Tigerlight resurrection questions

[Stingray]

Stingray,

Have you gotten the pack yet?

js, no, it hasn't arrived yet. Seems like it should have been here by now, how was it packaged? Just wondering if it would fit in my mailbox.

 

[js]

It's going via First Class mail in a padded envelope. No worries yet. It'll probably get there in the next two or three days.

 

[sunspot]

My Tigerlight has lost it's bright white beam the last couple of years. <snip> It's from one of those Tigerlight special sales that TW had here back then when they weren't supposed to. Something about old battery packs bought for a deep discount with the agreement not to resell here. Anyway, I ended up buying one unknowingly, the price was good, but the light fizzled out really quickly, wasn't worth it.

<snip> Looks like $150 for a new lamp, battery and smart charger at their website, more than I paid for the light back then. Any other options? Maybe just a custom battery pack that works with my current lamp and charger.

I was in on the same deal. $100? if I remember. I'm a bit disappointed in my TL. It was nice and bright but didn't last very long. Now it's a paperweight.

 

[Stingray]

It's going via First Class mail in a padded envelope. No worries yet. It'll probably get there in the next two or three days.

js, it arrived today. The light is nice and bright now. Thank you !

Sunspot, that was it I think, it came with a few pepper spray cannisters also (which were expired).

 

[sunspot]

Stingray, maybe it was another deal? I bought a FBOP verison. I still remain a Dissatisfied Tigerlight customer.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Stingray, maybe it was another deal? I bought a FBOP verison. I still remain a Dissatisfied Tigerlight customer.

Satisfied Tigerlight owner here.

Bill

 

[Stingray]

It wasn't Tigerlight's fault, it was Dan at Tactical Warehouse. He bought some old inventory with outdated and/or defective components at a huge discount with the explicit agreement not to resell it on the retail market and then he dumped it on us with one of his "big sales".

 

[sunspot]

It wasn't Tigerlight's fault, it was Dan at Tactical Warehouse. He bought some old inventory with outdated and/or defective components at a huge discount with the explicit agreement not to resell it on the retail market and then he dumped it on us with one of his "big sales".

I had no way of knowing that. I bought it in good faith and now I have a "Doorstop" with Tigerlight as the product name.
If tigerlight had outdated/defective lights, why did they sell them to anyone? They should of been scraped as soon as they knew about a problem.
Whatever went on between a Manufacture and a reseller, I'm the one who got screwed.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

I had no way of knowing that. I bought it in good faith and now I have a "Doorstop" with Tigerlight as the product name.
If tigerlight had outdated/defective lights, why did they sell them to anyone? They should of been scraped as soon as they knew about a problem.
Whatever went on between a Manufacture and a reseller, I'm the one who got screwed.

Complain to TL. If your battery is not good after a few years then maybe they will cover it. Battery packs do go wrong overtime, depending on a lot of things, such as charging methods, undervoltage, overvoltage, or a bad cell. I could ruin a battery real quick if I did not do charging properly, or if I let it run down to 0 to many times, etc. Don't remain "dissatisfied", do something about it.

Bill

 

[Kremer]

I've been looking at modding one of my TL's for a bit more wow/fun. I found some information recently about the SL-35x lamp swap, it seems most of the information from this seemingly popular and stupidly simple mod was lost at some time. With my new aftermarket battery I thought I'd give it a try.

WOW, it's bright! It seems to be about dead-on with my ROP-Hi, both in ceiling bounce and outdoor illumination throwdown. With the UCL lens it'll also start newprint smoking in about the same 2-3 seconds as the ROP. The gen2 TL Lamp I have in my other light throws the diamond spot with an intense line in the center. The 35x lamp has about the same intensity in it's spot as the gen2's line, but the spot is circular, with diameter roughly twice the length of the line. Throw distance is roughly the same as the original TL lamp, and with similar intensity, but the photons light up much more real-estate when they get to the destination. I'm not sure what the Lumen numbers are for this combo, I know my 6D ROP is darn healthy, and this TL35x is to my eyes equal to it.

My aftermarket 6AA 2500mAh pack falls quickly to 7.3volts and holds above 7 for maybe 10 minutes, it's definately toward it's limits of current delivery with the 35x lamp. An 8cell pack (eneloops of course) regulated down to 7.2 sure would be the ticket with this beast, if I can only get some information from Jim on the correct LVR and a few illustrations on how it lives within the Tiger's switch core . The charger modifications I already have a handle on.

EDIT: I've also been eyeing up the SSC P7 builds that have been popping up. a single P7 in a TL would be very nice also.

~Dougk

 

[Kremer]

I just picked up a couple TL's with dead packs. I have a pile of Eneloops laying around and thought I'd give it a shot at making my own pack. I read JS's thread documenting how he built the KAN packs and got my solder station out. I used solder braid for the interconnects, and for the end to end connections I also used the braid and just folded it over before taping the cells in each stick of two. I practiced with a bunch of dead AA's I have in my recycle pile before breaking out the Eneloops. I lifted and re-used the polyfuse and 9v connector from the stock pack and integrated them into the new.

45 minutes later the bezel goes on and I test the light, WOW.
It goes on the fast charger.


60 minutes later it's done and I start a run test. Man do the Eneloops hold under load. I measured the Lamp pulling right at 2.0A after 10 minutes runtime. It was brighter and much whiter than my other TL's with stock lamps and packs, and while not brighter it made my 35x equipped light look yellow. It ran for about an hour before sharply kneeing over and dropping from 7V to 5V in about 20 seconds, I guess the cells are matched well.

I'm very impressed with the Eneloops in the TL.

I was also eyeing up this OC version I have. Hmm, 8 AA cells fit in the barrel, and 4 more would fit in the OC compartment, 6S2P with a couple jumpers through the bulkhead and switch core, and the dummy cap on the tail. Double runtime, and it would still run all the stock lamps and the new LED module. I'm surprised that I have not seen this possibility considered before.

A double battery mod and a multilevel (or gulp, even triple) P7 in the front end could just be the ultimate tigerlight if you are willing to sacrafice the OC, no offense to anything JS has previously built.

~Dougk

EDIT: 4xAA's leave a bit of room side by side so for crapps and grinns I just now tried to see if 5 AA's would fit in the barrel. they do! But they barely even wiggle. you'd have to assemble the pack around the lamp wires and connect it right to the switch. Hmm, I wonder. 12V tigerlight all series, or 6v @5s2p (or 3p using the OC storage area) would drive some LED modules nicely.

 

[moraino]

I just picked up a couple TL's with dead packs. I have a pile of Eneloops laying around and thought I'd give it a shot at making my own pack. I read JS's thread documenting how he built the KAN packs and got my solder station out. I used solder braid for the interconnects, and for the end to end connections I also used the braid and just folded it over before taping the cells in each stick of two. I practiced with a bunch of dead AA's I have in my recycle pile before breaking out the Eneloops. I lifted and re-used the polyfuse and 9v connector from the stock pack and integrated them into the new.

45 minutes later the bezel goes on and I test the light, WOW.
It goes on the fast charger.


60 minutes later it's done and I start a run test. Man do the Eneloops hold under load. I measured the Lamp pulling right at 2.0A after 10 minutes runtime. It was brighter and much whiter than my other TL's with stock lamps and packs, and while not brighter it made my 35x equipped light look yellow. It ran for about an hour before sharply kneeing over and dropping from 7V to 5V in about 20 seconds, I guess the cells are matched well.

I'm very impressed with the Eneloops in the TL.

I was also eyeing up this OC version I have. Hmm, 8 AA cells fit in the barrel, and 4 more would fit in the OC compartment, 6S2P with a couple jumpers through the bulkhead and switch core, and the dummy cap on the tail. Double runtime, and it would still run all the stock lamps and the new LED module. I'm surprised that I have not seen this possibility considered before.

A double battery mod and a multilevel (or gulp, even triple) P7 in the front end could just be the ultimate tigerlight if you are willing to sacrafice the OC, no offense to anything JS has previously built.

~Dougk

EDIT: 4xAA's leave a bit of room side by side so for crapps and grinns I just now tried to see if 5 AA's would fit in the barrel. they do! But they barely even wiggle. you'd have to assemble the pack around the lamp wires and connect it right to the switch. Hmm, I wonder. 12V tigerlight all series, or 6v @5s2p (or 3p using the OC storage area) would drive some LED modules nicely.

Thanks for sharing. What's your eneloops capacity?

My TL still waiting for the slowly fading 8AA plus LVR solution. I think I have better chance waiting for AW's D size Li-ion....hopefully next spring. I will be using two 18650 in the near future when I get a chance.

 

[Kremer]

Thanks for sharing. What's your eneloops capacity?

they are the standard 2Ah Eneloops.

My TL still waiting for the slowly fading 8AA plus LVR solution. I think I have better chance waiting for AW's D size Li-ion....hopefully next spring. I will be using two 18650 in the near future when I get a chance.

The 2xD stick will fit? Two 18650's leave tons of room to spare, even with a PCB added, it almost seems a waste of the space, but is the same capacity or better than the factory pack.

 

[sunspot]

Kremer. How many Eneloops did you use on your pack? Are you using the stock LA?
I have a dead TL that I would like to use again.

TIA.

 

[Kremer]

Kremer. How many Eneloops did you use on your pack? Are you using the stock LA?
I have a dead TL that I would like to use again.

Six, same quantity as the stock pack, but it is a bit longer and narrower because they are AA and not 3/4A or whatever the regular cells are. which means it's a little tighter fit to get the lamp in, but not enough that the pins get bent or anything. I made up some of the length by placing the 9V connector on the side instead of the end of the pack, since with the slimmer cells there's room for it next to the pack. I'd offer to build you one, but I don't have any shrink wrap or kapton tape, so they are sort of electrical tape wrapped and quite DIY looking. None of that polish really matters to me once it is sealed up in the light, as long as it is safe from shocks and shorting. I've made two packs so far, at about 45 minutes each to do it isn't hateful, but not what I'd call production line. I figure for $15 in Eneloops and materials + my time I've got a pack to equal the new premium pack with the advantage of Low Self Discharge.

Yes, using the stock lamp, but I did put the 35X lamp on one for a couple minutes, wow... The Eneloops should be able to power about anything up to 5A I think per the NiMh shootout thread, so if your question is about running the 375 lumen lamp I don't think there would be any issue. All of my interconnects are soldered so they are as good or better than the welded bits I saw in the old dead stock packs I took apart to harvest the 9V connector and polyfuse from.

 

[sunspot]

Kremer. Thanks for the fast responce. I thought it was 6 cells but I wanted to be sure. I have some solder wick somewhere. I'll try to make myself a batt pack.

I have the old LA, not the 375 lamp but if the pack works, I may jusy but the newer LA, if the older TL will accept one.

 

[Kremer]

The only thing keeping you from running the 375 lamp is the potency of your battery.

Here's a picture of my completed eneloop pack, for reference:


~Dougk

 

[Bullzeyebill]

they are the standard 2Ah Eneloops.



The 2xD stick will fit? Two 18650's leave tons of room to spare, even with a PCB added, it almost seems a waste of the space, but is the same capacity or better than the factory pack.

Probably right about a 2X18650 pack compared to basic stock TL pack, and your Eneloop pack will do much better than 2X18650, even unprotected LG's, at 3-4 amp draw.

Bill

 

[Mr Happymoose]

Hi folks,

Hope no one minds me resurrecting this thread but I've recently moved to deepest, darkest Derbyshire in North West England and as winter is drawing in, I was looking to fire up my trusty Tigerlight again. Unfortunately it's been some time since it was last used and it would appear that the battery pack has died. I was wondering if someone could put me on to a UK supplier or a US supplier who wont charge a huge amount for shipping.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Won't take a charge at all? Would need about 16 hours on charger.

Bill