Ebay "4000 lm", "120m" Dive Light.

Received my relative cheap Ebay "4000 lm", "120m" Dive Light in the mail today and wanted to share a little with you guys.


Light uses 2x18650 LiIon batteries. The ones that they supplied to me made the light extremely weak. Changing over to the ones I already had produced a much more decent beam. Size is very manageable and overall build seemed pretty solid with the O-rings well lubed and threads smooth. Had a very solid feel to it.


Easily unscrews into 3 parts, Tail end is flat, so might be easy to drill a hole and attach a gland to it for modification into a canister light, which is what I bought it for.


Light head is of a good size, and looks like it would fit a goodman handle well. Seems pretty ideal as a light head in a canister light. Unfortunately, threads for the tail end do not fit into the head. =( Otherwise it would have been perfect.


Beam shot: Beam is quite strong but looks like there is quite a bit of spill. Reckon it would do better with better optics which is what I am hoping to do. Attached below is the beam from my first dive light, a UK C4 eLED rated at 275 lm.


Beam is clearly much more focused in the C4 eLED. But, the Ebay light is definitely much brighter. Superimposed, you will be unable to detect the C4 eLED beam. However, calculations and practicality aside, there is no way this light is close to 4000 lm. I would be surprised if it's actually any more than 2000.

So questions for this light are:
1. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I may be able to break into the light head and access the electronics to modify it?
2. Any ideas on how I can seal the tail end to the light head given the threads are of a different size. Threads for the tail end larger and so it fits it but does not screw at all.

Any thoughts are much appreciated! =)

Nice!

The silver ring in front unscrews to get the lens, reflector, and probably the leds out. I'd guess the knurled part near the back of the head unscrews from the larger part of the head, to access the electronics. Or they might come out the front too.

What kind of switch does this have? Is it a clicky in the tail? If so, say goodbye at 120m!

It's a slider switch which looks like a magnetic reed switch in the head. So that looks pretty solid. What kind of tool would I use/how can I unscrew the silver part? There's no way to unscrew the knurled part. It looks like a solid piece.

kymteo said:

It's a slider switch which looks like a magnetic reed switch in the head. So that looks pretty solid. What kind of tool would I use/how can I unscrew the silver part? There's no way to unscrew the knurled part. It looks like a solid piece.

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If it's a glass lensed personally I'd just mold a tool by heating up some PVC and pressing it in... or a fast hardening 2 part polymer.

I'm sure some has an better way..

30 watts.. How many modes?

Taking Codiak's suggestion, the "putty" style epoxy should work. It comes in a stick that you knead in your fingers to mix it, and it won't flow into the little cracks and such.

The little scallops in the inside of the ring are designed for a tool to fit into. A piece of 1/16" x 1/2" steel bar cut to the right length to fit between two opposite ones would work.

A pair of needle-nosed pliers opened wide may work too.

Or if the ring sticks out the front, press it down on something grippy like a jar opener pad, rubber pad, or the like, and twist the head. Even the palm of your hand might work! It did for the last light I bought.

So. Finally managed to get some time to tear this light down today. Good news and bad. Haha.


Decided to go with the kneadable epoxy putty option (Selleys Knead it Epoxy Putty). Kneaded it and shoved it in the hole. Tried to pull it out while maintaining the shape but it was too late. The putty had adhered to the glass and wouldn't budge.


Still managed to unscrew it, however, and pulled out the guts.


So the last picture shows the putty adhered to the glass and the metal rim with the O-ring removed. The glass is tapered and an o-ring used to form an axial seal between the glass and the metal rim. There is also a radial seal with an o-ring in between the housing and the glass piece. Seems like a fairly thick piece of glass that they have used.

Sad news is that. I think I've ruined the light forever. =( The glass is impossible to separate from the epoxy. Probably should have been smarter and used a piece of cling wrap or something so that the epoxy can be separated once cured and in shape. Ahh well. Rookie error...

Hi

Have tried to screw the tail cap to the head ? I mean not use the battery tube.
I so it would be perfect for canister light head

Dimitris

kymteo said:

Sad news is that. I think I've ruined the light forever. =( The glass is impossible to separate from the epoxy. Probably should have been smarter and used a piece of cling wrap or something so that the epoxy can be separated once cured and in shape. Ahh well. Rookie error...

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I'd not give up on the lens that fast...
As long as it's glass you have a lot of options, chemically.
I'd try softing the expoy by soaking the lense in boiling water for however long it takes... 1, 2 3 hours... if it works it works.. if it doesn't soak it in gasoline

Short of a hammer I bet it can be recovered.

Isopropyl alcohol would probably work better than water. Acetone will almost certainly work, if you can find some. They used to stock it in the paint department at Home Depot. A quart would only cost a few bucks.

Oh, and just soak, don't heat!

I would not recomend Isopropyl alcohol but some oily thing . Alcohol is very ''gentle'' , it is is also a solvent but it '' holds mulekularne ties somewhere in the middle - keeps ties fresh so that it does not begin curing''.

Oily solvents isolates these ties best way to illustrate this is in the style of ''grease and soap''. But it is fine also that solution is a less-viscous liquid that more easily penetrate into the pores.

I use simply WD40.

have tried both boiling water and acetone with no positive results. Will try WD40 and keep you all updated.

keeep wet in WD40 over night

lucca brassi said:

keeep wet in WD40 over night

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And if that doesn't work... sulphric acid should do the trick without harming the glass.... just be sure of what your doing BEFORE you start
and have LOTS of baking soda around.

How long did you leave it in the acetone? I usually let it soak overnight. It gets soft, but doesn't dissolve.

I've used a heat gun (for removing paint) to make epoxy let go of glass objects. should work as long it's a glass lens off course.

DIWdiver said:

How long did you leave it in the acetone? I usually let it soak overnight. It gets soft, but doesn't dissolve.

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I've let it soak for a full day while intermittently taking it out and trying the nudge the lens loose but it didn't seem to budge.:sigh:

Would you think that this light has comparable light output to the tragically flawed trustfire TR-DF003?

Also, what cells are you using? Does it have room for protected batteries?

I hope you are able to save the lens!

Has anyone dived with one of these yet?

I ordered two today. I'll post my results in another thread when I get them in a couple weeks!

To the OP: You said the tail cap fits over the base of the light head. What about sealing it with something like JB Weld?