65535
Flashlight Enthusiast
Well as promised neoseikan has sent me his 1x cr123 based cree die light.
Well my initial impression was quite good, the ligh twas small light weight and had a tail clicky. After loading in a lithium cell I found the clicky to be quite stiff. The one that had come installed on the light was very stiff due to what was later found to be the very thick rubber boot. So I tried the other switch and it had a much softer and with a slightly different boot but the UI was totally different. This second cap had an off-high-off-low-off setup, while the original had a off-high-low-off setup. I prefered the original setup but disliked the feel so I figure hey the reason I have this light is for testing, so I go at it and find that this is just the begining of unscrewing things every piece is screwed together I mean everything the LA is a screw in type that screws into the body the bezel and the tail cap. Look at pics for a more literal idea of what I'm saying. Well after putting the (imho) better UI switch in the softer boot I found it to be quite nice. A couple things I noticed about the beam.
The beam had a nice hotspot with a yellow corona and a good spill with a much wider ring around this whole thing (???) you really won't notice this as it's really far out there my pic is only about 3-6 inches from the wall. It is pretty much comparable to a U2 but smaller and with less selection and a slightly smaller beam, as for brightness it is very much the same as a U2 only it has a smaller beam.
The technicalities.
Using my trusty fluke meter I have found that the cell is being taxed at about 709mA and at about 2.8 Volts
Now after dissasembly and soldering I managed to get some current levels at high power which were as follows.
2.1V and 309mA which is only 1.28 watts. From 1.99 the circuit is running at about 64% efficiency. The light is plenty bright mind you but I think it could be brighter I will go out in search tomorrow to find some type of variable output device so I can give the unit more juice. Don't get me wrong it's plenty bright but if I can push 700mA out the LED I will be happy.
I also tested the bulb straight onto the battery and it only drew 30mA so someone teach me why this would happen this is leads soldered right on the star.
The reflector is highly reflective plastic, but I am discussing an aftermarket orange peel type metal reflector as an after market option, the window however is a nice glass window which I didn't even notice tell I took it out,
And yes the light was used well before taken apart. I do not own an occiliscope but I may be able to use one via my cousin who is at college for electrical engineering.
As for comparison I don't have my U2 as it is out for manufacturing defects.
The finish is a black anodization I scratched at it inside the bezel and found a little mark but that may be the metal off my little probing tool. It seemed to mostly rub off. I tryed diamond filing it with my surge and it did come off but that isn't really fair since diamond beats AO anodization. although very little was removed when comparaed to my mag mini so I am going to say if it isn't HA it is a very nice anodization.
Pracitacallity,
It is a nice small light a gread edc light, I think for size with it only being slightly larger than a bic lighter no body would feel it in their pocket personnaly I EDC a U2 in the same pocket as a leatherman surge and I am very happy with that, the tail cap thread are smooth and with dual O-rings it is very nice.
As for use I would say keep it in a car or EDC it its good and bright for everyday use and on high shoud run well over an hour, runtime tests will be done today with a fresh battery station cell.
here are teh pizzors.
Above was the way I liked it setup with soft boot and highlowoff UI
stock setup
Well my initial impression was quite good, the ligh twas small light weight and had a tail clicky. After loading in a lithium cell I found the clicky to be quite stiff. The one that had come installed on the light was very stiff due to what was later found to be the very thick rubber boot. So I tried the other switch and it had a much softer and with a slightly different boot but the UI was totally different. This second cap had an off-high-off-low-off setup, while the original had a off-high-low-off setup. I prefered the original setup but disliked the feel so I figure hey the reason I have this light is for testing, so I go at it and find that this is just the begining of unscrewing things every piece is screwed together I mean everything the LA is a screw in type that screws into the body the bezel and the tail cap. Look at pics for a more literal idea of what I'm saying. Well after putting the (imho) better UI switch in the softer boot I found it to be quite nice. A couple things I noticed about the beam.
The beam had a nice hotspot with a yellow corona and a good spill with a much wider ring around this whole thing (???) you really won't notice this as it's really far out there my pic is only about 3-6 inches from the wall. It is pretty much comparable to a U2 but smaller and with less selection and a slightly smaller beam, as for brightness it is very much the same as a U2 only it has a smaller beam.
The technicalities.
Using my trusty fluke meter I have found that the cell is being taxed at about 709mA and at about 2.8 Volts
Now after dissasembly and soldering I managed to get some current levels at high power which were as follows.
2.1V and 309mA which is only 1.28 watts. From 1.99 the circuit is running at about 64% efficiency. The light is plenty bright mind you but I think it could be brighter I will go out in search tomorrow to find some type of variable output device so I can give the unit more juice. Don't get me wrong it's plenty bright but if I can push 700mA out the LED I will be happy.
I also tested the bulb straight onto the battery and it only drew 30mA so someone teach me why this would happen this is leads soldered right on the star.
The reflector is highly reflective plastic, but I am discussing an aftermarket orange peel type metal reflector as an after market option, the window however is a nice glass window which I didn't even notice tell I took it out,
And yes the light was used well before taken apart. I do not own an occiliscope but I may be able to use one via my cousin who is at college for electrical engineering.
As for comparison I don't have my U2 as it is out for manufacturing defects.
The finish is a black anodization I scratched at it inside the bezel and found a little mark but that may be the metal off my little probing tool. It seemed to mostly rub off. I tryed diamond filing it with my surge and it did come off but that isn't really fair since diamond beats AO anodization. although very little was removed when comparaed to my mag mini so I am going to say if it isn't HA it is a very nice anodization.
Pracitacallity,
It is a nice small light a gread edc light, I think for size with it only being slightly larger than a bic lighter no body would feel it in their pocket personnaly I EDC a U2 in the same pocket as a leatherman surge and I am very happy with that, the tail cap thread are smooth and with dual O-rings it is very nice.
As for use I would say keep it in a car or EDC it its good and bright for everyday use and on high shoud run well over an hour, runtime tests will be done today with a fresh battery station cell.
here are teh pizzors.
Above was the way I liked it setup with soft boot and highlowoff UI
stock setup
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