Petzl Mega halogen to LED?

[Matjl]

Hi guys,

I'm not actually a caver but I figure you guys will know this sort of stuff. Please brace yourselves for some dumb questions

I have an old Petzl Mega belt that I use primarily for hiking at night but I tire of having to hump spare batteries around all the time. I was thinking of buying a new fandangly LED light but then got to thinking it may be possible, and hopefully very cheap and easy... , to modify my existing light somehow?
Can I just buy some kind of LED that will screw in where the current halogen one does now?
Can I just buy a new light head and hook it up?
Is there some sort of retro kit I can buy?
Am I cheap bastard who should just pony up for a new light?

Thanks

Matt

[cavedoc]

I can't answer any of your questions but I look forward to what others may have to say. I used a Mega for 10 years or so and was happy enough with it at the time. Eventually other lamps became so much better and the electrical connections became just too funky. My battery pack was on the back of my helmet and I had to keep banging it to reestablish an electical connection. Different shims around the batteries helped for a while but eventually not. Do you have better luck with your belt mounted battery pack? Did you have to do anything to get a longer life out of it?

[Chads93GT]

www.candlepowerforums.com

Ask your question there and you will get a lot more feedback from guys who mod lights and build custom lights.

[Cody JW]

Normally it would be easy, just use some of the current bulbs for the duo. But, if I remember correctly the mega uses 3 Cs or 3 AAs .That makes it a 4.5 volt system not a 6. I suspect that will be a harder bulb to find.

[Cody JW]

Since you are not using the light for caving I would just go to wallmart or home depot and get a new caplamp.You can buy a much brighter led light than what you have for far less money than what you paid for the mega.I would look for something that is at least 100 lumens or more.If you were using the light for a cave, we would be having a different conversation.Keep in mind that led tech. changes as rapidly as computer tech so what is bright now will be yesterdays news before you know it.

[NZcaver]

I have an old Petzl Mega belt that I use primarily for hiking at night but I tire of having to hump spare batteries around all the time. I was thinking of buying a new fandangly LED light but then got to thinking it may be possible, and hopefully very cheap and easy... , to modify my existing light somehow?
Can I just buy some kind of LED that will screw in where the current halogen one does now?
Can I just buy a new light head and hook it up?
Is there some sort of retro kit I can buy?
Am I cheap bastard who should just pony up for a new light?

Welcome to the forum. Short answer? Yes you should pony up for a new light, you cheap bastard.

I had a Mega for a while. I bought it used about 10 years ago, tried it, then promptly sold it to another caver who wanted it. Back in the 90's, there were many (OK, maybe a few) cavers who liked them. I wasn't a fan myself, although I did use the AA-only version - the famous Petzl Zoom - quite a lot before I bought a Duo.

I don't recommend doing a LED upgrade, unless you have the time and energy to rebuild the whole front end of the light. If you just buy an LED upgrade like this one, you'll get an overpriced, inefficient retrofit "bulb" with no heat sinking. I should know - I bought one many years ago. The technology was reasonable for that time, but since then LED efficiency has leaped forward dramatically and these products have stayed the same. Also, the Zoom reflector is optimized for an incandescent bulb so the beam looks like crap with an LED.

If you want a good light for night hiking, check out the Fenix HP10 or the Princeton Tec Apex. Both are many orders of magnitude brighter than your old Mega, and have much better battery life on 4 AAs. If you want a good lightweight/backup light, check out the 1 AA Zebralight family. All these are in the $50-70 price range. There's plenty of other reasonable lights available cheaper too, if you want to save your dollars. Do a Google search, check out eBay, visit your local outdoor store or Walmart, etc.

[indoor]

Ok. Here's a cheap upgrade that I'm amazed with so far for the Petzl Zoom lamp to LED(I believe Mega is the same thing as Zoom, but it has a belt... I'm not sure). The link: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... bulbs.html
Get the E10-WHP bulb. It's $9.95 plus $3.21 shipping. It's a very bright LED. You just screw it in and put the original one in the back/spare location :)

[Marduke]

Ok. Here's a cheap upgrade that I'm amazed with so far for the Petzl Zoom lamp to LED(I believe Mega is the same thing as Zoom, but it has a belt... I'm not sure). The link: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... bulbs.html
Get the E10-WHP bulb. It's $9.95 plus $3.21 shipping. It's a very bright LED. You just screw it in and put the original one in the back/spare location :)

Unfortunately that is about 3 generations behind, and about 1/4 the efficacy of anything remotely modern.

[Kuzgun]

http://global.ebay.com/Cree-Q5-White-LE ... 66573/item

buy this and break one halogen bulb than use its screw base for leds electricity. replace Mega's reflector with lens collimator. dunno its performance but 260lm is not a lie, its lights great.

[indoor]

To Marduke:
I'm not sure what's 3 generations behind: the headlamp or the bulb. Either way the idea is that if you spent $45 on a Petzl Zoom(10 years ago, it doesn't matter) and don't want to throw it away you can upgrade it. It looks like there are some options...and if you think it's too bulky for a cave trip keep it in the car garage or even in your house(as a back up), you might need it and you can use both your hands (since it's still a headlamp- not a 'modern one' but still a good headlamp especially when upgraded). Of course if you are the type to take the car to the shop if it stalls or call AAA when you have a flat then might as well give it to a charity...

[NZcaver]

I'm not sure what's 3 generations behind: the headlamp or the bulb.

Welcome to the forum. I'm pretty sure he means the LED retrofit "bulb" is 3 generations behind. Yes, you can install one and bring *some* functionality to an otherwise old and dim incandescent headlamp. But there are caveats. See my previous post here.

[Marduke]

To Marduke:
I'm not sure what's 3 generations behind: the headlamp or the bulb. Either way the idea is that if you spent $45 on a Petzl Zoom(10 years ago, it doesn't matter) and don't want to throw it away you can upgrade it. It looks like there are some options...and if you think it's too bulky for a cave trip keep it in the car garage or even in your house(as a back up), you might need it and you can use both your hands (since it's still a headlamp- not a 'modern one' but still a good headlamp especially when upgraded). Of course if you are the type to take the car to the shop if it stalls or call AAA when you have a flat then might as well give it to a charity...

I'm talking about the "upgrade" module.

[Jon]

Way old subject but it never gets old ...... I bought something 20 years ago for $10, I have gotten $30 worth of value from it. I want to get $100 worth of value more from it for another $10 (or less) investment. However in reality I will end up spending $40 cash, and $50 worth of time to get less than $15 worth of value but SAVE $10 and be happy and proud that I saved $10. Now I'm as cheap as the next caver but there is a point of no return. Yes I keep carbide around, yes I have a ceiling burner and cap-lamps. I use them when I feel like a retro trip. But I have a Sten and a bunch of Apex's as loaners or go to the garage lights. Do I try and turn an Autolight caplamp into something that puts a Scurion to shame? No. You can restore something for old times sake. You can do an upgrade of stupid expense to prove that you can do it. Or you can use your brain, and, earn enough to buy the right tool for the job. We aren't talking post nuclear war survival here. Save the bad old equipment for a fireside chat with three fingers of Jack.

[indoor]

OK. Let me get this straight. My upgrade option mentioned before (from superbrightleds) costs $14. It is very bright when you compare it to a halogen. It lasts 12 hours with 3 old AA rechargeable batteries. And you don't have to sweat doing all sort of mods. You simply unscrew the halogen bulb and screw in the LED one. Why is this bad? I promise you guys that you won't see me with this headlamp in a cave. Can I please use it for other stuff? The cap-lamp is almost brand new since I didn't use it much(the halogen bulb ate batteries too fast so I bought a Petzl Tikka Plus at some point)... I know that technology keeps going forward and at some point we will need sunglasses in the cave because of our 'bright' lights. But if I keep buying cap-lamps every time a new brighter/more efficient one comes up I will be broke and fill up the land with plastic...