# Cateye HL-EL530



## croscoe (May 23, 2007)

Can any of you comment on this headlight? I'm not sure if it would cut it for singletrack, but would it suffice for road/fire road jaunts at night? Thanks.










https://cateye.com/en/product_detail/345


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## rottweiler (Jun 21, 2007)

This light is a joke. No more than a be seen light. Work ok if use as a "side - light" on halogen system.


__________________________
FS : XT 08 Crankset 170mm US$192


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## Dominik.M (Sep 21, 2007)

If you have some manual skills, you can break the head apart and replace original Lux I emitter with U bin SSC - then it will be quite nice lamp. Emitter gets about 280mA so you will get about 70+ lumens of light (about the same amount you can earlier get from Lux III at 700mA).
HL-EL500 Luxeon I / SSC P4 U-bin
&
HL-EL530 Luxeon I / SSC P4 U-bin


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## rensho (Mar 8, 2004)

People see this as worth doing; putting a P4 into a EL530? I was looking for something that is easy and has decent light, for under $100.


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## Dominik.M (Sep 21, 2007)

If you have this lamp already, it is the best way to use it... Some people have even 2 of these. After the upgrade, it's great commuter light.


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## flatland (Aug 1, 2005)

Dominik.M said:


> If you have some manual skills, you can break the head apart and replace original Lux I emitter with U bin SSC - then it will be quite nice lamp. Emitter gets about 280mA so you will get about 70+ lumens of light (about the same amount you can earlier get from Lux III at 700mA).
> HL-EL500 Luxeon I / SSC P4 U-bin
> &
> HL-EL530 Luxeon I / SSC P4 U-bin


Can you describe how to do this?
With break the headlamp you really mean break/crack the plasic at the back to reach the LED?


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## BBW (Feb 25, 2004)

I bought one long time ago and it is useless in its original state. The "spot" is more like an aberration, something distracting. Actually I think that the amount of light is not so bad but the reflector is the worst thing I have ever seen (SHAME CATEYE) even for a cheap light.
I have several cateye pos sitting in a drawer, they are useless. Save and buy a real light believe me.


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## Dominik.M (Sep 21, 2007)

Here you have : CATEYE HL-EL530 - SSC rules ! :thumbsup:


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## Dominik.M (Sep 21, 2007)

They don't have to shame anything - they made one of the best 1W Luxeon based lamps HL-EL500*G* - they are selling it only in Germany at the same price as they are selling international version in other countries...

















And reflector directing most of the light on the ground is much better than oval flashlight based that is wasting 30% of the light output.

International version (there is no special version for US )








German version








German version on SSC


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## flatland (Aug 1, 2005)

Dominik.M said:


> Here you have : CATEYE HL-EL530 - SSC rules ! :thumbsup:


Thanks!


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## lucius667 (Nov 8, 2007)

Is there ANY more powerful LED MIGNON based Frontlight you can buy without modding it into a more powerful state? I mean if you can buy more powerful LEDs, there has to be an already build lamp with them?

I am searching for the most powerful mignon based LED frontlight - if it is not the cateye HL-EL530...


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## AttilaTheHun (Oct 31, 2007)

*Much obliged*

I want to thank all of you folks for the very helpful posts on this conversion. I have one of these Cateye's, and was inspired to replace the LED as you suggested. Mind you, I have almost no electronics knowledge or experience. I figured that this project would be a good test case to see whether I want to try to build my own light one of these days.

The Cateye conversion went swimmingly! I bought 2 SS4 emitters on the assumption that I'd fry one of them in the process (which I didn't do). Before the fact, my family voted 3 to 0 against my being able to get the thing working after I glued it together, but it worked quite nicely. I proved them wrong (but got no apologies)! I now have a much brighter (SS4) hot-rodded Cateye. I feel silly trying to give suggestions or advice, being such a neophyte, but I'd like to contribute something, so here are my observations:
1. For desoldering, I have tried a little vacuum pump made for that purpose, and desoldering braid. The braid works much better.
2. My meter's continuity tester does light up the SS4, and that's the only way I could figure out which lead on the emitter was + and which was -.
3. I used an ice cube as an extended heatsink when soldering, but I think it was unnecessary. 
4. It looks to me like these LED's are more robust than I feared, as far as heat from a soldering iron. I took my sweet time desoldering the old LED, and to my surprise even that didn't fry it. The old one still lights up on my meter.
5. Based on some of the concerns I saw posted regarding superglue, I used a dual compound plastic epoxy from Murray's auto. It seemed to work nicely, but it stunk to high heaven. I do not see any matting or distortion on the LED, so as far as I can tell there was no damage.

Once again, I really admire the torchbearers and ground breakers. I never would have had the guts to be the first one to crack open the EL530, but somebody else did it, and many have subsequently benefited. Thanks everyone.


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