River Rock Combination

lightcacher

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I know that this light didn't exactly get rave reviews but I picked up a couple of them the other day and I really like them. True, the incan isn't too impressive but the three LCD's put out a nice, wide flood beam. I'd have to say that this is one of the most comfortable lights to hold that I've owned so far. At $7.88 each, they are a real bargin.
 

RebelXTNC

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Are you going to replace the incandescent bulb with something brighter? There have been some threads related to that.
 

lightcacher

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So far, I haven't modded anything except an "AA" Maglite so I'm not really sure what would work. It would be nice to have something with a good throw to go along with the nice flood the LED's put out.
 

Omega Man

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the beast says he put a 3C Twin Task bulb in it. I picked one of these combos up Sunday, in the hopes of doing the same thing, and selling my TT2L to a friend, since I don't want to have so many cr123 lights hanging around. I'm wondering if any other bulbs would be suitable as a replacement for the xenon, as well.
 

ecnica

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I put the bulb from my Streamlight 1L TwinTask and it sure make a difference. Now to see if I can find replacement bulbs locally.
 

Omega Man

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How much difference, ecnica? And chance you could get pictures of the 2 beams? Pretty please??
 

the_beast

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I have the 3C TwinTask bulb (rated at 3.6v, 0.9A) in my combo and it does make it a reasonably useful light. I still almost exclusively use the LEDs though, but the incan does throw further. It is very yellow though (I don't think the AAA NiMHs can handle the current). The beam isn't very pretty (mainly due to the LEDs in the reflector). The reflector is facetted though which helps, and it gives a reasonable hotspot (which is focusable but not very tightly). I think overdriving the TT 1L beam might be better if you intend to run it with AAAs still as it might give you a nicer, whiter light. It might reduce the bulb life though (I'm not sure of the 1L rating, it'll probably be a 2.4v bulb).

When I next order batteries from AW I'm going to get a couple of protected 18500s to run the light in place of the 3AAA holder. They might fit ok in there with just a little rattle, or I might need a small sleeve. It should run for a bit longer though and when the Li-Ion is fresh it should put a nice 4v through the bulb for some whiter light.

I'd post a beamshot but I no longer have the original bulb so it wouldn't do much good. At $8 you can't really go wrong though - the LEDs alone are worth the price as they are nice, bright and white and the flashlight itself is well built. As you're running on AAAs you might even be able to try a MiniMag bulb in there as I reckon most of us have at least a few of those knocking round. Dunno if it would take it though, as they aren't too longlasting when run off 2 AAs.
 

Omega Man

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Anything to clean that incan beam up, really. It looks like poo. I tested the RR against my TT2L, and the LED setting looks exactly the same to me, but the 2L's bulb looked better. So an easy fix for the bulb is what I'm after. I'll try a mm bulb now, for kicks.

EDIT: Well that wasn't pretty... started to smell after a few seconds on, too. Now the mm bulb has a black-head.
The 2L's bulb has a brighter and more smooth flood, brighter hotspt.
Say, what are the 3 other open holes in the RR for? There's 2 holes down in each hole...are those for LEDs?? I never noticed them before...
 
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Spin

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Unscrew the head of this light & remove the reflector. You will notice 3 empty led sockets. Drill 3 holes in the reflector to accomodate 3 more leds. (I haven't tried this mod yet)
 

the_beast

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I wouldn't think the LED mod would be worth the hassle. There might not be the necessary resistors in there etc to allow a straight drop in of leds, so you'd have to open the whole head up to get to the board to add them (it looks like you can't get to the board without desoldering the 3 original leds). So it will be a lolt of work, and the possibility of wrecking the reflector is quite high - it's not easy to drill holes in an angled surface.

The main reason not to do the mod is the fact that there's no point though - the current LEDs are more than bright enough. Unless you can get some decent light out of the main beam (be it a new incan or a Lux mod) then making the LEDs better is silly. You might as well just use a LED only light.

I think using a Lux in there isn't going to be easy either. If you run it only on NiMHs and get the right bin you'd be ok just direct driving for reasonable constant brightness, but you would really want some kind of regulator (or at least a resistor) in there if running on alkalines or Li-ions.

The red lux is a nice idea though, but I don't know of anybody who is selling specific bin red luxs, and as they have a lower vf than the whites you'd definately need something to regulate the current. A fully driven lux would also put out way too much red light to preserve night vision.
 

ecnica

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it is 2 to 3 times brighter than the stock bulb, I kind of dropped my digital camera so can't get pics at this time, sorry.

Omega Man said:
How much difference, ecnica? And chance you could get pictures of the 2 beams? Pretty please??
 

Omega Man

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I think replacing the LEDs with red ones, then upgrading the bulb would make this worth the purchase. So far it can't stand up to the TT2L. I guess I'll try a 1L bulb first.
 

the_beast

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I think the LEDs in this flashlight are better than the TT2L LEDs. The only problem is the incan, and when the lamp is replaced with the TT3C lamp I think it will rival the 2L (as the TT3C is brighter than the 2L).

All in all not bad for an $8 light that runs on AAAs (or Li-ions if you want to get fancy).
 

InfidelCastro

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the_beast said:
I think the LEDs in this flashlight are better than the TT2L LEDs. The only problem is the incan, and when the lamp is replaced with the TT3C lamp I think it will rival the 2L (as the TT3C is brighter than the 2L).

All in all not bad for an $8 light that runs on AAAs (or Li-ions if you want to get fancy).


I would think so, since they're Nichias. They should be brighter. Might have more of a blue tint to them though.
 

the_beast

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They are a little blue, but not really bad. As there are 3 of them you don't get the rings of green etc that is often common with 5mm leds.

My post was more as a comment to Omega Man who suggested replacing the LEDs to make it more useful when compared to the TT2L. I don't own a 2L but I believe my 3C lamp-equipped RR combo is cheaper and brighter than the 2L, and I get to avoid expensive lithiums. I think the size of the 2 are also comparable.
 

Omega Man

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I wasn't really talking about replacing the leds to make it comparable to a 2L, I was just thinking aloud that having red leds in it would be neat.:whistle:
My RR leds look the same as the 2L, when using both side by side. The bulb is the only problem, if you want to call it that.
I just have to decide on whether to get a 1L or 2C bulb to replace the RR stock one.
 

the_beast

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Does anyone know the lamp specs for the 1L? I know the 3C is brighter and rated at 3.6v/0.9A. Decent AAA NiMHs should be able to put this out so it will run at spec. for up to an hour. It is yellow though. The 3AAA bulb will also run at spec (3.6v/0.6A) for longer but less output. If the 1L is slightly overdriven it will be whiter but still maybe less bright. Depends what you want really. Maybe someone who has both TwinTasks would swap them and take shots? My flashlight collection is limited (I don't even have a Mag I could compare the 3C lamp with) so any shots I could post wouldn't be much use.

With either bulb in it it'll make a great multi-use backup light for the money. It's such a shame the stock lamp is so awful. For a dollar or two more they could have put a better lamp in it and it would have been my ultimate hybrid (the A2 is way out of my budget, and the RR has better LEDs anyway; it's very similar to the TwinTasks, but 1/3 the price).
 

the_beast

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You've got me thinking more about the red leds though. I wish I'd bought 2 of these when they were on sale.

I think replacing the stock leds might be too big of a job to make it worthwhile (as I said above), but as the stock lamp is the weak link you could maybe replace that with a cluster of 4 5mm red leds. It would probably be perfect brightness to preserve night vision, the large reflector would help it throw somewhat, and if you put the leds in a 2x2 series/parallel config you wouldn't need to use a regulator or resitor (it would give each LED about 1.8v on NiMHs and slightly more on alkalines which should be enough for most red leds).

I might try and make myself a replacement red led bulb to use in my light anyhow. Just something cheap and simple with 4 leds, some superglue and a little solder. It would probably fit in the tailcap for storage too as I think there was a reasonable amount of space in there.
 
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