First ARC and first post !

So, I've got my first ARC AAA from toolshop.de (46 EUR, quite expensive, but shipping included). Very excited – let's try first with the battery from Solitare. Bang; damn – they should warn people about not looking into the light. Good finish overall, the bridge (for the keyring) is quite thin (it will broke ?) and there are some very, very small milling marks (I've seen a picture on CPF, and Peter offer a replacement in that case, but I really don't think it's something important – the light is going to get "character marks" anyway). It is bright: I can see some light on the wall, 5m from here – and there is some sunlight here (enough to take pictures without flash and tripod).


However, I still have 2 questions:

1. the usual, is this the brightest and latest arc ? It's marketed by toolshop.de as "Premium", it has Limited Edition on it and the package is in French too, "Waterproof to 50 ft.", and on the pack is written AW-NAT, white LED, natural finish

2. The head is significantly whiter. Is this normal? The light from it is white/blue (as expected), but the hotspot is way out of center. Got me thinking: did I got a LE body and a "normal" head ? Picture below:

Oh, I forgot - I've got a clip too, and the package is the "tent" type.
It's getting dark outside ... I cant wait ...

Nice light for a start! The bridge for the keyring is quite sturdy despite it's appearance.

As for your first question, if your Arc is marked as an "Limited Edition", it's an LE, which is now going to be called a "Premium". Your white will be more white and a little brighter than a standard Arc AAA.

Your second question, Type III Hard Anodization will produce many different variations of color. As for the off-center hot spot, I can't (and shouldn't) speculate and should let Peter answer that.

HA III not matching is normal.

I would expect LED centering to be better than that.

The off-center hot-spot is NOT a problem at all, I was only thinking "the HA does not match, the hot spot is off-center, there is no way to tell if the head is LE, maybe is not ...".
Also, the colour itself is a non-issue.

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Beretta1526 said:
Nice light for a start! The bridge for the keyring is quite sturdy despite it's appearance.

As for your first question, if your Arc is marked as an "Limited Edition", it's an LE, which is now going to be called a "Premium". Your white will be more white and a little brighter than a standard Arc AAA.

Your second question, Type III Hard Anodization will produce many different variations of color. As for the off-center hot spot, I can't (and shouldn't) speculate and should let Peter answer that.


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I had the same problem with mine too (Arc-AAA Light Standard). If you don't like it, call Toolshop, or write them a mail then they will replace it.
My first Arc had the problem of not turning on from time to time. Then i had to unscrew the head to make it work again. My next one was really bad off-center so it was replaced too.
The third one finally seems to be ok.

congrats and welcome to the club /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

chris

Cool. One of the ARC LE's I bought has the same color shades as your, but reversed! My other one was hand-picked by Chris at Meridian Tactical and it is a perfect match. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

the LED itself is most probably physically centered in the head, but the hotspot the LED is throwing is off-center, and this is something that can't really be controlled /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Yes, you are right - the problem is INSIDE the LED (the LED position in the "mirror" is symetrical). It's really all right; I am using the light to read (attached with a rubber band from the left bracket of my glases). Really cool setup!

I have 2 more questions:

1. I assume there is no problem to use Ni-Mh, RAM, etc in the ARC (and I know ARC-AAA has been tested with 2xAAA). The question is: are this officialy supported ?

2. Has anyone tested this light for a REALLY long time. I mean like 3-6 months _permanent_ on ? I know - there are no moving parts, the electronics inside is somehow low power, it "should" be no problem to run 3 months or 3 years continously. But the question is: any real test ?

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chamenos said:
the LED itself is most probably physically centered in the head, but the hotspot the LED is throwing is off-center, and this is something that can't really be controlled /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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1. that is correct...rechargeable alkalines, NiMH, and NiCad have been tested with the arc, and all work just as well. only thing is that the arc won't be as bright as if you had used an alkaline battery. the arc head has been tested with two AAA batteries and it works fine, but its not officially supported /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

2. personally i've only tested mine at 5 hours (constant on until it was too dim to be of any use), but i've put about 10 batteries through it so that works out to about 50 hours. i haven't done a constant-on test though, so someone else will have to fill in for me.

this is odd....darrell is MIA /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If you're interested, you can email Peter for a replacement...

Now here is another one: had some (big) problems to turn on my arc, got rid of the foam washer, improved the "crimping" and now is working fine. BUT, I noticed the hole from the picture. Is it normal, is it bad (is the head no more water resistant) ? The hole is 1-2 mm deep.

I don't know why the hole is there but it seems that it's normal. It must be there for some reason. Even Peter's AAA looks like this as shown in this DIY maintenance thread by him. Maybe Peter will respond with a definitive answer.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB31&Number=173589&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

Here's the best pic of it from the thread, though the hole is round and not half-round like yours :

I don't think it affects the waterproofing since the rest of it looks well potted.

my arc AAA head had that hole, and i've washed and submerged the entire head in water without any problems. the electronics in the head itself are potted, so even if water got in the electronics would remain intact /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

If I am not wrong, the hole is there for manufacturing purposes. After the pill/circuit assembly is inserted in to the head, epoxy is filled in through the hole. That's my guess.

Vince.