ledcorp dual led 4cell bulb

after ten days, led corp dual, 6 volt arrived. tried it first in arc white, wasn't impressed. next came 4d maglight and was dissapointed again, turning the focusing ring only showed a lousy picture of the smooth reflector and images of 2 light sources. remembering craigs review of turtlelight 2 and the faceted reflector also mentioned when ordering from ledcorp,i wandered over to sears hardware with mixed feelings, "should i have just gotten turtlelight 2 instead?" back to sears, the "tool light" 4aa looked good. taking it off the peg and seeing a "faceted reflector" i flew to the register with it! 8$. ledcorps bulb was a tight fit due to some solder on the sides, but it's in!! now i'm smilin' nice bright even beam with plenty of "spill". very similar to craigs pic and as bright as eternalight 3/4? clicks down with similar beam quality. heavily rubber coated, anti-roll fin, flat base, and lanyard with extra bulb case attached. both products come with "lifetime warranty". good old sears! i'm waiting for the day when one can find ledcorps or anybodys led bulbs hanging on a peg at wal-mart!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by franken:
...
i'm waiting for the day when one can find ledcorps or anybodys led bulbs hanging on a peg at wal-mart!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That'll be a GOOD day!!

Nice review!

Sounds neat. I have noticed the 4AA Sears Toolight and was impressed tho the one I looked at did not have the faceted reflector. But I was wondering about the 3 led power level indicator. I would guess that this indicator is on only when the flashlight is turned "on"? It seems that the indicator led could be as big a drain on batteries as the main light led?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by StuU:
But I was wondering about the 3 led power level indicator. I would guess that this indicator is on only when the flashlight is turned "on"? It seems that the indicator led could be as big a drain on batteries as the main light led?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If the indicator were designed properly, it would consume only a few mA when in operation. In a flashlight using "AA" or larger cells, this should be inconsequential.

One way to test this is to do a current (amperage) check on the flashlight with the bulb removed.

47ma for a little indicator ?
-What's up with that?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mooremj:
StuU (and others),

I bought one of those 4AA Sears Toolights a w/ the power level indicator a few weeks ago. I metered it without a bulb in it and it drew 47ma.

The LED glowed yellow indicating that the batteries were mediocre at the time<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ok, who's the wiseass that left the opened tuna on the counter?
Something's definitely fishy here. 47mA for a tiny indicator?

I wouldn't expect to see more than 5mA, and even 10mA would be more than tolerable.
Sounds like that indicator self-loads the battery to obtain a more accurate reading, but in this case, this isn't necessary because there's already a load (the flashlight bulb/LED array).

My suggestion?
The next time someone butchers one of these flashlights, pull the indicator and test the board all by itself just to be 100% certain it's really using all that power.

the single led meter only works when the light is on. i ran the light last night for about 6 hrs on a set of nicads and the meter was still green. most of the other tool lights had smooth reflectors, but this 4aa model seems to be a great vehicle for this bulb. thanks

What a great day. First off I put together a bulb for one of my E-2's. It worked quite nicely.
And while I was out earlier today I picked up one of those Sears tool-lights. So I took an put together a 4 LED bulb for it.

MY ONLY QUESTION:
I went without a resistor. I'm I tempting fate? It is nice and bright, and not overly blue either.

Any opinions would be welcomed!!!

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


MY ONLY QUESTION:
I went without a resistor. I'm I tempting fate? It is nice and bright, and not overly blue either.
Any opinions would be welcomed!!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

From a non-technical point of view, if that white LED isn't turning bluish or dimming, I sure wouldn't worry about it.

StuU (and others),

I bought one of those 4AA Sears Toolights a w/ the power level indicator a few weeks ago. I metered it without a bulb in it and it drew 47ma. The LED glowed yellow indicating that the batteries were mediocre at the time. Anyway, 47ma was a little too high for my tastes and I put the facted head on my Greatland 4AA which is a very similarly constructed flashlight but with a smooth reflector. I then installed a 2 LED bulb I made and now I have a reasonable Turtlelite 2 knock off.

If someone else meters their toolight I'd like to hear what their results were. If someone figures out how to disable the power indicator I'd like to hear about that too.

Mark

It's true that the Toolight's power indicator only glows when the flashlight is on. However, if you hold the socket assembly in place you can switch on the flashlight and the indicator comes on. If you pull the bulb out and switch it on, the indicator still comes on. I'm in agreement with Telephony. The battery monitor circuit must load the batteries in order to more accurately determine what condition they're in.

Mark