THOR question?

[prego]

I really like the THOR and I know its a bright and affordable light but has it broken down on anybody yet, at least out of normal use? For the price, I wouldn't be surprised if this happened.

 

[theepdinker]

I'm using one at work daily.
Working like a champ. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Theepdinker

 

[prego]

Theepdinker,

That's great to hear. How long have you had it?

 

[theepdinker]

A bit over a month.
I use it for inspection work.
Under homes, in the attic & in crawl spaces.
When I'm looking for defects I don't want less than very bright usable light.
Use it at home in the driveway also.

Theepdinker

 

[prego]

Thanks for the info

From where I come from they have a few for around $55. Can't wait to get my hands on one.

 

[Zelandeth]

To be honest, with the Thor there's very little to go wrong. The entire light consists of the following:

Plastic case: Thick and tough plastic.

Biiiig reflector: Metal.

Lens: Thick glass. Probably the most fragile component.

Bulb: Seems to be pretty tough, but easily replaceable.

Switches: Seem to be well made, and again, are replaceable.

Battery: Be sensible with the charging times and don't deep discharge it and it'll serve you well.

Charger: In the case of the one I had, it's one of the most well built wall warts I've encountered.

Basically, so long as you're moderately sensible, it should serve you for years. The main problem with the Thor is its great weight. Drop it from any real height, and the weight will lead to it taking quite a beating on hitting the ground. Though I can't afford to test that theory! That and that the light isn't weatherproof. Thanks to the vented design, it would be hard to weatherproof it though. And it can survive a light shower anyway, that I've proved!

It's a tough light for the money it costs!

 

[prego]

I just got the THOR and it is pretty bright. Anyway got another question. The manual says that I should initially charge it for 15 hours and doesn't say anything else about charging. During normal use, how long should I really charge it? Something tells me that completely following the manual will lead me to a less efficient THOR. Thanks in advance!

 

[Zelandeth]

I think the figure being thrown around for the standard 1000mA charger was around 7-8 hours max for a full charge. Sounds about right given that it's a 7Ah battery.

 

[AlexGT]

Usually it will take a lot less time since the battery is not completely discharged, probably about 5 hours.

I checked the $25 Thor 10MCP at costco and it comes with a 1500 mah charger so the time should be even less.

BTW I was not impressed with the light output of the 10mcp. My modded 3.5 is brighter, and yes I actually walked into the store with the 3.5mcp on my shoulder, You should have seen the weird looks of the people there. Oh well, just another regular day in the life of a flashaholic.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[prego]

thanks for the info guys!

 

[xpitxbullx]

I bought the 12V 1A smart charger from batterymart. Charges a 'mostly depleted' battery in less than 8 hours. If you get the 12V 0.5A charger, it charges in less than 12 hours. It also has a trickle charge so you dont have to worry about overcharging which is the problem with the stock charger it comes with.

 

[CNC Dan]

[ QUOTE ]
xpitxbullx said:
I bought the 12V 1A smart charger from batterymart. Charges a 'mostly depleted' battery in less than 8 hours. If you get the 12V 0.5A charger, it charges in less than 12 hours. It also has a trickle charge so you dont have to worry about overcharging which is the problem with the stock charger it comes with.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did almost the same thing.

I went to Wal-mart and bought the Schumacher battery companion (model # wm-1562a) $16.00 aprox.

It is a 1.5A charger/maintainer.
I've been told (here on CPF??) that is is a two stage charger.
It starts off at a higher charge voltage, then drops to a lower float voltage. I am going to get a plug that fits the Thor at RS and atach it to the charger.

For now I have been using the battery clips on the lighter plug.

Dan

 

[Sean]

[ QUOTE ]
AlexGT said:
Usually it will take a lot less time since the battery is not completely discharged, probably about 5 hours.

I checked the $25 Thor 10MCP at costco and it comes with a 1500 mah charger so the time should be even less.

BTW I was not impressed with the light output of the 10mcp. My modded 3.5 is brighter, and yes I actually walked into the store with the 3.5mcp on my shoulder, You should have seen the weird looks of the people there. Oh well, just another regular day in the life of a flashaholic.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I got one for Christmas from my parents. They left it sitting out (so much for the surprise) so I played around with it some. They charged it up but on low it looks real yellow and dim. On high it was nice and bright but not 10MCP bright. I was not impressed. Maybe I just expected too much. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[StEaLtH_]

Same here, I also expected more from it.
Dont get me wrong though, it's hella bright and throws like no other light I have.. but it misses that 'OMFG THATS SICK' in my opinion /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Oh well, Newbie's boost-mod should fix that though /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[BVH]

My yellow Thor-X (Costco Cyclops) manual says "Time required to fully charge battery is approximately 8 hours" using the wall wart. "Time required to fully charge the battery is approximately 15 hours" using the cigarette lighter adapter. After 8 hours on the wall wart, battery voltage settled at about 13.8. The wall wart that came with my yellow Thor is only 340 MA. I charged it for 2 additional hours with about the same settled voltage.

Haven't opened the black one yet to compare beam shape.

 

[ledebuhr1]

I sounds like you guys want a light that NASA can see from the space station. Like one that is on top of the Luxor in Las Vagas

 

[BVH]

Definitely YES but then someone would probably want to mod it for more output! I don't think anyone is happy with the amount of light from any device after a while.

 

[JimH]

[ QUOTE ]
ledebuhr1 said:
I sounds like you guys want a light that NASA can see from the space station. Like one that is on top of the Luxor in Las Vagas

[/ QUOTE ]

How did you guess. We also want it pocket size /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[AlexGT]

I will settle for one that can light up the dark side of the moon whenever I feel like having a full moon night, How's that? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Oh!, and portable with good runtime too! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Seriously, how many lumens do you think it would take to produce a beam all the way visible to the moon? probably a gigawatt green laser maybe.

 

[code09]

does anyone know how candle power relates to lumens? like how many candle power does it take to equal one lumen?