Arc LS Quiz

Okay so most everyone has read this thread about how I broke 2 lights at once. Both were replaced and now here's chapter 2

I just got my replacement SLS from Arc. Here's the quiz...

One of these I got from Tad Gear CPF special for $89 The other is a replacement SLS. Which is Which? Should be obvious right?



Or is it?

Here they are side by side



And Just in case anyone was wondering. They are both (as far as I can tell) rev1.5 500ma see the brown pcb?



Covering all bases I tried several batteries in each. Swapped batteries between the two. Tried several battery packs and swapped them. ALL of this gave the same results.

So what do you think? Should the difference be this great between the second and the 1ST from a Dealer?

I give up, Randy...which is which??
-kinda looks from here, like the one on the left oughta go back.

The one on the right seems to be much brighter with a hotter hot spot, but doesn't appear to be centered as well as the one on the left. Is the one on the left the first? They must really vary alot from unit to unit.
Thanks for the pic of the brown PCB. Now I'll know what to look for when mine get here.
EDIT: Also, do you like the gold button better than the old style? Does it seem like it could be easier to damage?

One would hope that the left one is the SLS, but you never know. So end the madness! Which is which?

Alas, I got one of the 500ma SLS, it looks like the one on the left. There is still so much variation with the LED's, I hope the new LS2's will solve the problem. I really,really,really would like to order a white Arc LS and know how bright it is and if it has a strong green tint. Of course I ordered a second so I cannot expect too much.

I thought the brightness (not color tint) variation will be minimized due to the constant current regulator instead of voltage regulator, it seems that my assumption is wrong:-( ??

Alan

Alan, it does help somewhat. Mostly in the consistancy during a particular run time. Regulation doesn't do much for variations between LEDs though. These include Vf and flux.

We hand sort them by tint and flux. Wide differences are the norm though so it quite rare for two units to look the same.

A few of the 500's where actually dimmer than the older rev1s (about 350mA). This was the exception though. Most where brighter. Now we are making 400's and also got a better batch of LEDs from lumileds.

The highdomes (LS2) have the same wide variations, but only in flux and Vf, not tint. The EOS process controls the tint much better than the pre-EOS units. This is a welcome improvement. However, you will still see variations in brightness between two units.

For example, say we made a LE-LS version that only used parts above 20lm/watt. You still would have units varying between 20lm/watt to over 30lm/watt. Now, most would be between 20 and 26 with a few at 27 or 28. Well, you could order two LE-LS (we have no plans to make these, are product is already complicated and slow to make!) and see a variation of 8 lumens between them. This is a noticable difference. 8 lumens is equivelent to about 4 nichias.

From Lumileds, we routinely see parts that vary from 14 to 30 lumens. Of course, 30 lumens is next to non-existant (I am yet to see one that wasn't a sample). The average centers around 18lm/w. This is the current state of the art.

My advice? You can either stay away from luxeons (missing out on the hottest LED around IMHO), insist on only buying a certain narrow flux flashlight ($$), or buy two and give the dimmer one as a gift.

Again, we do hand sort these three times for each unit. We end up with three bins of LEDs:

- Above average/Best go into firsts
- Average go into seconds
- Below average are returned to Lumileds

Yields between reels vary of course. Average for a reel is 60% reject, 30% seconds and 10% firsts. On this recent run of 400's, I got lucky and had a reel that was 2% reject, 30% seconds and 68% firsts. This is the first time I have seen this and I hope it continues in the future!

How I determine which ranking a finished flashlight will finally have, be it a first or a second, depends on several factors. First up is centering, second to be checked is tint, third is brightness, fourth is optic clarity and fifth is housing quality. I routinely mark units as seconds that are quite bright but the beam is off center for example. That is why sometimes a second is brighter than a first.

The idea here is to create two grades of quality at two different price points. Of course the yields on the firsts are much lower than the seconds so they usally are in short supply.

Peter Gransee

Well as you probably guessed the one on the left is the one from TadGear and the one on the left is the replacement SLS which came with a mismatch anodized 123 pack(I put the clickie on it and it looks first class).

From another thread this_is_nascar posted:

2. I was really surprised that this far along in the process puke-green tint was still in circulation. The unit from Tad Gear was pretty white and the one from 1SKS was that puke-green.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I don't post this to rant about the product. I'm perfectly satisfied with both. I posted this because of the many questions here about this product recently. PG beat me to the point and that point is that the LS is still very bleeding edge and the cutting edge always has it shortcomings. I do not envy the arduous task Gransee and company have in sorting these.

I now own 6 Arc LS's with 2 more on the way. All are different and only one has a really white beam.

My advice? You can either stay away from luxeons (missing out on the hottest LED around IMHO), insist on only buying a certain narrow flux flashlight ($$), or buy two and give the dimmer one as a gift.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That pretty much says it all.

Best Regards,
Randy

Originally posted by darkgear.com:
Well as you probably guessed the one on the left is the one from TadGear and the one on the left is the replacement SLS which came with a mismatch anodized 123 pack

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Don't tell me you're one of those deformed flashaholics with two left arms. Now.....which was which again?

Originally posted by darkgear.com:
Well as you probably guessed the one on the left is the one from TadGear and the one on the left is the replacement SLS
Best Regards,
Randy

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I guess I'm still confused (about the one on the left compared to the other one on the left).

HAHA! Sorry about that. Left and the one with the ring is from TadGear. RIGHT and without the ring is an SLS.

Does this scare anyone? Are you now leery of buying from a dealer? Heck just buy a "second" and be merry

Now mind that this is the first example I've seen of this. All the rest of my LS's and SLS's are much closer in brightness and color.

Regards,
Randy

UPDATE 10/7/02

I thought that this ARC LS 1st was just made this way. A little dimmer and greenish. Friday 10/4 I was working in a darkened room and had the LS on for about 5 minutes and then all of a sudden it went twice as bright. I was shocked. I tried tapping and shaking to see if it would go dim again but it stayed bright. I then depressed the Kroll switch and it went back to dim(which I had thought was normal). I couldn't get it back to bright mode after that.

Over the weekend I put the regular 123 pack on (just in case the kroll had something to do with it)and played with it alot. Once again late sunday night as I was going to sleep it went bright again and stayed that way until I turned it off then it went back to dim mode.

I'm wondering if this has something to do with the stepping thing in this thread

Anyway this being a LS 1st bought through a dealer I'll be returning it to Arc. It is a 500ma model and I probably won't get one of those back but Oh well. Maybe they can disect it and figure out whats going on. Peeling maybe?

Best Regards,
Randy

I wonder why the green tint is called "puke" and "stale urine" so often. Seems more like "radioactive" color, like Mr. Burns in the X-Files Simpson's episode...or Steven King's "Tommyknockers".

Granted, I'd prefer a bluish white, but the epithets seem a tad strong!