At last, tangible progress on the new battery case :)

I'd requested of Sten a completely waterproof and massively tough rigid battery case, they started designing it earlier this year and they're now ready for production.

No photos of the finished product yet, but here's an engineering drawing:

🔗Personal-Album-1-Image-66669[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1-Image-66669[/linkphoto][/link]

A metal body was eliminated early on because of susceptibility of being crushed or dented so it's injection moulded in ABS.

The case is designed to be user serviceable; the cable, circuit board, cells, and case will all be separately replaceable.

In conjunction with the new battery there is a new tougher shielded cable, an incremental upgrade to 2nd gen Rebel ES emitters (around 500 lumens on Turbo) and a strain relief overmould where the cable exists the lamp head.

Will post some photos up as soon as they're available and make a shameless commerical plug as soon as the new kit is ready to sell 😉

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Looking good :thumbup: But think i might have to rethink where i mount my battery as that may be a bit big to fit inside my lid :lol:

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Ed, Have a look at the video's on youtube about mixing lithium batteries with water.

Imagine what your head would look like :thumbsup:

MEh its cheaper than having to replace them when i keep scraping my head on the roof :lol:


Tbh as long as lithium cells are protected then there is no reason they would short out in water causing them to pop. There is a torch down the bottom of the lake under the zip line in Croessor with protected cells in and thats not popped yet :lol:

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I carry a spare 18650 for Fenix but fogot about it when I put my coat through the washer.

Well after going through the washing machine, detergent, hot water and all, the protection circuit was well buggered, but the battery itself was OK.

The new Sten battery looks fantastic. Would I be correct in thinking that a user can just change the 18650 when needed?

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The new Sten battery looks fantastic. Would I be correct in thinking that a user can just change the 18650 when needed?

Yes 🙂 You can change the cells- Li Ion cells do fail from time to time and this means you can just pop the lid and change them.

Also the cable, circuit board and cable will all be replaceable. In effect a completely serviceable battery pack.

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Looks good.
Any idea how it will fasten to a helmet?

i don't suppose you've actually got an idea from them when it's going to be produced for have you??!

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Cable ties or any old bit of tat we can find in the bottom of our kit boxes like normal :lol: :lol:

I assume the normal velcro thing as the older ones. It seems to hold them well but i find a bit of elastic helps as well. A propper helmet mounting would be good although does make it more awkward for changeing batteries in a rush.

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I shall take a screen grab of the back of the rendering ASAP 🙂 It has a clippy type thing.

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can we still use our zip ties and elastic tho 😞

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Here's the back :)

🔗Personal-Album-1-Image-66814[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1-Image-66814[/linkphoto][/link]

I shall check with StenSat as to exactly how they intend it being mounted - I imagine I shall continue with my elastic straps though :)

Rockchick - probably about 8 weeks off still I'm afraid.

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I would or thought 2 loops would of been a better idea. Are they making a longer cable for belt mounting as well?

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I would or thought 2 loops would of been a better idea. Are they making a longer cable for belt mounting as well?

Quite possibly, although not yet confirmed, but it would be a very easy job since the cable is a serviceable item - a longer one would let you belt mount or stick the battery in your oversuit.

However the battery box will be quite wee - it probably looks bigger in the rendering that it is. Obviously it's bigger than the current battery pack, but you can see the shape of the 18650 cells in the drawing so that gives some idea of scale 🙂

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Ah cool 🙂 Should be a nifty battery box when done :thumbup:

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Will this be available seperately from the Sten?

Ta.

can we still use our zip ties and elastic tho :-[

Answer from Sten - the shape of the back is to provide a flat area for people who want to continue to use the 3M sticky for attaching the battery pack.

Other than that attaching with straps / elastics as many people currently do will be the option of choice for many.

The notch in the moulding is incase anybody wants to bolt the battery pack in place.

I would or thought 2 loops would of been a better idea. Are they making a longer cable for belt mounting as well?

For sure, over time there will be different lengths of cable, and I'll be asking them to do a connector-less longer version of the cable as well.

Will this be available seperately from the Sten?

Ta.

Absolutely 🙂 All the Sten components have, and always will be, available in packs or as just the individual components.

Looking forward to having some kit to play with and to sell again and new kit to boot :thumbsup:

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Cool sounds like it will be a damn good pack 🙂 Glad to see a manufacturer working with the buyers to make improvements :thumbsup:

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looks good,let me no when your doing the upgrades again,a candle gives off more light than my old sten,lol.

Sorry for delay in replying to that question; I only got back on Friday from 2 weeks away.

So, the modifications being made to the Sten, with approx* timescales are:

1, New waterproof battery box - which will have a user serviceable cable, o-ring seal and facility to change the cells if required - in production now, should be ready for delivery to order in 2 months

2, Uprated emitters - the new lamp will use a more advanced LED, spefically the Luxeon Rebel ES LXML-PWC2 giving a typical 320 lumens (per emitter!) at 1000mA forward current. There's been a bit of a delay with these from Lumileds, but I'm told they're shipping now.

So good news and bad. Good that all the modifications and improvements are being made. Bad that it's not happening anything like as quickly as I'd like.

But as soon as the Rebel ES emitters come through I should start being able to offer upgrades again (will post when).

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