head lamp Brunton L5

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head lamp Brunton L5

Postby CaverCraig » Jan 15, 2008 11:21 pm

Any cavers out there have any experience with the Brunton L5 or L3 head lamps. Questions I'm interested in are is it well built and suited for caving and is the light beam flooded enough for a primary cave light? Give me your thoughts
Thanks :grin:
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Re: head lamp Brunton L5

Postby wyandottecaver » Jan 16, 2008 5:50 pm

I beleive Gordon Smith (Marengo Caves) had one at the Cumberland Caverns party. was very small, very bright, but battery pack was corded and designed to be worn on the waist. Not sure about spot/flood but he seemed to like it.
I'm not scared of the dark, it's the things IN the dark that make me nervous. :)
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Re: head lamp Brunton L5

Postby CaverCraig » Jan 16, 2008 8:36 pm

Do you know if it was the L5 or the L3?
Thanks :waving:
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Re: head lamp Brunton L5

Postby wyandottecaver » Jan 16, 2008 9:07 pm

I think it was the 5 watt version but you could select lower wattages
I'm not scared of the dark, it's the things IN the dark that make me nervous. :)
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Re: head lamp Brunton L5

Postby cavescom » Jan 20, 2008 12:51 am

I have the Silva L1(3w) which is the same as the Brunton.....I love it and use it every trip now....I cut the battery pack off and bought a cheap Petzl light with a battery pack then cut that off and attached it to the Silva L1 so that it now mounts totally on the helmet. Works perfectly.
When we compared it side by side with the Princeton TEC Apex the L1 flooded better and was a substantially bit whiter light.
Mark Passerby, Cavediggers.com

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Re: head lamp Brunton L5

Postby Dave Bunnell » Feb 29, 2008 11:10 pm

I've been testing out an L5 for a couple months in preparation for writing a review for the News. The switch is an improvement over the Silva L1 I used earlier and found difficult to turn on. The 5-watt LED is very bright and has a great flood pattern to it. I was using it in big Hawaiian lava tubes and everyone was impressed with how well it lit them up.

It offers only the rechargeable battery pack, which is a bit heavy for helmet mounting. It would be nice to have alternatives like the Sten offers for using AA or 9V. The light was working perfectly for two weeks and then just died completely. I never found out whether it was the switch or some break in the cord, but Brunton replaced the light quickly under their warranty. I was easily getting enough out of the battery that I never ran it down in up to 8 hours of caving in one day, and using it on the next-to-brightest setting most of the time.

It's said to be water resistant, but haven't tested just how much. I recommend the light but with the caveat that it wouldn't be great for expeditions where you can't recharge the battery between trips.

It comes pretty close to the Sten in brightness at half the price...but nowhere near as rugged or flexible. I'll be doing a comparison in my review.

If anyone has any more comments on the L5 I'd love to hear from you so as to incorporate your observations into my review.

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Re: head lamp Brunton L5

Postby Mark620 » Mar 26, 2008 8:05 pm

Dave Bunnell wrote: The light was working perfectly for two weeks and then just died completely. I never found out whether it was...
Dave


That light uses the Lumileds K2 led. These were recalled because of a manufacturing problem causing failure of the LED...


Lumileds wrote:Philips Lumileds Lighting Company
370 W. Trimble Road, San Jose, California 95131 USA
Tel. +1 408 964 2900
Fax: +1 408 964 5349
http://www.philipslumileds.com

Dear Customer,
We have identified an issue with certain LUXEON Rebel (with TFFC) and LUXEON K2 with TFFC LEDs manufactured from WW0744 to WW0802. As a result, we are initiating this Return Request Action. This request does not impact production of all of the LUXEON Rebel and LUXEON K2 emitters; only the parts identified below are affected.

Situation:
We have identified a batch of non-conforming epoxy material used in the production of LUXEON Rebel (with TFFC) and LUXEON K2 with TFFC products manufactured from WW0744 to WW0802. This non-conforming epoxy material has the potential to cause the TFFC die to crack and fail during short-term operation. We have seen a failure rate that exceeds our specifications and, subject to the provisions of Philips Lumileds Standard Terms and Conditions of Sale or any executed sales agreement, are taking the necessary steps to resolve this issue.

Containment:
Philips Lumileds has temporarily suspended production of LUXEON Rebel (with TFFC) and LUXEON K2 with TFFC emitters. This production hold will remain in place until we have resolved the issue.

Date of production hold: WW0802.

Page: 2

Affected Parts and Date Codes:
In order to identify all affected emitters, we are providing a list of part numbers with
corresponding date codes to simplify this task.
Part Number Description Date Codes
LXML-PWC1-006 LUXEON Rebel Cool-White emitter (custom selection)
LXML-PWC1-007 LUXEON Rebel Cool-White emitter (custom selection)
LXML-PWC1-015 LUXEON Rebel Cool-White emitter (custom selection)
LXML-PWC1-016 LUXEON Rebel Cool-White emitter (custom selection)
LXML-PWC1-0070 70lm LUXEON Rebel Cool-White emitter
LXML-PWC1-0080 80lm LUXEON Rebel Cool-White emitter
LXML-PWC1-0090 90lm LUXEON Rebel Cool-White emitter
LXML-PWC1-0100 100lm LUXEON Rebel Cool-White emitter
LXML-PWN1-0070 70lm LUXEON Rebel Neutral-White emitter
LXML-PWN1-0080 80lm LUXEON Rebel Neutral-White emitter
LXML-PWN1-0100 100lm LUXEON Rebel Neutral-White emitter
LXML-PM01-010 LUXEON Rebel Green emitter (custom selection)
LXML-PM01-0070 70lm LUXEON Rebel Green emitter
LXML-PM01-0080 80lm LUXEON Rebel Green emitter
LXML-PE01-0060 60lm LUXEON Rebel Cyan emitter
LXML-PE01-0070 70lm LUXEON Rebel Cyan emitter
LXML-PB01-010 LUXEON Rebel Blue emitter (custom selection)
LXML-PB01-0013 13.9lm LUXEON Rebel Blue emitter
LXML-PB01-0018 18.1lm LUXEON Rebel Blue emitter
LXML-PB01-0023 23.5lm LUXEON Rebel Blue emitter
LXML-PR01-0275 275mW LUXEON Rebel Royal-Blue emitter
WW0744 to WW0802
inclusive
LXK2-PWC4-0160 160lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Cool-White emitter
LXK2-PWC4-0180 180lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Cool-White emitter
LXK2-PWC4-0200 200lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Cool-White emitter
LXK2-PWC4-0220 220lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Cool-White emitter
LXK2-PWN4-0140 140lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Neutral-White emitter
LXK2-PWN4-0160 160lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Neutral-White emitter
LXK2-PWN4-0180 180lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Neutral-White emitter
LXK2-PWW4-0120 120lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Warm-White emitter
LXK2-PWW4-0140 140lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Warm-White emitter
LXK2-PWW4-0160 160lm LUXEON K2 with TFFC Warm-White emitter
WW0744 to WW0802
inclusive

Page: 3

Material disposition:
Philips Lumileds recommends all part numbers listed in the table above within the affected date codes are returned.

Unused inventory
Products should be returned to Philips Lumileds via the standard Return Materials Authorization (RMA) process.

Deployed material
In our internal testing, we have found that under normal operating conditions, the affected products experience infant mortality failure within the first 24 hours of operation.

Preliminary failure rate data suggests failure rates of 10-30%. The reliability of the affected products that survive the first 24 hours is under investigation. A follow-up notification will be issued as results become available.

Timing for Replacement Material
The verification of exact root cause of this quality issue is under rigorous investigation. We anticipate that our production line will resume sometime in March 2008. Further communication updates will be provided as it becomes available. We are continuing to stage material before the TFFC production line, so that we can rapidly restart production once we have proven/qualified corrective action.

We will provide updates to you as additional information becomes available.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Sincerely,
(Name Redacted)
Customer Quality Assurance
Philips Lumileds Lighting Company
"People who really believe that global warming leads us to a doomsday should be treated as mentally ill." Quote : Luboš Motl
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