Powerlight HX-G011 1W 1xAA LED Flashlight Black

[heliyardsale]

On mine, the circuit board and heatsink unscrewed completely in one piece.
I just stuck the tips of a pair of needle nose pliers into the outer holes of the circuit board and twisted. It started coming out without too much effort. I don't think I had much glue on the threads.

The reason I took mine apart is because I blew something on the booster board while trying to measure current off the battery from the tail end. This is actually my second Powerlight, and neither of them would light up with a multimeter hooked up in series. The light would simply flash on quickly and go out. The current would then shoot up to about 1.5A off the battery. This doesn't seem like normal operating current when the light is on normally. Anyway, as I was trying to get a current reading off the second light, the LED flashed, and never came back on. I put the tailcap back on, and when I hit the clickie, the LED flashes on quickly and goes out. I also notice a burnt electronics smell eminating from the circuit board.

Sparkysko reported blowing out his board with 2 cells, but I managed to do it with just one and a multimeter. So be careful with the board if you're gonna mess with it.

Now that I got the pill out, I'm probably just gonna turn this into a 3.6v Li-Ion direct drive light with a Cree or SSC.

-patchy

I smoked on of mine too. It about 2am and I grabbed a light from the dresser, I was still half asleep and when I turned it on I thought the battery was running dead so a grabbed the first cell that felt like an AA, too bad I happened to have a 14500 mixed in the bunch. after switching batteries, I clicked the light on, ping, a quick flash, then the sweet smell of a fried flashlight. My wife woke and said "whats burning?" Oh well, one down and one to go.... I don't think its even worth modding...
Heli

 

[johnny13oi]

Sorry for bringing this thread back but could anyone help me with some advice on how to remove the pill. I pulled the circuit board off and it ripped the wires and when I soldered it back together the thing doesn't work anymore. I have tried freezing the thing and even heating it up with a soldering iron. Any ideas? It's stuck in there really really well and I would like to replace the LED with 7 of my other 5mm LEDs I have laying around with a circuit board from an Elly flashlight.

 

[johnny13oi]

I've actually got it open now and modded it just as I said after many hours of burning myself and extreme frustration I did it. It appears to be atleast 3 times brighter now but I accidentally shorted the switch out and fried it so I just bridged it and now it acts as a twisty using the tail. All in all, I would be pleased if I had not fried the switch. Does anyone know how to fix it? I tried prying it open but didn't succeed at getting that little black switch box open. Anywhere to get the switch or tail cap for cheap?

 

[LEDcandle]

At the price its going for, you probably better off getting an entire new piece
Or just treat it as a learning experience and use it as it is... for $10, u can get a "Simply Cree" light from DX (or was it Kaidomain) that is just like the powerlight... a no frills light with a Cree.

 

[CandlePowerForumsUser]

I think part of modding is to learn and what better lights to try them on is the cheap ones. I've modded a couple of these with success and actually have been pleased with the outcome. its much brighter, has a nice spill and a tight hotspot for decent throw.

as far as the switch, not sure where you can get those.

 

[selfbuilt]

FYI, since this thread has been ressurected, both my Powerlights have mysteriously died in the last couple of weeks.

My twisty I was never able to get the head open, so it was left stock and only got light usage in my toolbox. The other day I went to use it, and nothing - wouldn't come on with regular batteries.

My clicky I was able to successfully mod with a SSC. Output doubled, and runtime was an excellent 5+ hours to 50% on NiMH. Everything was fine until yesterday, when my daughter dropped it ~3 inches onto my desktop and it stopped working. Won't turn on. :thinking:

Very odd, since I always do a couple of 3+ feet drops and a few table whacks after modding to make sure everything is stable.

I'll have to take it apart to see if I can find the problem, but I'm pretty sure it's not the emitter.

 

[johnny13oi]

FYI, since this thread has been ressurected, both my Powerlights have mysteriously died in the last couple of weeks.

My twisty I was never able to get the head open, so it was left stock and only got light usage in my toolbox. The other day I went to use it, and nothing - wouldn't come on with regular batteries.

My clicky I was able to successfully mod with a SSC. Output doubled, and runtime was an excellent 5+ hours to 50% on NiMH. Everything was fine until yesterday, when my daughter dropped it ~3 inches onto my desktop and it stopped working. Won't turn on. :thinking:

Very odd, since I always do a couple of 3+ feet drops and a few table whacks after modding to make sure everything is stable.

I'll have to take it apart to see if I can find the problem, but I'm pretty sure it's not the emitter.

I think its the transistor in the circuit. I have no idea how to check to see if its okay but I checked everything else and everything else seems to check out. I played around with the circuit and it doesn't work anymore thats why I just used the circuit from an Elly.

 

[CandlePowerForumsUser]

I replaced the stock boards with these guys here...

http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4451

I have a Fenix L1P that I put this board and a SSC P4 in. I like it alot. can't tell if its brighter than the stock driver but when I receive my cree's.... i'll put that in the Powerlight and compare.

 

[johnny13oi]

I replaced the stock boards with these guys here...

http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4451

I have a Fenix L1P that I put this board and a SSC P4 in. I like it alot. can't tell if its brighter than the stock driver but when I receive my cree's.... i'll put that in the Powerlight and compare.

The comments seem to state that that driver seems to be very inefficient. How is it on your batteries?

 

[CandlePowerForumsUser]

no run time test yet. I have to do it tonight and let you know... I hope its OK since 3 lights have them I guess I'll find out tonight!

The comments seem to state that that driver seems to be very inefficient. How is it on your batteries?

 

[CandlePowerForumsUser]

OK, I ran a new enegerizer alkaline battery. I compared the output to a P3D-CE on medium which is advertised as 40 lumens (its pretty close to this).

I have no light meter, just eyeballing skills here. After 1 hour, light was noticeable dimmer but not at halfway point. At 1hr 15mins, light was very dim(well below half output). I cut the test at this point.

Here is where it gets interesting...

After having the light off for a few mins, I decided to turn it back on. Great, its at max brightness again . It stayed at this output for 20mins... 30mins it was pretty dim again so I just went to sleep with the light on.

I woke up this morning, turned the light off, waited a few mins and turned it back on. Its at max output again . Left it on for just a few mins because I give up.


So how is the driver on alks? I have no idea. The light did get a little hot so I left it on the window to keep it cool. I checked it very 5mins.

If anyone have any ideas why its behaving this way. I'd sure like to know.

 

[krazy89]

hey everyone...

wow... i don't believe this thread has grown this big... i haven't checked back for a long time... and BAM.. it's on the top of the page 1... again... love it...

anyways... i've been on a flashlight hiatus... my gray G011 has stayed stock all this time... and i was just about to grab a cree star board when i heard about the rebels... now that the cheapy rebels (40lm @ 350ma) i was thinking about putting that in... then i read that the new q4/q5 cree's are friggin 100lm... i think i will get that... but haven't really seen any selling... (not at a decent price anyways!)...

in the last week.. i've found myself on this forum again... i think i got the fever... again...

KraZy

 

[Teh]

:sigh:I should have read this post completly earlier, fried mine as well....

So for any future readers,
DO NOT RUN MORE THAN 1.5 VOLTS ON THIS LIGHT!

 

[mmmflashlights]

:sigh:I should have read this post completly earlier, fried mine as well....

So for any future readers,
DO NOT RUN MORE THAN 1.5 VOLTS ON THIS LIGHT!

You could just bypass the circuit and run the LED in direct drive straight from a 14500, skipping any circuit altogether. Of course that's if only the circuit was fried, and not the LED as well.

 

[RV7]

Got one, tested it... cheap inside out... a 46% efficiency driver! No capacitor, no diode... must be hard on the LED!

 

[Ty_Bower]

The tailswitch on mine rotted out. Any ideas where to get a replacement (that doesn't cost more than the HX-G011)?