quick and dirty: arc aaa penlight

[chrisse242]

My girlfriends sister asked me for a good led-penlight and after I found kiesslings comparison I decided I didn't want to recommend any of those he reviewed. A two cell arc aaa with tailswitch was what came to my mind. No common mod was available at cpf and peter doesn't really seem to have the time to produce the two cell bodys he once presented. I knew the aaa-head is capable of running on two aaa's and started thinking about how to build my own body. I had to stop since I had to go to buy some food and at the shop I found a cheap incan penlight produced by Varta. I bought it and back home just sawed of the front part where the bulb protrudes. The head of the arc can be pressed into the body and sits in there quite good. I dind't want to have anything permanent because I want to keep my own aaa the way it is now. As soon as I receive an extra head I will think about a way to attach the head permanently. Can anybody tell me the thread size for the aaa? If threading the body doesn't work I will try to epoxy it in. For now it works like charm. The switch is a reverse action clickie ( on / momentary off / off), the light seems to be a bit brighter on two aaa's but didn't get hot after about ten minutes of runtime. The intended use of my girlfriends sister is no longer than a few minutes at a time so this will be fine.
Well here is what you all are looking for: Pictures!!

stock light:

 

[Kiessling]

nice ! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
but doesn't "press-fitting" th earc head into the tube destroy the threads?
and is this Varta-light a worthy host for an Arc head? I mean ... quality of the switch etc ...?
bernhard

 

[chrisse242]

[ QUOTE ]
Kiessling said:
nice ! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
but doesn't "press-fitting" th earc head into the tube destroy the threads?
and is this Varta-light a worthy host for an Arc head? I mean ... quality of the switch etc ...?
bernhard

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I don't intend to leave this particular head in there for long and by now the threads are o.k.
The next head that goes in, will stay there so I don't care about the threads. The switch is simple and time will tell how long it's going to work. But anyway, if it fails, another light is pretty cheap so you can buy another one, just to have a new switch. The light itself is very simple and cheap and I would love to find a better one so if you know of one that is easily availale please tell me.

Chrisse

Edit: What actually makes the head stay in the tube for now is the O-ring on the head. The threads just slid in the tube very easily after I sanded away a little aluminium from the side of the tube. I will have to open it up a bit more to allow the ring to go in the tube as well. There is a little part of anodized material in front of the o-ring that goes into the aaa stock body. I could perhaps add some drops of epoxy here to permanently attach the head to the tube.

Chrisse

 

[Kiessling]

Have a look at my penlight comaprison ... at the bottom a high quality incan penlight was suggested, with an welch Allyn Bulb ... rather expensive, but should be a good quality.
bernhard

 

[chrisse242]

Upps, I think I didn't write clearly. I was asking for a better host. I don't think it's a good idea to buy this one and cut parts away from it. It's just that arc heads are available pretty inexpensive right now and my girlfriends sister wanted a pen-sized led-light. She isn't a flashaholic after all, so I thought this might be a good and inexpensive Idea. I will see how this works out when I receive the spare heads.

Chrisse

 

[paulr]

If she's not a flashaholic, she may like an incandescent penlight better. UKE makes a nice one with two aaa's.

 

[kitelights]

Excellent. Where did you find the Vartas? I've got a couple of extra heads that have been looking for bodies.

Why would anyone want to do an incan when an ARC LED is available????

 

[chrisse242]

She really wants an led, thats why she asked me about it.
The Varta flashlights are sold nearly everywhere in Germany. The batteries of this company are famous here, and nearly every shop has at least one Varta Flashlight. But this should work with many 2aaa penlights, maybe even better than with this one.

Chrisse