Mila / Silva headlamp upgrade?

[Rob]

Hi I have a Mila headlamp with 10W and 20W halogen bulb, has any one got any tips for modifying or changing the bulb for a XENON update, or LED update? Or any modifications.
Or has any tried these Mila NOVA LED lamps at
http://www.mila.se/english/headlamps/headlamps.htm

How bright are they?

Thanks

[EriOL]

The easiest and cheapest upgrade would be to get a 30W bulb to put in your headlamp. You will need a big (9Ah) and fresh battery for it to work, but then you will get a nice boost to your old lamp at almost no cost at all.

Search for "Osram 64265 HLX 30w 6v G4" to get the correct type of bulb.

[Adventure Racer]

There's not really a huge amount wrong with a Silva 20W. We struggled our way round night events for years with those, and I certainly can't say I suddenly started winning everything when I switched to a brighter LED - there's more to it than that (IIRC I won at my last event using a halogen in December, then didn't win for the rest of that night season with the new LED!)

[Rob]

Thanks for the information

Is the Osram 64265 HLX 30w 6v G4 the same as

http://www.uklightbulbs.co.uk/cgi-bin/s ... ;pid=63368

Can only find 35W in the UK

What is the Battery drain like "how many Hours do you get" from a new battery

[Spookster]

Is the Osram 64265 HLX 30w 6v G4 the same as

http://www.uklightbulbs.co.uk/cgi-bin/s ... ;pid=63368

Can only find 35W in the UK

No, because the one in your link is 12 volt, but what you need is 6 volt. This is the 6v 35w bulb: http://www.uklightbulbs.co.uk/cgi-bin/s ... id=1009850

What is the Battery drain like "how many Hours do you get" from a new battery

That depends on what battery you have (what its Amp-hour rating is). My 4.5Ah battery gives me about 75 minutes at 20Watts, so if I put a 35Watt bulb in I'd only get about 43 minutes, not enough. What I'd like is 60 minutes with my existing battery, so I need a 25W bulb.

Does anyone know of other UK suppliers of these bulbs? My internet search has only found overseas suppliers, and the postage will cost more than the bulb.

[Freefall]

Is there a danger of the reflector catching fire? On a previous home made headlamp the silvered finish started to melt. I think the Silva headtorches use metal but worth checking if your forehead starts to feel warm.

[Scott]

I think the Silva headtorches use metal

As someone who has melted the reflector on his 478 , I can confirm that they're made of plastic.

[Adventure Racer]

What I'd like is 60 minutes with my existing battery, so I need a 25W bulb.

I'm very unconvinced that a 25W bulb over a 20W bulb would be worth the hassle. Given the logarithmic nature of the eye's response you'd probably only notice the difference if you put them both in the same light and switched straight from one to the other.

[Jagge]

My 4.5Ah battery gives me about 75 minutes at 20Watts, so if I put a 35Watt bulb in I'd only get about 43 minutes, not enough. What I'd like is 60 minutes with my existing battery, so I need a 25W bulb.

20W halogen O lamp is quite good lamp as it is. If you want to upgrade it without going to HID/LED, best choice would be gettting more output by using slightly higher voltage.

- Get new LiFePo4 6.6V battery pack. 6.6V would infrease brightness 33% and shorten bulbs life only to 33% and lamp would consume 25W. 5.2 Ah 6.6V lifepo pack would weight 300g and burn 80 minutes.

- Or alternatively add one cell more to your batery pack, 7.2V would shorten bulb's lifetime to 10% and increase brightness about 70%. 4.5 Ah 7.2V pack would burn about 60 minutes and bulb would consume 30W.

[Rob]

Thanks for that, do you have a link to anyone selling these batteries?
When I search it just comes up with the manufactures?

[Wayward-O]

The AyUp 6hr battery is a 7.4v 2600mAh Li Poly battery and, I would assume, could be adapted to this purpose.

See here: http://www.ayuplights.co.uk/content/view/32/100/

These new types of battery, though, require different chargers so, in addition to the battery, you'll need to budget for a new charger.

The question is why fit the latest technology battery to a dinosaur of a headlamp? Look at the AyUp lamps that the batteries are made for.

I'm using a 320 lumen Intermediate AyUp lamp set on the headband and, rather than the 3hr battery mounted on the headband as suggested by AyUp, I'm using the 6hr battery in a cheap bumbag, connected to the light using the 1.2m cable. The 6hr battery will power the AyUp light set for a minimum of 6 hours (as you'd expect).

I purchased mine as a Roadie Kit plus a separate headband. The prices have since been reduced and they've also launched a cheaper Headtorch kit for £125.10.

These are the most amazing lamps and weigh absolutely nothing - a lamp set weighs just over 50g whilst the 6hr battery weighs 140g (158g with the pouch).


For other sources of batteries, you should look here:

NiMH: http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/large_packs.html
LiPo: http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/li ... packs.html

or here: http://www.vapextech.co.uk/index.html

[Wayward-O]

Larger LiPo batteries etc. available here: http://shop.avicraft.co.uk/batteriescha ... 3_344.html