Speleotechnic Headlight Batteries and Water

[paul]

I have a Speleotechnics Headlight and the newer NiMH battery which attaches to the back of the helmet. I bought it not long ago and have only used it on about half-a-dozen trips.

I was on a trip in Swildons Hole on Saturday and the battery got a bit wet when passing through the Mud Sump (along with everything elese!).

Shortly after this, the light flashed a few times (I was using the 7 LED pilot) then went out. The main halogen bulb wouldn't work and the LEDs seemed to work but very, very dimly and the battery was fully charged with only an hour an a quarter's use.

Last night the battery still wasn't working - it won't charge either.

Anybody else have problems with these batteries (Headlight) and water?

Seems silly to me to sell caving lamps that cannot cope with occasional immersions in water!! :x

 

[underground]

They're a complete bag of shite paul- there's been a few threads on the forum about the same thing.

Speleotechnics weren't interested when I contacted them about mine, although the guy in Caving Supplies (forget his name) is a bit of a star when it comes to explaining the comprehensive way of sorting it out yourself...

Try popping in with it next time you're out that way.... I was well impressed.

 

[SamT]

Tsk Tsk Tsk - people will never learn.

why do you think we call them speliotechshites. Possibly the most expensive and poorly manufactured rip offs in the caving world.

My mates 3 year old daughter could put caving lamp together better than them.

See the following threads.

http://www.ukcaving.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=160

http://www.ukcaving.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=163

http://www.ukcaving.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=157

etc etc etc.

I personally would not pay 200 quid or whatever for a product that I know will probably be faulty. I dont know how speleoshite have gotten away with it for so long.

 

[Anna]

I must be one of the lucky ones. I have had a speleotechnic Headlite for 18 months now and it has always been fine although everybody else thinks they are shit. A friend bought one about this time last year and has had lots of minor problems with it.
If I had known of their shitty reputation at the time I would not have got one but so far so good. (watch the f*****g thing konk out on my next trip!)

 

[Jonathan T]

I've had one LED go on my headset ( 7 LED's and a halogen) and other than that I've had no problems at all with my FX3. It's over 3 years old.

 

[cap n chris]

You must be very unlucky people. I have been using Speleotechnics Headlites with normal lamp, 7 led lamp and more recently (~18months) a Nova and a) none of them have suffered problems b) the headlite batteries provide hours of light (and are interchangeable with other cavers' spare batteries and/or work headlite batteries - for longer trips where they may perhaps get flat during the course of a day).

The only thing I would add is that a minor bit of retro engineering has been done by me to improve on the connection between the battery and the plug-in lead - I've installed a 1.5" long self-tapping screw between the sockets and made a reciprocating hole in the plug in so that it gets held snugly together when plugged in - this way there is no longer any intermittent "events"; this is the only problem I've experienced with this otherwise very portable, neat, compact, light (weight) and hard-wearing system.

In total, my continual use of Speleotechnics lights covers a seven year period.

BTW what options exist for caving lighting systems? P.S. There's no way in hell I'd ever use a chunky as f**k oldham and carbide is rightly banned for conservation reasons pretty much everywhere south of the north pole. Kirby kidney battery packs seem almost as equally chunky as oldhams and FX3/FX5. So what gives?

I hope this isn't another one of my "stick poked in hornets' nest" moments....

 

[SamT]

Oldham cap lamps are certainly the way to go.
Mine are probably 20 years old and are still solid - would like to see a speleoshit in 20 years time.

In total, my continual use of Speleotechnics lights covers a seven year period.

That implies you've had more that one. Not good for 7 years.

As for batteries - Im still well happy with my Oldman T3. reliable 16 hours light on halogen - ages on my 3 led backup. However I can see that people new to caving would be attracted to the smaller batteries from the off. Has never stopped me getting anywhere tight and arduous.
I reckon if you cant get by with an oldham on in 99.9% of cave passage then your technique must be shit.

You can fit the 7 led reflectors into an oldham and use a 4.5v flat pack to power them. Best mod Ive seen though is oldham cap lamp - 36 led's 3 switch positions all powered off 3 rechargeable D cells packed into a petzl zoom style battery box. 4 hours on halogen, 16-20 hours on 36 leds - practially for ever on 1 led emergency setting.

What I object to about Speleoshite is the cost. They are extortionate - yet nearly everyone I know has had trouble with theirs. Dicky switches, Crappy battery connectors. Leaky batteries etc.
I would demand more for my money that mickey mouse construction.

I agree about carbide - it shoulnt really be used except on expedition caving - where an oldham 7 led and 4.5 v flatpack battery are my perfect backup.

I agree that the caving world does need a solid helmet mounted battery pack that above all is reliable - which as has been proved - the speleoshite ones aren't.

 

[paul]

I agree about carbide - it shoulnt really be used except on expedition caving - where an oldham 7 led and 4.5 v flatpack battery are my perfect backup.

There's more! I recently was on a caving trip to Thailand and decided to use the Speleotechnics Headlite (7 LED / Halogen) I bought at the end of August. Bernie's sell a plastic box which is in two sections and looks externally identical to the black NiMH rechargable I got with the lamp, with the same external connector but internally connected to 2 spade terminals. I bought one of these and used a couple of Duracell 4.5v flat batteries (no recharging facilities so the NiMH stayed at home in the UK) and apart from a dodgy switch which needed lots of fiddling to get the bloody light to come on I was happy with the light when I eventually got it to come on.

Last night I had a look at my NiMH battey which failed last weekend after less than 6 trips underground. Apart from some text on the top "Nova" and "Nickel", the box is identical. I found that the lid or upper half had a slight gap and after gentle pulling he top and bottom halves separated having been held with some grey material. It IS the same battery box! Although the bottom half had some packing of some sort with one or more cylindrical cells embedded within, the top half had a further cylindrical cell surrounded by air only and glued to the cell bellow. The two ends of this cell were completely rusty - almost certainly the reason for the failure. Because the other cell(s) were embedded in material I couldn't see if they were also affected.

So at some time since August Bank Holiday on a trip underground water must have got in and caused the rusting - and as I said I have only used the NiMH battery less than 6 times (I usually use a Kirby Kidney Pack)! Prior to last weekend the battery was never totally immersed - only the usual drips, etc of water from above.

Added to which, being on the rear of a helmet, the box is likely to be banged every now and then when crawling or stooping in low passages and as it is only thin plastic with mostly air (the top half anyway) I don't think it will last that long. It was possibly such contact with celings which broke the seal between the top and bottom halves in the first place?

I don't know if the FX-Ion of Headlite (NiCAD) are made any differently.

 

[SamT]

I tell you paul - its these sport cavers - brought up to beleive that the gear they own is 'tough' and 'hard wearing' when infact, most of the caving it sees is nice clean roomy sport caves. Since its what 90% of the caving world do, then I suppose 90% of owners will be happy.

When you do most of your caving and a lot of digging in the knarly world of derbyshire, I think people would soon realise that thier 'toy' lamps are not so tough.

Hmm - lets have a look at a basic design breif for a caving lamp shall we.

Reliable - opps, fallen at the first hurdle
Waterproof - Doh,
Tough - debatable this one.
Enough light for most average caving trips say 5 - 6 hours - they pass that, (providing they havent failed yet) but then so does my oldman - and thats on main beam, not leds.
Compact and light weight - they pass that - but then its quite low on the list.

Now theres a thing. Failed on the top 3 design aspects.

Heres another thing - how much emphasis is put on how long the light lasts??

" my FX bollox lasts 284 hours on 3 leds so ner"
"yeh - but you only ever go caving for 5 hours at a time, and even then you cant see much of the cave since the leds give such dismal flat light, dingbat."

Speleo users - shot down in flames. :guns:

 

[Rhys]

Just for the record...

I'm perfectly happy with my FX ION battery and 14 LED headset array from Speleotechnics. Over the last few years it's done plenty of caves, big and small, wet and dry, hot and cold, at home and abroad, digging, rescues, touristing etc etc. No real problems at all. My girlfriend has a Headlite battery with 7 LED headset and she seems to manage okay as well.

Despite some vociferous opponents, there are plenty of happy users out there ;-) Each to their own.

Rhys

 

[SamT]

Tee hee hee oke:

ps - good use of the most excellent word - "vociferous"

 

[paul]

Just for the record...

I'm perfectly happy with my FX ION battery and 14 LED headset array from Speleotechnics. Over the last few years it's done plenty of caves, big and small, wet and dry, hot and cold, at home and abroad, digging, rescues, touristing etc etc. No real problems at all. My girlfriend has a Headlite battery with 7 LED headset and she seems to manage okay as well.

Despite some vociferous opponents, there are plenty of happy users out there ;-) Each to their own.

Rhys

Want to swap your old FX ION battery with my 4 and a half month old NiMH battery? :rip: :wink:

 

[Rhys]

Want to swap your old FX ION battery with my 4 and a half month old NiMH battery? :rip: :wink:

Not likely! It sounds like yours was a dodgy one and you've broken the case open now!

Rhys

 

[graham]

Been using Speleothingy headlights with halogen/7 LED/14 LED for aeons. Had a few minor issues with contacts, but considering the amount of caving they've done in UK, Ireland USA & France, I'm really very happy with them.

Much better than my old NiFe cells used to be.

 

[paul]

Been using Speleothingy headlights with halogen/7 LED/14 LED for aeons. Had a few minor issues with contacts, but considering the amount of caving they've done in UK, Ireland USA & France, I'm really very happy with them.
Much better than my old NiFe cells used to be.

Is that with any helmet-mounted batteries or waist-mounted (FX3, rtc.)?

It was the helmet-mounted NiMH battery that I was complaining about - it isn't water resistant.