Tigerlight resurrection questions

[Stingray]

My Tigerlight has lost it's bright white beam the last couple of years. I have a gen 2 lamp and the slow charger with standard battery pack from a few years ago. I leave it on the charger when I'm not using it per recommendation from Mike Teig back when I bought it. It's from one of those Tigerlight special sales that TW had here back then when they weren't supposed to. Something about old battery packs bought for a deep discount with the agreement not to resell here. Anyway, I ended up buying one unknowingly, the price was good, but the light fizzled out really quickly, wasn't worth it.

So, what are my options for resurrecting this light? I really liked it a lot when it was new and bright. It still works, the battery reads 7.4V unloaded and a little under 5 when turned on. I'd say it's putting out around 60 lumens, about equal to my E2D except yellower. Still usable, but not bright enough for it's size and role as a bump in the night light. The body is still in great shape though. I started to read thru all the old threads but there's too much to go thru and it's mostly outdated so I thought I'd ask the hotwire guru's here for the most up to date advice instead. Looks like $150 for a new lamp, battery and smart charger at their website, more than I paid for the light back then. Any other options? Maybe just a custom battery pack that works with my current lamp and charger.

 

[Stingray]

Fresh off the charger it reads 8.2V and under load it's 6V. The readings in the first post were after about 10 min useage. What should a good TL standard battery pack read under load of a gen 2 lamp?

Anyone tried using AW's new C cells and a charger mod on these lights yet?

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Fresh off the charger it reads 8.2V and under load it's 6V. The readings in the first post were after about 10 min useage. What should a good TL standard battery pack read under load of a gen 2 lamp?

Anyone tried using AW's new C cells and a charger mod on these lights yet?[/QUOT
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Should read in the 7 volt range. A new Premium battery pack would work fine with the original charger, just take awhile to charge up. Get a gen4 LA, same current as gen2 but much better beam. Quite a thrower. I use the 375 lumen LA.

Bill

 

[Stingray]

I can't seem to find any place to buy just a battery on their website. It's not listed under parts. They must be in the middle of redoing the site or something. All the descriptions are the same for all the lights with different part numbers and prices. Take a look. I wouldn't mind a longer charging time with the premium battery as long as it wasn't more than 12 hours or so. The original standard battery wasn't bad and depending on price I wouldn't mind getting one of those, but the first one lasted less than a year and I didn't use the light that extensively. I don't mind the lamp I have now either, it got the job done. The beam quality wasn't super great but it was nice and bright and white. Are there any instructions here to roll your own packs, or is it not worth it vs just buying one.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

See here http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl?c=ACCT29212&sc=8&category=&search=Premium battery

Close to bottom of page.

Bill

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Their premium pack is first class. Hi amp discharge and quality parts.

Bill

 

[Stingray]

Thanks for the link. Do they sell the lamp assemblies separately on their site as well?

 

[Stingray]

duplicate post

 

[Bullzeyebill]

They must be out of Gen4 LA's. I am having problem navigating their site too.

Give them a call.

Bill

 

[Kremer]

If your battery sags right away to 5v under load hot off the charger then you have probably two shorted cells.

My pack was recently toasted also. :mecry: After searching around I picked up this Charger and Battery. It took a few minutes to solder a 9V connector on the battery and to gut the stock Tiger cradle and wire the charger up to it. This battery is a little longer but narrower than the stock battery, the 9V connectors can sit alongside the pack instead of under it, leaving enough room for the rubber shock tube and reflector.

Now my tiger runs for longer than it ever did new, and charges in ~2.5-3hours on the slow setting of the charger (900ma) and a little over an hour on fast (1.8A). The battery and charger cost me $58 delivered + ~30 minutes of my time to wire it all up. The charger has a red/green light which is nice, Red light = bulk charge, Green light = peak detect/in trickle. I generally leave it in slow mode as I don't like to rush the cells too much and the fast mode gets the light a bit warm.

Here's a pic of the cradle and charger attached to an old plaque board, mounted on the wall:

I don't know how this battery will hold under load of the 375Lu LA compared to the super premium pack, but it definately holds voltage on the stock lamp better than my stock pack did. Someone around here was selling custom welded packs of eneloops, those would be an excellent choice, and I would have picked up one instead of the pack above if I had found it before I ordered that one, for the LSD and known high discharge capability.

Of course a regulated TL with 8AA eneloops would be even better...

~Dougk

 

[js]

Stingray,

You need a new battery and probably a Gen4 LA if you want throw.

I can send you a new pack for free, no problem, but I don't have many Gen 4 LA's left. Still, the new battery should set you up pretty well.

OK. Most important point to make:

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR LIGHT ON THE CHARGER ALL THE TIME

You will destroy the battery pack. I'll send you detailed care and use instructions with the pack also.

Send me a PM with your address.

 

[Stingray]

Thanks Kremer :thumbsup: $24 for the pack sounds good to me, unfortunately they're out of stock at the moment.

Do you know if that pack can be charged using my existing charger? What are the specs of the Tigerlight battery packs? I was just wondering how the mAh rating compares between the two, since you're getting longer run times.

Hot off the charger my pack sags to 6V. After about 10 minutes usage it sags to 5V, so mine is toasted too.

 

[Stingray]

Stingray,

You need a new battery and probably a Gen4 LA if you want throw.

I can send you a new pack for free, no problem, but I don't have many Gen 4 LA's left. Still, the new battery should set you up pretty well.

OK. Most important point to make:

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR LIGHT ON THE CHARGER ALL THE TIME

You will destroy the battery pack. I'll send you detailed care and use instructions with the pack also.

Send me a PM with your address.

Wow, thanks js :twothumbs
PM on the way

 

[Kremer]

Thanks Kremer :thumbsup: $24 for the pack sounds good to me, unfortunately they're out of stock at the moment.

Do you know if that pack can be charged using my existing charger? What are the specs of the Tigerlight battery packs? I was just wondering how the mAh rating compares between the two, since you're getting longer run times.

Hot off the charger my pack sags to 6V. After about 10 minutes usage it sags to 5V, so mine is toasted too.

Oh yeah, any 6 cell NiMh pack will go right on the stock charger no problem. But I wanted to upgrade to a smart charger too, the charger mod and battery mod are seperate from each other and both compatible with otherwise stock parts. I believe the stock TL pack is 1.9ah or something like that. You definately have a bad pack, after 'the incident' my stock pack immidately sagged to 2.4 under load (Yep, 4 of the 6 cells were fried) and the tigerlight was more of a nightlight. Now it holds over 7V for at least 30 minutes (with the Gen2 LA)...that's when I got tired of holding the leads onto the charger contacts.

I'm interested in getting a 375Lu LA to try out with this thing.

~Dougk

 

[js]

Kremer,

You can also just cut off the snap connector harness, and solder the lead wires directly to the battery pack. Just make sure that you get the polarity right. The + wire is the one that is electrically common with the rear-most charging contact on the light body.

You can also remove the switch core and really shorten the battery pack leads and solder them directly to the bottom of the pack (well, the top of the pack, but with the top of the pack inserted first and facing toward the rear of the light).

To remove the switch-core, unscrew the charging contact bolts, remove the rubber switch core cover, pull off the plastic housing into which the charging contact bolts were screwed (it just pulls off with a pair of slip-joint pliers), then push in the switch, and push the switch-core out the front of the light by pushing on the lip around the switch plunger. But DO NOT push on the switch plunger itself. It's not designed to take a lot of lateral force. I use a popsicle stick to push the switch core out.

Then it's easy to solder the wires to the battery pack tabs or directly to the contacts (if you know how and are careful).

Then, with the switch depressed (i.e. ON), push the switch-core and battery pack together back into the light. You'll have to take some care regarding the orientation, and it's a bit tricky, but the point is that you can fit a full-sized A 6 cell pack (like you pictured) into the TL body without taking up any extra room. Or you can use an 8 cell AA pack, which is what I use for my regulated TigerLights. But I also modify the switch-core and re-wire it so that it has a Willie Hunt LVR3K PWM regulator in there. hehe.

Stingray,

Your pack is en route to you via First Class USPS mail. It's a pack TL sent me for testing and evaluation, and so is not labeled properly or anything. But it's a very good pack--not as good as a premium pack, but still good. And I think it will even drive the 375 lumen LA if you want, as it held very good voltage under load. It's only an 1800 mAh pack, though, vs. 2150 for the premium pack. But still . . . you'll be impressed with the improvement.

As for instructions, well, don't leave the pack on the charger all the time. But niether leave it sitting around unused for years. If you don't use your light for a couple or three weeks, feel free to charge the pack overnight again. And feel free to charge it overnight anytime you run it for more than a minute or two. But don't leave it on the charger for longer than 12-16 hours if you want to get the most life out of your battery pack.

Be careful when opening up and closing up your TL. On some models, there's an o-ring that can get caught in between the bezel and the body. And ensure that the LA doesn't twist around with the bezel because if it does, it will twist right out of the lamp pin connectors and the light won't work. The bezel should turn but the LA should stay in place in the rubber gasket, not turning relative to the light body.

Good luck.

 

[Kremer]

Kremer,
You can also just cut off the snap connector harness, and solder the lead wires directly to the battery pack. Just make sure that you get the polarity right. The + wire is the one that is electrically common with the rear-most charging contact on the light body.

That was option 2 if I couldn't get it to fit in nicely with the 9v connector down the side of the slightly slimmer than stock AA pack.

Or you can use an 8 cell AA pack, which is what I use for my regulated TigerLights. But I also modify the switch-core and re-wire it so that it has a Willie Hunt LVR3K PWM regulator in there. hehe.

I'd like to look into this, do you have any pictures of the regulator installed in the switch core?

On some models, there's an o-ring that can get caught in between the bezel and the body.

One of mine has the improved bezel/O-ring where the O-ring snugs down under the bezel on tightening, the other light is one where it gets sandwiched between the faces and you have to go around the light a few times to keep the O-ring tucked in while you tighten, that's a little annoying, is there any easy fix for that, like a thinner O-ring?

I hooked up my DMM to the Tenergy charger while charging the TL, it's constant current in bulk charge, then in trickle it seems to go into a low current pulse, which is good because I think thats the preferred way for long term NiMh maintenance charging.

Even though you aren't directly part of the TL team, your insight and development work with the Teig's is a great resource, Thanks for being around Jim.
~Dougk

 

[Stingray]

Stingray,

Your pack is en route to you via First Class USPS mail. It's a pack TL sent me for testing and evaluation, and so is not labeled properly or anything. But it's a very good pack--not as good as a premium pack, but still good. And I think it will even drive the 375 lumen LA if you want, as it held very good voltage under load. It's only an 1800 mAh pack, though, vs. 2150 for the premium pack. But still . . . you'll be impressed with the improvement.

As for instructions, well, don't leave the pack on the charger all the time. But niether leave it sitting around unused for years. If you don't use your light for a couple or three weeks, feel free to charge the pack overnight again. And feel free to charge it overnight anytime you run it for more than a minute or two. But don't leave it on the charger for longer than 12-16 hours if you want to get the most life out of your battery pack.

Be careful when opening up and closing up your TL. On some models, there's an o-ring that can get caught in between the bezel and the body. And ensure that the LA doesn't twist around with the bezel because if it does, it will twist right out of the lamp pin connectors and the light won't work. The bezel should turn but the LA should stay in place in the rubber gasket, not turning relative to the light body.

Good luck.

Thanks js. Mine has the o-ring that goes between the bezel and body, and I have to be careful not to squish it when retightening. I remember dealing with this when upgrading from the 1st to 2nd gen lamp assembly. Looking forward to the new battery pack.

Steve

 

[moraino]

I'd like to look into this, do you have any pictures of the regulator installed in the switch core?



~Dougk

I also like to see it if not too much trouble.

 

[Kremer]

I also like to see it if not too much trouble.

I'm actually interested in it more because of the low voltage warning and cutout than the constant delivered voltage to the lamp, though both are sweeeeet.

 

[js]

I can't get really detailed with the switch core mod, but I will be posting some pictures in my sales thread at some point tonight, including a picture of the LVR3K regulator.

Stingray,

Have you gotten the pack yet?