Both feet......

[m-thew]

O.K. here I come...I took the batteries out of the Mags and put the empty aluminum shells under the bathroom sink. I need light! I am about to order a US from atvoutfitters.com for $97 shipped with both chargers. Has anyone dealt with them before? If they do not have the 1/2 & 1/2 reflector will I be dissapointed? $100 is a lot to justify to the household accountant when she knows she saw those "other" lights around the house somewhere.

Last question, what is the difference or relation of candlepower to lumens? I found the answer by using google and got a very technical explanation that I didn't comprehend...at all.
I'm sure it is here but I haven't run across it yet.
Thanks for your advice.
Matt

 

[Rothrandir]

welcome to the forum...you've taken the first appropriate step, you've hid your mini-mags, but if you order a drop-in for them (there are several available) you will actually be very *pleased* with them.

the us is a great light, i have one.

i order from www.brightguy.com . excellent customer service, half and half reflector, and 2 2.5hr fast ac/dc chargers (as opposed to the 10 hour chargers you would get at atvoutfitters). it was about $120, so you might consider that worth an extra $20, i personally think it is worth far more than than for the fasties.

lumens is a measure of overall brightness, whereas candlepower is the measure of light intensity at a givin point. flashlight companies tend to rate their product in either candlepower or lumens depending on how the beam is, the us has a longthrowing, bright center hotspot, so they measure the hotspot at 75,000cp, where as a light such as the surefire m6 has a cp rating of 500lumens, but is much brighter in that it throws out more ligh, and it is more evenky spread, even though it is not neccessarily bright at a given point.

generally, lights that are better for outdoors are rated in cp, and lights that are rated indoors are generally rated for lumens (at least this is the way it should be, most actually give cp no matter what because it makes the light sound brighter)

and whatever you buy, get the arc aaa first, or *very* soon therafter.
-small
-single aaa battery
-semi-regulated
-ha3
-waterproof
-indestructable

most of us flashaholics have them, and we all love them

 

[nihraguk]

Rothrandir more or less covered the lumens vs candlepower topic

basically lumens is a measure of how much light a bulb or LED puts out, whereas candlepower merely measures the most intense part of a beam projected by a LED or bulb. i can have a bulb with a 60 lumen rating, and that would not change whether the beam was adjusted to a spot or flood. the candlepower however, would change depending on how diffuse or concentrated the beam is.

basically, candlepower ratings can be misleading as they don't give you a very good idea of how much light a flashlight puts out. a laser pointer would have a rather high candlepower rating, but it would be rather useless for lighting up anything, and the lumens rating would probably be lower than a 3D maglite.

hope that helps

 

[Rothrandir]

very good.

nihraguk, where did you come up with your name?

 

[Size15's]

Perhaps a cat walked across the keyboard (like mine is now - I get the strong impression she is hungry)

I don't think some one used to MagLites will be disappointed by the UltraStinger.

Welcome to CPF!

Al

 

[m-thew]

Thank you folks!! That cleared up the confusion for me. As you might say, a light came on and it now makes sense.
I found an US locally for 119. with fast chargers (so I was told) and I scratched the itch and bought it.
Now I have a couple of questions...Help!
I put the UltraStinger in the charger that is plugged into the wall and the red LED that is supposed to indicate charging does not come on. It does come on steady when I turn on the US while in the charger but goes out when switch is clicked off. I checked out the charger and it is putting out about 19v so that is OK. Since my light is new and the battery is completely drained, is that why the LED is not on when charging?
How do I know I got fast chargers? Or not?
I looked on the Streamlight web sight for FAQ or trouble shooting info but no help there. So here I am looking to the experts. I did find that the US is not supposed to be used with fast chargers according to streamlight.???
TIA
Matt

 

[Rothrandir]

the red light should come on automatically, on the fast charger (i don't have the non-fast charger) when the light is charged, it goes into trickle mode, and the led begins to blink instead oc stay constant.

i will go up and see what my charger says and let you know, i do know that it runs many amps higher.

yes, it is wierd that the streamlight faq says to not use fast chargers, it saiys the same in the documentation supplied with the light, but they sell it like that, so i suppose it is ok.

 

[Rothrandir]

ok, the output of the ac charger is 12vdc 800ma, if yours is any less, than it is not the fast charger.

also, what reflector did you get?

 

[SuRgE]

Here is some info from a thread by bmsmith:

UltraStinger slow charge DC:
Charge holder: 75100
Charge cord: 22051

UltraStinger slow charge AC:
Charge holder: 75100
Charge cord: 22311

UltraStinger fast charge DC:
Charge holder: 75102
Charge cord: 22051

UltraStinger fast charge AC:
Charge holder: 75102
Charge cord: 22665

I have the US with the regular charger and the charge light is not suppose to ever go out while the US is in the charge cradle. It doesn't blink at all.

Fast chargers have a different holder and cord.
Hope this helps.

 

[m-thew]

You are gonna love this...I got the slow charger, OK, I can deal with that for now. The part # confirms that. So like any other red blooded fella, I took it apart!!! I noticed the battery pack goes clicky clickey when you push it in. so I put a plastic spacer (I started to use nickles)between the tailcap and the BP, stuck it in the charger and voila! Red light comes on and after 5 mins...Whatta light!!!
It only lasted about 10 secs. but wow! I can't wait till it gets a charge. I may never sleep at night again.
What does the inside of your tailcap look like? Mine has a small white dot about 1/8" in diameter that is flush with the inside of the bottom of the cap. It looks rough, like something broke off.
The reflector is 1/2 smooth 1/2 stippled.
Matt

 

[Rothrandir]

if he sold it as a fast-charger, i would take it back and demand either a refund or a replacement at the same cost.

what kind of spacer are you using? the white material is there to allow the gases to get out, be sure you don't block this.

 

[Owen]

Make sure the head is screwed on far enough. The spring is attached to the bottom of the reflector.
I just unscrewed my US's head part of the way, and the light still worked, but would not charge...

 

[m-thew]

It is a hollow round piece of plastic that I will vent on the sides and the end that covers the "plug". Thanks for the heads up!!!
I wonder why the cap is short?
I really appreciate the info you all have tossed my way. Quickly and without bashing the newbie.

I am taking your "this AND that" advice and looking for an ARC AAA right now to be my next gottaget. Maybe the LS second on ARC's website.
Matt

 

[m-thew]

I did check the head after you mentioned it, but it is tight. Even took it off and checked for springs, one under reflector and 1 inside barrel.
Hmmmmmm...

 

[Owen]

Oh well...
You know, that's kind of weird, though. Somebody that knows...why won't it charge with the bezel off, or unscrewed part of the way? I don't see the connection.

edit: ok, confession time. I got back online just so I could post this

If you've ever felt really, really, really stupid, you know how I feel right now. After reading about the light needing a spacer, and all, I went out to my truck and got the US to look under the tailcap before posting. Then decided to do a little experiment, since m-thews light needed a spacer to make it charge...
I'd unscrewed the bezel most of the way, and put it on the charger. No charge. I took the bezel off, you know, just screwing around. No charge. I looked and looked, wondering where this touched that, and why having the bezel unscrewed or off kept it from charging. Made no sense. I was about to go to bed, and decided to put the US on charge for the night.

It helps if you plug the charger in.

Having the cell phone plugged into the wall where your SL charger is normally plugged in doesn't really do anything.
LMAO, I think I'll go get a big L tattooed on my forehead tomorrow

 

[dano]

The whole Stinger line will charge with the haed removed.

The fast charger cradles are a different color than the slow chargers (fast is a funny tannish color. Slow is black).

You shouln't need any spacer to force the battery stick onto the contact springs. I would return the light, as it sounds defective.

The STinger series lights also have a diode, so the charging contact points don't emit an electrical charge. The only way the red light on the charger would not light, is if the battery stick wasn't making contact internally, with the appropriate connections.

--dan

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Welcome to CPF, Matt! You won't be disappointed by either Arc AAA or Arc LS. I don't have the AAA, but I do have 2 Arc LSes (older model), and I love both of them.

 

[logicnerd411]

Originally posted by Charles Bradshaw:
I don't have the AAA

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Saaby and Darell will kill you... with their advertising...

 

[Rothrandir]

hmmm...my fast charge cradle is a darkish/greyish...