Ryobi 18V One+ 130 Lumens LED Lantern - review with USB added mod

Poppy

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I recently bought a Ryobi drill with two 18V LiIon batteries They're only 24Watt hours batteries, but can be had with about 3 times as much capacity (72 Watt). At any rate, I wanted a way to use them during a power outage, for whatever, and decided to pick up the lantern, take it apart, and add a USB output to it so that the batteries can be used as a source to charge phones, etc.

The lantern itself is very light weight. It has a single small die LED with a bulbous dome. I don't think it is a Cree, but I don't know. It is decidedly cool white, with a slight blue tint. There are artifacts in the beam, at the corners of the rectangular diffuser. The diffuser is very frosted, which really helps to cut down glare.

The light goes out from the sides, more than it goes up and down, but enough goes down that a person can walk a path with it, if he holds it waist high, though it is not as good as a flashlight. It does illuminate a picnic table well. And of course battery changes are a snap :)

I added a USB port:
To take the lantern apart, one needs some long reaching security torx allen wrenches, or specialty torx screw drivers. There is one phillips head screw hidden under a plastic plug, which is hidden by a label on the back of the lantern.

I drilled a 3/4 inch hole in the back of the Greenish-yellow base, and then filed it to fit one of those little 12-24V USB adapters that you can plug into a car's cigar power port. I hot glued it in place after taking it apart, and soldering a pair of wires to its power inputs, and to the inside of the lantern where the power comes in from the battery. A very easy modification. It took more time to find the security torx tool and take the box apart than to make the modification. :rolleyes:

The little USB adapter I added has a little LED power on indicator light, that I didn't remove, but I figured that it's drain would be minimal, and that it would serve as a "FIND me" light for the lantern. IDK... your mileage may vary.


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At any rate, I took some ma readings after it was all done, with a full battery @ 20.35 Volts.
HIGH 154ma LOW 27ma and OFF with the adapter LED on 10ma.
So I guess the unmodified lantern would be 144ma high, and 17ma low. From there you might be able to estimate run-times.
They list it at 22 hours on the P104 HIGH (72Watt) capacity battery which I see listed as 18V 2.4 amp hour. (If my calculations are correct, it should get about 140 hours on low with one of the high capacity batteries.)
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Overall, I would say that it is functional for a camping lantern, with the typical drawbacks of lanterns in general. The light is not as pretty to watch as a campfire, so if I am camping, I'll watch the campfire :rolleyes: but it does a decent job of lighting the table for a variety of tasks, and allows me to use rechargeable batteries that have other uses, rather than have to buy some tenergy D NiMH cells for other lanterns. Also, I think that the 130 lumen output level is a good level for a lantern. Typically higher than that, lanterns start to produce too much glare, and if I wanted to light a larger area, typically I would prefer multiple lanterns @ about 100 lumens or so, and spread them out and around.
 
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Echo63

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i agree with Angerdan - this thread needs pictures !

i have one of theses lanterns, i use it as a nightlight in my 2yr olds room (on low, obviously)
 

Poppy

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I'll have to see what I can do about getting some pictures up.

The wires from the board to the emitter were very thin, and after opening the lantern up, and twisting and moving the components around, one wire, and then the other snapped off and had to be replaced. I tried a run-time test, and the emitter burned out. Ryobi claims that they have not had issues with this lantern, so I guess it was just my luck? At any rate I swapped in a warm XB-D emitter, and ran a run-time test.

On the weakest/lowest capacity (24Wh) of their batteries it ran 9 hours, and the output didn't drop, it remained constant. When it shut off the voltage was a little more than 15 volts. I guess that they use a buck regulator. Without the additional drain of the power indicator of the USB adapter (about 10ma) the batteries would last a little longer, maybe an additional 30-40 minutes.

Remember, that once you open this baby up, that the warranty is voided. Especially after you drill holes into the base :rolleyes:
 

Poppy

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I estimate that the LOW will run about 8 times as long as the HIGH on any particular battery:
NiCad, about 4.5 hours high, 36 hours low.
P102 24W lithium 9 hours high, 72 hours low.
P107 48W lithium 18 hours high, 144 hours low.
P108 72W high capacity lithium 27 hours high, 216 hours low.

NOTE: The light output remains constant throughout the entire run-time period.
I like this fact very much, and will get another one for myself. I gave the first one to my dad.
 

Toohotruk

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I just bought one of these the other day...definitely a decent little lantern, especially for the price. I'm a fan of Ryobi's One+ system...lots of different tools that use the same batteries at a good price point.

I may try the USB mod at some point, it would be nice to be able to charge a phone with 18V batteries.
 

Poppy

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I just bought one of these the other day...definitely a decent little lantern, especially for the price. I'm a fan of Ryobi's One+ system...lots of different tools that use the same batteries at a good price point.

I may try the USB mod at some point, it would be nice to be able to charge a phone with 18V batteries.

The next time I'll also put in a little on/off switch for the USB port. This way there will be no parasitic drain because of it, or I'll get one without an LED indicator light.
 

FRITZHID

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The next time I'll also put in a little on/off switch for the USB port. This way there will be no parasitic drain because of it, or I'll get one without an LED indicator light.

Even without LED indicator there'll be drain, less so but still enough. I've ran into this with several USB mods. A switch is Def the way to go.
 

lumen aeternum

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Got one today. Good job of sending light 360 degrees evenly. But it sends too much up and not enough down. If I hold it over my head, everything above my head horizontally is lit, but nothing below. In order not to have the glare in my eyes when holding it lower, it needs to be at groin level. Not a good table lamp for lighting up the table -- too much horizontal shine.

I was repairing some wood molding that was rotten from touching the ground and it got dark, so I placed it behind me & to the side, and it illuminated the ground around me so I could see where I put my tools. Not so good for lighting up the work area because of the 360 degree spread shining in my eyes. So I used a spotlight & headlamp for that.

I just put it on the kitchen counter, and it glares when I'm standing beside it. But if I tilt it by putting one edge on the breadboard, it masks the glare. The battery is so heavy its pretty stable.

I need to try some aluminum foil over the top to create an angled shade.
 
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