WA bulbs: Group buy: Final list

[lemlux]

Debbie Kilmore just quoted the #01227 bulb at $3.77 @. That should make Starlight reasonably happy.

Ake:
I'm still curious what batteries you used for the 01319. It would be surprising if NiMH's in a serial DB4AA's would avoid a voltage drop to 4.4 or 4.5 and get good results. I'm still more inclined to use the 9.0 V 1.1 A bulb in the DB8AA's.

Ake: your mod success encourages me to buy 01121's for myself after all. Doubling up the wire leads is one of those obvious good solutions that too often escape us. Thanks.

Ake:

I'd really like to reconfirm what we want to order and order tomorrow. I'm afraid that quoting the 6V lamps will cost several more days. How many 6 cell lamps are you considering purchasing?

 

[kubolaw]

Ake -

Based on your experimentation with the 01121 lamp, I'll go through with my original order of 6 lamps. The enhanced brightness is just too tempting to pass up without giving the lamps a try. Did the W-A MiniMag seem significantly brighter than the normal version? I guess the only good way to make a comparison is for me to do it myself. I'll try your pin-bending trick. It also seems like you could slightly crimp the inserts in the MiniMag switch to more tightly grip the thinner W-A leads. I'll give that approach a shot also. In any case, thanks for all the evaluation efforts!

John

PS I wasn't sure how you wanted the ordering list updated - seems sort of verbose to recopy the whole thing each time. Or is that what you intended?

 

[ake]

lemlux, I wanna get just a few of them so if it cause you too much problem just forget it.

here is more info about 01319 bulb that I test:

I tested them in DB 8AA comapring with surge:

Surge 8 AA alkalines (~20 mins used) Focused as tight as possible
DB 8AA (1550 mA AA Maha NiMh) Focusas tight as possible

Surge: smooth edge beam, but slightly brightest in the center so when I refer to surge beam, I mean the entire beam (center + slightly dimmer smooth edge corona.

01307 (4.8V, 1.1 A, 104.3 L, 20 Hrs)
Center beam 1/2 diameter of surge's, much brighter than surge. Corona (fairly bright, but slightly less than surge ~ 1X diameter of surge's

01319 (4.8V, 1.92 A, 203.58 L, 35 Hrs)
Center beam 2/3 diameter of surge's, much brighter than surge. Corona (fairly bright, but slightly less than surge ~ 2X diameter of surge's. Doesn't look like it as twice as 01397 though (203 vs 104 L)

 

[ake]

No one chage the order so here is the final list: sent to lemlux

Bulb #01121 MiniMag Wire Terminal bulb 2.4 V 1.1 A 28 L 25-hour life
$4.69 @ plus shipping

Ake 1 (still have a few left from samples)

Purchased Through Ake

Toby 8
Kubolaw 6

Bulb # 01307 4.80 V 1.10 A 104 L 20 Hours
$1.63 plus shipping

Ake 4 @
Purchased Through Ake
Starlight 1 @


Bulb #01319 4.80 V 1.92 A 204 L 35 hours
$1.70 @ plus shipping

Ake 4
Purchased Through Ake
Starlight 1 @
Toby 3 @ (2+1 from left over money)


#01227 bulbs $3.77 @ plus shipping

Through Ake

Starlight 3@

 

[lemlux]

Debbie Kilmore of W/A confirmed acceptance of my order of Friday today. W/A would charge me shipping twice if I received one immediate shipment followed by a a back/order shipment. Debbie also said that she was sure that even out-of-stock bulbs could be ready for shipment within 30 days. Accordingly, I told her to ship the entire order as a single shipment.

As soon as Debbie determines an expected ship date she will advise me. I will post the info when I have it.

 

[lemlux]

Debbie Kilmore advised today that W/A expects to ship our order to me on 6/19.

 

[lemlux]

UPS Tracking number provided by W/A.



PACKAGE PROGRESS
Date Time Location Activity
Jun 20, 2002 8:58 A.M. LA-GRANDE VISTA, CA, US IN TRANSIT TO
8:57 A.M. SYRACUSE, NY, US DEPARTURE SCAN
Jun 19, 2002 7:40 P.M. SYRACUSE, NY, US LOCATION SCAN
7:18 P.M. SYRACUSE, NY, US ORIGIN SCAN
4:56 P.M. US BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

 

[lemlux]

Package scanned in Vista Ca. (Northern SD County) at 9:25 am today.

 

[BugLightGeek]

probably a newbie thing to say

but I'm assuming it's too late to get in on this group buy, right?

 

[lemlux]

ChrisM.

16 days too late for this buy. Sorry.

 

[BugLightGeek]

Rats. Just my luck. Well, if anyone changes their mind or backs out or if you have any extras, will you let me know? I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[lemlux]

ChrisM:

I've played with the W/A bulbs today and have developed some clear favorites. The ones I like most:

#01315 6.27 V 1.42 A 125 hours $7.18 base price. Works very well with 6 rechargeable cells and with 2 * 3 123's in a DB4AA. With > 1 1/2 hours of intermittent run time this is now my preferred DB4AA configuration.

#01307 4.80 V 1.10 A 104 L 20 hours. $1.63 base price. Works very well with fresh alkalines in a DB8AA and nicely with 2 * 4 NiMH's in a DB8AA. As Klaus commented long ago, the 01307 is not enough brighter in a DB4AA with 4 NiMH's to displace the 4.2V 0.70 A OEM DB6AA bulbs. I have five 01307's and wish I had ordered more. Five emergency DB8AA's will be in this configuration leaving family and friends with five wilder rechargeable DB8AA's.

#01111 6.0 V 3.35 A 464 K 100 hours. $2.10 base price. These run well (for short periods) in with 2 * 3 123 cells in a DB4AA. I intend to use these in project lights powered my two or more 7.2 V 2450 mAh A NiMH packs. I have ten of these and wish to keep them for the moment. (OK Mr. Bulk, if your 01148 in your DB4AA burns out I'll sell you one of these)

Undetermined Bulb:

I haven't played with the $4.69 2.4V 1.1 A Xenon minimag bulb. I have 5 of them, one of which is going to Klaus. We'll see.

Excess:

I have 6 #01278 9.0 V 1.10 A 244 L 25 hour lamps $2.04 list price. I was a little surprised that 8 A cells in a serial DB8AA experienced enough voltage drop to make the 01278 a little yellow and indifferently bright. I have used one 01278 in my 9AA Mag 3D mod with a Carley #912 PR base adapter. The additional cell helps a lot. I'm toying with replacing one cell in the DB8AA with a 123 to raise the voltage. I am willing to part with 3 of these bulbs.

I have several extra #01286 4.2V 0.70 A OEM DB6AA bulbs that list for $2.46 @. I only intend to use them in my family's three DB4AAA's where they are really impressive for > 45 minutes at about 72L using 750 mAh NiMH's. They strike me as relatively wimpy when placed in the considerably larger DB4AA.

I have 4@ 01319 4.8 V 1.92 A 203 L 35 hour bulbs listing at $1.70 @. Voltage drop causes the 01319 to be too dim in a DB4AA with 4 NiMHs. As Ake reported earlier in this string, the 01319 is clearly less than twice as bright as the 01307 in a serial / parallel DB8AA with NiMHs. Unfortunately, the 01319 is still more yellow than my currently spoiled color temperature palate prefers. The 01319 would probably work best in a DB6AA with 5 A cells and a dummy, but I'd rather run the brighter and longer running, longer lived 01315. I am willing to sell all four of these 01319 bulbs.

I have a number of OEM DB8AA bulbs #01288 at 5.50V 0.70 A 79 L and 20 hours. These also cost about $2.46 @ from W/A. These will put out about 104 L in a DB6AA running 5 alkaline or NiMH cells. There are more attractive choices, so I will part with these also. (These bulbs are in my current used alkaline routinge -- When the five alkaline batteries run down to somewhere between 1.0 and 1.1 V each I replace the dummy and add a sixth battery.)

To cover cost of shipping in and out I'll sell any of these bulbs at $0.50 over list if you get at least four bulbs. That's what people purchasing through Ake are paying.

On another string you asked about getting TopBulb HPR 144's and KPR 139's. These bulbs list at $2.57 @ and $1.41 @, respectively. I'll also sell you the two each you requested on the other thread for $0.50 @ more shipped for similar reasons.

Are you confused yet? I know I'm seldom sure what the ultimate bulb is for any given application for very long before I change my mind. The best all-around DB bulb IMHO is the most expensive. The price for that bulb drove the other group buyers away. See -- you've prompted me to give them buyer's remorse and they don't even have their bulbs yet.

 

[BugLightGeek]

Whew! I had to go take a potty break after reading all that!

But, seriously, thanks for the info. I do have a couple questions though:
1. How the %$&$#!! did you get 123a's into your DB4AA? I have one of those lights and would love to do that as well.
2. Will the #01286 work in a DB4AAA with alkalines instead of NiMH?
3. I wish I had a 6AA and 8AA DB...sounds like there are some really sweet bulbs for those torches.

I do want to get those HPR144 and KPR139 bulbs from you. So, for the bulbs I want, add $.50 EACH on top of the listed price, and that will cover shipping, right?

 

[Klaus]

Lemlux,

in one other thread it was mentioned that whiter might make you think a bulb puts out more lumen than a yellower one - interestingly if you look into the throw of these in the dark the yellower but on paper higher lumen one should/would/will throw a longer beam and light up more than the whiter perceived brighter bulb which is in effect not brighter but just whiter and cheats the eye - you might try yourself comparing 01286 vs 01307 or 01315 vs 01148.

Klaus

 

[Klaus]

Lemlux,

yes I firstly also did just wall-tests and this is where my initial unhappines with the 01307 compared to the OEM DB6AA bulb came from - then I tested both outdoors and saw/found that the 1.1A 01307 bulb was indeed "better" than the 700ma 01286 bulb - "better" means more lumen output whereas it still was a bit yellower being less overdriven or possibly even slightly underdriven. I didn´t do much trials on the 01315 vs 01148 as I didn´t liked the head not fitting as well too much but I think/guess/believe that the situation might be similar. On the other side possibly the 013xx bulbs are just *better* in terms of gass fill and color temperatur and this is causing the higher price compared to the other bulbs - not shure on that as I haven´t all the pricing in memory right now.

For now I do like the 01286 for the DB4AAA, the 01307 (closely followed by the 01286) for the DB4AA and the 01315 for the DB6AA best.

While if you get the carley reflectors which should be fitting the 01148 filament-hight-wise nicely this might be very interesting too.

Just my 2 cents

Klaus

 

[lemlux]

Klaus:

Yesterday I ordered 10 @ Magcharger tempered glass lenses for my Mags and prospective Carley 2" reflectors.

Lampgirl24 just told me that she would send me the name of Carley's reliable source for 3" reflector lenses and "faceplates" (bezels). (edit: Come to think of itm "faceplate" may mean a bonded lens / unthreaded bezel combination) Carley sometimes packages this combination for customers. Given my low intended volume of 3 units, Patty thought it made most sense for me to buy direct. Maybe some project lights will be made with 3" reflectors after all.

My remaining 01148 will probably migrate into either a 12 A cell double 7.2 V A battery pack project or a 7 cell DB8AA with aluminum head. The higher wattage 01111 probably be used mostly with three or more parallel 7.2 V battery packs. I will probably set up at least one DB8AA with 7 2450 mAh cells and an aluminum reflector as a bright 35-40 minute run-time light.

Interesting theory on the 13XX bulb quality. The 1307 is quite cheap at $1.63,though, so the pricing issue doesn't carry through.

 

[lemlux]

Klaus:

Your point is well taken. I only did a ceiling and 40' wall test and may be overly impressed whith whiter whites. I had noticed the other postings, but didn't compare beams that thuroughly.

Chris:

AA alkalines are beyond the OEM's read of acceptable run time limits beyond 0.55 A. OEM's typically limit C's to 0.75 A and D's to 0.85 A. I'm not aware of brighter AAA OEM lights going beyond 0.40 to 0.45 A. AAA Alkalines may work at 0.70 A, but I suspect the run time will be very short.

I already emailed you on DB4AA insert removal.

Contact WayneM about his excess DB6AA's and DB8AAs. If that doesn't work, see this:
http://www.nickandjack.com/enpremdoubba.html

 

[lemlux]

All:

Last night I worked with the 1.1 A MiniMag wire terminal bulb. I was unable to get the doubled up wire terminal through the plastic holes in the top of the 2-part socket receiver.

When I removed the "do not remove" top of the receiver I had no problem installing the bulb. The problem is that the "do not remove" section is needed to keep the light turned off until the bezel is tightened.

Thus, I finally developed a compelling reason to procure a switching tailcap for the Minimag. It will facilitate mounting of the 28L bulb.

Now, lets deal with the heat of a 2.7 W bulb in the MiniMag. The unthreaded reflector chamber receiver ID in the Minimag is 3/4" diameter and 1/2" deep. Carley sells T-1 1/2 aluminum reflectors with 1/2" diameters and depth and 3/4" diameters and depth.

The smaller reflector matches the head's height but would require potting to fill space around the outside.

The larger reflector will fill the cavity perfectly for good heat sinking but extend 1/4" out. I'm inclined to make my Minimag 1/4" longer by epoxying the bezel to the 3/4" reflector to the head with Quikaluminum putty. While I'm at it, I'll may some of the rock crystal lenses discussed on another thread. I'll bet that this longer adjusting parabolic reflector will significantly improve the beam.

The parts cost of this 28L MiniMag upgrade is increasing.

$4.51 for the 3/4" Carley reflector
$4.69 for the bulb
$7 to $8 for the switching tailcap
$?? for the rock crystal lens
approx $0.50 of Quikaluminum putty.

Of course, the NiMH or Lithium AA batteries aren't free.

 

[kubolaw]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by lemlux:
All:

Last night I worked with the 1.1 A MiniMag wire terminal bulb. I was unable to get the doubled up wire terminal through the plastic holes in the top of the 2-part socket receiver.

When I removed the "do not remove" top of the receiver I had no problem installing the bulb. The problem is that the "do not remove" section is needed to keep the light turned off until the bezel is tightened.

Thus, I finally developed a compelling reason to procure a switching tailcap for the Minimag. It will facilitate mounting of the 28L bulb.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Lemlux -

Have you considered just reaming out the existing bipin lead holes in the MiniMag switch using a needle? I can't imagine that it would take very much increase in hole diameter to allow the doubled WA leads to pass through. Of course, if you want a tailcap switch for other reasons, that's fine, but I plan on trying to maintain the original MiniMag exterior form as much as possible. That's why I'd probably go with the smaller Carley reflector as well, and simply pot around it. That way I can avoid lengthening the head area (and also avoid lengthening the tailcap area by not using a switch).

Just my thoughts.

John

 

[lemlux]

Klaus:

I don't know how deep the ream hole is, but I do know there would be a significant milling charge from Carley.

John:

I tried opening up the pins with a pin unsuccessfully. I then tried unsuccessfully to drill out the holes with one large hole providing access to the two pin receivers. The plastic wasn't stiff enough to resist the drill torque in a vice. When I tried to wedge the piece in a another area it spun and deformed. Better tooling or fixtures would help.

The problem with the doubled up wire lead is that it is so flexible that it is beyond my dexterity to get it to move smoothly through a hole to the metal receivers a fraction of an inch below. I can well appreciate Ake's difficulties.

I suppose the 1/2" reflector would make a neater package. Any beam deficiencies can be dealt with Writeright. The Quikaluminum putty potting should work as an effective heat sink. On the other hand, the small inside opening at the top of my E2 appears to 11/16" which probably closely matches the 3/4" reflector's inside dimension.

This appears to be primarily a personal aesthetics decision as the reflectors cost almost the same: $4.31 for a 1/2" reflector, $4.51 for a 3/4" reflector, $4.66 for a 1 3/8" reflector, and $5.06 for a 1 3/8" reflector with a set screw adjuster. On the other hand, the longer reflector increases heat sink surface area and moves the lens 1/4" further from the bulb. I'm still leaning toward the 3/4" reflector.

I will wait on the glass or crystal lens to see if it is really needed.

I'm only going to get materials to do three of these. More correctly, I'll get three reflectors for my three bulbs but I've only lined up one tailcap. Maybe I can find someone to install the bulbs for me.