Acetylene Carbide Headlamp

[Chatt89]

I keep eyeing the Petzl Aceto Headlamp in my local store. Has anyone tried these? I thought it would be interesting to give it a shot but i dont know anyone whos used one. Thoughts.....?

[Chatt89]

Anyone... Anyone... Buhler...?

[tncaver]

It's a good headlamp but acquiring the calcium carbide can be a challenge these days.

[Chatt89]

My local store supplies the carbide. But how much light do they really put out? What would be the advantage i guess to picking up something like that? They are pretty expensive. My curiosity may just get the best of me and i will have to grab one and give it a shot. Nothing wrong with adding to the gear collection

[BenS]

Find a used one if you can. That would be like buying a new petzl duo at this point almost. Most cavers have stopped using carbide lamps because they are heavy and bulky and there are other alternatives for long lasting light sources now. I'm guessing you saw it at onrope1? There might actually be another thread covering this topic if I remember correctly... try a search really quick and see what you find.

[firemedic1015]

The Aceto is an excellent carbide lamp. It works very well. With the carbide generator on your belt or a sling it makes your helmet light weight. It provides about 8 hours of light on a full carbide fill, with several water refills. The light is a warm glow that fills the passage. It has the added benefit of providing heat in case of an emergency.

With all of that said, I haven't used mine once since I got a Sten.

It also appears that Petzl has stopped making them, I guess LED's have taken over.

[tncaver]

There are disadvantages to using carbide lights. They require water that you might prefer to use for drinking and they also
produce an unpleasant smell. The biggest drawback is that you have to pack out the used carbide in a bottle as well as keep
the fresh carbide in a water proof container to prevent oxidation and the possibility of leaking gas that can ignite or even
explode.

Frankly, LED lights are so advanced now that they make a lot more sense.

[scrambler]

While it seems like carbide lights are fading into the past, I really like them in wetter caves where the generator acts as a heat source. The amount of light is pretty decent and you can fiddle a bit with it to get more or less light depending on how much water/bide you have (therefore adjusting the stream of acetylene gas). A carbide / electric light combination works well when you may be in a tight crawl and the flame goes out, you still have a light to see. I don't really recommend using carbide while during vertical...you really need to pay attention if you go that route. It would be horrible for you to burn through your rope!

Most of my caving is done in drier caves, where I use electric, although I do get jealous when someone w/ bide lights up a big room in TAG!

[Chatt89]

I dont think i would even consider going into a cave without an electric backup but just thought they would be fun to play with. Good call on the Vertical statement. Burning through a rope would not be good.

[iceclimb]

Used one for years, fantastic project caving light, you can even cook vienna sausages with the flames. The heat came in handy once when I was in a small passage that had some rockfall at the entrance, I was stuck for a while, and the light provided some warmth.

Having said that, the lamp is no longer on my helmet, and I don't carry it into caves. The petzl generators are good, but all generators can be a little finicky, requiring you to play with them through out the cave, LED lights don't.

It is good for demonstrations in science class though! Kids LOVE that you add water to rocks and get FIRE!!!!!

[Martin Sluka]

you can even cook vienna sausages with the flames.

Brrr, to smoked I think. I did caving with acetylene lamp from mining lamp held in hand (tricky to climb) to Petzl on helmet and Meander (a bit modified) acetylene generator. Nice source of heat if waiting long time. But grelka (http://tinyurl.com/8cmgsmt) was much better. 12 hours warm on 50 ml pure n-hexane (petrol without additives). You may buy "hand-warmer" from Zippo or others, but they are much smaller.

For me the main difference now is good thermal underwear, much much much better than former cotton only. Not so big problem with cold now.

[Jon]

Pluses:

Warm natural light. Very wide angle light....no tunnel vision. Can cook on them, can keep warm with them and they will start all kinds of conversations (good and bad)

Minuses:
Some people don't like the smell. Inattention to detail can get you into trouble fire wise

I have one and use it from time to time with people who aren't offended by it. I will say that I have heard horror stories of fine grade (cap lamp) carbide overheating the generator even melting it. NUT grade is what you want. Bigger chunks = slower reaction and less heat. . Better have a lot of money or friends who want nut grade or live in an area that will sell you less than a 300 pound drum of the stuff. I don't so I just break it out when I want to go retro and pay close attention to the heat....yes the generator has gotten quite hot but nowhere near the stories of lava like plastic dripping down your leg.

In a colorful cave nothing can beat them but alas many places have banned it's use.

It is my understanding that the ceiling burner you crave is being phased out. I bought a bunch of spare parts for mine and have enough cap grade carbide to last a few years as much as I use it. It's nice from time to time but if you are buying a whole new rig and carbide to boot it would be far cheaper to buy a Sten....Which is what I use most of the time.