DM51
Flashaholic
Wouldn't this void the warranty?Atomic_Chicken said:
The SF A2 - Part 2
- Thread starter js
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Atomic_Chicken
Enlightened
Greetings!
Why would it void the warranty to clean a flashlight?
Best wishes,
Bawko
DM51 said:
Why would it void the warranty to clean a flashlight?
Best wishes,
Bawko
DM51
Flashaholic
If you left a streak or stain on the inside from trying to clean it, and SF couldn't remove it later, they could say you should have sent it to them to clean it in the first place.
Maybe they wouldn't actually make a big issue out of it as their CS has a very good reputation.
Maybe they wouldn't actually make a big issue out of it as their CS has a very good reputation.
scubasteve1942
Enlightened
Well after reading all the great threads on the A2 I ordered one. I got the White LED version from tactical supply and used the CPF discount. I cant wait till it gets here. I just wanted to thank JS, GreenLed, and Atomic chicken for taking the time to write their very in depth reviews on the A2.
DM51
Flashaholic
Very interesting new A2 mod by Atomic Chicken - this thread:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=158332
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=158332
BD457
Newly Enlightened
Uh....................WOW!
Outstanding thread. I purchased a used A2 because I thought it was a good deal and just wanted to "check it out". After getting it I "didn't get it" :laughing: .
I thought it was a pretty stupid light for the money. My normal EDC is an CR2 body with an L4 head. No run time, but I always have a spare charged up battery close by.
Anyway.... I started to research this A2 thing here and was pointed to this thread. It's now my keeper. I needed some Enlightening.
One question though......The incan. is regulated and I read here about how everybodys is so nice and white. Mine is quite yellow, even with new batterys. I've looked (all be it briefly) for anything that might cause high resistance and didn't see any. I'm certainly no electronics guru, just a light lover. Any ideas as to the cause?
Outstanding thread. I purchased a used A2 because I thought it was a good deal and just wanted to "check it out". After getting it I "didn't get it" :laughing: .
I thought it was a pretty stupid light for the money. My normal EDC is an CR2 body with an L4 head. No run time, but I always have a spare charged up battery close by.
Anyway.... I started to research this A2 thing here and was pointed to this thread. It's now my keeper. I needed some Enlightening.
One question though......The incan. is regulated and I read here about how everybodys is so nice and white. Mine is quite yellow, even with new batterys. I've looked (all be it briefly) for anything that might cause high resistance and didn't see any. I'm certainly no electronics guru, just a light lover. Any ideas as to the cause?
Codeman
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2004
- Messages
- 2,690
It sounds like you simply need a new bulb (MA02). Keep in mind, though, that incandescent "white" isn't the same as LED "white". Incandescent bulbs tend to be on the warm side, unless they are overdriven (which isn't the case with the A2), meaning they have less of a blue tint like LED's tend to have.
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greenLED
Flashaholic
Did you actually clean the contacts, or just took a look at them? Some grime is transparent.
Are you using BatteryStation batts by any chance?
Are you using BatteryStation batts by any chance?
Illum
Flashaholic
BD457 said:
BD457, is your A2 a new round body or an old square body?
I have this feeling that older models the driver somewhat wears out over use..see my thread on the apparent phenomenon....hopefully I understood correctly what your question is
A2 improvement or is mine just defective? [pics]
what many of us consider "white" is around 5500K...
the actual eyeballed "whiteness" depends on the wall color, angle of perspective, and the capabilities of your eyes to compare to a reference point, say a compact florescent lamp that you know is "white" not "warm white" or "rotten purpoise urine green" :laughing:
greenLED said:
sometimes its not grime, but lube that smudged/accumulated on the contact region of the body aside from the threaded region. and lube is seldom conductive
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js
Flashlight Enthusiast
What everyone else said.
Plus, note that the MA02 lamp does dim with age due to tungsten deposition on the inside of the envelope.
So, for example, it wasn't until I got my 2nd A2 (brand new) and compared against my first that I realized that my first was dimmer. Popped in the spare lamp I had on hand, and VOILA, it was back to full brightness.
As for the regulator wearing out over time, it's highly unlikely. Failure of the regulator would be catastrophic, not gradual, in most cases. Not impossible, just very unlikely, unless I'm missing something (also possible).
Plus, note that the MA02 lamp does dim with age due to tungsten deposition on the inside of the envelope.
So, for example, it wasn't until I got my 2nd A2 (brand new) and compared against my first that I realized that my first was dimmer. Popped in the spare lamp I had on hand, and VOILA, it was back to full brightness.
As for the regulator wearing out over time, it's highly unlikely. Failure of the regulator would be catastrophic, not gradual, in most cases. Not impossible, just very unlikely, unless I'm missing something (also possible).
Minjin
Flashlight Enthusiast
js said:
I'd like to hear the reasoning and proof behind this.
js
Flashlight Enthusiast
Minjin,
Well, the proof is really in my experience with positioning of transverse filament lamps (such as the A2 lamp) in parabloic reflectors with moderate to low divergence. I am responsible for the focusing/potting of the TigerLight Gen 4 lamp module, and in the process of trying to nail down the exact position of the filament inside the spun parabolic reflector, I got to experience a lot of different degrees of focus. If you make the hotspot perfectly round you have less throw--significantly less, in fact. And if you go for the most intense center of the hotspot, regardless of the shape of the hotspot, you invariably end up with an oval hotspot, and also in the process, the focus that gives you the longest throwing beam.
So, the proof comes from my practical, empirical experience.
Mostly.
I also have a theoretical reasoning, I think, but I admit that I haven't really worked it out with ray tracing and all that. In short, the filament is not a point source; it's a line source, and its radiation pattern is actually strongest radially outward from the axis of the filament (i.e. the rays going out perpendicular to the axis). The radiation directly out from the ends of the filament (i.e. parallel to the filament axis) is significantly less, not to say non-existant. So if you think about this cylinder of light radiating outward, and downward towards the reflector, you should be able to convince yourself that if the center of the filament is at optimal focus, that the ends will send out rays of light that will hit the surface of the reflector at a shallower angle than optimum, and thus end up wide of the ideal mark, to the left and right respectively for the left and right ends of the filament. This gives you the long primary axis of the oval/elliptical shape. Then, given that the filament has very little height to it relative to its length, you arrive at the short secondary axis of the ellipse.
Of course, I'm pretty sure that the optimal throw is not precisely when the center of the filament is at the focal point. I'm rather certain it is with the center slightly off of that, which brings the left and right rays more parallel to the central axis of radiation. Still, you actually have to chose which range you want the optimum for. If you get the most darned intense hotspot on a white wall at 6 feet away, it will NOT be the best focus for 60 or 260 feet. I set the Gen4 lamp for the best focus at between 100 and 250 feet, more or less (the potting isn't precise enough to nail it down to much better than that). And I have some other lamp modules here that give a higher candlepower reading at 6 feet, but whose throw out in the field is noticeably not as good. The Gen4 doesn't overtake the 6 foot-optimal until about 35 feet, in fact.
Bla bla bla. OK. Cutting myself off.
That's what I've got. I hope it's more or less palatable for you!
Well, the proof is really in my experience with positioning of transverse filament lamps (such as the A2 lamp) in parabloic reflectors with moderate to low divergence. I am responsible for the focusing/potting of the TigerLight Gen 4 lamp module, and in the process of trying to nail down the exact position of the filament inside the spun parabolic reflector, I got to experience a lot of different degrees of focus. If you make the hotspot perfectly round you have less throw--significantly less, in fact. And if you go for the most intense center of the hotspot, regardless of the shape of the hotspot, you invariably end up with an oval hotspot, and also in the process, the focus that gives you the longest throwing beam.
So, the proof comes from my practical, empirical experience.
Mostly.
I also have a theoretical reasoning, I think, but I admit that I haven't really worked it out with ray tracing and all that. In short, the filament is not a point source; it's a line source, and its radiation pattern is actually strongest radially outward from the axis of the filament (i.e. the rays going out perpendicular to the axis). The radiation directly out from the ends of the filament (i.e. parallel to the filament axis) is significantly less, not to say non-existant. So if you think about this cylinder of light radiating outward, and downward towards the reflector, you should be able to convince yourself that if the center of the filament is at optimal focus, that the ends will send out rays of light that will hit the surface of the reflector at a shallower angle than optimum, and thus end up wide of the ideal mark, to the left and right respectively for the left and right ends of the filament. This gives you the long primary axis of the oval/elliptical shape. Then, given that the filament has very little height to it relative to its length, you arrive at the short secondary axis of the ellipse.
Of course, I'm pretty sure that the optimal throw is not precisely when the center of the filament is at the focal point. I'm rather certain it is with the center slightly off of that, which brings the left and right rays more parallel to the central axis of radiation. Still, you actually have to chose which range you want the optimum for. If you get the most darned intense hotspot on a white wall at 6 feet away, it will NOT be the best focus for 60 or 260 feet. I set the Gen4 lamp for the best focus at between 100 and 250 feet, more or less (the potting isn't precise enough to nail it down to much better than that). And I have some other lamp modules here that give a higher candlepower reading at 6 feet, but whose throw out in the field is noticeably not as good. The Gen4 doesn't overtake the 6 foot-optimal until about 35 feet, in fact.
Bla bla bla. OK. Cutting myself off.
That's what I've got. I hope it's more or less palatable for you!
greenLED
Flashaholic
Personally, js's "Part 1" got me hooked, and carrot's nagging pushed me off the fence. The only bad thing about the A2 is that after you get one, it kills off the "want more lights" feeling. Kinda anticlimatic for a hard core flashaholic, but that's how I felt.Daniel_sk said:I am pretty sure a lot of people bought an A2 because of this.
Codeman
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2004
- Messages
- 2,690
greenLED said:
Nonsense....heresy....blashemy!
A2's are just like Lay's potato chips - you can't stop at just one!
If you did, then you aren't hardcore!
:twothumbsAbout the oval vs round thing. When I got my first Surefire, I thought it was perfectly round. Compared to the Mag's I was used to, it was. After a few more light purchases though, namely some with McGizmo reflectors, I started thinking something was wrong with my G2Z, Z3, A2, and e2 - they no longer had round beams. I thought maybe I'd run them too long and the reflector's had warped. Sometimes....what we perceive isn't quite what reality is. I'm still amazed how the human eye can adjust to light and give us the impression that one light's output is white...until we see it compared to another one and all of a sudden what we thought was white no longer is. As far as I can tell, though, a slightly oval beam or a perfectly round one, a white beam or a slightly warm beam, they all still light things up so that I can see in the dark. Mission accomplished! :shrug:
Now, if you want to see a non-round beam, try a hotwire with a traverse filament bulb. They aren't called batwings for nuttin'... :nana:
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Illum
Flashaholic
greenLED said:
well, after Carrot's continuing
's I bought one and it replaced all my other lights in terms of function, so...yeah I know what you mean...only I'm not a hard core flashaholic, just a moderately obsessed flashaholicCodeman said:
reminds me...hey Bawko, hows your 8th A2?
Atomic_Chicken
Enlightened
Greetings!
It's OK... happily co-existing with the 9th, 10th, and 11th.
I think that I may have the world's largest collection of Aviators outside of factory or dealer shelves at this point.
Best wishes,
Bawko
Illum_the_nation said:reminds me...hey Bawko, hows your 8th A2?
It's OK... happily co-existing with the 9th, 10th, and 11th.
I think that I may have the world's largest collection of Aviators outside of factory or dealer shelves at this point.
Best wishes,
Bawko
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Illum
Flashaholic
Atomic_Chicken said:Greetings!
It's OK... happily co-existing with the 9th, 10th, and 11th.
I think that I may have the world's largest collection of Aviators outside of factory or dealer shelves at this point.
Best wishes,
Bawko
we need another pic
