mst3k
Enlightened
This statement alone just makes me angry as hell that Bill gets to just walk away clean from this whole project. :thumbsdow:thumbsdow
You are a saint, Jim!
The new and LAST USL build update thread!
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This statement alone just makes me angry as hell that Bill gets to just walk away clean from this whole project. :thumbsdow:thumbsdow
You are a saint, Jim!
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thanks, mst3k! But I can assure you that I am definitely not a saint. :devil:
I think one small reason (in Bill's defense) why those never got mailed out is that I put the switch in backwards relative to the switch guard, so that you can't put a locking pin in to keep it turned off. You could lock them ON, but, well, that's not a great idea.
When I made them, I just made them and didn't test them out. If I had, I would have noticed right away that the switches needed to have their ON position turned the opposite way.Ah well. Still not a reason to keep them from people. He could easily have drilled two new holes in the other position on the guard to allow the locking pin to work.
Honestly, though, just the presence of that guard is enough. It surrounds the switch and you have to intentionally stick your finger inside it to active the switch. The locking pin is just the ultimate insurance that it will not active accidentally.
lightlust,
Your USL will definitely go out today. I PM'ed you the tracking no.
Trashman
Flashlight Enthusiast
In the first place, I don't think the shipping costs were, originally, to be collected, until the lights were ready to ship. I could be mistaken, though, as it's been a "a while." I do believe, though, I remember still having to pay shipping, anyway. I've definitely got you covered, there.
Really, JS, you're a saint and should probably be formally canonized by CPF with some type of saintly looking charm next to your name.
Also, I see you're trying to get a hold of Auroralite. I think, I remember him being a personal friend of AW. He might know.
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Trashman, Come to think of it, I agree with you that Bill never collected shipping for the USL lights till they were ready to ship.
MikeF
Enlightened
You are correct about the shipping and Bill not charging for shipping as part of the pre-pay. I got him to make an estimate so I could pay him via a postal money order since I did not want to use Pay Pal. We agreed upon $25.00.
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
Well now, that's interesting. I'm not sure how, or even IF, I will change my stance on shipping costs. Right now, it is totally optional for people to pay shipping. Seems only fair to get free shipping after having waited so danged long for your order.
But I'm still thinking about it.
Anyway . . .
I have finished the employee evaluations and performance dialogues, and I have finished my taxes, and work is ever so slightly less crazy, so, I will start again putting an hour or so of work in a day on the USL stuff. When I get home I will look at the list and see who is next. I have a pewter USL ready to go out and will ship it to the next validated-address person tomorrow.
But I'm still thinking about it.
Anyway . . .
I have finished the employee evaluations and performance dialogues, and I have finished my taxes, and work is ever so slightly less crazy, so, I will start again putting an hour or so of work in a day on the USL stuff. When I get home I will look at the list and see who is next. I have a pewter USL ready to go out and will ship it to the next validated-address person tomorrow.
Trashman
Flashlight Enthusiast
This might sound like a stupid question, but I haven't been following this thread very closely...
Will these ship with *any* charger?
Will these ship with *any* charger?
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
Sadly, no.
Unless Bill ships them. I told him to start shipping out the chargers he has ASAP, as I was shipping out orders, but I don't think anyone has gotten anything from him.
As for the USL order going out today, I left my can of compressed air at work and was too tired / unmotivated to drive back and get it (or go to the store to get another one). But I will definitely get that order ready tonight, and figure out who is getting it. And also, cycle the last of the packs. Here's hoping they're all good.
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
OK. I got an email from Bill asking me if the last email I sent him was the last email I sent him (which it was)--the one where I wanted to know the simplest of things: WHO THE HELL GOT THEIR USL'S AND WHO DIDN'T. You'd think that would be the very first thing to pass on to the person taking over your project. But, no.
Anyway, he didn't tell me much, except that "the first 3 should be receiving their power supplies, etc. early next week." Whoever that means, and whenever that will really end up being is anyones guess.
Whatever.
OK, so as far as I can tell Mark65 is next. He's from Japan. If I'm reading the spreadsheet right, he bought that spot from vontech who bought it from Juancho. I sent him an email.
If anyone has any helpful info, please, please feel free to pipe up.
Anyway, he didn't tell me much, except that "the first 3 should be receiving their power supplies, etc. early next week." Whoever that means, and whenever that will really end up being is anyones guess.
Whatever.
OK, so as far as I can tell Mark65 is next. He's from Japan. If I'm reading the spreadsheet right, he bought that spot from vontech who bought it from Juancho. I sent him an email.
If anyone has any helpful info, please, please feel free to pipe up.
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The Beagle has landed!!! Thanks, js!!!
I picked up a box containing a nifty blue USL at my mailbox place today (not sure when it actually reached there, I didn't manage to make a pickup last Saturday). Wow!!! I haven't put in a bulb and tried turning the light on yet, but it's just awesome to have received a light after all these years.
A couple questions:
1) Is the light charged up (at least as of when you shipped it)? I don't have a charger yet and want to know if it's ok to play with the light for a few minutes pending figuring out a charging method, or (if I'm way lucky) receiving a charger from Bill.
2) When you say the switch is installed backwards, does that mean the on-off direction is the opposite of usual, i.e. you press down on the tail-facing side of the rocker switch to turn the light on, and on the forward side to turn it off? I'm asking this partly to make sure that I don't clobber myself when installing a bulb, though I guess I should check the socket with a voltmeter before putting a bulb in.
Update: Yes, it's backwards. I couldn't get a voltmeter probe into the little holes so I carefully stuck the bulb into the socket with the switch in what would normally be the "off" position. The bulb had enough thermal mass that it wasn't a problem pulling it out when I saw it slowly starting to light up. I might drill a couple extra holes in the guard to allow putting a lock pin there.
3) Do you think it's ok to simply trickle charge the pack instead of using a smart charger? Let's say 100 ma for 24 hours or thereabouts. I can probably put something like that together from scrounged parts.
Kudos to js!!!
[Update: as above, I got the light running. It's like turning on the lights in the room: I can easily read a magazine from the ceiling bounce illumination, just like running a normal light fixture. For flashlight-like operation it seems like a "normal" (though very bright) flashlight, I guess mostly because of the width of the spill beam. Anyway, neat! I will probably bring it to work tomorrow for show & tell
I picked up a box containing a nifty blue USL at my mailbox place today (not sure when it actually reached there, I didn't manage to make a pickup last Saturday). Wow!!! I haven't put in a bulb and tried turning the light on yet, but it's just awesome to have received a light after all these years.
A couple questions:
1) Is the light charged up (at least as of when you shipped it)? I don't have a charger yet and want to know if it's ok to play with the light for a few minutes pending figuring out a charging method, or (if I'm way lucky) receiving a charger from Bill.
2) When you say the switch is installed backwards, does that mean the on-off direction is the opposite of usual, i.e. you press down on the tail-facing side of the rocker switch to turn the light on, and on the forward side to turn it off? I'm asking this partly to make sure that I don't clobber myself when installing a bulb, though I guess I should check the socket with a voltmeter before putting a bulb in.
Update: Yes, it's backwards. I couldn't get a voltmeter probe into the little holes so I carefully stuck the bulb into the socket with the switch in what would normally be the "off" position. The bulb had enough thermal mass that it wasn't a problem pulling it out when I saw it slowly starting to light up. I might drill a couple extra holes in the guard to allow putting a lock pin there.
3) Do you think it's ok to simply trickle charge the pack instead of using a smart charger? Let's say 100 ma for 24 hours or thereabouts. I can probably put something like that together from scrounged parts.
Kudos to js!!!
[Update: as above, I got the light running. It's like turning on the lights in the room: I can easily read a magazine from the ceiling bounce illumination, just like running a normal light fixture. For flashlight-like operation it seems like a "normal" (though very bright) flashlight, I guess mostly because of the width of the spill beam. Anyway, neat! I will probably bring it to work tomorrow for show & tell
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No offense to anyone and sorry for the aside, but I hope your eyes are far more tolerant than mine.
" It's like turning on the lights in the room: I can easily read a magazine from the ceiling bounce illumination"
I can't turn on my PolarBear or FM85 indoors without creating a bit of a burn in my eyes just from the bounce. I expect the USL to be notably more lumens than either. Then again our place is mostly white or shades thereof but indoor use seems quite potentially hazardous to the eyes. Even the quickest flash leaves spikes in my eyes (not at me/just bounce off any floor/wall etc).
Good luck with all you've got going on JS, regardless of hobbies life's busy enough! Certainly you should be paid shipping.
(fingers crossed their's a blue or silver body waiting for my build)
" It's like turning on the lights in the room: I can easily read a magazine from the ceiling bounce illumination"
I can't turn on my PolarBear or FM85 indoors without creating a bit of a burn in my eyes just from the bounce. I expect the USL to be notably more lumens than either. Then again our place is mostly white or shades thereof but indoor use seems quite potentially hazardous to the eyes. Even the quickest flash leaves spikes in my eyes (not at me/just bounce off any floor/wall etc).
Good luck with all you've got going on JS, regardless of hobbies life's busy enough! Certainly you should be paid shipping.
(fingers crossed their's a blue or silver body waiting for my build)
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
Westy,
It's a lot brighter than any 1185 based light. A LOT. No worries, you won't be disappointed on that front. However, the center intensity might not be as hot as you would expect, relative to a transverse filament light like the 1185. The 62138 is an axial filament, and the hotspot, while perfectly round, doesn't have a very intense center relative to the rest of the hotspot, and there is a great deal of spill. It still does throw--it's not a flood light--but it doesn't throw like a mag85 or MC1160, for example.
Anyway, getting back to the ceiling bounce thing, if you shine it up at the ceiling, it is like turning the lights on in the room, and you will have nice even illumination, as long as you don't look at the hotspot on the ceiling. If you do that, then, yes, you'll create a burning sensation in your retinas! LOL!
paulr,
Yes, it's charged and ready to use. Go for it. But do keep in mind that as it gets puts through its paces, the battery pack should just keep holding better and better voltage under load, as long as you don't over discharge it at any point. So be careful to turn off when you start to see rapid dimming.
And yes, a trickle of 100 to 200 mA for 24 hours would be just the ticket for it if you can make up a simple constant current charging circuit. You'll need about 17 to 18 volts from the source, as the pack reaches over 15 volts at the end of trickling.
As for the guard and switch orientation, just wanted to let people know that after this next pewter one goes out, all the rest will have a normal switch orientation, and if they do have a guard, then the hole will be in the right place to lock it off.
So, no response from Mark65, so I'm PM'ing jte. If he doesn't respond in short order, I'll just keep on skipping down the list. I want to mail out this pewter USL either this afternoon or tomorrow, but it may not go out until Monday.
And this weekend, I WILL post a new thread and take a total inventory and some pictures.
It's a lot brighter than any 1185 based light. A LOT. No worries, you won't be disappointed on that front. However, the center intensity might not be as hot as you would expect, relative to a transverse filament light like the 1185. The 62138 is an axial filament, and the hotspot, while perfectly round, doesn't have a very intense center relative to the rest of the hotspot, and there is a great deal of spill. It still does throw--it's not a flood light--but it doesn't throw like a mag85 or MC1160, for example.
Anyway, getting back to the ceiling bounce thing, if you shine it up at the ceiling, it is like turning the lights on in the room, and you will have nice even illumination, as long as you don't look at the hotspot on the ceiling. If you do that, then, yes, you'll create a burning sensation in your retinas! LOL!
paulr,
Yes, it's charged and ready to use. Go for it. But do keep in mind that as it gets puts through its paces, the battery pack should just keep holding better and better voltage under load, as long as you don't over discharge it at any point. So be careful to turn off when you start to see rapid dimming.
And yes, a trickle of 100 to 200 mA for 24 hours would be just the ticket for it if you can make up a simple constant current charging circuit. You'll need about 17 to 18 volts from the source, as the pack reaches over 15 volts at the end of trickling.
As for the guard and switch orientation, just wanted to let people know that after this next pewter one goes out, all the rest will have a normal switch orientation, and if they do have a guard, then the hole will be in the right place to lock it off.
So, no response from Mark65, so I'm PM'ing jte. If he doesn't respond in short order, I'll just keep on skipping down the list. I want to mail out this pewter USL either this afternoon or tomorrow, but it may not go out until Monday.
And this weekend, I WILL post a new thread and take a total inventory and some pictures.
Well I did something crazy. Batteryspace was out of that $30 charger that LuxLuthor recommended--they had a similar looking model that I was thinking of ordering since I didn't feel like messing around with scrounged computer power bricks after all. But I have a co-worker who's into R/C helicopters, so we took a drive down to an R/C store and I ended up buying a Triton 1 on closeout (plus a power supply), basically the same setup that I'm supposedly in line to receive from Bill sometime. I haven't figured out how to program it yet--does anyone have suggested settings? Can I just select "NiMH" and the number of cells, or do I have to program the delta V threshold and all that sort of stuff? Thanks.
I figure there's some other things I can use the Triton for besides the USL. Famous last words.
I figure there's some other things I can use the Triton for besides the USL. Famous last words.
Thanks, Milky! I haven't kept track of how many minutes I've run the light--maybe 5 minutes or so out of the 10 minute charge? Should I in general go ahead and recharge the light, relying on the charge termination signal when it's only partially discharged? I always worry about large stacks of cells in series. It should always be ok to just stay with trickle charging unless I'm in a hurry, and that should automatically balance the cells, right?
Westy: the USL is (I believe) around 2500 lumens, around 3x the output of a 1185, but about the same as the pair of 1250 lumen compact fluorescent bulbs in my ceiling fixture. So js's description is about right, the USL makes a VERY bright spot on the ceiling, but its bounce lights the room with very pleasant evenness and about the same intensity as the usual 120 volt ceiling lamps.
Westy: the USL is (I believe) around 2500 lumens, around 3x the output of a 1185, but about the same as the pair of 1250 lumen compact fluorescent bulbs in my ceiling fixture. So js's description is about right, the USL makes a VERY bright spot on the ceiling, but its bounce lights the room with very pleasant evenness and about the same intensity as the usual 120 volt ceiling lamps.
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milkyspit
Flashlight Enthusiast
Paul, I'll preface everything I'm about to say with the disclaimer that JS and even better, SilverFox, are far better authorities than I! That said, my understanding is the following...
* You can recharge whenever you wish... I'd let the cells sit for a little while after use before recharging, though, to let the temps cool down.
* You really NEED to recharge when you see the bulb rapidly dropping in output... if you can look into the light (without spots), you want to recharge!
* A trickle at the rate of C/10 every so often will help keep the cells in balance. Ideally you'd want to run a C/10 charge for 16 hours... how you accomplish that with the Triton is beyond me.
* NiMH won't want a continuous trickle charge, so overnight works great! but 'til the end of time... well... not so great.
oo:
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
paulr,
You can recharge anytime you want, EXCEPT for directly after already charging. That's bad. But otherwise, top off whenever. The peak detection in the Triton is top notch. I've never had it fail to detect the peak. Never. Not once in hundreds, nay, thousands, of charges. However, I usually charge at C/2 or less. In this case, that means at .9 amps or less.
As for imbalances, the "top off" of 100 mA is supposed to remedy that problem. After the peak is detected and charging stops, there is a delay (set it to 10 minutes), and then it puts 100mA through the pack for up to 20 minutes. This will just dissipate some heat in the cells that are already full, but will top off cells that are slightly low.
The Triton is a nice charge, I think. A bit long in the tooth at this point, maybe, but a serviceable charger nonetheless. It doesn't balance charge Li-ion packs, of course, but it will still charge them, and lead acid, and nicd and nimh. It's also pretty straight forward to operate.
By the by, if you want to turn it into a dumb charger to trickle charge nimh packs, set it to NiCd and set the peak detect sensitivity to 20mV per cell, and set the peak delay to 60 minutes, and it will NEVER terminate the charge. I use this trick all the time to give packs a forming charge of C/10 for 16 hours.
OK. As promised, I did an inventory, with pictures and all, and will post a new thread presently. (Working on it now. Link to follow)
You can recharge anytime you want, EXCEPT for directly after already charging. That's bad. But otherwise, top off whenever. The peak detection in the Triton is top notch. I've never had it fail to detect the peak. Never. Not once in hundreds, nay, thousands, of charges. However, I usually charge at C/2 or less. In this case, that means at .9 amps or less.
As for imbalances, the "top off" of 100 mA is supposed to remedy that problem. After the peak is detected and charging stops, there is a delay (set it to 10 minutes), and then it puts 100mA through the pack for up to 20 minutes. This will just dissipate some heat in the cells that are already full, but will top off cells that are slightly low.
The Triton is a nice charge, I think. A bit long in the tooth at this point, maybe, but a serviceable charger nonetheless. It doesn't balance charge Li-ion packs, of course, but it will still charge them, and lead acid, and nicd and nimh. It's also pretty straight forward to operate.
By the by, if you want to turn it into a dumb charger to trickle charge nimh packs, set it to NiCd and set the peak detect sensitivity to 20mV per cell, and set the peak delay to 60 minutes, and it will NEVER terminate the charge. I use this trick all the time to give packs a forming charge of C/10 for 16 hours.
OK. As promised, I did an inventory, with pictures and all, and will post a new thread presently. (Working on it now. Link to follow)
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
OK. Here is the link to the new thread, with inventory:
js's USL reanimation and revivification thread
js's USL reanimation and revivification thread
