$4.00 SUPRISE at WalMart

PJD

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...it's called a G.E Glove Box Swivel Light, marked down to $4.00. I'd seen them many times before, but always balked at them 'cause I thought they looked "cheesy". Since they were marked down I said WTH, and picked one up. With the krypton bulb it came with, I was already pleasantly suprised...the beam was very tight and smooth, and unexpectedly bright for a 2AA light. Then I loaded it up with a RayOVac 2D cell xenon bulb, also bought at WalMart, and a set of AA lithium batteries, and this little thing is AWESOME! It has a well defined hot spot that is very smooth, and throws better than a 2AA Mag with Nexstar, better than my S&W 10mm Ballistic Lite, better than my Brinkmann Nexstar 2AA...in fact, it is hands down the brightest, best throwing 2AA light I have! It looks like a miniature hand held spotlight, and the head swivels around 180 degrees. It's not the most robust of flashlights (...it's all plastic), but for the beam quality and throw I got for $4.00, I ain't bitchin'
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! I had to twist the bulb around in the socket a few times to get the best focus of the beam, but that was it. On my way to work tonight, I'm gonna stop and pick up a couple more! Incidentally, I didn't find it in the flashlight section. At the WalMart I go to they were in the automotive accessories department. GREAT bang for 4 bucks!!!

PJD

...there is nothing in the world more frustrating than a lousy beam...
 

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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Lousy beams are the problem I'm strugling with right now. I have all these Dorcy, Garrity, Sears, Lumilite mag copies and plastic flashlites...

And the cheap stuff like my Rayovac Swivel Head 2D, and Sams/Wallyworld 3Ds with their dimpled reflectors throw cleaner light than almost anything else! (well my Brinkman Legend LX is so bright it kinda overwhelms any possible reflector problem!)

The bright thing is important in my little 2aaa Mighty Light, and my Eveready 2AA Waterproof. The xenon or whatever bulbs in those with fresh alkalines are bright!

I'll be at Wallyworld tonight and look around....
 

Albany Tom

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Try the rayovac 2AA swivel light. Very cool once you put a brighter bulb in it. Spins around 360 degrees, up and down 90, and has a nice clip.
 

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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Well, I went ahead and grabbed one amongst the house stuff I had to go for. It is ok as is but I feel kinda cheated at 4 bucks....

You see before Wally World I stopped at K Mart near there. I found a clearence you can't believe!
A Wenger Swiss Army Knife and a Dorcy Rubber Armor push button AA 'Boss' light. It throws a smooth beam thanks to a textured reflector....

And the best part is it all cost 5 bucks WITH batteries for the flashlight! The Wenger is gonna hang from my turn signal as a truck knife!

Also at WW I got a Brinkman Rebel LED light. Wonder if that LED could take say around 4.5 Volts?
 

Charles Bradshaw

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I have 2 Brinkman Rebel Combo Packs. NICE! I got mine from Sportsman's Guide. REI carries them. I just checked on between 2 Eveready Alkaline (3.1 Vdc total) and 2 Eveready Lithium (3.66 Vdc total): definitely a noticable difference to my eyes. All I have leftover from my Ham Radio days, is my Radio Shack DMM.
 

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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My Rebel has one AA and one pudgy little lithium 3v (with neccesary spacer) and is noticably better than two AAs.

I haven't run it too long at any given time but see no evidence of LED failure.
 

x-ray

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Originally posted by PlayboyJoeShmoe:
My Rebel has one AA and one pudgy little lithium 3v (with neccesary spacer) and is noticably better than two AAs.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'm no expert, but I think I read somewhere that mixing batteries of different voltage can cause problems (something to do with the higher voltage battery overcharging the lower voltage one)

It may be safer to use 3x N size batteries (with spacer), this will still give a total of 4.5v.

Any battery experts out there want to jump in ?
 

AlphalphaPB

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Well, with rechargable batteries, when the capacities/charges are different among the cells, you'll have a situation where the cell with the least juice runs out first.

Then the other cells in the battery will start to charge the empty cell up, which leads to there being less current for the operation of the light. I'd say it's less of a problem with the voltages, than the specific capacities and resistances of the individual cells.

Then you also have the memory effect, and if you do some really funky stuff with your batteries, you'll risk blowing them up if you don't discharge prior to charging. Better to have all the same cells.

As to the efficacy of using two different alkaline cells, I would say that you're wasting the capacity of the higher capacity cell. Then you'll use the higher cap. cell with a fresh set of AA's... etc. etc., leading to mass confusion. Better to just use one set of equivalent cells. Another factor is the resistance of the cell. When one cell dies and stops pumping electrons through, it's just a big resistor placed in series with the other cells. Not an efficient setup.

Since it's an LED light, I'd say you could go with rechargable N sized cells, or just use alkalines, if you don't mind the higher long-term cost.
 

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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Many of my lights are 'toys' if you will. Stuff like my LX or this Rebel probably won't see much continuous use. I keep others ready for emergecy.

So I will almost always use Alkys. They last. So I will grab up some Ns, make the appropriate spacer and go from there.
 

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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Interestingly enough, I just put two new Rayovac Alky Maxs in the Rebel. I don't think it gives too much away to the 1aa one 3v 1/3n setup, but don't have a scientific way to tell.

May try 3 Ns, but for now I sure won't damage the LED.

Oh and topical to this thread: I was very dissapointed in the $4 suprise at first. Then one day with nothing better to do I yanked the bulb and looked at it. The filament was nearly touching one side WAY WAY off center! I swiped a bulb from another two aa light and yowsa a nice tight beam. So it turned out to be a nice suprise after all!
 
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