What happened to possibly ruined Arc LE run?

Title pretty much says it all. Couldn't find anyone that commented on it except Gransee earlier saying they were seeing if they could salvage them.

Originally posted by Gransee:
posted 08-15-2002 12:45 PM
Yes, they shipped out yesterday. And the dealers should have the product by Monday.

Peter Gransee

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">From this thread: Thread with info. on Arc LE's

Pat

Cool - I stopped reading that thread when it seemed like it was solely into marriage discussion.

Got my ship notification today for the LE. I'm happy!

haydoncandlepower, who did you order from?

One Stop Knife Shop.

They've been back ordered for some time. All of their shipment might be spoken for.

Hmm. Just checked, they're still advertising it on their web site so they might have 'em!

Got the Arc LE today. Looks very nice but you can tell it has a special "history" behind it. The reflector area does show that the drilling was a bit off. The reflector was scratched a bit. Probably happened in the refitting process.

Aside from those slight cosmetic defects the light is great. It is much brighter than my standard Arc AAA. I was wondering if I'd be able to tell a difference and was surprised at how big it really was.

If the brightness difference is that big, you must have a very old standard AAA. OR a low battery...

Yeah, let us know how old your standard Arc AAA is hadoncandlepower. I'd be interested to know why there is such a big difference. Maybe you got lucky with a freakishly bright version of the LE. If that's the case, I could put up with a few scratches.

I think my old Arc AAA is a bit under three months old. I'm pretty sure it's the version right before the roll crimp.

I stuck a new battery in the old Arc AAA to make sure it wasn't the battery. They were two different brands so just to be sure I think I'm going to take another battery from that pack and put it in the LE.

It seems there's big variation in brightness even among non-LE arc. I got a version 3.1 arc which is noticeably dimmer then the other version 3.0 arc I got. The brighter one measured 4.1ma with a solar cell while the other measured 3.3ma, both with fresh battery (actually I test with the same battery).

No question that there are variations in brightness - the LE's as much as the standards. If your standard is only three months old, it should be damn-near as bright as your LE. The new LE's are squeezing a bit more brightness out of the SB1 bulbs though due to more efficient electronics, and of course, newer LEDs. Still, I didn't think it would be that dramatic.

Quite a different experience last night. At first I put a new battery in both the old AAA and the LE. Same results, the LE blew away the old light.

A bit later I noticed the old light was flickering which was annoying. Even later I turned them both on again and they looked about the same brightness except the LE had a greenish tint to it while the old AAA was nice and white.

I think my old AAA is kicking into moon mode or flickering or something. Whatever it is it's not right. No wonder there was such a big difference.

Ah. Whip that foam retainer off the standard, and bang some notches into it. Sounds like you don't have a good ground on that one.

I think you've stumbled across what I found to be true as well: I actually like the beam tint of the SB2 better than the SB1. Everybody complains about the green tint in the LS, but they seem to want it in the LE. wacky.

Some notes on the roll crimp:

I've done mine like 50000000 times now. Be nice to the foam retainer and you can keep using it. Even if the adhesive doesn't stick, you can drop it in between the battery and head when you re-assemble and it contunies to function as it should. Put lots of notches into it, lots and lots and lots and you sould only have to do it once. Are you sure you are turning it on all the way? I rebuilt the solder on the positive contact area and now if I turn the head until it just bearly turns on, it flickers, but if I turn it just a little more (Like 1/16 a turn) it comes on and stays on.