Ultrafire 500

Some of you might recognize me, as I've been posting elsewhere with this nick. Anyway I don't know what to really say by way of introduction.

I just wanted to mention the Ultrafire 500 which is popping up on ebay. I immediately recognised that this was a variation on the G&P Scorpion, and having read so many bad experiences here with that light (and some good ones) I hoped the Ultrafire version might be different. For a start, it doesn't have the inbuilt charger or the cruddy battery package which seemed to be responsible for some of the Scorpion problems.. I talked a dealer down to what he said was a wholesale price (about $40 with batteries and charger. It probably isn't 'wholesale', but it's still considerably cheaper than usual).

Unfortunately it appears to suffer from similar problems to many of the Scorpions. I popped the two 18500s in, and.... nothing. Checked the bulb, checked EVERYTHING, pulled the tailcap spring out a little in case that wasn't making contact, put the batteries in the charger and let them charge to full, let them rest for 90 minutes and tried again. This time I got a feeble glow for about 5 seconds, and that was it. Since since, zip.

Which leads me to wonder whether anything flashlight-related with 'Ultrafire' written on it actually works at all. I bought a bunch of cheap CR123A's (3.6 and 3.0 volts) and they were such utter junk I literally threw them in the trash. The charger whih came with them only worked on one side (well, only one led worked anyway).

My advice, steer clear of this one. If my experience is anything to go by, it's just as liable to be a waste of money as the Scorpion 500.

Braka

I have one and it works perfectly and is quite well built.

I'm looking at getting one from Lighthound. Only $50. I have a G&P Scorpion and have had no problems. I haven not found many reviews on this Ultrafire yet so I have not bought yet. I do have tons of LED and incadescents Ultrafires and have only had a problem with one. I also use their unprotected 14500's all the time for my Jetbeam.

Joe

I thought G&P Scorpion has a pretty good reputation along with bang for the buck status. I have only heard a couple issue with it, no?

There are two running threads on this light and I am waiting to see about the reports. I have one coming mostly to see if I can cannibalize some parts for other mods.
I know one fellow who put in essentially a KIU socket and is running a WA 1111; he should be seeing 880B/572T Lumens. He has done some other things with them and is quite satisfied with the expriments. I know he will see this so I hope he takes my hint: Please post, the pictures were great!
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/145586
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/146636

LowTEC said:

I thought G&P Scorpion has a pretty good reputation along with bang for the buck status. I have only heard a couple issue with it, no?

Click to expand...

I remember reading reviews of the Scorpion here on CPF when they first started popping up. My recollection is that they were roughly evenly divided between people who got incredible performance out of the things and were thrilled to bits, and people who had bulbs instaflashing or simply not working, or the light just ceasing to work for no reason after a few days. In any case the consensus seemed to be that it was a crapshoot. Just search the archives. I'm pretty sure I'm recalling correctly.

People seemed to think the problems were down to main things: either the cobbled together battery pack not working properly in combination with the inbuilt charger, or the lamp simply being too heavily overdriven. That's why I was hoping the Ultrafire version might have a better success probability, since it eliminated one of those problems.

I agree the thing seems reasonabkly well built, but that's not much comfort when it doesn't work.

Braka

I'm on my second bulb on my G&P R500 and so far its lasted 2x the old one. I think my mistake last time was charging it up every day to the most out of it. The "wow" factor of all that light got me. This time I've only been charging it when its getting dim and am having a great run out of it. Anodising seems to be holding up well, charger is working fine and it's still a great beam. Gets used every day almost as my dog walking and hunting light. Fits nicely into a Blackhawk pop flare pouch. Anyone in Oz, I bought a SORD pop flare pouch for it but that was way too big, stick to the Blackhawk brand.

Thanks for the nudge NorthernLights - I have been following all the threads on this light and it seems that people are generally not impressed, with one or two exceptions, so thought I'd throw in my 2c. Having said that I'm new to incan lights really (and modding) having previously picked up a few SF LED's and been pretty happy with them (KL1, U2 etc). I began reading more incan threads and eventually found the Ultrafire WR500 which looked on paper at least to be an interesting light, cheapish and with a reasonable output. Purchased from 'nothingtobid' aka Kelvin on ebay with batteries and the excellent UF 139 charger, and also 2 spare lamps. Delivery to UK was very quick.

The quality of the build is excellent considering the price. I did post pics of the parts here - https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/146636

Then I got to start thinking about modding it, mainly because I didn't need a reflector, lens or batteries. So keeping the 2 x 18650 it seemed that the informed bulb choice was WA1111. Spent a little time trying to figure the best way to do that, and eventually worked this out!

Meanwhile I was so impressed with the light that I ordered a second one from Kelvin. I'd been wondering what batteries would fit in the torch without the (supplied) tube extender, and 3 x 123 will go with an additional 1mm spacer to reposition things.

[font='Calibri','sans-serif']Here are some pics I took and I hope they are self explanatory. The tricky bit for me on the mod was wiring the ceramic holder as I had to shorten the +ve wire so it goes through a hole in the centre of the brass button contact, but it has to stop there! But having done it, it is a secure and strong assembly, and could easily be replicated. The holder is a domestic 12v 50w low voltage light holder with silicon cables already attached - the same as Kiu uses I think. The bulb position in the reflector without shims etc is perfect, and there are no holes or bad artefacts in the beam.[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif'] both lights together[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']positive components (standard parts on right)[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']holder and WA1111 close up[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']bi pin in situ[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']headshot[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']bulb position is great![/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']I don't know whether I could get more lumens out of this setup with a different lamp. Having said that I went out last night to try and gauge the lumens, and I can strongly illuminate a shed at 100 yards with the 1111 – I might try my hand at some beamshots![/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']3 x 18650 doesn't work with 2 extenders – see pic – but probably would with 3, but then it's a broomhandle. There probably is room to move the +ve contact down to make space for a charging jack – but that's a bit beyond me at the moment.[/font]

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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']The 'shorty' is a great little light. I believe the standard bulb is 7.2v, and clearly it will take 9v. I destroyed one bulb trying rechargeables though, so 11v is a bit too much![/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']shorty set up[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']note position of +ve with spacer fitted below[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']So I now have 2 great WF500's! I think it is a great light, nicely made with quality components and tight tolerances. I had great service from Kelvin in HK - 7 days to UK is fine.[/font]
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[font='Calibri','sans-serif']The output and beam quality from the 1111 assembly is really very good. I compared it to my SF M6, which is running 6 x rechargeables and WA1185, and there's not a huge difference (certainly not $300 worth of difference!). [/font]
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that's an AWSOM mod there plas!! nice work...

I've already ordered 2 18650s from AW (the NEWest NEW protected) with the intension of either modding a 2c mag, or just buying a light like this ultrafire.... I think I'm going to give the ultrafire a chance- I have some of their other lights here, and haven't had any major problems, everything I had problems with so far has been simple contact issues, a spring adjustment or magnet has always done the trick.. I think I'll wait for the protected C size li-ions from AW for modding a 2C maglight.

In case y'all don't already know.. Dae sells replacement bulbs for the WF500 for about $10 each on his site qualitychinagoods.com ... so even if the bulbs do burn out fast, they can be replaced for a very reasonable price (competitive with other superbulbs and tactical lamp assemblies).

Great mod John, one I sure many other members will duplicate.
Norm

Very nice mod!

I just ordered one... Going to buy a socket and some bulbs

Sverre

Braka said:

Unfortunately it appears to suffer from similar problems to many of the Scorpions. I popped the two 18500s in, and.... nothing. Checked the bulb, checked EVERYTHING, pulled the tailcap spring out a little in case that wasn't making contact, put the batteries in the charger and let them charge to full, let them rest for 90 minutes and tried again. This time I got a feeble glow for about 5 seconds, and that was it. Since since, zip.

Braka

Click to expand...

Did you remember that two 18XXX cells end to end will usually not complete the circuit? You need a little magnet, available from Lighthound, to make the connection.

Awesome mod, plasmaman! Where did you get that socket?

cmaylodm said:

Awesome mod, plasmaman! Where did you get that socket?

Click to expand...

They do sell the same ceramic socket/bulb holder in quite a few stores that carry lamps and some hardware-stores. It fits bulbs with G4, GX 5.3 and GY 6.35 sockets. WA 1111 is G4 I belive...

I received mine last week.

I'll start by saying I own more than a dozen superfire/ultrafire lights. I've had trouble with just two of their lights. One was a 10450-powered 602C with a smoked driver board, the other one was this WF-500 xenon.

The problem in my case turned out to be that the positive contact is a brass slug threaded into a plastic holder.

After a few twists of the switch, the rotating batteries were able to screw this slug in until it was recessed in the holder, and would no longer make contact with my flat-faced 18650's.

To fix it I turned the slug out slightly then locked the threads with a drop of CA.

Often these lights demonstrate good overall design and good machining and finish, and yet contain a design flaw or a QA problem which (usually) can be cured by a little tinkering.

For most of us hobbyists this is not a problem as we take everything apart the moment we get it and perform "unnecessary maintenance", but it's definitely something to keep in mind when considering these chinese lights if you tend to trust reliability to the hands of others. Still a good value for most people, but you get what you pay for (in relative terms) applies here.

the g&p scorpion isnt a cheapo type light, it is a high quality light... smooth threads, nice machining, op reflector, very reliable bulb (in my experience), and good runtime... and i love the internal charging port.... worth every penny.

and you said it is bad? do you own one?

Lightfantastic said:

Did you remember that two 18XXX cells end to end will usually not complete the circuit? You need a little magnet, available from Lighthound, to make the connection.

Click to expand...

There's a thread or post somewhere about using magnets like this. Someone had a magnet slip sideways, got a short in a battery and it blew. Nobody injured, but not nice. I'm not sure where that thread is but I think it's fairly recent.

If using magnets.... just make sure you are using good quality PROTECTED cells.... if a short occurs, the protection circuitry should keep the cell kicked off and prevent catastrophic failure. AWs cells are some of the best quality cells available and can power up these high power incans, highly recommended.

Exactly how long are AW's latest protected 18650s? They're longer than his earlier model, but are they as long as LG's (67mm) or Wolf Eyes and Pila (68mm)? Perhaps the latter two brands are the way to go.

I just got mine and it is very bright and very white.

It is a bit floody, and throw might not be too impressive. They beam is very smooth and without artefacts.

The build quality seems good and there are double o-rings in the right places.

It is running on 2 unprotected Panasonic 2200 mAh 18650s. It will not light up on the older protected 18500s that I use in my WE 9DX.