Hi all.
Does anyone have an FX-LED lamp that can be used on my FX3 battery? I think they made one with 7 leds. I'm not sure whether you had to convert the original lamp unit to fit it or whether it was a complete unit with cable.

Failing this, can anyone recommend a good led upgrade for the existing halogen bulb.

Cheers,

Al.

Want advice, not worth bothering with, get a new modern lamp.

You will get this from everywhere.

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Ok, cheers Roy.

Ok, cheers Roy.

Your welcome.

If you dont want to spend a lot of money, consider a Fenix headtorch. There are cheaper ones but dont expect quality. The Fenix is waterproof. No helmets with lamp brackets are manufactured today as well, so any lamp that requires a bracket fitting to a new helmet is not very wise choice. The headtorches will fit onto a helmet with the straps that come with it.

You will see a lot of Petzl Duos out there, but I wouldn't look at one.

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I'll second what Roy's said; even the Wisdom I lent you at the weekend is slightly old tech now. There's been a recent discussion over on UK Caving (that has somehow avoided descending into stupidity) about lights and there are various good options around for small, self-contained lights. The Fenix is the easiest to get hold of in the UK but the Stoots and the Zebra look interesting, the Wisdom self-contained units are decent too - remind me next time you're up in the Peak and I'll bring one for you to see.

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The all in one Wisdom is fluffing brilliant, what a proper workhorse. I trust my life to it.

Unless you're simply a mine tourist in which case there are plenty of super bright but badly engineered aluminium milled Lego toys about.

I love a good lamp rant :guns:

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Thanks Adam. I was impressed with the wisdom on Saturday night. I think I will definitely need to invest in something soon.
Miles - up until now I've only ever done fairly straight forward stuff but now hoping to get into more technical realms, so want something good.

Hi, I've got a seven LED conversion on an FX3. You had to use the original unit. They also did a 14 LED conversion. Only 4 of the LEDs still work on mine, but even with 7 it is woefully inadequate when compared to todays units.

Cheers Wyn. I think I will be investing in something more modern. It was good to read your opinion, as you had done the conversion.

Mr Biff (nothing to do with me) apart from he lives aboot 10 mins away makes some good pitlamp conversion kits:

http://www.customduo.co.uk/Pages/plshop.aspx 

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Roy, not sure what you are suggesting by stating that you cannot buy helmets fitted with brackets!
Bought a couple of Centurion helmets late last year and came fitted with standard brackets!
Admittedly they are not metal, but in use seem to be pretty rugged.
My FX-ION lamp still does it's stuff and all 14 LED's still work.
However did purchase a Wisdom KL5MS when the price was reduced.
Having used it, can vouch that Simon's clearance lamps are good value.

Roy, not sure what you are suggesting by stating that you cannot buy helmets fitted with brackets!
Bought a couple of Centurion helmets late last year and came fitted with standard brackets!

No I didn't, I said no helmets are being "manufactured" with brackets. For all I know someone may be selling them with a TV aerial mounted on top. When you drill holes in it you invalidate the safety certification, but once you bought it its yours to do whatever.
;D

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Thinking about it, we could both be right.

Most recreational cavers and explorers want helmets that meet climbing helmet standard for obvious reasons. Helmets for use in working mines dont need this standard, so you could be right.

Maybe Simon or someone in know can elaborate?

I always wear Petzl, Ecrin Roc if can get one is possibly best underground helmet ever made.

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I'm unaware of anyone who makes a climbing-standard helmet with a blade mount. You can buy industrial hard hats with them on like the Centurion.

You can add a blade mount to your own climbing helmet but yes it invalidates the warranty and safety certification.

That might not be a problem for Barry the Caver but it is for outfits like us at Go Below, we cannot "modify" the helmets by installing a lamp bracket. So we cannot use lamps with blade mounts anymore.

We have about 150 x Pixa2 lamps from Petzl with the optional rubber band (rather than the standard elastic). To be honest, they make a good reliable lamp for daily service, and the rubber band sticks to any helmet very effectively.

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I believe the Centurions have a plastic bracket stuck to the helmet with a sticky pad, they are a good helmet.

JSP also manufacture a helmet with a pre-fitted lamp clip.

I sell a range of German manufactured helmets made by a company called Voshelme, these also have pre-fitted lamp clips with the clip being a metal bracket drilled and riveted to the helmet. I picked the Voshelme because I thought it was a better helmet at the price, and I like the lumi version ;)

Roy however is spot on, buy a helmet and drill it and you invalidate the approvals (typically EN 397). So all the helmets sold pre-fitted with clips have been certified with that clip fitted. Losing the certification is not an issue to us, but in industry or commercial recreational use it isn't an option.

All that said, whilst the blade mount is still the standard mount for mining lamps worldwide I think most high end caving lamps have moved away from it? Scurions and Rude Noras etc are usually permanently attached I think with the blade mount an option. And the Phaeton used a GoPro mount if I recall? Petal have various options for mounting a range of their lamps to a number of their helmets without drilling.

Blade mount is the best option for a work lamp still. You can also buy a decent elasticated headstrap that takes a blade mount lamp for not much, and KSE make a version called a helmet spider that has clips to stop the strap pinging off a regular hard hat.

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After a lot of thought I decided to manufacture lamps that bolt straight on, the idea of drilling holes to take a bracket to then take a lamp appears nonsense to me.
But I decided to make the holes 40mm apart to match the Petzl bracket so that they would be interchangeable with the lamp.

The self adhesive brackets appear to be a growing option as I have recently been contacted by a Chinese firm, ( I get deluged!) offering lamps that stick straight on.

I will not be importing any Chinese lamps as I only run the lamps as a hobby and dont want a full time business, I have enough trying to meet demand for my own at times.

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At Nenthead, we have recently converted all our FX2 headsets to LED bulbs - 1W Cree with the MES fitting. These are great for walking and climbing ladders in our Tourist Mine. However, I agree with previous comments - better to buy a lamp that has the light source matched to the reflector, which means that a Wisdom 8 is probably the best affordable buy.

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These stick on plastic brackets, seem pretty robust, and certainly have not noticed any problems with them on the Centurion.
Fundamentally if they are pressure bonded to the helmet, then they should not weaken the shell at all, and presumably then they comply with required kitemark standard.
I did notice one disclaimer on these helmets they will not stand molten metal, surprise, surprise!
Accordingly they state that this fact has to be recorded on their helmets!