New banner....something BETTER than the Arc4?

[BuddTX]

[ QUOTE ]
Alan said:
[ QUOTE ]
BuddTX said:
I would also like to see a rechargable Luxeon Star light designed, from the ground up to be rechargable. I would thing a 3AA size would work nicely. Of course, this light would be a "bright as can possibly be" light.

[/ QUOTE ]

What's wrong with Charlie's LGI/SLGI? Both of them runs on 3AA rechargeable in DD mode (feeding more than 1A to 1W on fresh battery), hell bright

You could even get Illuminator III from Lambda. That's designed to be run on 2 NiMH AA and driving 1A to a LIII, again, hell bright

Honestly, I hope that Henry could focus on something that is not available in the market such as Action Light III.

Alan

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the info.

I have 4 LGI's from Charlie, and one SLGI. I never used Rechargeables with any of them.

If I use rechargeable batteries, could I get "more" out of what I am already getting?

The way I understood it, something has to be comprimised if one wants to make a light that can run both rechargables and alkalines.

 

[HDS_Systems]

Radagast,

Ah, momentary operation (your temporary mode) - now I understand what you are saying. It would seem that if you did not have the problem with the light coming on in your pocket, you would leave it on a higher setting and thus would not need the feature. Would that be correct? The auto-off and auto-lock might be of help to you in this case.

But let me think about your suggestion - it sounds interesting.

NikolaTesla,

Would the EDC Basic fill the bill? 40 lumens, not programmable and $120?

Keithhr (et al),

Photos of EDC line are coming - probably about 2 days away. There are some long lead time items that must be completed first.

Marked,

Don Lancaster published an article in May of 1998 on the Action Light. He got the idea for the article from a technical paper I presented in January 1998 at the Arizona Regional Association - which he attended. You can get a copy of it at http://tinaja.com/glib/muse124.pdf. There was also a paper published in the National Speleological Society Journal, but I don't know of an on-line copy.

Henry.

 

[geepondy]

The EDC basic seems like a good light and at a price that might put it in reach for some. I certainly hope it is not too big, certainly not bigger then an Arc4 or LSP.

 

[Marked]

Don Lancaster, Yes thats where I seen it. His articles used to run in Electronics Now I do believe.

 

[HDS_Systems]

[ QUOTE ]
If I use rechargeable batteries, could I get "more" out of what I am already getting?

The way I understood it, something has to be comprimised if one wants to make a light that can run both rechargables and alkalines.

[/ QUOTE ]

BuddTx,

The actual performance you will get from a light depends on the batteries used to power the light. I wrote a detailed explanation of this plus provided test data and posted it on my web site back in 1999 - that information should still be in the historic area. But to summarize, performance from batteries is governed by three things: 1) total output voltage, 2) internal resistance and 3) amp-hour capacity.

Internal battery resistance has the most dramatic effect on high current applications because of the high I-squared-R losses. Losses inside of the battery go up with the square of the current. This is compounded because the internal resistance also drops the apparent total output voltage of the battery, forcing the current even higher. Alkaline batteries are particularly bad in this department while lithium batteries are much better.

Rechargeable batteries normally have a relatively low internal resistance making them ideal for high current applications. The performance from NiMH cells easily exceeds the performance of the same number and type of alkaline cells in high current applications for this very reason - even though the alkaline batteries have a much higher power rating - that higher rating only applies at low current levels. Lithium rechargeable batteries are a much closer match to the lithium non-rechargeable batteries.

From the standpoint of designing electronics - specifically the EDC and Action Light product lines, there is nothing traded off to enable the use of rechargeable batteries - i.e., there is no performance penalty in the design that puts using non-rechargeable batteries at a disadvantage or that prevents the full potential of the rechargeable batteries from being used. Now I will admit that making this true was not trivial, but then what about these lights is trivial? Nothing was compromised to allow both non-rechargeable and rechargeable batteries to be used.

Henry.

 

[gorkon]

Henry,

If pics are not available, can you provide some beamshots, or at least a beamshot description.

60 lumens from such a small light must be a first for the industry...congrats!

 

[Beretta1526]

Darell: /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif

I agree on all points!

 

[Alan]

BuddTX said:[/i][/b]

Thanks for the info.

I have 4 LGI's from Charlie, and one SLGI. I never used Rechargeables with any of them.

If I use rechargeable batteries, could I get "more" out of what I am already getting?

The way I understood it, something has to be comprimised if one wants to make a light that can run both rechargables and alkalines.

[/ QUOTE ]

Like Henry said, rechargeable or alkaline won't affect the performance on a good regulated light except runtime.

For non-regulated lights like LGI/SLGI which draw high current from 3AA, NiMH provides MUCH better performance (longer bright time) than alkaline. For lights that aren't heatsinked well might have problem with NiMH. I have been using LGI/SLGI almost every week for at least 2 continous hours at a time on NiMH w/o overheating problem and of course, hell bright like I said.

Alkaline does provide 100+hrs of "usable light" that NiMH doesn't

Alan

 

[Alan]

Henry,

Please advise if external battery pack is available for Action Light III. It'd be great that to see features like SwitchBack - when external battery plugged, it'd be used as primary battery source and jump back to internal 2x123 when external battery is unplugged or battery level is low.

I love this feature very much on SwitchBack. Unfortunately, Switchback's light output sucks:-(

Alan

 

[Alan]

Henry,

Since Action Light III supports 2v to 6.5v, it'd be great if it has compatible interface with Princeton Tec SwitchBack's 4C external battery case. SwitchBack's external battery case is waterproof and very well built.

Alan

 

[Catdaddy]

Re: something BETTER than the Arc4? pics/proof please

photos?

 

[Moth]

Re: something BETTER than the Arc4? pics/proof please

[ QUOTE ]
Henry said:
Photos of EDC line are coming - probably about 2 days away. There are some long lead time items that must be completed first.


[/ QUOTE ]


Catdaddy -- supposedly, they're a comin'....

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif

 

[HDS_Systems]

Re: something BETTER than the Arc4? pics/proof please

The moment you have been waiting for has arrived. Here is a photo of the prototype (top) with an Arc4 (bottom) for comparison:

You will have to wait another month to see the production design. Sorry, we have to give the machine shop time to do the production machining. In the production design the head is fully knurled, the tail cap is shapelier and the pocket clip extends all the way down to the tail cap - hence no knurling on the tail cap. The diameter is slightly smaller than the Arc4 and the length is about the same.

I'm sure you will also appreciate being able to use existing accessories like the F04 beam shaper while the pocket clip is attached.

The new parts being machined are production candidates - i.e., unless testing shows a flaw, they will be the final parts that go into production.

You will also be happy to know that we sent out the latest circuit boards for manufacture, which are also production candidates.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to work on a circuit this small? Like this:

And yes, that is a microscope. When the parts are so small you cannot tell them from a spec of dust on the table, you have to get serious.

You will have to wait a bit longer to get all the beam shots in one photo. Given the cobbled state of affairs at this moment, it is quite difficult to get multiple lights functioning at the same time. And having three separate beam shots is probably not as interesting. But have patience, the beam shots will come.

Henry.

 

[HDS_Systems]

Alan,

The first Action Light III will be an all-in-one unit - i.e., the batteries go into the light itself. The next variation will include a cord and we are looking at supplying an external battery pack for 4 AA batteries.

I have looked at the SwitchBack and it is a very interesting design philosophy. I like the concept, but not how it was implemented. The weak link is the connector. I know an Action Light III implementation would go over big in the caving community. The main problem is that everyone has a different idea of what they want for a battery pack. What would make sense is to provide a robust interface (connector) and let everyone adapt their existing battery pack and power cord to the connector - almost all external battery packs come with a cord.

I will certainly keep this in mind for the corded unit. Thanks for the suggestion.

Henry.

 

[LifeNRA]

Deja Vu. Seems like I have seen this light before /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

 

[MY]

Ditto here. Am I seeing things?

 

[Overamp]

Welcome to CPF Henry. I find it fascinating and expensive to follow the evolution led flashlights. Good luck. Now.., I like the idea of a variable strobe in your flashlight. Years ago at Union Carbide we spent $1000 on a fancy strobe so we could find out if the RPM of some motors was wandering. That feature could be very useful in world of factory maintenance. Even more important, I would like to be able to take the light from spot to flood but not the mechanical way Mag does it. Maybe a low lumen loss liquid crystal diffuser integrated into the lens. Could even be variable. I like the Mag concept but not the execution. My 2 cents.

 

[sebast]

It's exactly the same head than Arc4? Looks like the Arc5 proto...

 

[Rothrandir]

err, what did you guys expect? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif

 

[kongfuchicken]

err, something different? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif