brighter light

[Stu]

got a T3 battery onto a youle 2 mes bulb headset (4v1a/4v.85a). whilst the
lamp is very reliable and functions without fault (2 years old from new) i
would like a bit more kick in terms of brighter, more piercing light. the
reflector is a little dull so is an easy change, but i have a question on
bulbs. please correct me if im wrong cos i am definitely no electronics
whizz. if the present main bulb is 4v 1a then that is a 4w bulb(?). if i
want a brighter light eg 8w then i would need a 4v 2a bulb(?). is this
right/possible? am i barking up the wrong tree? a friend has an fx2 which
seems to give off a very different type of light and is also "brighter" more
piercing which i aspire to. i dont want to change the pack (the cost and it
still does its job well) and if this is just a feature of this kind of lamp
then so be it. would be interested on any help. cheers.

 

[SamT]

Hiya

Watts = Volts * Amps

So yeah 4 * 1 = 4 watt bub

If you want a brighter bulb a 8 watt bulb but realize that a T3 battery is a 16 amp/hr battery i.e. it will give 1 amp for 16 hours. If your drawing 2 amps, then the battery will last only 8 hours.
You can combat this loss of time by replaceing the pilot bulb with one of the tri LED bulbs. expensive (18 pounds) for what they appear to be :roll: but brilliant as a pilot bulb. I left my T3 on last week just to see how long I got out of it - 3 days later I got bored and re- charged the battery.
The light is plenty for smaller caving/digging - but if you want some throw then flick on to your main beam.

replacing a dull relfector will make a big difference.

Is your existing bulb a halogen type - that tends to give off a whiter light.

Hope this is of help.

Sarge

 

[SamT]

oh - a word of warning - go too mad and you can melt your reflector :shock: .

 

[Addy]

Sarge is right about the halogen bulbs. You should be careful to wipe them off if you handle them as the 'glass' is probably a quartz glass and retains/burns any grease you leave on it. Eventually, it damages the 'glass'
I've recently 'discovered' pre-focus bulbs (PF). You need a different reflector but they give of more of a beam rather than the flood effect of the MES types.
I'm using a cut down exide battery (I bought it 2nd hand from CS about 15 years ago!) with 4 'D' cells and a 4.8v 1A PF Krypton bulb. It has to be the brightest lamp I've ever used.

 

[Jonathan T]

Judging by the amount of new stuff you have everytime I see you I reckon you can afford to buy a new lamp!

 

[Stu]

its to get you fit!! more kit = more weight = more training for you! what do we have to remember? leave the excess rope at the halfway ledge!!! now repeat!!! :wink:

 

[tidza2004]

Great motto (looked it up via Google Translate) for an avid caver.  Must find such a quality one myself

 

[potholer]

For what it's worth, a ~4W halogen bulb is probably only putting out something like 60 lumens.

It'd be possible to get more than twice that much light from an LED running at about a quarter of the power - if the battery really was giving 16Ah, that'd be about 48hours of full power runtime.

stu, if you'd like to try out an LED insert in your lamp, drop me a line and I'll happily post you one of the ones I make to check out.

 

[robjones]

Sarge is right about the halogen bulbs. You should be careful to wipe them off if you handle them as the 'glass' is probably a quartz glass and retains/burns any grease you leave on it. Eventually, it damages the 'glass'

Wipe the halogen bulb with a little bit of meths-dampened cloth or tissue to remove finger grease.