Tad Customs Questions.

I'm slowly getting back to using my incandescent lights as I'm mainly an led guy so I'm having to learn new stuff all over again. I'm thinking of getting a tad customs and 140 lumens bi pins for my E2d. Ok I know exactly the square root of zero about them so those that have them please chime in. How are they, how do they compare to stock sf or Lf bulbs. Are they pretty tough? Thanks

thermal guy said:

I'm slowly getting back to using my incandescent lights as I'm mainly an led guy so I'm having to learn new stuff all over again. I'm thinking of getting a tad customs and 140 lumens bi pins for my E2d. Ok I know exactly the square root of zero about them so those that have them please chime in. How are they, how do they compare to stock sf or Lf bulbs. Are they pretty tough? Thanks

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They are a great and very inexpensive way for an incan fan to have incan lighting for the rest of their life in a time where bulbs for these older lights are becoming scarce and extremely expensive. However, they do not compare in terms of reliability/durability. That is because the bulbs can pop out of the socket when dropped. This has happened to me with my e2e twice. The LF bulbs do not have this issue, and neither do the SFs. But you are going to pay way more for those. So, what I do is keep tads bulbs in all of my lights that I play around with for fun. And use LF and SF bulbs in lights that I depend in in critical situations.

Stupid question. Would a very small dab of hot glue hold it in! I think you could peel it off the brass easily to change bulb.if they make high temp stuff that is.

That's exactly what I was thinking.........
P

thermal guy said:

. I'm thinking of getting a tad customs and 140 lumens bi pins for my E2d.

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That's the wrong lamp for 2 cells (unless you are runnng 16650 secondary cells, or are bored for 18650). The 140 lumen A3718 is for one Li-ion secondary cell only. You are welcome to try it with 2 cells, but I promise you that you'll instantly flash the lamp at every attempt.

Depending on whether you are running 2 primary or 2 secondary cells,
the proper lamps for E2d is either the
120 lumen A4812 (primary only) or the
200 lumen A7212 (secondary 3.7V cells only, IMR recommended) or the
150 lumen A6010 (secondary 3.2V LifePO4 cells only).

Look at Tad's lamp chart. Keep looking at it. Keep looking. Eventually it makes sense, I promise. Pay attention to the amps and voltage specs of the lamps, and identify them by their name, A3712, A3718, etc, not by the lumens stated.

It is not often the lamp dislodges from the socket. Happens sometimes if you drop the light on its head over and over. Before you attempt solve "the problem" with glue... better make sure it is actually a problem for you. I have been running Tad's lamps for a couple years of heavy use, and only very rarely do I need to tap the light on its tail to force the bipin to settle further in the socket.

If anyone has had a Tad's lamp completely dislodge from the socket, I'd like to hear it. The worst I have seen is the light will go intermittent when using certain angles. Tapping the tail on a hard surface corrects (rather than pulling the socket and pushing the lamp back in).

I like to run dimmer lights, so I often use the A6010 with a single cell, but it is dimmer and yellow because I underdrive it. Best performance is when voltages match.

thermal guy said:

Stupid question. Would a very small dab of hot glue hold it in! I think you could peel it off the brass easily to change bulb.if they make high temp stuff that is.

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I am literally clueless when it comes to adhesives. I don't know what high temp stuff would bond brass to glass. Maybe its common, maybe it doesn't exist. I have no idea. But, if it did exist, then ya that could work. Its not like they're falling out all of the time though, in case I misrepresented it. They've only fallen out when dropped about 4 feet onto a hard surface. So I'd be happy to state that unless you are trusting your life with them, they're perfectly suitable and are a great option for just about anything else.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?422097-Tad-Customs-E-series-Bi-Pin-Socket

Here's the official Tads E thread.

night.hoodie said:

That's the wrong lamp for 2 cells (unless you are runnng 16650 secondary cells, or are bored for 18650). The 140 lumen A3718 is for one Li-ion secondary cell only. You are welcome to try it with 2 cells, but I promise you that you'll instantly flash the lamp at every attempt.

Depending on whether you are running 2 primary or 2 secondary cells,
the proper lamps for E2d is either the
120 lumen A4812 (primary only) or the
200 lumen A7212 (secondary 3.7V cells only, IMR recommended) or the
150 lumen A6010 (secondary 3.2V LifePO4 cells only).

Look at Tad's lamp chart. Keep looking at it. Keep looking. Eventually it makes sense, I promise. Pay attention to the amps and voltage specs of the lamps, and identify them by their name, A3712, A3718, etc, not by the lumens stated.

It is not often the lamp dislodges from the socket. Happens sometimes if you drop the light on its head over and over. Before you attempt solve "the problem" with glue... better make sure it is actually a problem for you. I have been running Tad's lamps for a couple years of heavy use, and only very rarely do I need to tap the light on its tail to force the bipin to settle further in the socket.

If anyone has had a Tad's lamp completely dislodge from the socket, I'd like to hear it. The worst I have seen is the light will go intermittent when using certain angles. Tapping the tail on a hard surface corrects (rather than pulling the socket and pushing the lamp back in).

I like to run dimmer lights, so I often use the A6010 with a single cell, but it is dimmer and yellow because I underdrive it. Best performance is when voltages match.

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16650 is exactly what I planned on running.

thermal guy said:

16650 is exactly what I planned on running.

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You left out that rather important detail.

Assuming 2500mAh with A3718 @ 1.8A, if my math is right, runtime is about an hour and 23 minutes.
Also stock up on A3712 @ 1.2A, if I can math, runtime is about 2 hours 5 minutes.

I only notice the difference between these two lamps in the first 15 minutes of runtime where A3718 is clearly much brighter. But for me, A3712 is already too bright for it's own good on a single secondary, noticeably brighter than MN03 on 2 primaries.

Corresponded with Tad about offering a half amp lamp for 3.7V, and there was a possibility, but it wouldn't focus, fell through for now. I have been using MN02 with one secondary cell, very pleased with runtime. With one you get about 18 lumens (with one secondary cell), and that is just right for darkness and dark adaptation, and with 2500mAh will give you nearly 5 hours of runtime. Use a LightSaver Miser tailcap, and you can stretch ~9 lumens to ~9 hours and 48 minutes. Good luck finding an MN02. Makes zero sense that SF stopped producing something that is still in demand. :/

I'm using a 3712 in an A2 and it puts out about the same amount of light as the stock bulb, but the beam is smooooooooth!!


Nice n round, and artifact free.

Thanks guys that's the kind of info I was hoping for 👍🏻
I'm not looking for low output night walks in the house light. Got a ton of low level lights for that. Kinda looking for something that throws good and has some lumens behind it.

thermal guy said:

Got a ton of low level lights for that.

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Like? plz share

thermal guy said:

Kinda looking for something that throws good and has some lumens behind it.

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You're doing it right.

A3718 is bright, but 1.8A will have more voltage sag than matching 2 16340 IMR cells with A7212, which is considerably brighter and has a smoother output curve along cell capacity, which is of course much lower than 16650 cells. Also there is a 1000lm halogen bipin fivemega may still supply, but I think it pulls 3A, so runtime too low on 2x16340, needs 2x18350s, 18500s or 18650s

I recommend you Pepsi Challenge the A3718 against the A3712. One is super bright when your voltage is high, but output curve is smoother with 1.2A... depends if you really feel that you need that many incan lumens, because towards the middle of your run capacity, both lamps output about the same for the naked eye.

Incan throws no matter the lumens, btw. 2 incan lumens will outthrow 10x the LED lumens, all other aspects equal. I believe low incan lumens throw just as far as high incan lumens, but the target gets less light.

So much depends on the state of your eyes and how much ambient light you expect. In total darkness, the brightness of 140 lumens obliterates dark adaptivity, so when your light is off, even in moonlight, you will basically be blind (and this effect increases immensely indoors, or with early-morning eyes indoors, ouch). Lower lumens ensures you will still be able to see without the light. If you are especially conscientious about where you point 140 lumens, you may be able to salvage some dark adaptability (but not indoors)... avoid illuminating shiny close up objects. The ambient light of twilight wants more lumens, also urban areas with street lighting, as many lumens as possible, I say. But the darkness of a new moon at midnight in the sticks, I believe one is better off with less lumens for safety, in case you lose the light, you should still be able to see without falling down.

My low level lights are my hds and Malkoff's with hi/lo ring also have some lumitop AAA's and eagtac.

Optics can change the game hoodie. But in a conventional reflector/flat lens setup yes, the incan physics makeup casts more light forward.

Case in point is my little 3 lumen 1xaa Rayovac LED light with a dome lens throws out much more light than my incan Solitaire with a fresh battery. Albeit, an awful blue rimmed LED spot beam versus a nice warm spider web artifact incan beam. lol.

The bulb sends out light forward, sideways and backward, which collect onto the reflector as a group and 'reflect' out the front. The LED fires forward only.

The Tad's bulbs use a gas (probably xenon) that allows good old incan brightness that some say darkens over time where SureFire used a secret recipe to thwart off the darkening. PK told me the gas caused an overdrive to the filament, which causes it to fail before visible soot build up occured.

I remember many many moons ago the only way you got good throw was with an incandescent. Oh the arguments from the incandescent thread bashing led lights and that they would NEVER be able to out throw a good old gas filled bulb.i guess times have changed but still if you look at output levels it takes a lot of lumens to out throw and incandescent light.im better an old school M6 loaded with high output hardware would trump a lot of 5000 lumen throwers. Got to love them. Just wish they would run for more then 20 minutes on a set of batteries.

I have an 7D cell number (1960's Dog Supply House) with a 5" reflector that throws as well as my 1200 lumen SureFire EDCLT-2. Yet it's only about 175 lumens or so. And the SureFire uses magnifiers to acheive it's throw.

Those PR shaped bulbs were pretty dawg gone good at tossing out photons given a large enough and shiney enough reflector.

Tad customs website is down? The timing is horrible, I was getting ready to make an order. Their stuff is too nice to disappear... Did they change to a new address? Anyone else know anything about this?

InvisibleFrodo said:

Tad customs website is down? The timing is horrible, I was getting ready to make an order. Their stuff is too nice to disappear... Did they change to a new address? Anyone else know anything about this?

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I noticed that too. However, the A2 socket that I ordered Friday evening on his ebay store was just shipped out today. Not sure what's going on at the moment with his website.

I noticed the prices on the Bay are very different from the website direct. I guess if I don't have a choice that's still there...

Does anyone know where to get one of these sockets? I'm not finding anything with an online search.