In the process of kiting myself up to go underground I've come across a couple of items that might be of interest to some of you who might like to adapt items for other uses. This site http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/  has a conversion LED kit for the Maglite 4D, its very expensive at £75 but it comes with the pcb, aluminum heat sink and glass lenses, which fit into the head of the Maglite. Could be used as a very good standby light or pointer.

The other item is a 12v MR16 (otherwise known as dichroics) This version sports 3, 1w Seoul P4 LEDs It has its own inbuilt voltage regulator and will accept AC/DC from 8 to 15 volts. The light emitted is awesome. I've had it connected to a 11.1volt Li-Po. It's rated at 270 lumens which is apparently the equivalent to 40 watts. Weighs in at £20. Obviously its not waterproof and because of the configuration might be hard to adapt for general underground use. But it could be used for communal/survey UG or for camping/social.

BTW I'm not advocating the use of Li-Po's for UG use they are a little unstable/dangerous. They would have to be protected from any form of damage and over discharge. Better to use Li-ion or Nicads.

Hope I don't sound daft... But what is Li-Po? I tried searching it on Google, but all I found was a dead Chinese poet. I'm assuming it isn't really powered by Chinese poets? :lol:

I guess this shows I need to keep more up to date with battery technology 😉

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Li-Po stands for Lithium Polymer, a slightly more advanced concoction than Lithium Ion. They are light and can have very large capacities but you have to watch the discharge rate and not discharge them below a certain level. (Just trying to remember why I know this)

Thanks Chris.

Definitely not a Chinese poet then... 😞

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In the process of kiting myself up to go underground I've come across a couple of items that might be of interest to some of you who might like to adapt items for other uses. This site http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/  has a conversion LED kit for the Maglite 4D, its very expensive at £75 but it comes with the pcb, aluminum heat sink and glass lenses, which fit into the head of the Maglite. Could be used as a very good standby light or pointer.

While the battery life is probably pretty awesome, the weight bit worries me. The Fenix P3D does a damn fine job as an ultra-bright flashlight and is also very lightweight - have a look at the link to Excellent Stuff at the bottom of the left hand column on this page.

The other item is a 12v MR16 (otherwise known as dichroics) This version sports 3, 1w Seoul P4 LEDs It has its own inbuilt voltage regulator and will accept AC/DC from 8 to 15 volts. The light emitted is awesome. I've had it connected to a 11.1volt Li-Po. It's rated at 270 lumens which is apparently the equivalent to 40 watts. Weighs in at £20. Obviously its not waterproof and because of the configuration might be hard to adapt for general underground use. But it could be used for communal/survey UG or for camping/social.

This sounds interesting: 270 lumens is quite something. I'm not sure of the conversion to watts though: I don't think the two have a fixed ratio.

Do you have a link to this?

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:lol: Definitely not a Chinese poet.

Chris is right. These batteries come with a health warning and not for sale to those -16. The batteries have very little internal resistance and this allows them to be charged very quickly and they hold very large amounts of energy for their size. If you discharge them below a certain voltage you wreck them. If you attempt (note the word attempt) to over charge they can set alight or even explode. Once alight they are difficult to extinguish.
You tube has some fine examples.

I was considering a Fenix- looks an impressive torch but being poor I can't afford something which doesn't use rechargeable batteries 😞

Sounds like they are best avoided then! They don't sound worth the hassle.

snip

This sounds interesting: 270 lumens is quite something. I'm not sure of the conversion to watts though: I don't think the two have a fixed ratio.

Do you have a link to this?

Vanoord, I'd agree the Maglite option may be heavy but it does produce 640 lumens. And I should think it might take rechargeables.

This the 3x1 Seoul P4 link
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/mr16-gu53-acdc-cool-white-spot-lumen-p-1561.html?osCsid=6884022ad4e609f5546a392a1cbe23a9 

And this is the Maglite link
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/inretech-quadlite-4x160-lumen-maglight-bulb-p-1563.html 

I haven't a clue as to the conversion factor I'm just reporting what is on the site.

Pete.

Well you can buy simple circuitry to cut off the power when the voltage drops to a certain level- they've been succesful in many situations to date, and will probably more suitable for the mines in the next few years when technology evolves.

snip

This sounds interesting: 270 lumens is quite something. I'm not sure of the conversion to watts though: I don't think the two have a fixed ratio.

Do you have a link to this?

Vanoord, I'd agree the Maglite option may be heavy but it does produce 640 lumens. And I should think it might take rechargeables.

This the 3x1 Seoul P4 link
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/mr16-gu53-acdc-cool-white-spot-lumen-p-1561.html?osCsid=6884022ad4e609f5546a392a1cbe23a9 

And this is the Maglite link
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/inretech-quadlite-4x160-lumen-maglight-bulb-p-1563.html 

I haven't a clue as to the conversion factor I'm just reporting what is on the site.

Pete.

Thanks for that :)

Yes, I'd say 640 lumens would do the trick! 40 watts? Could well be the equivalent of something like that.

Mind you, as I've said elsewhere, it might be overkill, unless you want to cook with it 😉

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I have recently picked up a LED headlight off e-bay and have been trying it out. The FOX FURY (comes in a range of sub types) is very bright, very smart in preserving your fading batteries (4 x AA) and pretty robust. Easily found via google, I'm really quite impressed with mine. They are being bought in from the US in very small numbers but these are very expensive. I bought mine direct from Us, and even with postage and VAT to be paid was much cheaper than buying in the UK. Worth a punt I'd say. :thumbsup: