Upgrading non-LED Petzl lamp to 14 LED

[rom82]

Hi All,
Wondering if anyone out there has experience of upgrading an old Petzl Duo to a 14 LED. There's lots of info online for upgrading 5 LEDs but the one I'm looking at in particular in an older model with no LEDs, just 2 incandescent (halogen I think) bulbs. I'm pretty crap with electronics and would reckon such an upgrade would be tricky if not impossible, but always willing to have someone prove me wrong!

Cheers,
Rob.

 

[Antwan]

It wont have the socket installed for the 14led mudule to fit into (two long thin pins) so you would have to wire it into the old Mes socket the bulb screws into and sort something out to keep it inplace and pointing in the right direction.

little bit fiddly but not impossible

 

[crickleymal]

You can buy a screw in LED  bulb MES fitting

 

[Spike]

More costly, but almost certainly better value in the long run - get yourself a Custom Duo insert.
Fitting instructions (including reference to early Duos) here.

Other inserts are available, but I have no experience of these...

 

[rom82]

Thanks all, maybe a custom duo wouldn't be a bad idea. They don't seem that expensive, some are ?55 which I think is about what a set of 14LED costs.  They're reliable I take it?

 

[PaulW]

not 100% sure, but don't custom duos only work on a 5 or 14 led model and not an early one with twin screw in bulbs

 

[rom82]

I'm new to caving and even newer to caving headlamps so I'm a little lost as to how many Duos types there are out there, however it says on the Customduo page that "If you have an early Duo (early pre-2004 which probably has a side bulb rather than an LED cluster), and it turns out to be wired the opposite way around, simply reverse the polarity of the batteries in the battery box (ie positive to negative and vice versa)." Sounds good if true!

 

[Les W]

Biff at CustomDuo knows his stuff. If he says so then it almost certainly is... 

 

[zaphod79]

I had an old Duo, with two old bulbs, got new led unit at Inglesport, i've just got to put batteries in upside down now but works great.

 

[rom82]

zaphod, good to know thanks. Incidentally, what was the double bulb light like before you adapted it? I may take the one offered to me and use as is 'til I can save up for the module insert.

 

[zaphod79]

It worked fine as was, just avoid the halogen it eats batteries

 

[rom82]

Cool, thanks all for the info!

 

[potholer]

Did very early Duos really have twin-screw-in bulbs?

I've looked at quite a few, and I've never seen any like that, even on the early ones which had grey plastic clips for the battery holder, rather than aluminium.

All the non-LED Duos I've seen had a bi-pin bulb for the pilot position.