Vision Mantis light replacements and lenses - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2014, 12:45:35 pm
content: Hi.I bought an original Vision Mantis with 2X, 4X and 6X lenses, in an as new condition. What a wonderful machine for ergonomic soldering or PCB inspection. Ideally it would have had a 10X lens but for what I paid for the whole lot, I can't complain.I would like to get spares. Does anyone know if there is an LED replacement globe for the original which I think is an OSRAM 20W Decostar 35S Standard 44890SP 12V Halogen globe? What is so special about the Ozram? Are there other alternatives that perform just as well?Also, does anyone have a spare 10X lens available for the machine without any defects? (Its not an Elite, but an Original Mantis).This info about spare globes might help others.cheers,Dave

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2014, 06:04:51 pm
content: Nothing too special about it, it is a standard 35mm 20W halogen lamp, just depends on the beam angle which it gives as to what you will get light wise. You can use a Phillips or Osram lamp there, but do not buy the Fong Kong ones ( or any made in PRC by any manufacturer) and do not use GE lamps, the quality of those not made in the USA has deteriorated down to being worse than the no name lamps you get in the China shop for $1 for 10.You can get a LED replacement, or simply machine a suitable mounting plate to hold a 3W LED puck and use an external LED driver on it to power it.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2014, 12:54:32 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on October 15, 2014, 06:04:51 pmThanks for the tip Sean. I might try out a LED replacement with a wide angle lens. 3W of LED light would equal 20W Halogen light at least, so it could be a good move, especially if I can find a switch mode driver so I might be able to disconnect the fan if I use a heatsinked LED. Or put two LEDs in series... one for each side. Or swap the 12V power supply to something with a lower voltage. Might be an interesting little side project and I can post the how-to and the results on the EEVblog.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2014, 05:29:20 pm
content: Buy 2 3-9W MR51 12V lamps as the donors, and use the LED COB with a better heatsink, and use the integrated driver as is. There should be enough room in the housing to place them easily. they normally do come apart easily and if you buy 3 then if you break one in the beginning there is no problem, you now have a spare driver board. The cheap ones all seem to either be held together by screws, or by clipping or sections unscrew.

author: waldo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 16, 2014, 09:26:19 pm
content: I bought some LED versions of those bulbs from someone on eBay for my Mantis. Works well and it's completely silent now since I also disconnected the fan when I put in the LED lamps.

author: luis garcia
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2014, 02:56:38 pm
content: I own a Dynascope (the father of the Mantis) and you cannot replace an OSRAM Xenophot lamp by any other cheap lamp. For starters, the socket is not the same diameter (although it looks line one). Forget about led lamps, simply you don't get enough light from these. You can buy OSRAM Xenophot lamps by ordering dfirectly from OSRAM.

author: LarsWH
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 11, 2017, 05:00:24 pm
content: I just got me a used Vision Engineering Mantis with a very noisy fan. Today I have replaced the halogen lamps with these LED based GU4 socket lamps: Osram 'LED STAR MR11 20 36'. Afterwards, I cut the wire to the fan, and after several hours I can hardly detect any heat dissipation.In order to cut the fan wire, I had to remove the lens toggling mechanism (3 screws) and the fixed lens (2 screws). Then the cover for the fan (2 screws) can be dismounted, and the wire cut. If you dare taking the Mantis more apart, you can probably find a connector inside...

author: Pinkus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2017, 04:19:59 pm
content: I am using 4W Spot LED with 30° and these are working quite well.Quote from: LarsWH on November 11, 2017, 05:00:24 pmYes it is, see pic attached (not my picture - I saved it a while ago from another thread here in the forum). There is an adapter PCB with a bridge rectifier for the fan and outputs for the lamps (AC as far as I remember).However, the 4W LED I am using can get quite hot and I do not feel they should be used for a longer time without any air flow - thus slowing down the fan will be fine, shutting it of completeley.... I don't know. Maybe with 2 or 3W LED, but with 4W it is too hot imho.What you can also do is to connect a regular DC output power supply to the power connector on the back side. Then you may select the brightness and noise of the fan by lowering the voltage. With 11 or 12 Volt the LED will be show almost at the same brightness, but the fan then is only 50% of the noise (or use just a resistor in line with the fan).