More than 180 Lumens at U2 size or smaller?

xiaowenzu

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Hi, I'm a newbie flashaholic and am considering purchasing Elektro-lumen's "My little Friend'.

It's a palm size light... consisting 3 lux III Leds, producing a total of 216 lumens for a runtime of 30 minutes. Also has a lower brightness mode runs for 2 hours. I think it's great for my need because it runs on 4 AAA batteries, which means I can use rechargaeble for fun and lithium when I want to store it away for emergency (no discharge), guilt-free lumens! :grin2:

Anyone know of a light similar to this? I want at least 200 Lumens and ability to use dimmer mode. Also the length, no longer than a surefire U2. Here's info on 'My little friend':

http://www.dansdata.com/littlefriend.htm
 
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larryk

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Re: Lights similar in size & brightness to 'My little Friend'?

Buy the My little Friend, you will not be disappointed.
 

xiaowenzu

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Re: Lights similar in size & brightness to 'My little Friend'?

Thanks guys! I was considering buying the little friend but now that I've seen the customlights (thanks long John), I'm just not sure anymore!

WOW! the Trilux Aleph3 wonderlight.. now thats what I'm talking about!!! Over 230 Lumens with a Surefire body & subperb throw.. it's the ultimate EDC light for me.. I'm not too worried about price $400 (well I do, just means I have to save up a bit longer eh?! ) It's the brightest light for a U2 sized light.

Now... with the 'little friend' my main concern is the lack of throw and waterproofness of the body. The Trilux Aleph3 wonderlight is a HA-III man!! and it doesn't have these problems of little friend. Although the Little friend is only $110. hmm.. I guess I'll save up for a custom light! :)

ps. Problem is.. I don't have the right 'connections' to get someone to make this light. :( hmm..but I would consider paying a grand to buy it off someone! hehe :)
 

Long John

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Re: Lights similar in size & brightness to 'My little Friend'?

Another possibility could be the Barbolight U-15. Take a look for size comparison:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1446661&postcount=63

More informations here:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/129037

It's a well build HAIII, dive rated (200m) light with 4 Leds. So it's a little larger but also much brighter.

About the connections: You could send the member "Icarus" a PM and ask him for a solution, or you could take a look to "Milkyspit"'s M180 projects. Multiple Led-lights based on SF.

All of them are great lights:).

I wish you good luck and best regards

_____
Tom
 

Trashman

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Re: Lights similar in size & brightness to 'My little Friend'?

I think Icarus might build you one if you can supply him with the Aleph III head.
 

xiaowenzu

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Re: Lights similar in size & brightness to 'My little Friend'?

Long John said:
Another possibility could be the Barbolight U-15.
Thanks for the info, man that's a bright little sucker! :drool: Unfortunately the size is a 'bit' too large to offset the brightness (although 300lu is VERY tempting!:laughing: ) coz I want to carry it in my pocket. A U2 size or less is perfect for me and I'll settle for anything over 180 lumens. Cool, I'll do some more research on multiple led lights based on surefire bodies before I contact people in the know. :grin2:
 

paulr

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Re: Lights more than 180 Lumens but smaller than U2 sized?

The Little Friend is a direct drive light and is scary enough on rechargeables. Using lithiums might burn the leds out pretty quickly, could cause the cells to catch fire, etc. If you're concerned about self-discharge, use Eneloop rechargeables, or Amondotech Enduros (may have less high-current capacity). Those won't perform in cold weather as well as lithiums though. If you do use lithiums, stay with the low setting, which will still be pretty bright, and be a bit careful even in low mode, i.e. figure out if the power dissipation in the resistor is tolerable. The light was really designed for rechargeables though so you should stick with them.

Other than that, if you want a 200 lumen pocket light, I think you have to stick with an incan, maybe a TL3 with a Carley 1499(?) bulb, or the classic Surefire 9P with a P91. These are both pocketable; the TL3 head is maybe on the large side for pocket carry but it does give more throw. Moving up in the world, Fivemega did some interesting hotwire mods for the Streamlight Stinger.

Generally, lights this powerful justify rechargeables on an economy basis unless they're for very infrequent use.
 

xiaowenzu

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Re: Lights more than 180 Lumens but smaller than U2 sized?

paulr said:
Other than that, if you want a 200 lumen pocket light, I think you have to stick with an incan, maybe a TL3 with a Carley 1499(?) bulb, or the classic Surefire 9P with a P91.
Man, thanks for the info, but am no way going back to incan! :dedhorse: Lol They're just way too fragile. But yea, I agree with you on using rechargables for 'little friend'. I think I'll put in Lithium when I want to store in away for emergency use, but for playing around... I'll use rechargables - guilt free lumens! I don't think we have those brands here... the best brands of Nimh is Varta, iMO. :)
 

paulr

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Re: Lights more than 180 Lumens but U2 size or smaller?

I was maybe not being clear enough. If you use lithiums in the LF on "high" for even 1 minute, you may destroy the leds and you may also set the cells on fire complete with poisonous fumes. That may be worse than whatever emergency you're trying to solve with the light. I wouldn't put lithiums in the light at all, and especially wouldn't put them in unless there's a way to LOCK the brightness setting on LOW so that it can't be set to high by accident without taking the light apart.

Frankly I'd worry about the LED life even with rechargeables. I didn't follow the discussion thread when the LF was being developed, so I don't know what Wayne has done about matching the leds and so forth. It seems to me that they are likely overdriven, and maybe inadequately heat sinked, so the 50,000 hour number is fantasy. The only other monster multi-Luxeon light I remember (it ran at 500 lumens using three W-bin 5 watters each on its own BB750) used a Pentium-type cooling fan to get rid of the heat.
 
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xiaowenzu

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Re: Lights more than 180 Lumens but U2 size or smaller?

paulr said:
I was maybe not being clear enough. If you use lithiums in the LF on "high" for even 1 minute, you may destroy the leds and you may also set the cells on fire complete with poisonous fumes.
I wouldn't want to do that! :lolsign: umm.. but as I research on the net, I got some conflicting reports about using Lithium in LF. At Dansdata he it's okay:

"The Little Friend will even work fine if you put alkalines or lithium AAAs in it; their nominal voltage is too high for the LEDs, but the LEDs want so much current that they'll yank the terminal voltage of non-rechargeable cells down lower than that of NiMH or NiCd cells, giving you less light, and torturing the batteries, but not damaging the lamp at all."

I hope I can use lithium, coz otherwise I won't get it at all, coz I don't like discharging lights when I need it in an emergency.
 

xiaowenzu

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Re: Lights more than 180 Lumens but U2 size or smaller?

paulr said:
Try these: http://www.amondotech.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1132

By the way, there are some LF threads here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=36

That would be the right place to look for or ask about lithiums in the LF.
Thanks man, I heard about those Titanium batteries before, and apparently they're pretty good. 1-2% per month discharge is amazing! I hope that's true though. lol:laughing:
 

paulr

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Re: Lights more than 180 Lumens but U2 size or smaller?

The more I think about it, the more I'd want to ditch the low mode on this light. The off-low-off-high switching pattern just seems ridiculous, an artifact of whatever weird switch Wayne was able to get. The only 2-level interface that I really like is the Surefire A2/McLux PD method, or (next best) the 2-level twisty method when implemented well. With the LF, the interface is so annoying that I'd probably replace that resistor with a wire and just have a 1-level light.
 

xiaowenzu

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Re: Lights more than 180 Lumens but U2 size or smaller?

Yea man, I agree. The switching doesn't make too much sense. From my limited experience, I reckon the Freedom has the best method of changing modes. Press once for High. For low, press and hold. That way you get always get High light in an instant. Even, U2's way of changing is nice too.

paulr said:
The more I think about it, the more I'd want to ditch the low mode on this light. The off-low-off-high switching pattern just seems ridiculous, an artifact of whatever weird switch Wayne was able to get.
 

chesterqw

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Re: Lights more than 180 Lumens but U2 size or smaller?

hmm...something of that size, driving a good bin R/O luxIII at 100ma. to 1500ma
 
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