Hi does anyone know where I can get a hold of working Oldham Type T Megalight Lead-Acid cap lamp batteries? If it is possible please someone tell me. :D

Regards,
Thomas

---

You can't find good Oldham T cells for love nor money these days.

I recently laid hands on a couple of unused cells - in spite of repeated charge /discharge cycles I couldn't get more than a few hours light out of them.

If it's not a rude question why do you want to use an Oldham? Technology has moved on so far and there are a myriad of better options available if you are looking for a light source suitable for mine exploration.

If you have an Oldham headset there are some really good drop in LED upgrades available.

Very regular on eBay, several every week.

---

Very regular on eBay, several every week.

The problem is knowing how much life is left in them (probably not a great deal).

If you dont mind spending the money, Caving Supplies are still selling (?) new ones.

EDIT
I have an immaculate T3 I have just turned up, you could match this to a new T6 battery from CS at £60.
An issue is that they cant send lead acid batteries through the post, would have to use a courier service, so more ££££££

Not sure why you want one one of these.

---

Ok, the reason I want a Oldham caplamp is because the lifespan can be up to 9 years and also a very powerful halogen bulb which shines for miles, I have tried out LED but they don't seem to match.

---

I will leave a reply to this for someone else, assuming Mr Tonto isn't just taking the pee.

---

Don't worry Roy, I'm sure the Lone Ranger will make him see sense eventually.............

The trusty old Oldham :)

You're spot on, those T series lead-acid batteries can last and last, assuming they're well looked after.

If they're left dry and the plates oxidise you'll find they will hold very little charge. I found this out recently when I bought a batch of 100. A few people on here got freebie doorstops; the rest went for recycling!

I had somebody call me up a few months ago asking if his 20 year old battery was repairable. It wasn't, but he'd certainly had his money's worth :thumbsup:

Typically a LiIon cell will quote 500 to 750 full charge/discharge cycles. LiFePO4 about 1,000. As ever the quality of the cells will determine the lifespan; there are plenty of original Oldham L16 batteries still going strong in various workplaces, after around 6 years.

The Oldham lead-acid cells went out of production in early 2012, and sold out soon after that. A few places (like CS that Roy mentioned) still have stock.

http://www.caving-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi/27016%7C%7C%7C180%7Cuser%7C%7C731 

They pop up on eBay from time to time:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OLDHAM-CAPLAMP-CAP-LAMP-MINING-LAMP-POTHOLING-CAVING-MF-TYPE-G-/231269203961?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Climbing_Mountaineering&hash=item35d8b7fff9 

That's the MP type battery; and take note it says battery unknown/untested

Or:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OLDHAM-CAPLAMP-CAP-LAMP-MINING-LAMP-POTHOLING-CAVING-LITHIUM-ION-GL16-/331238178950?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Climbing_Mountaineering&hash=item4d1f558086 

That one has the L16 battery; which you CANNOT charge on standard Oldham lead acid chargers. However if you have a reasonably new Oldham lead-acid charger (yellow metal cube, or - I think - the black plastic one that came just before it) there's a chip with that lamp/battery that converts your charger to the LiIon charging profile.

You might also get lucky and find an L9 cell - this is designed as a direct replacement to the T series; as long as your lamp has a plastic battery top (battery top is available as a spare part) the L9 will work with your lamp and happily charge on earlier (pre black plastic) chargers.

L9/L16 cells, and single / double / five / ten lamp chargers are all available new but are very expensive.

--

Alternatives are:

http://www.technicalconcepts.org.uk/ledlighting.htm 

Or any of the current crop of super lamps:

www.ledcaplamps.com

www.littlemonkeycaving.co.uk/Pages/RudeNoraII.aspx

www.scurion.ch/jm

---

Ok, the reason I want a Oldham caplamp is because the lifespan can be up to 9 years and also a very powerful halogen bulb which shines for miles, I have tried out LED but they don't seem to match.

One of the real problems even with "new" cells is that they have probably been sitting around in store for longer than is good for them. This is largely due to the demise of the mining industry who bought Oldhams by the ton ensuring that there was a regular turnover and that new cells were in fact new.

I use Oldham Ts and Oldham MFs every day at work. When I play I use a Fellows Ecostar (a modern LED lamp), having previously been a Oldham devotee for fifteen or so years.

The Ecostar blows the Oldhams out of the water. It is much, much brighter and you do not have the added hassle of having a great lump of lead attached to your waist.

Most serious mine explorers (and apparently c*v*rs) have relegated Oldhams to the junk heap of history where they belong. LEDs and modern battery technology are without a shadow of a doubt the way to go. There has been a massive revolution in underground lighting in the last decade and it would be a shame to ignore it.

Ok, the reason I want a Oldham caplamp is because the lifespan can be up to 9 years and also a very powerful halogen bulb which shines for miles, I have tried out LED but they don't seem to match.

You are kidding right?

Chris.

I think I will stick with Oldham, Maybe upgrade to the LiIon and see what their like.

---

For what its worth, ChrisJC has what is arguably the most powerful caplamp in the world, at 11,300 lumens on full setting.
To put this in perspective the lead acid - bulb powered Oldham puts out 50 lumens, so simple maths, yes it has the power of 226 Oldhams.

My new Lynx X5000 is about 4,500 lumens, which is 90 Oldhams.
My X3000 and Trigon will output on standard mode 200 lumens which is 4 Oldhams, except the Fellows lamp does it on 1.4 watts of battery hit against the Oldams 4 watts.

:smartass:

Chris by the way, visited your website to get the figure correct, while on there saw your 'driving tips'. So I have been driving 52 years and never had a third party claim against me regardles of sometimes notching up 30,000 miles in a year. So what has this Cowdery smartass got to say?

Well, I agree every bloody word, right on Man!
;D

I'm back again with some more stuff, fished out of my personal album.

This is an Oldham in Ratgoed:
🔗Personal-Album-128-Image-58397[linkphoto]Personal-Album-128-Image-58397[/linkphoto][/link]

This is my Eco on full chat, same camera settings, same place, about 500 lumens:

🔗Personal-Album-128-Image-58400[linkphoto]Personal-Album-128-Image-58400[/linkphoto][/link]

---

Oldham lead acid batteries used to have a life of around two years, I've had more out of them, but pretty rare. But that is in daily service and run 7 to 12 hour shifts underground in working mines.

A lot never lasted a year!!!

Lead acid cap lamp batteries are still made under several different company names, Oldham is phasing their lead acid battery manufacture out in favour of more modern technology.

Biggest problem with "working" type Oldhams that I found was the plates disintegrating and shorting the cells out. Probably due to all the knocks and bangs on machinery, low coal faces etc..

As other members have stated, go for modern technology, the lead acid battery for cap lamps is long dead..

Oldham lead acid batteries used to have a life of around two years, I've had more out of them, but pretty rare. But that is in daily service and run 7 to 12 hour shifts underground in working mines...

The T2 they made years ago would last a ridiculous time, I had one 20 years old that gave about 20 hours. Quality dived and last ones, the T6 became rubbish, the blue MF worse.

Lead acid cap lamp batteries are still made under several different company names, Oldham is phasing their lead acid battery manufacture out in favour of more modern technology.

The Oldam batteries were manufactured by National Battery of South Africa. Oldham have discontinued both lead acid batteries and GT headsets, although they still have large stock of the latter, and they contacted me to see if me interested in buying any.

As other members have stated, go for modern technology, the lead acid battery for cap lamps is long dead..

Amen

---

Oldham lead acid batteries used to have a life of around two years, I've had more out of them, but pretty rare. But that is in daily service and run 7 to 12 hour shifts underground in working mines...

The T2 they made years ago would last a ridiculous time, I had one 20 years old that gave about 20 hours. Quality dived and last ones, the T6 became rubbish, the blue MF worse.

Lead acid cap lamp batteries are still made under several different company names, Oldham is phasing their lead acid battery manufacture out in favour of more modern technology.

The Oldam batteries were manufactured by National Battery of South Africa. Oldham have discontinued both lead acid batteries and GT headsets, although they still have large stock of the latter, and they contacted me to see if me interested in buying any.

As other members have stated, go for modern technology, the lead acid battery for cap lamps is long dead..

Amen

I was on about in the mining working situation Roy, I did say that...LOL

I spent over 25 years underground as a mine electrician, the longest I got out of a battery was the old type used in the 60's and that was three years life before it would hold it's charge.. Shortest time, around nine months for the type T...
Remember, as an electrician I'd put in many hours, batteries would get hammered with abuse...

The demolition company i bought mine off had at least 100 boxes they were on Ebay for months (someone bought them) ?the ones i bought are kept fully charged and will give at least 14 hours burn time + reserve

The batteries are the most up to date ones Made by EnerSys of Swinton Manchester they are Type "T" Megalight green and are clear plastic

On using "Floodlights underground , i'm a bit of a dinosaur and prefer to see mines as the men who dug them saw them
and i dont think i'm alone in this , i see cavers / mine explorers all the time wearing them
There is something quite comforting in humping a huge lead acid battery around with me, as opposed to my little three triple AAA LED Lenser H7 😉

Which means that you might have to swap your Oldham for a carbide or flamesafety lamp or even worse depending on the mine or part of a mine you're exploring.

That would not be a problem for me,
I have about 250 safety lamps and several carbide lamps , along with torches etc which nearly all work , and if i were to go into and old coalmine i would take two safety lamps and my Oldham:thumbsup:

A while ago I experimented with a sort of imitation Oldham. I took the lead plates out of a battery case, cleaned it out, and put a couple of 18650 Li Ion cells in it together with some control electronics. A black dustbin liner as filling so you couldnt see what inside, and sealed in a platic top with 'authentic' terminals.

I found a nice yellowy LED that duped the colour of the Oldham bulb but could not get it to focus to a tight beam. I tried an LED miners lamp head but it was a weak effort. In the end I used a cree XRE at 350 mA, it was OK, but not right if you get my drift.
Still gave double the light of a genuine Oldham at about a quarter of the power consumption.

I suppose if I really looked I could find an LED that would do it.

It looked authentic until you picked it up an found it weighed nothing!

---