TranquillityBase Ti AA-powered light.

*Background in homage to WP's old photos - where are you Donald?!?

TranquillityBase has succeeded in making a light like no other that I know of. Utilizing RV7's new driver board, which is driving a Seoul USV0I (mmmmm... SV0 tint...) being directed by a McR-20, this versatile and robust light is machined with the precision that we all know comes out of this fellow Wisconsinite. Here's Scott's initial description and discussion about the light, which shows more photos of the custom-made heatsink and the driver.

The light is bead blasted titanium, with Scott's well-known checkerboard grip pattern:



It's also got a partially knurled head and tail (McGizmo housing design, utilizing a McClicky switch), which makes this thing pretty darn hard to slip outta your hand!

The size of the 1AA tube and the dual-layer driver board make the light about 4 5/8" long - longer than your average 1x123 light, but shorter than your average 2x123 light. Here's a comparison photo with a couple other TB lights:


Left: TB 18650, A19 head (by Morelite)
Middle: TB Ti AA
Right: TB 1x123, A1 head

Notice the smooth bezel ring on the TB AA - very clean and cool looking. :twothumbs

The 4-level driver of this light is pretty incredible. The light operates as such: Momentary taps (or quickly clicking on-off-on) on the switch cycles through the levels 1-4. When you get to the level you want, stay there for momentary, or depress to keep it there. The next time you turn the light on, it will be in the mode you left it in. Pretty simple IMHO!

Runtime tests on levels 3 & 4, each with an Eneloop 2000mAh and a Sanyo 2700mAh:




Runtime tests on level 1 & 2, with a Sanyo 2700mAh:




And then a "big picture" runtime chart, of levels 1-4 with the Sanyo 2700:



Not bad, eh?? :naughty: I had no idea it'd hold that bright for that long, off of one AA battery. :rock:

Thanks to Scott for building this thing, from the ground up, and RV7, for making available such a great board! It makes me wonder why so many of my lights are 123-based, when this AA light can kick some serious butt! :thumbsup:

john

Re: TB + Ti + AA =

Holy Moly! That's some serious Sweetness!! :bow:oo::bow:

Lucky John, Lucky John, Lucky Lucky Lucky!

Re: TB + Ti + AA =

How the heck did you get one.

I only hope to own some of TB's titanium lights in the near future.

Thanks for the photos and graph.

Re: TB + Ti + AA =

John, you are one awesome dude:twothumbs That is a very review, and excellent photos to boot:thumbsup:

I'm very happy with the RV7 1AA driver, I should have purchased more of them, when I had the chance:sigh:

I was off camping this weekend, and the 1AA light changed ownership for all of Saturday evening:mecry:...I'm sure glad the gals don't like to use those dang pit toliets:green: :sweat:

The switch housing design is McGizmo, I can't take any credit for that...IMHO it's the best switch housing design, bar none

Thanks for the great review John:bow:

Re: TB + Ti + AA =

Speechless.

Re: TB + Ti + AA =

Congratulations to such a very nice light John:twothumbs

Nice review and of course, congratulations to Scott and RV7 to make this possible:goodjob:

Best regards

____
Tom:wave:

Re: TB + Ti + AA =

Great review of TB's latest born... :twothumbs

Re: TB + Ti + AA =

EricMack said:

Holy Moly! That's some serious Sweetness!! :bow:oo::bow:

Click to expand...

Title modified to more accurately describe the light. Thanks Eric!

Thanks all for the nice words - Scott's work is awesome (and he's a half-ways decent guy as well :nana: ), and combined with this board and utilizing a normal AA NiMH battery, this light (and others like it to come?) kicks some serious butt. :rock:

john

Re: TB + Ti + AA = Some serious sweetness.

jch79 said:

Click to expand...

Nice pic! I can't decide if it looks more like a ray-traced render or a flashlight sitting on a black oak Dunlavy speaker.

Re: TB + Ti + AA = Some serious sweetness.

John, what can I say but .............

HOWDY! :nana:

I give this sweet TB flashlight, your review of it and your photography :thinking: ........... :twothumbs

Ken :wave:

This close up pic of the blasted battery tube is AWESOME! :rock:

jch79; said:

john

Click to expand...

Re: TB + Ti + AA = Some serious sweetness.

:laughing: Thanks Ken! :wave: Where you been, man? :thumbsup:

Re: TB + Ti + AA = Some serious sweetness. *Updated Runtimes*

I added a runtime test above for level 2 - quite impressive!!

I was hoping for it to end so I could go to sleep last night, but it didn't seem to want to! :shrug:

john

Re: TB + Ti + AA = Some serious sweetness. *Updated Runtimes*

First post updated with new runtimes. :thumbsup:

Re: TB + Ti + AA = Some serious sweetness. *Updated Runtimes*

J! That's a very elegant looking light. Me likey.

TranquillityBase Ti AA - *More* Updated Runtimes 8/24/07

greenLED said:

J! That's a very elegant looking light. Me likey.

Click to expand...

Thanks Green! :wave: Scott's work is top-notch.. and combining his skillz with a 1xAA light - wow. oo: It's the goods.

john

Re: TranquillityBase Ti AA - *More* Updated Runtimes 8/24/07

Where do I get one?

Re: TranquillityBase Ti AA - *More* Updated Runtimes 8/24/07

The low seems pretty high. Max and high currents seem to be close together judging by runtimes.

I looked up info on the driver. Seems like the Low mode is ~110mA. Thats about 35 emitter lumens. Way too high for a low mode.

The body is fantastic but the circuit could use some work. The levels need to be spread out a lot more. No fault of TB of course.

Re: TranquillityBase Ti AA - *More* Updated Runtimes 8/24/07

cave dave said:

The low seems pretty high. Max and high currents seem to be close together judging by runtimes.

I looked up info on the driver. Seems like the Low mode is ~110mA. Thats about 35 emitter lumens. Way too high for a low mode.

The body is fantastic but the circuit could use some work. The levels need to be spread out a lot more. No fault of TB of course.

Click to expand...

I agree with you, Dave.. I'm a low-low fan. :thumbsup: Especially with a 4-level light, you can get a really nice range of brightnesses, each with their own distinct and practical benefits and uses.

I think RV7 is still going to work on a single-layer driver - maybe we can him to get a lower low on this version.

Thanks for bringing that point up - I had the same thought, but failed to mention it!

john

Re: TranquillityBase Ti AA - *More* Updated Runtimes 8/24/07

750mA high would put out about 110 lm out the front. A better spread would be something like 1 lm, 10lm, 40 lm, 110lm. I could back calculate the drive currents but I'll save that for the RV7 thread.

Re: TranquillityBase Ti AA - *More* Updated Runtimes 8/24/07

I think the PWM rate has something to do with the, not so low, low setting...I could not find the explanation in the thread, but I know it's in one of RV's posts.

I can't notice any PWM flickering, even pointing the beam at high speed moving machinery, i.e. timing belts, and gears, etc.,...it's dead stable light output, on all levels.