Hyper Tough Walmart Brand 3 AA COB worklight

I'm not sure if these COB type lights belong here with flashlights, or with lanterns.
But seeing the NEBO thread here, I figured, it belongs here, or they both should be moved.

I picked up this "Hyper Tough" LED work light today at Walmart for $5.97
It is FL1 rated at 60 lumens low 20 hours, and 160 lumens high 6 hours. No strobe!
It comes with 3 AA duracells.

It is plastic, but it feels comfortable, kinda like a rubber suede.
The hook is plastic, and it swivels 360 degrees.

It is advertised to have a "Strong Magnet on Back"
The first thing I did was to test how strong the magnet was.
I attached it to the refrigerator and the magnet came right out of the light.
I am currently waiting for the crazy glue to dry




The beam is pretty evenly dispersed.
One thing that can be said about this style COB light is that it makes for a good floody light for close up work.

From what I read, COB emitters are quite similar to Cree XM-L2 emitters regarding efficiency at 110-140 lumens per watt.

I'm looking forward to it getting dark to see how well it performs.

I love those LED array lights.

Great for under the sink, or other tight quarters uses where you need a light to shine brightly without blinding yourself. And that type seems to be able to shine around corners.

Next time I'm at Wally World I hope my local one has one.

bykfixer said:

I love those LED array lights.

Great for under the sink, or other tight quarters uses where you need a light to shine brightly without blinding yourself. And that type seems to be able to shine around corners.

Next time I'm at Wally World I hope my local one has one.

Click to expand...

Very nicely put my friend :thumbsup:

Best splinter remover light ever.
Lights the spot well and no self blinding.
If it's got iron in it the magnet will suck it right out too.

I have a 'pre-little Larry' pen light by ClipLite sent to me by an ac repairman. It's come in handy for splinter removal (with the urge to apply sunscreen prior due to how bright it is) but like the hook on this one.
Plus I like the larger fuel supply of the aa vs aaa.

Edit:
Just noticed it has hi and lo. Nice!
I suppose if I'd have read your first post slowly and succinctly it would've been mentally noted already. lol

I love the COB lights!

I am in the process of topping off some duraloops to do a run time test.
In the mean time, I pulled out my multimeter, and measured that it pulled.
210 ma on low, and 630 ma on high, with the alkaline duracells it was supplied with.

Hmmm, not all batteries are the same, and not all duraloops will work properly :thinking:

I have three types of duraloops.
Green tops, Black tops, and White tops.
The white tops work fine, as do duracell alkalines, but the green tops, and black tops do not function reliably. If you tap the light like we used to with the old D cell lights, it MIGHT work.

Here's why.

Notice how the positive poles in the battery box are hidden behind a little bit of plastic. That would protect from reverse polarity if a battery was placed in backwards.




But now look at the length of the positive tips on these batteries...


All the way left, is the standard alkaline, it is a little narrower, and slightly longer.

In the middle is the white top 2000 mah duraloop, who's tip is slightly longer than the Black top on the right (2450 mah) (the green tops, not pictured look the same as the black tops).



Apparently neither the green tops, nor the black tops work.

I couldn't stand it so I had to fix it.

I took it apart, only six screws, and discovered that the center battery was pushed slightly away from the center positive contact when the battery box cover was pushed closed.

I was able to pull that contact out, put it on my work-bench, and give it a dab of solder, to build it out a little bit.

Now ANY of my duraloops will work in it.! :thumbsup:

Walmart has them on sale at only $3.42 online.
I just ordered three of them, for in store pick up (no shipping charges).
They'll be ready for pickup next week.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/3W-COB-LED-Work-Light-Black-Red/46788297

EDIT:
I just noticed, that at $3.42 they didn't come with batteries, and the low is listed at 40 lumens, not 60 as the previous version was.

:thumbsup: Good job on the fix, Poppy.

~ C.G.

Chauncey Gardiner said:

:thumbsup: Good job on the fix, Poppy.

~ C.G.

Click to expand...

Thanks Chance

After I glued the magnet back in, it was a little recessed into the pocket for it. I don't know if it was like that originally or not. But the magnet didn't hold very well, because it wasn't actually touching the refrigerator.
So... I laid a piece of sandpaper on my work bench, and sanded the lip off of the pocket, and a little bit where the hook is recessed too.

That is definitely a strong magnet!
It holds the light very strongly to a flat surface, and even to the dimpled surface of my refrigerator.

I did a quick run time test with 3* 2450mah duraloops.
As expected, it followed the output curve of NiMH batteries.
It dropped off a bit during the first hour, remained fairly constant for the next couple of hours, and then dropped off more rapidly in the final hours.

So if it started at 160 lumens, at the end of the first hour, it was down to about 100-120 lumens, and stayed above 60 lumens until about 3 3/4 hours. At 4 1/2 hours it was still putting out about 15-20 lumens, when I killed the test. I didn't want to over-stress my batteries.

I estimate that if I ran it on low, 60 lumens, that it would get 12-15 hours before it ran out of gas.