New Head Lamp Anglers Design, any input welcome!
For my major project I am designing and making a headlamp solely with anglers in mind, ie suitability for bait digging and cliff navigation and fishing long night sessions where high performance over more than 4-5 hours is essential.
I have got a good idea of the features id like to include but its essential get a good idea of what others would like to see.
One area i want to improve is battery life, some lights currently available are indeed extremely bright at first but they dont maintain this for many hours.
Cost is another factor, I am aiming at what i see as a gap in the market between the £40-£50 bracket and the £200-£250 bracket.
Brightness – is there a minimum brightness people would expect? if so in comparison to what?
Switching is also an important are I want to improve on.
Charging – what battery technology would people prefer to see? rechargeable Lithium ion or not? this technology has many advantages but just as many disadvantages in my eyes.
Head or belt battery mount or something else?
Any input on these or any issues would be great, as I said before I will be looking for someone to trial this for me, once I have trialled it myself a few times and im totally satisfied its up to the job, im making two prototypes, so the one I submit for marking isnt covered in worm and crab juice!
Thanks fellas and ladies
Ian Render
New Headlamps First Outing
This will sound biased but it makes my two headlamps (Myo XP and LED Lenser) look totally dull. Digging with it was spot on, casting pendulum was easy as i could totally see the lead all the time i need to on the set up which is something i was hoping for but not expecting.
Watching the rods was great as it lights up the full rods and everything around the tripod on the floor, when reeling in its like daylight looking down at your hands, no need to adjust the tilt like on my other lamps and then look dead in the right place.
It was a bit of a gamble going in a different direction with regards light spread to all other lamps, but i know for sure now after using it that its so much better sacrificing some beam distance for flood. I didnt notice any degradation at all in the light output, it was probably on about 4 hours altogether, it will last for over 9 at the calculated output of 220 lumens.
I started at Out Newton but moved because it was pretty unfishable, the cliffs were easier to navigate too i thought as I could see loads of it at once rather than a bit. Ended up at Hornsea for an easy couple of hours fishing, one bite and one schooly was all but i was happy with that, on worm i had dug earlier in the night.
To sum it up its not perfect but its a good usable first prototype that does the job its meant to, developed a little more i think it would be something to rival almost anything available in most ways, in some ways it already beats anything available. I wish i was in a position to carry the design forward from here but i dont have that sort of money to gamble.
Thanks to everyone who answered my questions on here when i first started this project, it is much apreciated.
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just thought id add comment to this article, i myself use the princeton tec lamp at the moment and found it no fault just the battery life when on full beam. it is head mounted batteries which sit snuggly behind the head which is nice and comfortable when casting and digging, no awkward wires in the way. the batteries i use are rechargable and fit in the back unit and if used on a low setting can last up to 2 sessions(of about 5 to 6 hours each!!!)in my opinion it would be a good idea if the unit was inclosed to as not to let water penetrate and ruin it, it wouldnt be a good idea to run out when fishing in the dark!!! this just came to me so forgive me if it sounds stupid but how about this for a name- RENDERED LIGHT, get the full light without losing light! the swithching on the light would have to be a suitable size, not to small so you cant get to it with cold hands and fingers but large enough to operate easily. hope this has beeen of help and if you wish to ask for more advice dont hesitate to contact me.
Hi Ian..For what there worth here`s my thoughts. I live in notts so my fishing trips tend to be at least two nights away with no charging facilities so my needs may well be different from many,but heres my ideal wish list.
Burn time enough for at least 2 nights.
infinatly variable light output from a dim glow when close in bassing to full on lighthouse mode for cliff climbing.
variable focus from narrow beam to a glow all around you like the old petzl zoom.
adjustable tilt so you can look at your rod tips without getting neck ache ( many makes only adjust from horizontal to downwards).
head cradle thats comfy and stays on.
battery on the head cradle as i hate wires dangling everwhere.
i would not want to below 150 lumens on max setting
preferably use bog standard batterys available in normal shops
avoid anything that needs special charging regimes etc as i dont want to pay out again after ive knackered a battery (ive got through four Tiga batts either by overcooking them or leaving them uncharged untill i threw the whole thing away in frustration and bought a LED
make it so simple that you can adjust, fix, change batts in total darkness if needed.
I currently use a Speleo Technics Nova plus which is as near to to my ideal as possible without spending silly money still room for improvment though
Good luck with the BSc ..Andy
hi there yes i would help you i do a lot of beach fishing and also night fishing from a charter boat
i have used lots of lamps
but now use tiga and samulight
the tiga has the new small b/pack dut is alot better to have on than the big pack of the samulight
i would like to see the switch on the pach not the head
also a kill switch to kill power when not been used
what ever you do don,t go down samlight rout and make every component a patent. Most of these modern lamps cost a small fortune and when something goes wrong there is nothing you can do about it, special battery pack that if run low the not so intelligent charger wont recognize anymore,special bulbs that you can’t buy anywhere and must send off for. Why not just make a good, comfortable water resistant Head lamp that will simply attach to any lead acid battery as they last hours and you can take a back up battery if needed, any charger will charge it. so forget the battery packs. Variable power to the bulb or bulbs makes it multi purpose. SIMPLE, AFFORDABLE, PRACTICAL !. Good luck
i’ll happily test your prototypes for you if you want. Studied at sheff hallam myself , live near Newark but regularly do all nighters off cliffs, and beaches.
Thanks very much for all your comments and seggestions, i will take it all into consideration as much as possible. Ill put some updates up in the future to show how its turning out, thanks again.
Ian