Older luxeon 5w 3aaa LED flashlights?

Northernflame

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 23, 2004
Messages
145
Hello.

I noticed there there is little of no info or reviews on the last gen 5watt luxeon 3xAAA flashlights. Including search engine results...

The only semi relevant review was on a simular mdxl 3watt.

Mostly bad news about the battery life.

The 5watts (over stock) luxeons i see on sale most claim 60+ lumens.

Other than that. No runtime, circuits, e.t.c

Would any one have some useful info and pics?

Reasons being that they are liquidating several of these old 5 watts. For the price, they mightr be good for an emergency light in a drawer.

Yes, i know that the 5 watts never received a very good rating. However that was mostly "follow the pack" replies.

I find it funny that a 5 watt luxeon that can only output 60 lumens. My 1 watt SL Jr (no optics) puts out almost 30 lumens.

ref: http://www.szwholesale.com/mxdl-3xaaa-p-925.html

Thanks

P.S. The only reviews of 5w luxes were with cr-123 batteries.
 
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yellow

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
4,634
Location
Baden.at
usually these "Watts" are silly claims and have nothing to do with output.

If such a light featured a 5 W (Luxeon V, which is not used in the light linked above) and a good regulation circuit, it would (from these awful 3 AAAs) run for 25-30 min at best.

does not sound like a good emergency light
(which should also be of good quality, which these lights are also not)
 

iced_theater

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 12, 2005
Messages
819
Location
Green River, Wyoming
I've never heard of a 5 watt 3AAA light, but as yellow said, it would have horrible runtime though I doubt it would even last 25 minutes.

A real Luxeon V is far brighter than 60 lumens if it's driven at spec. I don't remember exactly but if it's say a W bin driven at 750mA, it's output is somewhere between 170-230 lumens at the emitter.
 

LEDninja

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
Messages
4,896
Location
Hamilton Canada
Please note many of these '5 watt', '6 watt', '7 watt' flashlights are just overdriven 3 watts. The only differencr between these and the 1 or 3 watt light is a smaller value dropping resistor allowing the LED to run at 1000mA. This reduces runtime to 1 hour and shortens LED life. The second point is moot as even if the LED life drops from 100,000 to 1000 hours that is 3000 batteries. You would probably buy another light long before you bought your 3000th battery. Also the cheap clicky switches do not like 1000mA and will probably fail long before then.
A REAL Luxeon V needs 7.2 volts (or 6AAA) to drive it.

Some more of the 'Souped up 3 watt 3AAA' lights:
http://www.szwholesale.com/superfirereg-3xaaa-recommended-p-875.html
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3405
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.851
Also search for 'Blimp' on CPF. It was the most popular 'Souped up 3 watt 3AAA' light.
 
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