[Closed] Hope Vision 2 is upgradable

While there is a post of hope light owners here does anyone know what make/model the connector used for the batteries on these lights is, or of one that is compatible and maintains the IP rating??

Trout, is [url= http://uk.farnell.com/apem/ipr3sad2/pushbutton-ip67-solder-lugs-black/dp/1086617 ]this[/url] the button your using??

Yes it is Nixie

also a bit cheaper and I may be looking at them when my stock of the others runs out
[url= http://uk.farnell.com/itw-switches/59-112/switch-spno-round-red/dp/519327 ]these[/url]

Well ?? Parksie

I gave in busy chopping things up and soldering results soon 🙂

Cool, thanks. Just seen the illuminated switched too, trying to decide if one of those link to the status led of my bFlex would be neater :D.

1st problem my light unit uses normal alen bolts internally driver and ally heatsink wont mate up.

Yes a problem that the first two i did had a small headed screw in there
and the others had the allen bolts
I had to swop for some M3 button heads I had .

grind the top of the allen bolt down and cut a slot for a screwdriver as a last resort

Hi Trout

yeh just checked and yes it is plastic. Do you do lamp fixes as well as mods. As I am not sure if its the battery or the head unit thats gone or a wire come a drift some where.

Harrison T H

it is usually the wire breaks in the back of the light head it seems to be a weak spot

unless the bulb has gone then its expensive

Mmmm hope its not the bulb how can I check if its a cable or bulb?

Sorry about all the questions but would like to get it up and running again

All working on the bench
put it together nothing cable snapped
take apart re wire still dead uhoh 🙂

looks like i might of killed the driver lol

which cable snapped any pics of the disaster area

main pos from battery then i pulled the - off as well

just trying again to get them on

balls deffo dead burnt a track on the board after dropping solder into on of the chips doh fat fingered numpty

Hi Mr Trout,

I'd be really keen to get this done to my vision 2. I run mine off of a DX magicshine battery from about 2 years ago, will this be ok? I've emailed you to check.

Cheers,
Mark.

Just has a play with mine, no beam shots cos my phone cameras crap,
I am indeed illuminated!!! 😯

Hi Trout

Thanks for the tip just taken the lamp apart and yes one of the battery wires has broke off the board will re-solder it at the weekend and hope it was just that. 🙂

Just been out on a ride with Flip who's lights have been upgraded by Trout. Great job from what i saw on the trails tonight, plenty of light with a good beam.

Sure Flip will be along soon to confirm this with his experience of the lights.

Well done.

as bigbloke says above the led upgrade has made a massive difference 😀 rode for 1.5 hours on medium and high settings and the little hope battery still had juice left. I'll be out again on Thursday night and will try to get some more definate run times. the light now has 3 settings (no flashing) low is similar to high, pre mod. medium is great for general riding (used this most of the time)and high has completly changed the downhill/ fast sections or just when bigbloke and his 'dominator' light are near by 8O.

great service by troutie, as i sent my lights on saturday lunchtime and they were back at mine monday at 10am amazing, thanks chris.

the light now has 3 settings (no flashing) low is similar to high, pre mod. medium is great for general riding

Trout - i have an exposure joystick with knackered battery, would be happy to be guinea pig to see what you can do with it?

I'll be taking out my upgraded Hope2 tonight to Kentmere/Sadgill. Its looking dry so will take my camera and see if I can get some shots out in the wilds.

Just from a quick comparison in garden the other night the upgraded mark1 Hope2 is far far brighter than the mark2 Hope2 I've also got. The light retains its good spread of light with no real hotspots - much better than the XML Bastids.

I seem to have quite a stock of hope lights either at my house or waiting at the sorting office for me to collect

If you have mailed me in the last 2 days about sending one for upgrade
hang in there and I will reply but only after tomorrows mail has arrived then I will know how many more I can do before running out of parts .

More parts are on order but the drivers will be a few weeks sadly

Camerone
Yes by all means send it along

Trout- Ok, can you DM me your address and I will pop in the post early next week.

Just back in from my test ride with my 'trouted' old Hope LED2.

I think mine are the ones Trout posted beam shots of on the previous page, and I really just got in touch out of curiosity, as I'd been thinking about getting one of those cheapy new things from China (with double XML LEDs), then I got to thinking that they looked a lot like my old Hope light...

So, saved me a bunch of cash over a new, cheap light, let alone a new premium brand one.

First off, great work from Trout: I sent them off first thing last Friday, he got them on Saturday and had them on their way back to me on Monday.

The 'low' setting is now just a bit lower than the old 'high' setting, or at least that what it felt like. Turned it on to full whack and rumbled off down the San Marino descent off Winter Hill. Simply incomparable to the old light - lovely floody light, tons of power and certainly enough throw for open moorland descents (where the light tends to get more dispersed without any trees to reflect light back in).

Very, very happy with my new (old) light - nice one Trout! You're a star!

😀

I think troutie deserves some kind of STW Knighthood for putting up with it all!

camerone - I took my joystick apart last night. I'll get some photos up if you are interested.

It was a bit wet tonight in the Lakes and we even got some hail too so no photos. However the light works really well and is just as waterproof as before! The high setting is great for downhills and tech and the medium/low adequate for everything else. It give a really nice flood of light with no hotspots - unlike every other XML light I've used.

The little 2 cell Hope battery lasted a 2+ hour ride switching between high and low for the downs and the ups.

All in all very pleased, its given my old light a new lease of life.

Thanks for the feed back Gavin and Tomaso very helpfull to know its a good improvement .
and i have seen how fast Gavin is as he got a loaned Liberator on tho podium a couple of years ago at D2D. 😯

it was indeed yours in the beam shots

Bigjim. i am interersted in the pics whack em up please

just curious. did the light dim its self at all when out due to the heat. as only bench tested in my nice warm
house .

Camerone. cant find an email addy in your profile ??

I think it did dim a little but was unsure whether the battery was dropping off or what - didn't feel lamp unit to see if it was hot. However on the fast descents it stayed on full power so no problems.

I've got a Hope 4 cell battery on its way to me so will test it flat out next week with no qualms about battery life!

And finally the U2 XML seems a little more yellowy than the T6, a bit warmer or if you were less charitable pissy 😉

I wasn't aware of any dimming taking place, and didn't check the heat of the unit at any time, so I guess that means that if there was any dimming, it was very modest at worst. The battery wasn't fully charged up either, in fact it already had a two hour ride 'out of it' from last Thursday, but still managed fine for my little test ride of 1.5 hrs.

I'm going to try to sneak out again tonight, with a fully charged battery, so will make a point of checking on the heat of the unit.

Thanks

the U2s are supposed to be a bit less cold they are a natural tint
and supposed to show the colours in the dark in a more natural way

less of the bluey light that a lot of lights suffer from .

you would know as it dims from full to low if overheating

and it will dim as the battery depletes or wont let you switch to full power so better be new home or have a spare battery .

Chris, do you have a couple of bflex or b2flex drivers spare?

Hi Mark

Yes got some B2flexs in stock

drop me a mail with your addy on and will post them off .

Trout,
Like Camerone I have an old style Joystick and was on the verge of buying a 2012 version because both the batteries I have don't last long anymore. Struggling to find a replacement cell and it's a bit overshadowed by mates with your lights and even my Mrs 2010 Joystick.

If you can alter the led for greater brightness and find or supply a compatible battery I'd be chuffed as I love the mounts it has and I have several which is really handy.

Also have an early twin led USE Enduro - worth doing something with that?

Hi Troutie,

Exciting news to hear that the hope 2 LED is now up-gradable! I was talking to you about it via email last year. Are you able and happy to upgrade my Mk1 sometime soon please? If so, please drop me an email (swalsey@hotmail.com) with your address and I'll pop it in the post ASAP.

Does it retain a switch at the back of the lamp unit, or is there something else as in the [url= http://forums.mtbr.com/lights-diy-do-yourself/hope-vision-2-mk1-upgrade-help-692770.html ]earlier MTBR link?[/url]

Thanks,

Antony

Yes I should have looked into it a bit more then Swalsey

the MK1 is a beauty for this upgrade

Now got a bit of a supply problem I have received a load of hopes today
and had a work out .

I will have 5 upgrades left when these are done so will start and mail the next five who have sent the emails in date order

I have plenty of leds on order its the drivers which will be the delaying factor as Taskled is on holiday till mid Nov so cant order any till he returns so realistically it will be Dec before I get any more drivers .

depending on state of the rubber switch cover I can use that and a small micro switch or if its worn then I use a whole new switch .

Sound. I'll send you an email to put myself in the que! Thanks

I'm hoping mine are in the batch that you've been able to do already 🙂

Sent 4 out yesterday

jim / paul / chris / kevin

and am on with another 5 today

woohoo! daylight as the clocks go back this weekend!

Trout - I have emailed you so you have my email to send your address over.
Cheers

Just got it back. Thanks!
Sadly all my batteries are at home so I can't test it.

A few shots of my hope 2 with a trout inside

low setting is almost on a par with the original high setting.
[img] [/img]

mid setting more than enough light for all ridding situations.

[img] [/img]

High setting this ones just silly

[img] [/img]

Another unexpected bonus is that the flash mode is far better than the original hope flash mode. A brighter a faster flash than before.

Can fully recommend the upgrade by Troutie, superb work bringing a much loved old light bang up to date.

Oh.... I want my enduro 4 upgraded damn it!!!!
I'm sure it'd give some amazing power.

Wonder if I should send them to work and see if they can upgrade it with some luxeons....

Shame I work in the wrong led industry!!!

I think they already have luxeons in the hopes.

Nice beamshots Parksie.

Mr trout
Sorry if Ive missed it but I have a single Hope Vision- is this upgradeable - plus are you able to change the conection/battery gubbins as I hate the little pin connectors with a passion!!

Pop Larkin

I have seen an empty hope single but have no idea what a full one is like

a straight led swap may be a goer .

might be a tad expensive to change all three connectors light / battery / charger but is doable .

The light output as a second light is not astounding but passable- however I tend to only get it it work 50% of the time which invariable means standing on a dark car park wiggling connections whilst the boys heckle me!!

Happy to send to you to play with as I have given up with it in its current form!

You can then give me a view on what is diable and a cost- let me know if interested

I think they may be trout, but we've just got some new versions of the rebels in work.
The guys want to have a play with it, but we deal with mains most of the time so I'm not sure what drivers they'd have to play with!!

Trout:

i've sent you a couple of recent e-mails about a dominator as a birthday present from my missus - can you have a look at your inbox for them?

ta

john

Will test this Wednesday evening with newly acquired Hope 4 Cell battery and see if it gets too hot and dims, but looking forward to running it on full power with out giving a hoot

Hi John found your mail and replied sorry for the delay

Mine has just arrived, a quick test in the office shows it is crazy bright compared to before. Just got to get me out in the dark now. And because it hasn't changed externally it's not obvious to the wife, superb!

Am out to play tonight & am hoping that my light will be on the door mat when I get home - it's just like waiting for Xmas 🙂

Hi Trout,

Emailed you a couple of days ago to find out cost & timescale for upgrading my mark 1 Hope Twin LED light.

Might be in your junk folder?

Cheers, Paul

I am at the end of the drivers for this upgrade and cant order any more until mid November

If you have sent a light and not yet got it back apologies as I got a bit snowed under they will be in the post tomorrow for a Thursday delivery.

If you have emailed and not had a reply I will be getting back to you soon and making a list of those wanting the upgrade when I get some more parts
But I think it will be late November before I can do any more .

whats the upgrade cost? i gave my daughter my old hope leds

I think Trout should get an award.

Trout.
Is this your day job? If not how do you find time.?

You are obviously a very gifted individual.

10/10++

Wish I hadnt sold my old hope now.

SpecialKnees should be my other name as my day job is a flooring fitter .
but not a lot of work at the moment in the flooring game so have a fair bit of time to do these upgrades and keep busy .

Jedi seventy beer tokens

nice!! runs off to check her lights.....................

I'm in!

Superb upgrade i was looking at upgrading to new expensive lights but still liked the neat packaging of the old vision 2 with its stem mount.
This upgrade has given my old light a new lease of life and saved me a good amount of pennies over a new light.

Cant praise Chris enough for the excellent product and the service he's providing.

OK I took my joystick apart, well, the rear end with the battery and driver anyway, I'll post photos later. The front end is seriously glued on and not been able to get it free yet.

I'm keen to see what the upgrade potential is, mostly because after I had soldered it all back together, I was trimming the soldered ends and despite the LED not being on, shorted the outputs to the LED, spark and thats it dead, doh! Not too upset as my £12 DX torch is smaller and brighter, but its a good unit and will be good to see if can get an XML in there.

I'll post photos later.

Finally rode in the dark with my mod'd lights last night. Only on the road going home, but they lit up the yard outside the office like daylight.

First proper off-road ride with them tonight. See if I can out-dazzle the boys with their magicshines...

thanks Trout!

BigJim

had a play with this old Joystick and found a bad thing for upgrading

They seem to use the forward voltage as a heat senser and dim the light if it gets warm , what wrong with that you may say ( I did )

well the old led has a VF of around 3.4 volts and as they get hotter the forward voltage comes down .

when I swopped the led for a XML which has a forward voltage of under 3 volts at the joystick drive current it came on brighter and then dimmed 😥

so its looking like to upgrade one it will need a new driver as well as a new led .
Space is very tight but am now looking at shoehorning the same Lflex driver I use for the hopes in .

I think the optic will work well with an XML .

ir_bandito it better out dazzle the Bastids

The good news is I have got hold of 6 more drivers for the Hopes so will mail the next six on the list and give them first refusal .

Trout, Just sent you an e-mail in relation to a Hope 2 upgrade. Thanks.

Interesting Trout, what version of the Joystick do you have there? I have the MkII which is a wee bit bigger than more recent versions - at least the centre diameter is as the holder I have is bigger than the new ones. I make the driver board 25mm according to a tape measure.

Here are some photos for anyone contemplating hacking one apart. Is that a protection circuit on the battery?:

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Just back.
Its brilliant!
Barely used high power, medium is fine for all but the steepest fastest stuff.

Many thanks!

Bigjim

Cant tell if its the same
the driver looks similar yes thats a battery protection circuit the one I have has no circuit on it

and another strange anomaly that through me a tad was at the led end
the red wire was negative and the blue wire was positive ❓
Whats that about then .

Glad you like it ir_bandito

Tested the Hope2 Evo-Trout last night on full power for the entire 2 1/2 hour ride and the light it puts out is good and doesn't leave you wanting for more. However, in terms of tempreture it didn't get hot in the wet wild winds of Cumbria and I reckon it could be juiced up a bit more One of Trout's first posts upon building up the light was the units ability to take the power/heat from being run on high amps and I reckon (not that that means a fat lot)Mr Trout has been a little conservative on the power setting - at least for autumn and winter riding.

Troute,
Assuming that's my joystick following our emails.. Your posts above are double Dutch to me, It looks to me like the driver needs replacing in addition to the led and space is tight, is that a fair summary!!

Camerone

yes it is your light
driver and led fine battery tired

hoping I can get a new led in with a new driver
I can fit a new battery ok

Nice one trout. If you manage to get the led and driver in I'll be interested in giving it a bash too. The charge port will be a pain in the ass as the original driver has a hole in it to accommodate it.

I'm not sure where to find an 18650 with solder tags though, the torchythebattryboy guy said he might get some in on his ebay site mind you.

How did you get the bastard head end off? Have I just not been twisting it hard enough or is there a reverse thread or something daft?

Im sure Smudge www.mtbbatteries.co.uk will have some kicking around

Yes the driver will be a challenge more so as all the ones i have left are spoken for

the front was easy it just unscrewed normally it did have some sealant in there .

Trout-sounds good if a new driver can be squeezed in!

Ha, just discovered it seems to work again despite the spark and stopping working the other night, I have an XPG lying around so that might be an alternative if you can't figure out a way with the lflex and xml

bigjim

Smudge would be my first port of call for the 18650 cell, i know smudge only uses top quality ones in his batteries. Messing about with Li-Ion cells is not a job i'd advise as they can explode if miss treated.

If you have no luck with smudge then [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1X-SANYO-LiIon-18650-2600mAh-battery-Laptop-cells-W-Tab-/270765003867?pt=UK_ConsumerElectronics_Batteries_SM&hash=item3f0ada145bhttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1X-SANYO-LiIon-18650-2600mAh-battery-Laptop-cells-W-Tab-/270765003867?pt=UK_ConsumerElectronics_Batteries_SM&hash=item3f0ada145b ]these[/url] are available on eBay, i don't know about the quality of Sanyo cells and have never purchased from that seller.

TroutVision2 received today.

Thankyou sir.

Looking forward to next Wed night 🙂

Hi yah.

Yes that's the 1S protection circuit along the edge of the batttery. I have a few made up so anyone after any please email me.

Sanyo and Samsung are good cells, that's if they really are them.

Is there no light you can turn your hand to 8)