The Future of Single AA Lights?

What do you think the future holds for single AA lights? I'm talking about something the size of the CMG Infinity or ARC AA. Will we see much brighter in the near future? I'd like a regulated light with adjustable brightness. What do you think the near future might bring?

Scott

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scott said:
What do you think the future holds for single AA lights? I'm talking about something the size of the CMG Infinity or ARC AA. Will we see much brighter in the near future? I'd like a regulated light with adjustable brightness. What do you think the near future might bring?

Scott

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I think that the near future will have all of the above.

With competition from other manufacturers, the prices of Luxeon-type LEDs will fall. Also, they will increase in brightness over time. Brighter, underdriven, low cost 1W AA powered lights are quite viable, particulary compared to low-output 5 mm Nichia-type LEDs.

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scott said:
I'd like a regulated light with adjustable brightness.

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The ShoreLite Vx-2 is a single-AA light with adjustable brightness. Since an AA doesn't have enough voltage to light a white LED on its own, it's presumeably at least sort-of-regulated (boosted) like the CMG Infinity and the Arc AAA.

I don't know anything else about it; I don't own one and I haven't even seen a review of one. But I am curious.

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Lagged2Death said:
I don't know anything else about it; I don't own one and I haven't even seen a review of one. But I am curious.


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I got to borrow one for about a week from another CPFer last summer.
The page is right here if you're interested.

Like Craig said, the beam in the Vx1 is strange. The brightness levels are nice, though, and it seems well built for a plastic light. I've long been tempted to try the Vx2 for its longer runtime and 2 LEDs, but am afraid its beam may be no nicer.

I have the VX2 ... Yes the beam has plenty of artifacts and is just flat out weird. It's still one of my favorite lights though and one of the few that I use lithium AA cells in. Brighter than a CMG Ultra when I need it, but with run times that can be longer than the Infinity's.

Biggest beef: battery replacement is a pain. There are two small gaskets that go on the screws and these can be easily lost if you aren't careful.

LED mods As Small As Possible makes a 1W LS mod for the ARC AAA, I don't know if he has anything for the AA.

A single aa lux would be the ultimate pocket light period.

Raven

I agree with Raven but would be satisfied with an Arc AA with three 3mm leds.

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Raven said:
A single aa lux would be the ultimate pocket light period.

Raven

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Which is why I have an Infinity with a R2H/BB400 in it (driven by a 3v lithium AA). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif A MadMax could be used if one wished to run it on alkalines but I prefer current regulation over voltage regulation when it comes to LEDs (and the BadBoy will not regulate below 1.6v /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif ). Hence the single cell out of a CR-V3. Later.

Dan

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PercaDan said:
Which is why I have an Infinity with a R2H/BB400 in it (driven by a 3v lithium AA). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ] Out of curiosity, why not a single CR123A? It would be a little cheaper than the 3V AA, as well as more easily available. Not to mention shorter.

It seems you've got the disadvantages of CR123 (expensive, hard to obtain) and the disadvantage of AA (longer) in one package. Why? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

The CR123 is too thick for the Infinity tube. I've heard of people boring out the Infinity and putting in a CR2 (allows cutting the tube shorter as well) but the AA drops right in. Another alternative is use a Madmax instead of the BB400, and an L91 or even an alkaline AA.

Another thing to consider is that a 3v AA has a higher watt/hr. (4.5) rating than either the 123 (3.9) or the CR-2 (2.4). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif Also having the Vin closer to the Vout allows for higher regulator efficiency which helps to offset the price of the cells. The other reason I chose this light engine configuration was, because of the minimal thermal capacity of the small head of this light, I wanted to limit the possibility of thermal runaway and hence I chose a current regulator to more closely monitor Iout. This all seemed like a reasonable trade off, time will tell. Besides I built this more for "Shock and Awe" than for any practical reason (though its working out pretty well, so far /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ). Gotta run.

Dan

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paulr said:
The CR123 is too thick for the Infinity tube.

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A little thread hijacking, but the Infinity works rather well for a 123 host. Here is one of my daily drivers..


I frequently use something similar with a standard AA batt for situations where max output isn't desired though...

Dan C

Let's see....OD of Infinity, 0.75". OD of SureFire 123, 0.65". Depth of fluting, unknown to me. Dan, you must be using the battery to provide rigidity for the light. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif Pretty sweet, though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Dan

Ha, good one Dan! It's not as bad as it seems. The milled flats are only .020" deep, leaving wall thickness of close to .030". An Infinity body is thinner at the thread root and o-ring sealing area. Want me to bore and thread one for ya'??

Dan C

Dan C
You should think about taking orders for these.

http://www.frauda.net/roth/ales1aalight/

Look what roth makes me!
Specs: turned down nx05, madmax sammich, kroll.

The reason I like the idea of an AA pocket light is the slimness and the availability of batteries. 3v or 1.5v lith, li-ion or nimh can also be used.