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Petzl Duo Refit

While the platform may be aging the Petzl Duo is still the most industrial headlamp available with its IP68 protection rating being a rather unique feature. Tired of being left behind with the incandescent technology I've brought two of my units up to date and hope to stay ahead of the market for some time to come.

Version 2

The first design was a resounding success in the field so I was confident in upping the ante for the second installment. The challenge was to maintain the utility of the controls while replacing both lamps with up to the minute LED chips, for the 2007 revision Cree kindly provided me with some free P and Q bin samples of their XR-E devices.

The entire internal workings of the Duo have been stripped out to make way for a pair of XR-E lamps, one focused through a collimator and the other open. The focused Xlamp is mounted on a standard star MCPCB to provide a heat sinking and regulated to 2W it runs cold to the touch even in the sealed case. And yes thanks to the collimator that class IIIB laser product warning is real, the entire beam is focused through a 4mm aperture at its narrowest point outside the case and even diffuse reflections at close range could damage someones eyesight. The unfocused Xlamp has adjustable brightness controlled by the old focus lever varing the power from 0.1W up to 0.6W. Both are current regulated buck-boost designs and can suck every last drop of energy out of primary cell batteries.

A microcontroller is included to provide the dimming control of the unfocused Xlamp and it also provides a third mode to the headtorch. This extra mode extinguishes both Xlamps and displays the average cell voltage on an array of 0805 LEDs, this is rather than a fuel gauge as I use batteries of several different chemistries. The colors of the LEDs in this display are all chosen to protect the eyes dark adaption, so in addition to showing the current voltage in the cells the third mode also serves as a dark adaption safe headlamp. This function has proved extremely useful and is something I hope to expand in future versions.

Version 1

On the right is the first revision of the upgrades to the Petzl Duo, as seen in the wild since 2005. I replaced the low power lamp with a Luxeon 3W LED and switchmode regulator. The LED runs at 0.6W and provides enough light for more than half a dozen people cooking or 3 people walking on a track. By not using a reflector/lens the Lambertian (180°) dispersion pattern provides a full field of view for close work and the headtorch maintains the 3W focusable halogen for navigation. The incredibly smooth full field illumination can make for some odd feelings in comparison to a conventional headlamp, its very much like wearing sunglasses in daylight with its constant frame.