EDC lights that get hot:

[greenlight]

I am a new owner of a Fenix LOD CE, a 1AAA twisty only keychain light. It's pretty bright for such a small light. Maybe that's why it gets so hot. None of my other lights get hot being on for 15 minutes. Maybe it's the size of the light or heatsinking, but it's something I've never noticed before with my other lights.

I'm sure a lot of lights get hot. Feel free to list them all.

More specifically, I was interested in lights that people actually EDC that get hot, not spotlights or tanklights.

Do you EDC a light that gets hot? Which is it?

I usually EDC my arc AAA, which doesn't get hot.

 

[DonShock]

Re: Lights that get hot:

My Draco heats up lickety split. An eyeball burner in a tiny package doesn't have much metal to absorb all that heat. It's only natural for it to heat up.

 

[quokked]

Re: Lights that get hot:

Orb RAW with the 3w Lux III

This light gets HOT on high

E2e ---> I had this light accidently activate in my holster and it melted through the nylon flap covering the bezel, When i found out the light was so hot I couldn't hold onto it

 

[alanagnostic]

Re: Lights that get hot:

Surefire L4, Peak LED McKinley (red Led's)

 

[led4me]

Re: Lights that get hot:

I'm also curious about the lights that get hot. When people say their lights get hot, do they mean:

1. hot but can still safely hold the light
2. too hot to handle but won't burn skin
3. will burn your hand
4. unsafe (cause fire, destroy the light, other?)

 

[KentuckyMike]

Re: Lights that get hot:

I'm also curious about the lights that get hot. When people say their lights get hot, do they mean:

1. hot but can still safely hold the light
2. too hot to handle but won't burn skin
3. will burn your hand
4. unsafe (cause fire, destroy the light, other?)

I've seen (errr...felt....) 1, 2, and 3 before. There's a reason SF has a heat warning on their bezels now!! My smallest light (P1) takes about 30-45 minutes to get very hot. It's still "holdable," but only by the body, not the head. At this point, I give the light a break if at all feasible, just to avoid long-term wear and tear, though it would probably be fine.

Also note, especially for metal-bodied lights, holding them may keep them cooler than setting them on a table. It seems counterintutive, like your hand would insulate the heat and hold it in, but your hand actually becomes part of the heatsink and draws some of the heat away from the light. Note, this is not intended as advice, and if you burn yourself I am not responsible, please use common sense!

I've seen lights from just about every major manufacturer get hot, bot incan and LED, but some do get worse than others. In high-draw applications, the cells can get warm or hot as well, sometimes even to the point of thermal shutdown from the batteries.

 

[Patriot]

Re: Lights that get hot:

I'm also curious about the lights that get hot. When people say their lights get hot, do they mean:

1. hot but can still safely hold the light
2. too hot to handle but won't burn skin
3. will burn your hand
4. unsafe (cause fire, destroy the light, other?)

I've seen or felt all four of these, although 3 and 4 or very similar.

LOD on 10440s
LODce on 10440s
Orb Ns

L4, too hot to handle with bare skin a couple of times
L2, left on in a pocket accidentally, to hot to handle
x200A, once got to hot to handle

M6, beam will burn upholstry and head gets uncomfortable with HOLA
Mag Charger, beam will burn upholstry given time
Mag 85, will burn with beam quickly and with the head but takes longer
Maxblaster 64623, will light materials instantly, and the head gets to hot to touch after a minute and a half. Droped it on my leg in shorts once and received a mild burn.

 

[iapyx]

Re: Lights that get hot:

My U2 gets hot, but there´s a warning written on the bezel ´caution hot surface´ which btw seems to have been removed (Photoshopped) from the Surefire website (the 360° view of the U2)

And my mods get hot, but I don´t think that is what you meant.

 

[j3bnl]

Re: Lights that get hot:

M90 Rattlesnake when using the Lumens Factory EO-13 bulb.
Should say that there is a warning not to run it for longer than 5 or 10 mins at a time.

 

[sORe-EyEz]

Re: Lights that get hot:

so what good would a flashlight advertised with a runtime of 1hr+ if it gets too hot to hold in abt 10minutes? :thumbsdow

i never use my Pelican M6, Surefire E1L for more than 15 mins continuous though i wish i could. do i need to get those thermal insulating pads used for taking trays out of ovens?

 

[sysadmn]

Re: Lights that get hot:

so what good would a flashlight advertised with a runtime of 1hr+ if it gets too hot to hold in abt 10minutes? :thumbsdow

As a weapons light?

 

[2xTrinity]

Re: Lights that get hot:

Also note, especially for metal-bodied lights, holding them may keep them cooler than setting them on a table. It seems counterintutive, like your hand would insulate the heat and hold it in, but your hand actually becomes part of the heatsink and draws some of the heat away from the light. Note, this is not intended as advice, and if you burn yourself I am not responsible, please use common sense!

Part of the reason why metal-bodied lights feel so hot is because the metal itself is highly conductive, so direct physical contact with your hand is actually quite effective at drawing away heat. If the light is operated in-hand the entire time, it will never reach excessively hot temperatures. If it is left out in the open, or worse, in an insulated pocket -- it can reach very high temperatures. I have even had quite large lights get too hot to handle. This is why I think it would be a good idea for all light manufactuers to implement a thermal feedback mechanism similar to the one used in the MagLED, that would begin to impose a current limit as the light reached temperatuers that might begin to degrade the LED.

Very small lights, like the Fenix L0D-CE etc. would be also better suited to use copper parts as much as possible as copper is much denser than aluminum, therefore it would have a higher heat capacity to "soak up" heat, and it's a better thermal conductor as well.

 

[yellow]

my Cree @ 1 A in a 6P gets really warm when activated and left somewhere on the desk. When gripped, the blood moves the heat away,

but the 9N head (i am using it with a homemade epoxy body) gets so hot, that there is a fair chance for buring the skin, when turning it off. Just can grip it for the half second needed to move the head.

 

[maxilux]

Re: Lights that get hot:

short answer: all incan !

 

[Patriot]

Re: Lights that get hot:

Also note, especially for metal-bodied lights, holding them may keep them cooler than setting them on a table. It seems counterintutive, like your hand would insulate the heat and hold it in, but your hand actually becomes part of the heatsink and draws some of the heat away from the light. Note, this is not intended as advice, and if you burn yourself I am not responsible, please use common sense! quote]

Definitely makes a huge difference especially on smaller lights.

 

[Aircraft800]

Re: Lights that get hot:

Mac's (AKA cmacclel on CPF) "Torch" gets a little hot

 

[Rob187]

Re: Lights that get hot:

Pierce M10 on high gets pretty warm.

The website has a temperature graph - about 155F in 35 min!

http://www.piercelight.com/Performance.htm

The heatsink fins help though.

 

[greenlight]

Re: Lights that get hot:

Thanks, guys, hopefully people will read the OP... I'm not looking for lights that get hot specifically, but wondering which lights people EDC that get hot...

 

[KentuckyMike]

Here's a few I've carried and noticed recently, and I'll use led4me's "grading" structure for each...

Fenix P1 (handheld-1.5, candle-3)
SF E2E (handheld-<1, candle-2)
SF 6P (handheld-<1, candle-2)
SF A2 (high) (handheld-<1, candle-1.5)
SF E1L (handheld-1, candle-1.5)

All of the Surefires listed are not candle-mode ready, so tabletop is assumed. While none of my SF's reach above 2 in normal use in my estimation (granted, this is subjective), they all can reach 3/4 level if activated in a holster, pocket, IWB, etc. Just today I had my 6P in my back jeans pocket (bezel-up), and apparently it had activated (my wallet had shifted below the light and put pressure on the tailcap). It was surrounded on all sides by a plush chair, denim, and denim/cotton-covered flesh). Someone brought to my attention that it was on, so I reached back to pull it out so I could set it on my desk to avoid battery drainage...yowza. Bezel was hot, body was just fine. I actually thought I felt heat a few minutes earlier and almost checked the light, but assumed it was just psychological after having read this thread earlier!

And as far as LEDs go, I would worry if it DIDN'T get warm/hot, as this would indicate a poor thermal path/heatsink design, which would keep heat near the emitter...

 

[TORCH_BOY]

The SF L5 felt like holding a soldering iron