Templar223
Newly Enlightened
We've all been told that the 11W ROP low bulb falls just outside the 10W rated capacity of the MagLite stock reflector / lens. The question we've all wondered is "Just how long can I run the ROP/Low continuously and not suffer damage to the stock parts?"
Well, in the name of science, I put it to the test over lunch hour today.
Here's the setup:
1 MagLite 6D light
1 ROP/Low bulb
6 7Ah NiMH batteries from BatteryStation.com.
1 Place of business
I'm running the flashlight horizontally and will snap photos now and then.
The test began at 12:10.
Hmm. Wonder what I had for lunch. (I had a Tagamet first.) No, I wasn't cooking the pizza rolls with the ROP.
After about seven minutes, I noticed a grey ring around the lower half of the outer edge of the reflector. It wasn't very big. At ten minutes, I turned off the light for about one minute to snap a better photo of the phenomenon when I noticed the inner part of the reflector was starting to deform (see photos).
The "smoking" effect grew and expanded as the temperature inside the head of the light rose. At about twenty minutes, the reflector was pretty much totally shot. I continued to burn the light to see how long it would take before I began to see heat damage to the lens.
At 32 minutes (12:42p.m.), I noticed a little "donut" of sorts in the center of the lens. (this cheapie camera doesn't show it all that well and my good camera is on loan), I concluded the test and took out the reflector for a final photo.
Before I disassembled the head to pull the reflector for a photo.
The final damage.
A few notes: I didn't move the light at all for the first ten minutes. From then on I would pick it up from time to time and put it back down, not necessarily in the same place on its side.
The light ran continuously except for the photo at ten minutes or so (took less than a minute to do).
When some of my co-workers returned from lunch, they remarked on the odd chemical smell ("smells like insecticide concentrate").
Upon further post-mortem examination, the reflector itself didn't melt, but rather the aluminized liner (aluminum foil, if you will) on the surface of the plastic reflector became detached. Most of the smoke-like glaze on the outer part of the reflector face came off with a kleenex and some moist breath (not necessarily in that order).
After a little clean-up, the reflector was probably about 80-85% good as new.
The deformation on the lens, however, didn't "buff right out" and remained about 9mm across, surely reducing the transmission of light to some degree and diffusing whatever light passes through that center region.
I hope this little exercise helps others out there as their work has helped me these last few months.
All the best!
John
Well, in the name of science, I put it to the test over lunch hour today.
Here's the setup:
1 MagLite 6D light
1 ROP/Low bulb
6 7Ah NiMH batteries from BatteryStation.com.
1 Place of business
I'm running the flashlight horizontally and will snap photos now and then.
The test began at 12:10.
Hmm. Wonder what I had for lunch. (I had a Tagamet first.) No, I wasn't cooking the pizza rolls with the ROP.
After about seven minutes, I noticed a grey ring around the lower half of the outer edge of the reflector. It wasn't very big. At ten minutes, I turned off the light for about one minute to snap a better photo of the phenomenon when I noticed the inner part of the reflector was starting to deform (see photos).
The "smoking" effect grew and expanded as the temperature inside the head of the light rose. At about twenty minutes, the reflector was pretty much totally shot. I continued to burn the light to see how long it would take before I began to see heat damage to the lens.
At 32 minutes (12:42p.m.), I noticed a little "donut" of sorts in the center of the lens. (this cheapie camera doesn't show it all that well and my good camera is on loan), I concluded the test and took out the reflector for a final photo.
Before I disassembled the head to pull the reflector for a photo.
The final damage.
A few notes: I didn't move the light at all for the first ten minutes. From then on I would pick it up from time to time and put it back down, not necessarily in the same place on its side.
The light ran continuously except for the photo at ten minutes or so (took less than a minute to do).
When some of my co-workers returned from lunch, they remarked on the odd chemical smell ("smells like insecticide concentrate").
Upon further post-mortem examination, the reflector itself didn't melt, but rather the aluminized liner (aluminum foil, if you will) on the surface of the plastic reflector became detached. Most of the smoke-like glaze on the outer part of the reflector face came off with a kleenex and some moist breath (not necessarily in that order).
After a little clean-up, the reflector was probably about 80-85% good as new.
The deformation on the lens, however, didn't "buff right out" and remained about 9mm across, surely reducing the transmission of light to some degree and diffusing whatever light passes through that center region.
I hope this little exercise helps others out there as their work has helped me these last few months.
All the best!
John
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