Kl1 Qusetions

[Lightsaber]

Can someone help me with the following:

1) What are the differences bwtween the first and second version of the kl1? (plastic disc around contact)

2) Is the new kl1 compatabile with all brands of 123 batteries?

3) Are the ribs on the side of the bezel for cooling of the LED? If so it would seem to be a terrible wase of battery power in the form of heat and not light?

4) What is the life expendency of the LED? If I understnd correctly, the LED will not completle fail as a incandescent bulb would but will loose some of its brightness through time.

5) Will rapid on-off cycling of this type of LED effect its life expedency? An example would be using the light as a strobe effect by pushing the button on-off, on-off to entertain my kids as they dance to music. Yes, my 3 and 5 year old's get a kick out of this.

Thanks for your help.

 

[MicroE]

Here are the last 3. I only have one of the original KL1's so I can't address the first two questions.
3.) The ribs are cooling fins. LEDs waste some power in the form of heat (no light source is 100% efficient). The circuitry is also not 100% efficient. The batteries also generate heat as they discharge.
4.) The LED should live 100,000 hours. Expect some measurable decrease in optical power at 10,000+ hours.
5.) Any cycling will increase the life of the LED. LEDs die (mostly) because of thermal deterioration. An LED that is never turned on will live forever (if stored at absolute zero, slightly less than forever at room temp.)---Marc

 

[GJW]

1. The battery contact area was redesigned to help prevent putting the batteries in the wrong way and damaging the unit. With the new design, a reversed battery will not complete the circuit and the LED is protected.

2. So far, yes.

 

[Sigman]

I thought that PK (or?) mentioned in an earlier post (that I'd have to search for) that the plastic "cap" only went out on the first 500?

 

[GJW]

He said 500 batches.
Now, how many are in a batch?

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=003547;p=2[/ URL]

 

[Lightsaber]

Ok great ! Thanks for your help and quick response. I can't wait to purchase one of these great lights in the near future. I've read so may great things about them. Sounds like the kl1 will be noticeably brighter then my Lightwave 4000 and soooo much smaller. Real cool.
Thanks

 

[Sigman]

Originally posted by GJW:
He said 500 batches.
Now, how many are in a batch?

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=003547;p=2[/ URL]http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=003547;p=2

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Yep, I remember "batches" and had the same question.