B18W 1W Luxeon - HA III - is this worth buying?

B18W 1W Luxeon - HA III - is this worth buying? It runs on AA and has a clickie.

http://www.qualitychinagoods.com/luxeon-flashlight-b18w-p-444.html

I would like to hear from those who own it.

I'm assuming this a generic product, probably branded with Ultrafire or Luxogen. Its too new for anyone to have yet I think. Dae has only had it on the website for about a week.

Got mine last friday.
It's basically a UltraFire WF602A1 but with HAIII finish.
It's labeled Luxeon 1Watt B18-W.
Maschining looks good, surface is a little slippery, slight color missmatch between body and tailcap
Other than described on Dae's site, this light runs very well on AW14500 LiON cells.
Current draw from NiMH is 1,15A, from AW 14500 0,29A. Same brightness all over the runtime, dead flat regulated.

I don't recommend alkalines and NiMH's, cause the light does not fire up, if the battery voltage is 1,2V or lower.

No tint on mine. Very bright GID tailcap boot, compared to Jetbeam MKII boot.

As on all UF light's: some contact issue in the tailcap...

What's the runtime on alkalines and NiMH's?

Someone should figure out how to mod the circuit to run cells down to 0.9-1V
otherwise a lot of energy is wasted when using alkaline or NiMH cells.

Alkalines can be discharge down to 0,7V, NiMH down to 0,9-1V.

Anyway, i will do runtime test on NiMH tomorrow...

HiltiHome said:

Got mine last friday.
It's basically a UltraFire WF602A1 but with HAIII finish.
It's labeled Luxeon 1Watt B18-W.
Maschining looks good, surface is a little slippery, slight color missmatch between body and tailcap
Other than described on Dae's site, this light runs very well on AW14500 LiON cells.
Current draw from NiMH is 1,15A, from AW 14500 0,29A. Same brightness all over the runtime, dead flat regulated.

Click to expand...

Hilti,

Is this a mistake? 0,29A vs. 1,15A? That's less than 1/4 the current...

How does the beam compare to the JetBeam or the L1P? Also, when you say it does not fire up, do you mean it produces little to no light or that it's just not really bright? I'm trying to decide on a HAIII AA light and this one is in contention.

Vielen Dank,
Kevin

kevinm said:

Hilti,

Is this a mistake? 0,29A vs. 1,15A? That's less than 1/4 the current...

How does the beam compare to the JetBeam or the L1P? Also, when you say it does not fire up, do you mean it produces little to no light or that it's just not really bright?.....

Click to expand...

No mistake. This light has a buck/boost converter and runs with the same brightness on NimH and AW 14500 cells.

NiMH: 1,2Vx1,15A = 1,38Watt, LiON 14500: 3,9Vx0,29A = 1,131Watt

Power consumption is higher on NiMH due to less converter efficiency.

On NiMH it runs 1h45m and another 15min with dimming output. but thats only half the story...the light does not start if the battery is lower than 1,25V
no light output at all.

Brightness is the same as Fenix L2P, Jetbeam is way brighter (on 14500)

runtime on AW 14500 cells is 2:20 dead flat regulated

recommended batteries: AW 14500, Energizer Lithium, Sanyo Eneloop

A buck/boost; I've not seen one of those in a cheap light yet. All now makes sense. Thanks! 1hr45 is a bit short for my intended use. I was planning on doing a mod to to make it two stage, but now have to think through whether that will give me more runtime or not (simple resistor mod for the L1P).

Wait, is the L1P also a buck/boost? If so the mod will still work.

Bright as the L2P is plenty bright for me. Also, the Jet is too much money for us college guys.

Thanks for the help,
Kevin

Kevin,
Fenix L1P and L2P have only boost circuit.

Just conected a 10Ohm resistor between battery and body rim and yes, the light started dimmed.

But again: it doesn't start, if the battery is below 1,25V.

Sanyo Eneloop cells should work well in this light, because they have a higher voltage than common NiMH cells.

btw: two stage mods, with a resistor bypassing the switch, do not last very long.
When threads wear they make contact and the light stays on in low mode...

Hilti,

If the L1P has only a boost, then I can see why the resistor mod worked so well for that one. This one having a buck/boost makes me think that not only will the mod not last long (had not thought of that) but that the circuit will fight the drop in current and make the mod very ineffecient.

I wonder why it does not light below 1,25. The other version seems okay from what I have read. Maybe this one is supposed to be a high power version.

Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin.

If have myself sitting here:

UltraFire WF-602A; this one can't be run on AW14500, because of 2,8A current...it does not start with batteries below 1,2V

Luxeon 1 Watt B-18W

Ultrafire WF-602A1; this one is exactly the same as B-18W except the HAIII surface.

What is the other version?

Hmm. It seems either 1) the led has a high Vf, or 2) the circuit is constant current and thus won't fire with low voltage, over a voltage boost circuit.

My ultrafire 602a fires up great all the time, when its dim, low battery, no problem. Perhaps my model has a low Vf led, or it was a batch that had a different circuit than what they are using now??

Intersting that it doesn't overdrive the lux on a li-ion. That's good for the runtime folks.

Does the tailcap seem to use stronium based gitd stuff?

HiltiHome said:

Kevin.

If have myself sitting here:

UltraFire WF-602A; this one can't be run on AW14500, because of 2,8A current...it does not start with batteries below 1,2V

Luxeon 1 Watt B-18W

Ultrafire WF-602A1; this one is exactly the same as B-18W except the HAIII surface.

What is the other version?

Click to expand...

Hilti,

Thanks for the additional info. Maybe this is a new circuit for all the WF-602A1's, or maybe this is just poor quality control. My comment was based on what others have posted that have had their 602A1's for a little while.

Were all of these purchased recently? If so, that suggests a new design for the circuit.

My NiMH's begin with a voltage 1,34-1,4V, and I have some low Vf Luxeons here. I may get one and try it with a different emitter.

Many thanks,
Kevin

IsaacHayes,

Asfaik strontium based GID stuff is forbidden all over the world since many years...

Kevin,

I think swaping the emitter will not help to make the circuit start at low voltage.

The limitation with the minimal start voltage doesn't bother me too much,
because i will operate the light with AW14500 or Sanyo eneloop, as soon as i can pick up some.

HiltiHome said:

Kevin.

If have myself sitting here:

UltraFire WF-602A; this one can't be run on AW14500, because of 2,8A current...it does not start with batteries below 1,2V

Luxeon 1 Watt B-18W

Ultrafire WF-602A1; this one is exactly the same as B-18W except the HAIII surface.

What is the other version?

Click to expand...

Hi HiltiHome, just to confirm with u, so only Ultrafire WF-602A have problem starting when batt drops below 1.2V?
The other 2 version all working fine when batt goes below 1.2V?
Thinking of getting some of these lights.

flame2000,

All three lights need 1,25V or more to start...

A lot of these lights come "dry".

I always disassemble tailcap clickies, spray a bit of deoxit in the switch followed by a bit of caig plastic lube on the switch plunger. Clean all threads and contact points with deoxit, Lube rubber endcap sealing surfaces, threads and o-rings with automotive silicone dielectric grease. Straight-tip circlip pliers work well as spanners for unscrewing most of the switch and head units.

This greatly improves conductivity and contact reliability with all parts, and also prevents oxidizing, galling, stripping, cold-welding etc. of the fragile threads. Improves sealing, prevents o-ring damage and makes everything glide smoothly.

This has always fixed every ultrafire light I've bought including the wf-601A which came with a finicky tailcap.

It also fixed a 6W 2-stage WF-603A unregulated clone with a switch that would jam in the pressed position. ..Alas, I lent that light out and the lens was broken.