Lofer 2009 - Forschungsbericht

Kopflampe:

Made from 1/2" brass plumbing equipment for the middle part, a iron head and a short cable tail, for attaching to a 12V power connector, at one end. Arround the brass tube a self folded copper heat sink was monted, allowing for better head spreading. It is made of stripes of thin copper sheet which was hand folded and then soldered around the brass tube.

On the lower side there is a screwable helmet mount. The mount is designed for beeing fit to a metal bar that is fixed at the side of the helmet.

The front side may be covered by an acrylic glass plate or by a metal grid. A 35mm, 12V halogen light bulb fits inside the head. 35W bulbs can be used without restrictions, 50W bulbs should be used only for a shorter time of usage or possible water cooling (caves with rivers or water areas).

Handlampe:

Made from 1/2" iron plumbing equipment, and a PVC thread connector at back end. A power cable can be attached to the connector. The device has no switch. It can be switched on/off only with the leadpacks own switch.

The front is covered with a wire grid. The iron tube allows for good heat spreading, so that a 35mm, 12V halogen light bulb, up to 50W, fits well inside. The whole device will get hand warm.

The device is sealed with sanitary silicone and rubber rings at the back end and between bulb and head cone.

Akkupack:

The accu packs exist in two different design configurations. The first configuration, that can be seen in the first three pictures, contains one 12V/7Ah lead power pack. The second configuration contains two 6V/10Ah lead power packs. An old example of this configuation can be seen in the following three pictures.

An accu pack is made of the lead cell(s) and a head with switch(es), power connector(s) and a charge condition LED array. The accu pack is embedded within a containment of about 5mm of hot glue. This configuration is waterproof an quite easy to repair.

The front side has protection caps around the edges. The back side has two 50mm belt loops sticked into the glue containement. There is also one small belt loop near the bottom for tying the pack closely to the thigh. Also located at the back side is the switch inlet which is usually covered by a silicone sheet.

At the top there are two power connectors, which of one is a 12V outlet and the other is a 6V outlet. The switch position decides if either the 12V connector, the 6V connector or none of them is active. The single cell pack contains a DC/DC converter that delivers up to 2A at the 6V connector. The two cell version has the two cells switched at parallel in 6V power mode. Charging must always occure with the 12V power connector switched to active.

The shown head is for a two cell version. The LED arrays are not attached.

Steckverbinder:

This is the unmounted 1/2" female connector with outside thread. It's usually part of the accu pack power output or of the hand lamp power input. Its sealed with hot glue, and has two female 6.4mm blade connectors inside. The connectors are marked with isolation caps red and blue for (+) and (-). The distance tile between the blade connectors is 1.5mm thick. The wire is 1.5mm copper which allows for max. 16A current.

Anschlusskabel:

This is the standard power cable for connecting a 12V halogen device to a 12V lead acid pack. It has a male blade connector at each side. The connector is a combination of a 1/2 inch to hose mounting adapter and two 6.4mm blade plugs, covered in hot glue and, eventually, surrounded by a shrinkable tubing.

Usually this cables are about 100 cm long and, due to the screwable mount, waterproof for usual caving purposes. The cable itself is surrounded by spiral PVC hose, that protects well against scratches and damage to the isolation layer.

Verteilerkabel:

This is a two plug connector strip for attaching two torches to one accu pack. The strip is usually mounted at the back side of a helmet and support two helmet lamps for each side of the helmet. The lower side has a two blade plug, and the cable is covered with a spiral PVC hose.

There exists another version with a dual switch for switching one, two or none of the output plugs active. The devices are water resistant.

Ladekabel:

The charging cable is a simple, unprotected, two-colored twin cable for currents up to 10A. It has a male 12V connector at one side that is to be attached to the accu pack. The other side has two 4mm system plugs for connecting the (+) and the (-) terminal to the charging device.

Connecting the charging cable needs some perceptivness because polarity reversal has to be avoided (thats why all plugs are marked red and blue). There is no mechanical protection against polarity reversal.

Kabelfernbedienung:

This is a cable remote switch device.

Essentially its a two plug strip with a short tail connection to a lead cell pack, and an attached cable with a dual switch head a the end. The attached cable is 5 meters long. All cables are covered with a spiral PVC hose and have bend protections at each side. The whole device is water resistant. Unused plugs can be covered by a blind screw cap.

Duo Adapter:

This adapter cable is made for connecing the accu packs 6V outlet to a Petzl Duo headlamp. There is a 6V, 4.8mm blade plug at the one end and a Duo battery case insertion at the other. The inlet contains two battery dummies for the power connection. The whole device is waterproof when connected.

In this example there is no additional cable protection applied.

Thought it was designed to enable prolonged use of the Petzl headlamp, I haven't used it very often. As soon as I had developed my self-designed LED bulbs for the Petzl Duo, the average runtime of the Duo became long enought to last for a single, or sometimes two standard accu packs even on 18h cave expetitions.

Rundzellenpack:

This is a container for standard D size cells. It was made of four parts of 30mm sanitary PP-pipe equipment and is covered with two pieces of bicycle tube for a better grip. The design goals were to make it (more or less) waterproof and easy to handle.

It can contain five 1.2V D size accu cells or four 1.5V primary cells and one dummy, resulting in a 6V power output. The fit between head and body was set to hold the contacts for the on/off switch. They are made of two tinned brass strips - one at the outer body side and one at the inner head side - and is a first prototypic test version. Power can be switched on, by turning the head until the two strips have contact and can be switched off by turning the head into any other position. The O-ring seal at the lower end of the head guarantees for a good, and handy friction and a durable water protection.

The shown example has a Duo battery case insertion at the other end of the cable. There exists another device with has a 1/2 inch screwable female connector for 6V plug attachement at its head.