone out there have a knackered Duo lying in a box? I have a good Duo, but the battery holder is missing its terminals. Any offer of a battery holder for a small fee will be much appreciated.

I don't have one myself, but when mine broke I got one from Starless river for ?7 (that was 2 years ago so it may be more now though). Admittedly that is still more than one from a broken duo from a caver will cost.

You could look for broken 'spares or repair' duos on ebay?

I've bought some replacements for the club from RIG systems in Devon - see here.

I have a nackered duo.

I've just bought a "used" one (to replace my redundant duo) on ebay for ?33+postage (it looks brand new and has zero scratches)

The reason why i bought it was the (nackered duos) battery box is nackered. It lets in a small amount of water and the terminals in the base are corroded (and causing batteries to corrode quite fast).

I cut the cable halfway between light and box 2hours ago. As i needed the bugger off my helmet. It's an 8 year old battery box, you can have it for free!

I'm not heading to wales any time soon.

I gave up on Duos (in fact by then I was using a Bisun insert) because the second battery box I'd had got knackered, as had the first. Then I got a Speleo Nichia. Good lamp, rubbish battery fixing. Costs about ?200. And the batteries themselves don't last either - the casing splits.

Finally I stopped compromising and bought a Scurion. I know they are not cheap. But, boy, they are reliable, and last such a long time. You will never look back, if you can raise the funds.

David Rose said:

Finally I stopped compromising and bought a Scurion. I know they are not cheap. But, boy, they are reliable, and last such a long time. You will never look back, if you can raise the funds.

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I can also recommend the Scurion. I made the mistake of standing next to Ralph's stand at EuroSpeleo in the Vercors in 2008 and succumbed to buying one with my credit card (luckily the Euro / Pound exchange rate was better then).

Nearly 10 years of regular usage and no problems so far.

I've had my old Duo for 8 years, with some reasonable use.
If the new one I get lasts another 8 years, then pound for pound I still think I would buy again.

A duo conversion that allows the use of Lithium cells would be cool.

I've seen a Roy Fellows Conversion, but there must be some science behind it, as there are different Currents etc.

http://ledcaplamps.com/batteries.htm

I was convinced not to go down this route, as I wouldn't know how it works or how to fix the problem if it goes wrong.

People are buying my 3.5 AH 2 cells ( 2 in series) power packs as part of a Stenlight conversion. These are 'classed' by me as 8V series for identification and are 8.4V off charge, 7.4V nominal.

I "think" someone a while back ordered a 2 cell parallel power pack as I used to supply with my 4V series lamps, (now discontinued) "Low Voltage" to power one of Mr Biffs Duo conversions. If that person is around maybe they would like to comment.
Only thing is, as you buy, then convert, then buy Li Ion power pack, the cost escalates with each purchase and my thought is why not just buy a complete lamp.

EDIT
Yes, more has come back to me now. They bought the power pack and some XT60 connectors which I use as part of their DIY conversion. I made it clear that I could not guarantee suitability for third party conversions so they checked with Mr Biff about the voltage suitability and he OK it. Best as I remember it.

There's no 'off the shelve' conversations out there for lithium batteries on duos (that I am aware of).

Any insert (bisun or or custom duo) or even the 14 LED unit should be happy what ever the battery chemistry is as long it is an appropriate voltage going in.

The easiest option I would have thought would be to get lithium metal batteries (the single use type) and modify the battery holder to hold them\configure them as to produce 6v's

My light (mentioned above) is more drastic. There is a custom duo V5 in the lamp, and I removed the original battery box completely (it was on a broken anyway), soldered an XT60 connecter on the wire and used this to plug one of Roy's self contained li-ion batteries (4v as mentioned below) in. The custom duo it happy to use the lower voltage - there is even a option to calibrate the battery meter for li-ion batteries in the programming.

In my case I opted for a DIY light as I couldn't buy a light with all the features that I wanted on, so I built one.

On a side note I can't say I would buy a scurion - I tried one once and it was heavier than I would like (and I'm too tight).