Kavelight P60 Headlamp

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Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby kevinm » Mar 14, 2012 1:28 am

Hi all,

After a lot of time being frustrated by caving headlamps I can afford and wanting the ones I can't, I built my own! This headlamp uses P60 and 26mm drop-ins, so it's user upgradeable. Though it was originally designed to be a caving headlamp (and is more than tough enough for that), people who bought one use them for mountain biking, outdoor adventuring, and orienteering.

Image


Typical drop-ins can be found all over the web, but here's a sample:
http://www.lighthound.com/LED-Drop-In_c_197.html

Details:
Made in Colorado!

body: 1.5-6mm thick machined from T6 6061 aluminum
hard anodized 2 mils thick in CPF red (twice the minimum military standard thickness)
according to SolidWorks, capable of holding 1800lbs before deforming

lens: 1/8" thick Plexiglass

switch: waterproof and dust proof to IP68x
mechanical (won't mess with your compass)
10A, 30V DC
made by a US aerospace manufacturing firm and each batch (15 at a time) of components is tested
very low resistance; no noticeable voltage drop at 4 amps

cable glands: waterproof to IP68, 5 bars

cable: fire retardant, chemical, radiation, and abrasion resistant

connectors: same as Stenlight

battery case: battery carrier inside holds 4x18650's wired for 3.7V, 7.4V, or 14.8
waterproof
machined from the same aluminum

copper clad circuit board for contacts

blade mount or aluminum bracket mount

Additional Options:
extra cables
longer cables
no battery case
battery pack (like the Stenlight ones)
less durable but larger gauge cable (for drop-ins above 4A)
extra battery carrier for different voltage (swappable)
headband
handlebar mount

All the additional options cost extra, but how much depends on what you want. If you want a complete package with batteries, charger, and drop-in, I can do that too for $280 plus shipping (usually $10)

It's heavier than a Stenlight, but lighter than a Scurion. Exact weight depends on the drop-in and mounting option.

Future Options:
I'm working on a flood module (hopefully user swappable) for the big hole that holds the switch so that you can run two LED's. It will be made to fit this model.

I'm also working on programming P60 modules. I can program them to have 1, 3, or 5 modes so far. I've not tried making a strobe yet...

Compatibility:
So far, users have run Malkoff, Nailbender, Anto, and Solarforce drop-ins in these. At amperages above 3.5A, I'd suggest the optional cable. I'm looking forward to trying a Moddoo triple in one too! With all of these heat management has not been an issue. If you wrap your drop-ins in copper tape, go easy on it; the tolerances are pretty tight.

I'll ship outside the US; it just costs a little more.

They are for sale in the marketplace.

Thanks for looking!
Kevin
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Last edited by kevinm on May 13, 2012 11:06 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby kevinm » Mar 14, 2012 1:36 am

Okay, now that you all know what I'm working on, I have questions.

1. What name would you suggest? I thought about NewtLight, and others suggested KM1, StalagLite, LechLitght, and AAAGGGHHH! My eyes!

2. If the optional 2nd drop-in is less than $100, would it be worth getting to you? It would be all flood; the drop-ins typically produce a spot with a lot of spill around it.

3. How important is dive-able to you?

4. What modes would be good to you? I was thinking that the demands in CO are different from those where there are big drops. Maybe regional programming?

Thanks,
Keivn

P.s.-I'm off to do survey in 3-Fingers this weekend, so I might not get back to the thread 'til Monday.
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby potholer » Mar 14, 2012 1:48 pm

An nice light (saw the pictures over on candlepowerforums).

What were you planning on doing regarding beam control for someone with flood and spot LEDs?
If power/switch is common to the two LED drivers, I'd be interested to see how you approach that - I guess you could have an upstream controller that controlled the P60 through power supply control, though I suppose it might need to be aware of what mode the P60 was actually in.

As for names, that's a real tricky area.
I guess it depends on the kind of thing you're looking for, in terms of what combination of humorous/memorable/descriptive/etc, and what you might want to do to distinguish between different current models, or current and future models.
The first thing I made, I gave a name which was effectively an in-joke between me and some expedition friends, but that had to change when I realised I actually had a market other than just with friends.
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby Extremeophile » Mar 14, 2012 3:23 pm

The "Lumenator"

I would avoid anything with the word "newt" given the way the GOP primaries are going.
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby Extremeophile » Mar 14, 2012 3:28 pm

Oh, and reserve one for me once you have the dual-LED flood module.

Derek
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby caverdan » Mar 14, 2012 4:42 pm

I'd call it......Cup-O-Soup!!!.....because Rick used his to heat up his lunch the other day in Narrows. :) :big grin: :big grin: :big grin:
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby kevinm » Mar 14, 2012 11:31 pm

potholer wrote:An nice light (saw the pictures over on candlepowerforums).

What were you planning on doing regarding beam control for someone with flood and spot LEDs?
If power/switch is common to the two LED drivers, I'd be interested to see how you approach that - I guess you could have an upstream controller that controlled the P60 through power supply control, though I suppose it might need to be aware of what mode the P60 was actually in.


I can program Atmel based drop-ins (which is about half of them), so my plan for the flood/spot combo was to set them so that when the switch is on you have (flood/spot)
low, off
high, off
off, low
off, high
low, low
high, low
or any combination that one wants. That way, we don't have to add any additional components for control. Alternately, one could just choose drop-ins that have relatively prime numbers of modes.
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby kevinm » Mar 14, 2012 11:32 pm

Extremeophile wrote:Oh, and reserve one for me once you have the dual-LED flood module.

Derek


Will do, Derek!

Kevin
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby kevinm » Mar 14, 2012 11:34 pm

caverdan wrote:I'd call it......Cup-O-Soup!!!.....because Rick used his to heat up his lunch the other day in Narrows. :) :big grin: :big grin: :big grin:


So that's what they learn in NCRC level 2! :doh:
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby potholer » Mar 15, 2012 6:58 am

kevinm wrote:I can program Atmel based drop-ins (which is about half of them), so my plan for the flood/spot combo was to set them so that when the switch is on you have (flood/spot)
low, off [...etc...]
high, low
or any combination that one wants. That way, we don't have to add any additional components for control. Alternately, one could just choose drop-ins that have relatively prime numbers of modes.

Ah - so they'd be memory-free, and leaving the light off for a few seconds would reset both dropins to the start of their sequence, so if they ever did manage to get out of sync one unit seeing one more pulse than the other, they could be resynchronised just by turning the light off and on again?

If it wasn't for the huge battery, I'd have suggested trying mixing a very small amount of spot in even in the 'flood' modes, since if done subtly, that can make a flood go much further without ruining the 'feel', or meaningfully increasing power consumption, though I guess power consumption isn't much of an issue for you.
Though unless you really need a pure flood, I'd be tempted to try it out on at least your highest flood setting, since that could give more reach for little extra power/heat.

What are you planning on doing for the flood LED - having it fully naked, or having some tiny nonfocussing reflector/surround around it?
The latter can make a heck of a difference - homemaking tiny reflectors from silvered plastic, I can give a flood a central boost of 2-3x without losing the basic floody character, and just by using light that would otherwise have been effectively wasted.
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby caverdan » Mar 15, 2012 9:45 am

kevinm wrote:
caverdan wrote:I'd call it......Cup-O-Soup!!!.....because Rick used his to heat up his lunch the other day in Narrows. :) :big grin: :big grin: :big grin:


So that's what they learn in NCRC level 2! :doh:


You could call it the "Too Bright to Cave With Light"...."Brighty"....for short.

How about the obvious.....The Manley Light.

It truely is a Manly light. Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor would be very proud of your accomplishments with his famous two grunt's. :kewl:
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby Caver John » Mar 15, 2012 11:27 am

What happened to the Cpf link?

Btw: this light with a flood/spot combo at a simiar price would be a winner
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby kevinm » Mar 15, 2012 3:21 pm

potholer wrote:Ah - so they'd be memory-free, and leaving the light off for a few seconds would reset both dropins to the start of their sequence, so if they ever did manage to get out of sync one unit seeing one more pulse than the other, they could be resynchronised just by turning the light off and on again?


I can turn the memory off or on. No memory has the advantage you mention above. Having memory on has the advantage that it turns on how you left it. Either is an option!

potholer wrote:If it wasn't for the huge battery, I'd have suggested trying mixing a very small amount of spot in even in the 'flood' modes, since if done subtly, that can make a flood go much further without ruining the 'feel', or meaningfully increasing power consumption, though I guess power consumption isn't much of an issue for you.
Though unless you really need a pure flood, I'd be tempted to try it out on at least your highest flood setting, since that could give more reach for little extra power/heat.


50% power on flood and 25% on spot would probably be nice, and it would be easy to set a mode that way. I like biased floods too. In CO, so much is small and tight, people like an all flood option.

potholer wrote:What are you planning on doing for the flood LED - having it fully naked, or having some tiny nonfocussing reflector/surround around it?
The latter can make a heck of a difference - homemaking tiny reflectors from silvered plastic, I can give a flood a central boost of 2-3x without losing the basic floody character, and just by using light that would otherwise have been effectively wasted.


I was thinking of naked, but with one of the many new emitters that have an 80 degree beam angle (like the current Zebralights), rather than the 120 of the XM-L. I'm still looking into these, but some are high CRI too. Better color rendition with warmer light, mixed with neutral or cool XM-L for throw would be a good combo. If they turn out not to work, I'll look for some small reflectors.

Kevin
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby kevinm » Mar 15, 2012 3:25 pm

Caver John wrote:What happened to the Cpf link?

Btw: this light with a flood/spot combo at a simiar price would be a winner


:doh: I put the link in the Speleo-Marketplace add. Right now, I can't get to it. CPF is sometimes slow and they got hacked recently.

Kevin
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Re: Kavelight P60 Headlamp

Postby kevinm » Mar 15, 2012 3:26 pm

caverdan wrote:
kevinm wrote:
caverdan wrote:I'd call it......Cup-O-Soup!!!.....because Rick used his to heat up his lunch the other day in Narrows. :) :big grin: :big grin: :big grin:


So that's what they learn in NCRC level 2! :doh:


You could call it the "Too Bright to Cave With Light"...."Brighty"....for short.

How about the obvious.....The Manley Light.

It truely is a Manly light. Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor would be very proud of your accomplishments with his famous two grunt's. :kewl:


Thanks, Dan! It's just too bright because you need MORE POWER! Ugh ugh!

Off to the Guads!!!!

Kevin
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