Every "upgrade" gets worse!

[KevinL]

Every \"upgrade\" gets worse!

I have a famous 4 D cell flashlight here, plain vanilla stock, and I'm playing with it before my *REAL* upgrade kit gets here. I decided to try a couple of bulbs.

The stock Krypton bulb.. yellowish. Nothing to write home about, and the same artifact-filled beam. So I decide to try the manufacturer's "official" Xenon lamp conversions, both a 4-cell and a 3-cell (overdriven) configuration. Pop in the 4-cell and try again, the beam is SLIGHTLY whiter, almost imperceptably brighter, and I could be imagining both, but I can't be imagining the beam artifacts which are FAR worse. Thick, thick wires cause big black shadows even on tightest focus.

So I try the 3-cell.. and to my horror I notice the bulb has the focusing lens. The moment I turn it on, a super-magnified picture of the hot filament appears on the wall to the point where I can discern each individual curl of the filament. It's somewhat brighter, but the horrible filament artifact forms this big horizontal bar across the beam no matter how I focus it. You can't miss it. At fifteen feet away from the wall, the filament looks to be four feet across.

This is ridiculous, and no amount of UCL-LDF will cure some of the beam artifacts. I can't wait till my LuxV upgrade kit arrives.

 

[RussH]

Re: Every \"upgrade\" gets worse!

I recommend that you don't overdrive xenon bulbs. They mostly seem to be maxed out on brightness at the rated voltage. My 4D or 6v lantern xenon bulb is brighter than the 4 cell Krypton & not all that much dimmer than the 3 cell krypton bulbs. My experience with trying to overdrive 3 cell xenon with 4 cells has, in two seperate cases (totally different lights), resulted in a flashed bulb after 1-2 minutes. It might be OK to drive a 5cell xenon on 6 alkaline cells, but I bought Carley xenon bulbs for the right voltage (7.2v w/ 6 NiMH, IIRC) instead. You don't want a focusing lens in a reflectored flashlight (you knew that!), you have to watch out for those....

 

[brightnorm]

Re: Every \"upgrade\" gets worse!

The kryptons are often more tolerant of overdriving than the xenons.

Brightnorm

 

[KevinL]

Re: Every \"upgrade\" gets worse!

Yeah, they really do seem maxed out. The 3-cell looks particularly white though. I once overdrove an unknown 2D cell bulb with 4 NiMH AAs - it ran for 5 minutes, and it was phenomenally bright. Of course, when it finally quit, you could see the black tungsten all over the envelope /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Anyway, the bulb is just an experiment. It only has to last till the postman brings me my Luxeon V, so even if it instaflashes on the next time, no big loss. I was trying to see what options are available from the "official" upgrades,and it looks like they are all disappointing. You really have to WORK to get this 4D light upgraded to any decent light output.

 

[paulr]

Re: Every \"upgrade\" gets worse!

I put a Rat Shack XPR103 into my 3D Mag and it was quite a bit brighter and whiter than the stock White Star (or whatever it's called) bulb that came with the Mag. It's a reasonable light now. Generally though I don't understand why anyone bothers with Mags, except as bonking tools. I got mine at a sidewalk sale for about $3 but I'd never buy one retail.

 

[KevinL]

Re: Every \"upgrade\" gets worse!

Mod hosts? The aluminium mass makes heatsinking easy.

As for stock....I opened up a can of worms with the thread "Why the uninitiated like the Mag", so I won't revisit it here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Re: Every \"upgrade\" gets worse!

That's extremely interesting Kevin.

I have one M*g I use a lot. A 3D with 4NimH C and a lense of Acrylite. I take pains to center up bulbs, sometimes tweaking the pr base to get results.

This particular M*g has a perfect spot beam with soft edges and GRRRREAT spill. Oh, I'm running a stock Whitestar Krypton.

Since I don't use it as much (and don't have it here in front of me) I can't honestly tell you about my 4D M*g... but I can tell you it has at least a very decent beam with 5C cells and Writeright.

I think maybe you are trying too hard. Or expecting TOO much...

 

[KevinL]

Re: Every \"upgrade\" gets worse!

My findings are that the stock Krypton bulbs are actually better in the artifacts department compared to the Xenon bulbs. If you overdrive them, I believe you can get a whiter beam as well. Once I slap my 'beamshaper' (frosted plastic) on top of it, it looks fine.

I'm probably expecting too much because I'm waiting on bigger and brighter thingies so that the light can realize its true ~180 lumen spot beam long throw destiny /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif