ARC AA (double A) revisited

A while back, there was some discussion about the acceptance of an ARC AA (that product has never existed). I was one of the people who were not interested in one, but now that I have my CMG Infinity Ultra, I really like it, but almost feel like I am "cheating" on my ARC!

So, do you think there would be enough people interested in an ARC AA, for Peter and company to make a special run, "LE" Arc AA?

Maybe the electronics could be tweaked to favor Lithium batteries?

Maybe Peter could take "pre-orders", and if the necessary minimum quantity is not reached, people get their money back, or just not charge cards until the mininum order was reached.

Why an "AA"?

Well, it is a little too big to be considered a keychain size (for most of us anyway), so why would someone want one of these?

Longer run times

Ability to use Lithium batteries (brighter, longer running, and lighter than alkaline.

while still small, a little "more meat" to hold. I almost lost my AAA 3 times when traveling.

So, the two questions are:

1. Would ARC make a "LE" AA version if there were enough people that would purchase one (or 2!)

2. Are there enough customers that would purchase one (or several?)

Strictly speaking, there is an ARC AA: the Arc LS with the AA battery pack. There is nothing that can touch its performance, but that's not going to be good enough to keep it from being discontinued. And before the Arc LS there was the Arc-5 concept. I keep wondering if there were any Arc-5 prototypes actually built. If there are any Arc-5s, they might do well in a fund raising event.

BTY, if the price was under 40$, I would buy 3 or 4!

And I am not suggesting that this would be a permanant product, just a special run.

Heck, now that I think about it, I would probably buy like 6-10, depending on the price, so that I could sell a couple to new CPF users that join later on, and want something that they can't have!

Originally posted by Termac:
Strictly speaking, there is an ARC AA: the Arc LS with the AA battery pack. There is nothing that can touch its performance

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">AAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

I hate it when that happens! I already have one of those, and I forgot all about it!

How could I forget that I already had one of those!!!

But I think the run time is lower, for a 1 AA LS, vs a 1 AA Nichia based light.

Well, after the LS3 is out maybe PG will consider something. As much as I like the idea of the Arcfinity, the body is more than half of what makes the light, well, an Arc. I love that deep knurling and HA finish with the laser etching et. all, so to restate what I just said (Sorry--first day of school, brain is a little fried) maybe Peter would make a Arc AA but probably not until the LS3 is out and up on it's feet.

Yeah, we keep coming back to the AA LS. Yes, it is probably the brightest single AA light in existence. Yes, it is a bummer that it is being discontinued.

But I'm not talking about a $120 light with a couple (few?) hours or runtime. I'm talking about a $20 light with 25 hours of runtime. There is no comparison in cost or runtime (or, in a backwards fashion, light output, of course). I'm happy to have the AA pack with my LS, but I can envision many more purchasers of a $20 light that serves really well in 80% of lighting tasks. I'm certainly one of them. I wouldn't buy the LS if it only came with the AA pack, but I'd buy a bunch of the single 5mm LED AA lights. I'd buy even more if that single AA light had three 3mm LED's and a dimmer... but that's another story.

my .02

My Arc LS running on an AA goes about the same number of hours as an Arc AAA, only lots more light.

Just to be clear, the Arc-5 was a new product idea of PGs, which was widely discussed here over a year ago. The 5 stood for 5 LEDs. The idea to produce a serialized first run and multiple battery packs was first set forth regarding the Arc-5. I checked and at least some of the old threads are still available on CPF, but in other places such as the Manufacturers Forum. Ah, the good old days...

It's all about tradeoffs mind you...3 5mm LEDs are great, but only if the head is no bigger than the battery that's fine for the LS but one of the reasons the Mag Solitare was and is so popular is the fact that the head is the same size as the battery tube. Also one of the things I like so much about my Arc...

I personally would take 3 3mm LEDs before I'd take 3 5mm LEDs in a light with an ego (big head)

But looking at it I think it could be done, just saying...

Looking at the size of the Opalec I'd say you could fit 3 5mm LED's in an infinity size package. On one AA that would give a 4-5 hr burn time.

I don't see the need for a Arc AA with a single LED now that the Ultra is out (too much compition) but a 3 LED single AA would be sooo sweet!

Originally posted by Saaby:

I personally would take 3 3mm LEDs before I'd take 3 5mm LEDs in a light with an ego (big head)

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Absofreakinlootly. Isn't that what I said? .... checking... yup, three 3mm is what I said. Three 5mm may very well fit, but there is simply no reason for using them. Three 312's would make a superior light in every way, in my opinion.

Originally posted by cave dave:
I don't see the need for a Arc AA with a single LED now that the Ultra is out (too much compition) but a 3 LED single AA would be sooo sweet!

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Agreed. It would be a waste of resources for Arc to duplicated CMG's effort. I would expect and hope Arc would come out with something that would blow the CMG away (like a 3-LED AA with dimmer!) but I also know this is pretty low on the Arc priority list right now.

Let's just get someone to cram an Opalec into an Infinity!

Originally posted by BuddTX:
acceptance of an ARC AA (that product has never existed).

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Is this the kind of add-on that Silviron should be making for us? Peter is at the place where his long warranty promises could come back to haunt him with a short run gadget like this. Silviron could unashamedly make a few with no warranty whatsoever and the bold statement that it'll ruin the basic ARC warranty even to try it out. (That would be the truth.)

What do you say, Silviron?

Budd -

I just *knew* you'd come around. You know that I'd buy some. But realistically, this just isn't gonna happen from Arc anytime soon. The best solution is to simply buy the CMG at this point.

Originally posted by Marc Veeneman:
Is this the kind of add-on that Silviron should be making for us?
What do you say, Silviron?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Actually I have been working on one, but so far my "manufacturing process" is defective: Three tries and every time I ripped it apart when I was threading it. Next time I'll thread the endcap first, THEN weld it. That should work... then I'll need to find a cheap source for a quantity of the donor tube (I'm using a cheapie 2AA Mini-Mag clone, but only found one so far; It was three bucks at a Radio Shack in a little "podunk" town I was passing through, but they only had the one, and it isn't listed on their website or in their commercial catalog)...

With this dang re-piping (and now re-decorating) job at the house it is probably going to be at least 10 days before I can get back to doing any serious puttering in the workshop

Actually, Doug Speck should be doing them, he could turn out a pretty good one from solid stock, rather than trying to assemble it like I have to.

CNC Dan could probably do a great one, and turn them out fast and cheap if his lathe had the capacity for longer stock.

If I can do a good job on my attempt at these and they aren't too much trouble, I'd like to be able to offer them at under $20.00 each, and preferably at $15.00- Don't know if that is possible, even if I cut my labor cost from $5.00 an hour to $2.50 an hour ...

How about a 3-LED, AA-Powered, Variable output ARC AA ???

3 of the 3mm LED's can fit in a head diameter the size of the Arc AAA. In a head the diameter required to match a AA holder, you could actually have a ring of 6 with a center LED (7 total) if you use the 3mm. I too would like to see a varible output single AA light, diameter of the mini-mag barrel and matching head diameter. Unfortunately, the required driver is currently vapor ware.....

Originally posted by Silviron:


CNC Dan could probably do a great one, and turn them out fast and cheap if his lathe had the capacity for longer stock.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You rang?

I am planning to make a 1 AA tube to fit the
ARC AAA head. Could be a while, don't hold your breath. I can't start untill I get my own ARC-AAA.

I might even make a 1 C holder, just for kicks.

My next project is delrin caps for ARC-LS tubes.
Might get to that tomorrow, we'll see. I only have one 6ft bar of delrin I can use so I won't be able to make mass quantitys.

Where do we sign up for the Delrin caps? I was just talking to Doug Speck about those, and lost the thread.

One word of caution: Be sure to place batteries in each of the LS holders to determine the best height for the caps. The batteries stick out a different amount in each holder, and it would be nice to have just one cap for all tubes. I'll be needing a couple, at least.... From *whoever* ends up making them.

I've been making the Delrin caps for a while now. I've improved them so they now have a lanyard loop on the top, in case you want to carry them hanging from something. I'm making them for $3.00 each, plus $3.00 shipping. Shipping doesn't change, for any reasonable number of caps.

BTW, here's the other thread: link