"ROCKY" high power LED reviews?

i just picked up the twin pack (1, 3AAA & 1, 6AAA CREE flashlight pack from Sams club a few weeks ago and thus far have been impressed with the light / price ratio. has anyone else checked these out? i've modded my big one a lil with some GITD next to the emitter, but am interested in any other mods some of you have done. i had to unfortunately pry the lens cap off to get to the internals, it seems to be a snap in place type of lens/emitter assembly. any advice on how to avoid this technique? i also noted that the control assembly seems to be mounted in the end cap, to control the brightness (low, high & strobe) it seems that the control circuit actual strobes the LED @ a high rate, is this normal? any and all advice is welcomed, as i am newish to the LED field. my exp is in the HID area but have been impressed w/LED tech as it has evolved quite a way.

has no-one heard of or seen these lights? can none even respond to whether or not they are junk even?

Throw some pics up. If your question isn't 5th grade simple, then you need pictures. Not that people are dumb, I just doubt they care.

unfortunately, i lack the ability to upload pix at the moment.

guess i'm the only one to have even heard of these.

If this is the light it is using an older led and no one likes the AAA battery type light due to short battery life.

Nitroz said:

If this is the light it is using an older led and no one likes the AAA battery type light due to short battery life.

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well, for $15 for the 3AAA & 6AAA versions, its not a bad deal, but all in all, i was just wondering if anyone had any good Mod ideas for these, preferably on the low budget end?

You might be able to stuff an 18650 lithium in the light. I can' be sure though without seeing one in person.

18650 won't have enough power smaller light uses 4.5v and larger uses 9v, both batt sets are in a triple side by side design, simaler to a C sized batt. one in the smaller and a double in the larger. any suggestions?

FRITZHID said:

18650 won't have enough power smaller light uses 4.5v and larger uses 9v, both batt sets are in a triple side by side design, simaler to a C sized batt. one in the smaller and a double in the larger. any suggestions?

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Isn't that the point of a mod...?

hellokitty[hk] said:

Isn't that the point of a mod...?

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well ya, but i don't want to go down in power, and 2 won't fit in the smaller.... and sadly i lack a lathe to tool new body parts.

When light is on and battery(s) are under draw I'm thinking 4.2V 18650 will have more power than the 3 1.5 alky's, most likely depending on the kind of LED and what kind of driver it uses.

Fresh Light said:

When light is on and battery(s) are under draw I'm thinking 4.2V 18650 will have more power than the 3 1.5 alky's, most likely depending on the kind of LED and what kind of driver it uses.

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all the 18650's i've seen are 3.7v.... haven't seen any @ 4.2v

One 3.7V lithium-ion = three 1.5V alkalines. Once you put a load across an alkaline battery, the voltage will start to drop. The same thing will happen to a lithium-ion battery as well, but it will be less than alkaline and you'll actually get better performance from the 3.7V lithium-ion.

Unless the light is unregulated (then it might overdrive the LED and get hot or turn blue), you won't have an issue. However, make sure you know the dangers and precautions for using lithium-ion cells (ie. protection circuits, overcharging, overdischarging, etc.).

I have a very similar 3x AAA Rocky light and can confirm that a 17670 will fit in the body in place of the plastic AAA holder and the cap can screw on and the light runs just fine. I've run it for hours at a time without an issue. Going on 10 months and at least 20 recharge cycles.

An 18650 will not fit without filing down the 2mm step inside the tube near the head. Head appears to be a press fit. My kids have beat the snot out of this thing, and it keeps right on trucking.

I'd like to get the head off so I can make an 18650 fit, but I'm happy with it the way it is.

I bought two sets of these, and gave one set to my son. They have worked fine until last week until my 3-cell model switch stopped working:

I took the tail cap apart, removed all the components except the side contacts and the switch, probed with my ohmmeter to find two switch contacts already connected to the battery contact button, and jumpered the side (housing) contacts to the other two terminals on the switch... It now works again, bright only, and is only momentary.

It seems brighter now than before my fix, so I may have removed some current limiting in the tail cap, and time will tell if it burns out the LED. I keep it next to my Taurus TCP on the nightstand, where hopefully it will not get much use.

Not set up to attach a picture yet.