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Rude Nora FAQ
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Frequently asked questions, some real and some we've simply made up to save you having to ask. Nora insisted on answering some
News & Diary of these. Apologies in advance for her generally poor attidude. She can be a rather rude little monkey J
CustomDUO
Why have you stopped manufacture of the Little Monkey & Hurricane?
In order to design and build the first of a new more versatile generation of caving lamps that are conceptually and operationally very
differnet from traditional li-ion high end lamps. Read more
Yes, the Rude Nora can be used with heatshrunk 3.7v packs of 3 x 7/5A or 4/3A nimh batteries, typically around the 4.5Ah mark.
These packs have been used in Mk1 Petzl battery boxes by cavers for many years and are widely available. Significantly, they are very
robust and more tolerant to a soaking than li-ions. They would therfore make an excellent spare battery that gets thown in a pocket
with little care, or potentially for those of you who may push the limits of the battery box and, like a diving canister lamp, occasionally
conspire to flood it. The Rude Nora can also potentially be used with packs constructed from 4 X AA nimh cells (TBC).
Can the Rude Nora be used with 7.4v li-ion Little Monkey battery packs?
No, sorry the Rude Nora is not compatible with battery packs used by the previous generation of high end lamps, such as the Little
Monkey or Hurricane. This generation of lamps used high voltage packs typically 7.4v (14.8v in some instances) in order to realise
suitable output from the LED technology. To avoid any confusion, the Rude Nora is therefore also not compatible with battery packs
from Stenlight, Viper or Scurion(tm).
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I have my own battery arrangement in mind, can i buy just the Rude Nora lamp ?
Yes we have lamps available for precisey this. The Nora is particularly well suited to this as it can run on lower volatge
arrngements (typ 3.6-6.0v) than previous generation high end lamps (typically 7.4v +), with obvious advantages surrounding battery
pack versatility and autonomy with easily configured helmet pack arrangement. We can also build to order lamps connected to brand
new Petzl Duo battery box or mk1 petzl zoom box. The availablity of the latter is now extremely limited and these boxes are only
available new quite infrequently.
Can I buy a just the Rude Nora battery box?
Sorry, no. At this point in time the helmet battery box is only available with a compete Nora lamp set.
What size is the Rude Nora headset and how much does it weigh?
The Rude Nora headset is extremely compact, and has been optimised to accomodate the latest high power LED technology, which
have become increasingly efficient and produce less heat relative to output than a few years ago. Consequently, the Rude Nora is
considerably smaller than any high end caving lamp capable of providing sufficient cooling to sustainably run the latest LEDs. The
Rude Nora lamp housing is just over 50mm diameter, 23mm deep and weighs in at an astonishing 100 grams (to be confirmed). To get
this into perspective, the nearest equivlent lamp that offers the cooling capacity of the Rude Nora is considerably bigger and at 166
grams, weighs 65% more.
Why does the Rude Nora have big fins?
The Rude Nora headset is machined from aluminium. The fins are essentail to maximise surface arae and provide effective heat
dissipation for the LEDs. Take a look at the first generaion of high end lamps. It is noticable that some have effective cooling, such as
the Little Monkey, Hurricane and Scurion(tm). Others lamps did not. Innefective cooling will either shorten LED lifetime and impact on
performance, or limit a lamps ability to sustain high output as a result of circuitry controlled shutdown at elevated temperature.
The Nora has been designed to optimise heat dissipation and keep the lamp efficient and reliable based on the LED technology now
available. LEDs are sensitive to heat and management of this is crucial. The Nora is significantly smaller than would have been
necessary in a this level of light output just a few years ago. Heat dissipation is a product of surface area. The larger the
surface, the better. As LED technology improves further (more light per watt equates to less heat generation), the level of
heatsinking required will reduce and smaller lamps will no doubt be feasible. However, as the material cost is of very little significance
versus the machining costs, which typically increase with precision manufacture, don’t anticipate reduced cost. It would be a lot easier
for us to have machined a massive heatsink, but there is a critical balance. If a lamp does not have good heatsinking be scared J.
The operating sequence, or ' User Interface' is basically what happens when you start pushing the GO button. Experience shows
us that some cavers want a simple user interface (on/off works for a lot of folk) and others want their lamp to be highly configuable with
numerous variants of beam profile. Consequenty, we offer a Simple interface and an Advanced interface. To realise this, configuration of
the LED driver circuits is controlled by a microprocessor, as you would expect in a high end lamp. The 'Simple' interface has 4 power
setting camp, low, medium, high and access to the 6 stage fuel gauge. The 'Advanced' interface allows easy selection of any power
setting both the flood and spot LEDs either independently or simutaneously, without any requirement to pre program these settings*.
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More information on which solution might best suit your demands is available of the User Inteface page.
*The Rude Nora does not need to be pre programmed. All modes are easily available on the move. Furthermore, this has enabled us to
simplify the Noras' user interface and achieve an estimated weight and size reduction of more than 50%. A win win scenario.
How do I know how much battery capacity I have used / have remaining?
Most, but not all, high end lamps incorporate a fuel gauge so that the user can at any time determine the level of battery pack capacity
remaining. However, you invariably can't see it when you wear your helmet together with your lamp. Of course you can take off your
helmet, but there is a better way...
The Rude Nora features our innovative 6 stage visual fuel gauge battery monitoring system, developed in our original Little Monkey and
Hurricane lamps. When the fuel gauge is initiated the Rude Nora will flash a number of times from 1 to 6 fashes to indicate the
remaining battery capacity. This highly accurate fuel gauge system is unique amongst the high end caving lamps. You can easily and
quickly determine the level of battery capacity without removing your helmet and counting how many litte LED lights are on/off.
Does the Rude Nora shut off the higher power levels as the battery pack discharges?
No, The Rude Nora features smooth progressive power reduction as the battery capacity drops towards full discharge, the first high end
lamp to achieve this. This is highly desirabe feature in any caving lamp, and allows the battery to be eeked out when almost flat so that
you will unlikely ever be left without a degree of light. Its not new, and has historically been referred to as 'slow death', but has (unti
now) been difficult to achieve for high end lamps that use i-ion battery packs as these shutdown at around 2.75v per cell rather than
draining all the way to 0v like e.g nimh cells. To date, high end lamps at best, monitor the battery capacity via the fuel gauge and shut
off higher power settings to the user when the battery is getting low. Our original lamps, the Little Monkey and Hurricane both used this
somewhat primitive approach.
Like al high end lamps, the Rude Nora uses a microprocessor 'brain' and momentary switching to provide the versatile levels of control
that are characteristic of and expected from such advanced equipment. When the battery is connected, the lamp is 'alive' , on stand
by, and some battery power is consumed. On stand by, the Rude Nora, draws just 0.000 amp, class leading performance and
insignificant as compared to self discharge of the battery pack and overall battery pack capacity. Consequently, if not used for
extended period of time, battery packs should not be left connected as they will eventually discharge cells to shutdown point at approx
2.75 v per cell, and the the subsequent influence of deep self discharge (even though current draw has been shut down and is
zero) could feasibly reduce cell voltage to less than 2.0v per cell at which point they would be destroyed.
I do a lot of surveying (I'm great and find loads of new cave). My current lamp has a magnetic switch and I have problems with
compass bearings. Will the Rude Nora effect my compass readings?
No, the Nora does not have a magnetic switch or circuitry that will cause an issue
The Rude Nora lamp housing is CNC machned from a high stngth grade aluminium alloy, and the design has been optimised to provide
an effective balance of surface area (for LED cooling) while achieving an acceptably compact design. In fact we believe that the Nora is
the perfect size, not too small to look stupid (and fry the LEDs) and not embarrisingly large. Wev'e gone for a single piece body in
order to minimise machining costs. The body has subsequently been finished with a bang up to date, 2012, here and now, glossy dark
platinum grey finish. The forward mounted flood LED is mounted on a similar grade aluminium alloy insert (tastefully anodised in a
range of complimentary colours) and thermally connected to the main body. The plastic optical front window is extremely resistant to
abrasion. It is unikely that you wil need to replace it at any point unless you happen to be a little bit special when it comes to
killing stuff. Replacement windows are available at low cost. The switch is positioned on the rear of the headset so that it is protected
and doesnt continualy get knocked. As a consequence the Nora is not fited with any form of accidental switch on travel lock, as any
need has been designed out. The Nora uses a new waterproof double O ringed momentary switch, and for good measure this is
protected by an interchangeable switch boot. An O ring creates a waterproof seal between the body and the optical window. This seal
should be maintained with high viscosity silicone grease available from the Online Shop. Do not use conventional silicone grease.
What is the optical window made from ? Polycarbonate?
Sorry about Nora, she got out the wrong side of the bed today J Will say that it's not made from polycarbonate. We realsise that
some manufacturers use polycarbonate for this sort of thing, probably because it is considered a bit of a super material due to
applications such as police riot visors. However, in relality it not particularly effective when it comes to abrasion (scatch) resistance.
There are optically superior, more scratch resistant materials available offering a more suitable balance of characterisitics. Don't worry
about scratching the edge, the window is extremely robust.
Incidently, the Nora has no bezel restricting the light output. The window extends to the full daimeter of the lamp, to gain maximum
light angle from the wide angle 'flood' LED. The Nora is unique amongst lamps using this arrangement in that the 'flood'
LED is postioned well away from the inside edge of the lamp to avoid any 'clipping' of the light output by the aluminium body.
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Please explain the different lamp fixings?
As standard, the Nora comes with stainless steel screws and locknuts. If you want to bling up your lamp, and want to shave a few
micro grams, anodised aluminium fixing screws and nuts are available in a range of colours complimentary to the Nora. There is also a
titanium screw set available. Anyone who doesnt love a bit of titanium lacks soul, or maybe just isnt an engineer. To be honest, oth
the titanium and aluminium fixing are all about sexy styling. You'd have to be the world most obsessed weight weeny to argue
otherwise.The aluminium alloy lamp bracket is also available in a range of bad colours from Perte Stringfellows G string to Crowded
House Album. Well maybe not quite that bad.
What is the Rude Nora battery box made from?
The Rude Nora battery box is CNC machined from a tough engineering plastic, as used by the best diving canister lamps. This is
extremely robust and light weight and we felt that it would wear better and more attractively when bashed around on the back of the
helmet than an anodised aluminium box. As the battery box, unlike the lamp housing, has no cooling function there is no heat related
requirement to construct this from aluminium. We also felt that it is the best material from which to potentially achieve a waterpoof
design, the weakest area of high end lamps to date, and has the further benefit of avoiding the dreadful metal clanking when bashing an
aluminium box alont the roof of a cave. The lid of the box is sealed with a substantial O ring and locked on with two miniature stainless
steel toggle clasps as applied to diving canister lamps to achieve a water tight solution. This seal should be maintained with high
viscosity silicone grease available from the Online Shop. Do not use conventional silicone grease.The battery box is held firmly onto
the helmet with shock cord or industrial cable ties to allow a degree of flexibility and avoid potential problems associated with
rigidly fixing with bolts.
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Can I charge my Rude Nora in the car?
Yes, There is a 12v input 3.7v li-ion car charger available for the Nora. Nora car charger plugs into your car's cigarette lighter and
charges your lamp while you're driving. Intelligent IC chip recognises a fully charged battery and automatically switches to saver mode
to prevent overcharging and short circuit. Charger never heats or overcharges the battery. Dual LED charging indication.
Incidently, we still have a good stash of 12v input 7.4v li-ion car chargers for the previous generation of higher voltage lamps, with
connectors compatible with Little Monkey, Hurricane, Scurion(tm), Stenlight. After all, an expensive caving lamp is about as useful as a
chocolate tea pot if you can't charge it up. See Customduo Scallywag
If you choose to use the Nora for cave diving, we see no reason why this should impact on the standard commercial warranty against
defects in materials and manufacturing. If you break a component diving then, as with any breakage, it will require a replacment part.
We will always endeavour to keep the cost implications of this as low as possibe, and get you going again as swiftly as possible.
Yes, see above question. We can see no reason not to stand by the standard warranty if used for diving. While designed to be as
waterproof as possible, any damage due to water ingression is not covered full stop.
Seriously though, the Nora is a no compromise lamp for karst crawlers. Adapting it as a bike or running lamp is a compromise we are
not prepared to make regardless of the potential for purely commercial gain.
What is the warranty?
Rude Nora has a standard 1 year warranty against defects in materials and manufacture. Now lets be honest with each other about
this. All products have this warranty and it covers you for just about nothing. Once you've bashed it round a cave you are going to
struggle to demonstrate a blundering balls up in the manufacture, (especially if you havn't had it serviced every 1000 miles so to say).
The reality therefore is that you are essentially at the mercy of the goodwill of the manufacturer, and their attitude to remaining in
business. Fortunately, we're very nice (though a little sarcastic and a touch grump occasionally) and we exist because as well as
building good stuff, we tend to look after people.
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Not a huge amount. Keep the O ring seals lubricated with high viscosity silicane grease. You can get it fro us at a very competitive
price. We dont advise using standard, cheaper silicone grease. Other than that, keep an eye on battery connectors and switch boot,
and replace if worn out. Optical window can be replaced if it becomes excessively worn.
No. It would just mean that everyone else would have to pay more.
www.littlemonkeycaving.co.uk (Customduo)
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