Why are Nite Ize Upgrade LED bulbs work?

[spincircles]

Hello,

I've been trying to get nite ize LED upgrade bulbs to work in my vintage Ray o Vac and Eveready flashlights from the 1930-1960 era. These are mostly brass, steel, or copper body flashlights with chrome or nickel plate.

Question: Why do the Nite Ize Upgrade LED bulbs(see link below) for C & D Cell batteries always seem to "burn out"when I use them in these old flashlights?

http://www.niteize.com/collections/flashlights/products/led-upgrade-kit-cd-cell

These bulbs work in my modern C/D flashlights, but will not light up in my vintage lights, then never work again after I have tried them in those vintage lights.

After they fail in a vintage lights , these bulbs will only flicker on for a split second when switing on & off, in any flashlight I try them on.

I really want to get a long-duration bulb to work in these vintage flashights!

Thanks in advance,
Pat Smith

 

[Burgess]

Wrong polarity, perhaps ?


Have you check this with a multi-meter ?


:whistle:
_

 

[eyeeatingfish]

Try calling nite ize, I have found their phone staff to be helpfull. Maybe ask to speak to someone in the engineering section as they might know better about the voltage stuff etc.

If it is the same amount of batteries at the same voltage then there must be something either wrong with the nite ize product or something different about older style flashlights. The reverse polarity thing might be the answer.

 

[gcbryan]

Hello,

I've been trying to get nite ize LED upgrade bulbs to work in my vintage Ray o Vac and Eveready flashlights from the 1930-1960 era. These are mostly brass, steel, or copper body flashlights with chrome or nickel plate.

Question: Why do the Nite Ize Upgrade LED bulbs(see link below) for C & D Cell batteries always seem to "burn out"when I use them in these old flashlights?

http://www.niteize.com/collections/flashlights/products/led-upgrade-kit-cd-cell

These bulbs work in my modern C/D flashlights, but will not light up in my vintage lights, then never work again after I have tried them in those vintage lights.

After they fail in a vintage lights , these bulbs will only flicker on for a split second when switching on & off, in any flashlight I try them on.

I really want to get a long-duration bulb to work in these vintage flashlights!

Thanks in advance,
Pat Smith

Is there anything different to your knowledge about vintage flashlights? You also might get a few more responses if you correct the thread title...I think you meant "Why don't Nite Ize Upgrade LED bulbs work?".

 

[Light Sabre]

If the flashlights you listed are the 6V lantern batteries, they have the polarity reversed compared to other flashlights. Light bulbs don't care what polarity a battery(ies) is(are), but LED's do. 6v volts reverse polarity on a Nite-Ize LED will kill it. Did it myself once or twice becasue I wasn't paying attention. I have three 4AA lanterns, all 3 in same package, 2 are reverse polarity, once is correct. You have to check each lantern (or flashlight) individually with a voltmeter or ohmmeter.

 

[purelite]

Is there no way to fix this reverse polarity issue in a light ? I have an old german military light and tried to upgrade that with a Rayovac? dropin and it dimly lights for a fraction of a second and goes out. The dropin still works in a Mag light though .

 

[NanooGeek]

Just in case anyone tries to follow the link in the 1st post, it no longer works. Use http://www.niteize.com/collection/flashlight-accessories.asp, then "LED Upgrade Kit For Most C or D Cell Flashlights".

 

[Hondo]

Sure does sound like reversed polarity. With the bulb out and batteries in, if you have a volt meter, measure voltage from the bottom of the socket (red) to the side of the socket (black). If it is a negative value, you have a reverse polarity light. If you don't have a meter, just track the connection from the top of the first battery (positive) and see if it is connecting to the center of the bulb socket (normal) or the side (reverse).

They do make reverse polarity bulbs, but mostly for the 6V lanterns, so they need four cells to work, unless they are designed for a broader range of voltages. The simpler approach might be doing what you can to allow the batteries to make contact when inserted in the opposite direction, that will flip your polarity. Just have to remember that every time you change batteries.

EDIT: Ha! Total necro-thread, missed that.